Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo
Three years after Herbie Rides Again, the third movie of the franchise featuring the little Volkswagen who could takes Herbie overseas to reconnect with Jim Douglas (Dean Jones) and drive in a race from Paris to Monte Carlo. The race isn't the only plot of the film, however.
As in the first film, we get a spirited woman as a love interest for Jim in race driver Diane Darcy (Julie Sommars). More bizare is that Herbie falls in love with Diane's car, who, after enough of Herbie's attention, becomes sentient and reciprocates complicating both cars entering the same race.
And if that wasn't enough there's also a diamond smuggling plot, whose ill-gotten gains have been hidden in Herbie, a pair of thieves (Roy Kinnear and Bernard Fox) chasing the car across country to get them back, and a crooked cop (Jacques Marin) helping them. And, for good measure, the film throws in Don Knotts to do his regular schtick as Herbie's mechanic.
Not content with one story, screenwriters Arthur Alsberg and Don Nelson throw everything but the kitchen sink into Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo. The result is kind of a mess, although it the European race does feature quite a large number of (now vintage) foreign race cars.
Thankfully we do get a race this time around, but the Herbie love plot unintentionally wipes the shine off the little car as if all cars are sentient Herbie turns out to be not that special after all. Does Herbie imbue this other car sentience (which seems to be the case in at the end of Herbie Rides Again where he calls in reinforcements), or have all cars everywhere had this ability but Herbie, for some reason, is the only one who shows it?
The movie ends with everyone getting what they want before shelving Herbie for another three years for one more original sequel. The film has been released multiple times over the years on home video including VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray. It's also currently streaming on Disney+.
- Title: Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo
- IMDb: link
