Herbie Goes Bananas

Herbie Goes Bananas is a 1980 film and the fourth of a series of films made by Buena Vista Distribution starring Herbie, the white Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own. It stars Mel Brooks collaborators, Cloris Leachman, and Harvey Korman.
==Plot==
Loosely picking up where Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo left off, Pete Stancheck has inherited Herbie from his uncle, Jim Douglas. He travels to Mexico with his friend, Davy Johns, to retrieve Herbie. There, they meet little Paco, a comically mischievous, orphaned pickpocket.
Pete and D.J. board a cruise ship called the Sun Princess to Panama to enter Herbie in the Brazil Grand Primeo. Unknown to them, Paco has hitched a ride in Herbie's trunk to avoid three irate victims of his thievery. On the trip, they meet an anthropology student named Melissa and her extravagant, eccentric Aunt Louise, who is trying to find a husband for her. When Herbie wreaks havoc on board, Pete pretends to court Melissa, with the intended result that her Aunt Louise will sponsor him and D.J. for their race.
Meanwhile, Herbie helps Paco escape captivity. Paco dubs him "Ocho" and causes mischief with the ship's crew, such as taking a sailor's dinner which makes it look like Herbie ate it and spat out the chicken bones. When the overenthusiastic ship's captain, Blythe, has his costume party wrecked by Paco and Herbie, he puts the latter on trial and sentences him to be dropped into the sea. After landing, Paco is saddened until he sees Herbie emerge from the water, albeit rusted over. Paco then goes to work as a taxi driver, giving people rides in Herbie in order to make money.
Due to an error, Captain Blythe is separated from the Sun Princess and tries to locate her while Louise is trying to work up a relationship with him. They unknowingly become two customers in Paco's taxi after he is pursued by the villains, causing a car chase with Herbie.
Thence follows an Inca gold-stealing plot, Herbie's matador part in a bullfight, a romance between Louise and Captain Blythe, and some bananas which are initially used to camouflage Herbie in a convoy of farm vehicles traveling to market and later used to comic effect by Herbie and Paco in an attempt to stop the villains escaping in their plane. They are in pursuit of Paco, who misplaced some important film when he stole their wallets.
Prindle, Quinn and Shepard are being arrested by the police officers is going to take them away. Everyone is reunited on the Sun Princess. Pete starts a serious relationship with Melissa, and D.J. prepare Herbie for an upcoming race, with Paco as the driver. When Paco remarks, "Ocho", D.J. says that is Spanish for eight. Paco replies of course, as that is Herbie's number, 53. 5 + 3 = 8!
==Cast==
*Stephen W. Burns as Pete Stancheck
*Charles Martin Smith as Davy Johns
*Joaquin Garay, III as Paco
*John Vernon as Prindle
*Alex Rocco as Quinn
*Richard Jaeckel as Shepard
*Harvey Korman as Captain Blythe
*Cloris Leachman as Louise Trends
*Elyssa Davalos as Melissa
*Fritz Feld as Chief Steward
*Vito Scotti as Armando Moccia
*Jose Gonzalez Gonzalez as Garage Owner
*Ruben Moreno as Store Owner
*Tina Menard as Store Owner's Wife
*Jorge Moreno as Bus Driver
*Allan Hunt as Canal Operator #1
*Tom Scott as Canal Operator #2
*Hector Morales as Mexican General
*Iris Adrian as Loud American Wife
*Ceil Cabot as Mrs. Purkiss
*Pat Van Patten as Cigarette Guest
*Jack Perkins as Loud American
*Henry Slate as Off-Watch Officer
*Ernie Fuentes as Native
*Antonio Trevino as Pigeon Owner
*Dante D'Andre as Dr. De Moraes
*Alma Beltran as General's Wife
*Dolores Aguirre as General's Daughter #1
*Aurora Coria as General's Daughter #2
*Alex Tinne as Local #1
*Don Diamond as Local #2
*Warde Donovan as Maitre d'
*Ray Victor as Guard Attendant
*Bert Santos as Policeman #3
*Buddy Joe Hooker as Chef
*Steve Boyum as Panama Policeman
*Kenny Endoso as Mexican Policeman
*Mario Cisneros as Puetro Vallarta Policeman
*Jeff Ramsey as The Matador
*John Meier as Ship's Officer
==Reception==
The film was the most poorly received film in the Herbie franchise since its inception in 1969 with The Love Bug. Most film critics remarked that the series had run its course, with Leonard Maltin commenting that there was "one amusing scene where Herbie turns matador; otherwise, strictly scrap metal." Maltin (who rated the film *½ out of ****) added that the plot dealt with its cast "encountering all sorts of 'hilarious' obstacles along the way." Phil Patton, author of the book Bug: The Strange Mutations of the World's Most Famous Automobile, observed that the Herbie franchise was "a game of diminishing returns: Herbie Goes Bananas...is filled with "south of the border" clichés and stereotypes."
==Songs==
*"Look at Me"
*"I Found a New Friend"
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*Herbie's name is only mentioned once in the film at the garage where Pete and DJ pick up Herbie.
*Only a few of the rusted Herbies that were used as props are left. The one thrown into the sea was never retrieved. A total of 26 VW Beetles were used due to the enormous amount of stunts and tricks.
*This was the third sequel in The Love Bug series, and the last theatrical Herbie film for 25 years until the release of Herbie: Fully Loaded in 2005.
*This is the only sequel in the franchise to not feature other anthropomorphic vehicles aside from Herbie.
Category:Disney films
Category:1980 films
Category:Live-action films
Category:Herbie
Category:G-rated films
Category:Sequel films