Herbie Goes Bananas

"Yes, We Have A Bananza!"

1980 1h 33m EN

😐

5.4

MID

★5.4TMDB · 263

FantasyComedyFamilyAdventure

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The adorable little VW helps its owners break up a counterfeiting ring in Mexico.

“Yes, We Have A Bananza!”

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Cast

Cloris Leachman
Louise Trends
Charles Martin Smith
Davy Johns
John Vernon
Prindle
Stephen W. Burns
Pete
Elyssa Davalos
Melissa Drake
Joaquin Garay III
Paco
Harvey Korman
Capt. Blythe
Richard Jaeckel
Shepard

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Vincent McEveety
Writers: Don Tait
Languages: Spanish, English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

46 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Herbie Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Vincent McEveety, shot by Frank V. Phillips. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Frank De Vol. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Gordon D. Brenner shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Cloris Leachman and Charles Martin Smith and John Vernon carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Yes, We Have A Bananza!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Vincent McEveety directs. Frank V. Phillips behind the camera. Frank De Vol scores. Gordon D. Brenner cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Spanish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

146 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.
3Part of the "Herbie Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Vincent McEveety, shot by Frank V. Phillips. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Frank De Vol. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Gordon D. Brenner shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Cloris Leachman and Charles Martin Smith and John Vernon carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Yes, We Have A Bananza!".
9IMDB entry: tt0080861 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 8 themes, including "mexico", "chase", "sequel", "criminal syndicate".
11Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Frank V. Phillips
Original score: Frank De Vol
Editing: Gordon D. Brenner
Makeup / hair: Gloria Montemayor
Stunt coordinator: Buddy Joe Hooker
Runtime: 93 min · 1h 33m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Box office: $18,000,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): G
IMDB: Herbie Goes Bananas (1980)

Part of

Herbie Collection

Herbie is an anthropomorphic 1963 Volkswagen Beetle, a character that is featured in several Disney motion pictures starting with the 1968 feature film The Love Bug. He has a mind of his own and is capable of driving himself, and is a serious contender in auto racing competitions. Throughout most of the franchise, Herbie is distinguished by red, white and blue racing stripes from front to back bumper, a racing-style number "53" on the front trunk lid, doors, and engine lid, and a yellow-on-black '63 California license plate that says, "OFP 857". One exception to this is his introduction in The Love Bug, where he initially appears as a nondescript white vehicle with a gray colored fabric sunroof (a.k.a. "ragtop"), the style of sunroof offered on VW Beetles made through 1963.

Also by

Vincent McEveety

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2020-07-12
★ 7/10
Madcap misadventures with Herbie in Latin America Jim Douglas’ nephew (Stephen W. Burns) inherits Herbie, but has to pick the car up in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, with his mechanic friend (Charles Martin Smith) wherein they meet a mischievous little pickpocket that Herbie takes a liking to. John Vernon and Richard Jaeckel appear as dastardly villains while Harvey Korman plays a nutty cruise ship captain with Cloris Leachman & Elyssa Davalos on hand as passengers. "Herbie Goes Bananas" (1980) is my favorite of the original four Herbie flicks. The amusing story is more compelling than the previous three and the star-studded cast is noteworthy with everyone giving it their all, especially Korman and Leachman. The cast were having a good time and it shows. A highlight is that this one shows Herbie talking, albeit cute car-language, not English. Meanwhile Elyssa Davalos is the most beautiful female to be featured in the Herbie franchise up to this point, plus there are several beauties in the periphery. The next film would be the rebooted TV movie “The Love Bug” (1997), which is my favorite of the series, followed by the excellent “Herbie Fully Loaded” (2005). I favor the 1997 one because it’s the most compelling plus features the Dark Herbie and Alexandra Wentworth. The film runs 1 hour, 40 minutes and was shot in Mexico (Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara & Tijuana), Panama (Panama Canal & Panama City) and the Los Angeles area (Ventura and Burbank). GRADE: B
CinemaSerf2023-12-26
★ 5/10
Couldn't they just have let poor old "Herbie" go get pampered in a motor museum somewhere? Plenty of Castrol GTX and some luxury screen wash? Nope - we had to drag him along to get involved in some dodgy Mexican counterfeit malarkey. He's been inherited by "Pete" (Stephen W. Burns) who is frankly a little disappointed that he's not a Ferrari. Together with his pal "D.J." (Charles Martin Smith) they soon discover that "Herbie" is a car with a mind of his own, and so determine to enter him in a race in Brazil. It's on their way that they get hustled by the hugely annoying "Paco" (Joaquin Garay III) and in trying to get their wallets back, discover they are now immersed in a crime ring led by "Prindle" (John Vernon) who is after a secret photograph the got pinched by the same urchin from his own wallet. The fleeing child takes refuge in "Herbie" who takes refuge on an ocean liner heading to Panama. This voyage gives "Aunt Louise" (Cloris Leachman) a chance to pair off handsome "Pete" with her bookish neice "Melissa" (Elyssa Davalos) and pretty soon we are all juggling way too many plates as this glorified edition of the "Dukes of Hazard" fails to get out of second gear. There are a few moments that raise a smile from the Bligh-esque ship's captain "Blythe" who has a hang 'em and flog 'em ethos that could have been usefully used on the writers of this banal and unnecessary outing for our VW that I found really struggled. It's peppered with the usual car chase and slapstick antics, but please now, no more....