Release Date: November 25, 1987
Director: John Hughes
Starring: Steve Martin, John Candy, Edie McClurg, Michael McKean, Dylan Baker, Carol Bruce
Favorite quote: “And by the way, you know, when you’re telling these little stories? Here’s a good idea – have a POINT. It makes it SO much more interesting for the listener!”– Neal Page
I was going to go in a totally different direction for this week’s movie. I wanted to avoid the whole “Thanksgiving-themed movie” shtick and just do a movie I enjoyed. But I absolutely love Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, and I feel it’d be a crime if I avoided writing about it because of its premise. That’s the power of Peak Powers John Hughes.
The late John Hughes was a part of some of my favorite films of the 80s. From National Lampoon’s Vacation to Weird Science to my absolute favorite of that era, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the man had a way of telling a story that compelled me. He was the master of the “teen angst” movie that many teens, myself included, identified with. Yes, even I enjoyed Sixteen Candles.
With 1987’s Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, though, John Hughes ditched the “teen angst” comfort zone he erected for himself and returned to the road trip premise that catapulted him back in his National Lampoon writing days. Where National Lampoon’s Vacation explored the hells people will endure to travel with family, however, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles explores the depths a person will sink to in order to travel to family.
The movie follows advertising executive Neal Page (Steve Martin) as he heads to Chicago from New York to spend Thanksgiving with his family. His plans, however, are foiled at every turn, partly thanks to an unwanted traveling partner, shower curtain ring salesman Del Griffith (the late John Candy). What should be a quick flight turns into three days of pure hell as they withstand flight delays, dingy motel rooms, and rental cars set ablaze in order to make it home.
(Note: Early on, Page hails a taxi but loses it to someone who snagged it from him. That actor? An uncredited Kevin Bacon! That one’s for you “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” fans that insist on not using Google to get Bacon Numbers.)
Yes, John Hughes was a great writer, director, and producer (he wore all three hats for this movie), but this movie would not be the gem it is without the comedic talents of Martin and Candy. Martin’s portrayal of an easily-annoyed control freak is great in and of itself, and Candy’s oft-portrayed obnoxious slob caricature scores high. But it’s their delivery of Hughes’s lines that takes their squabbles to the next level.
The best example of their brilliance is present in Martin’s f-bomb-laced tirade at the rental agency (the only scene where f-bombs are dropped). It would’ve been my Favorite Quote above, but I didn’t want to clog up my Favorite Quote spot with 18 f-bombs (I counted). But this scene, his delivery, and the response by the car rental agent (played gloriously by the lovely Edie McClurg), is just…well, look!
(Note: that scene is one of two that convinced Steve Martin to sign on for this movie. The other was the seat-adjustment scene in the car.)
This movie is chock full of great scenes like that, and Martin and Candy, along with Hughes’s writing and direction, make it happen.
This movie has laughs galore, but it knows when to hit the feels. Given that this is technically a holiday piece, we get the usual spiel of being with family during the holidays. But both Martin and Candy really make us feel what they’re going through. Candy in particular plays the “everyman” the same way he always did, with a level of empathy and sincerity for Neal that endears him to us. Every time Martin’s cynical Neal rips Candy’s Griffith a new one, Candy’s Griffith responds with the perfect heartfelt emotion. Here’s the best example:
“You wanna hurt me? Go right ahead if it makes you feel any better. I’m an easy target. Yeah, you’re right, I talk too much. I also listen too much. I could be a cold-hearted cynic like you… but I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings. Well, you think what you want about me; I’m not changing. I like… I like me. My wife likes me. My customers like me. ‘Cause I’m the real article. What you see is what you get.”
This movie, more than anything else, is a character piece. And both characters are perfect. Hughes wrote them perfectly; Martin and Candy portrayed them to a tee.
I re-watched Planes, Trains, and Automobiles for this article, and fell in love with it all over again. This Thanksgiving, if you’re laid out on the sofa trying to fight the effects of the tryptophan and you don’t care about the Dallas Cowboys, check to see if this movie is on. Although it is a Thanksgiving movie, I never saw it as a holiday classic like I see Miracle on 34th Street or Die Hard as Christmas classics. Next year, I’ll know better: this movie is a definite Thanksgiving classic!
