Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo

Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo is a 1977 American sports adventure comedy film directed by Vincent McEveety and written by Arthur Alsberg and Don Nelson. The film is the third installment in the Herbie film series and the sequel to Herbie Rides Again (1974). In the film, Dean Jones returns as champion race car driver Jim Douglas (reprising his role from The Love Bug, the first film in the series), joined this time by his somewhat cynical and eccentric riding mechanic Wheely Applegate (Don Knotts). The film follows Douglas, Applegate, and Herbie as they participate in the fictional Trans-France Race, a road race from Paris, France, to Monte Carlo, Monaco. Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo was followed by Herbie Goes Bananas (1980). Plot Jim Douglas, his partner and mechanic Wheely Applegate, and Herbie arrive in Paris to qualify for and compete in the Trans-France Race (a fictional version of the Monte Carlo Rally), in the hopes of staging a career comeback. The team has three major opponents in the race: Bruno Von Stickle (Eric Braeden), a German driver with experience in the "European Racing Circuit," Claude Gilbert (Mike Kulcsar), a French driver, and Diane Darcy (Julie Sommars), a beautiful young woman and the only female driver in the Trans-France Race.