So, I wanted to make an effort to review this classic my family and I watch every year. Funny, when it comes to a movie that you love this much, when you push play, you’re going to talk about it.
At least me, I always feel like I’m not going to say enough about it. Easy to talk about a movie that’s coming out in two days, just came out a day ago. Reviewing a classic, the pressure is on. But hey, I’ll try my best.
John Hughes Thanksgiving Classic
Let’s talk about this Thanksgiving John Hughes classic. Got to flex the VHS for the thumbnail cuz I mean, why not be awkward since the poster and the VHS was the same image? Image on whatever.
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is written and directed by John Hughes. Came out in 1987. and follows the story of Neil Page, played by Steve Martin. He lives in Chicago.
He’s on a business trip in New York because of a snowstorm in Chicago. His plane was rerouted to Wichita, Kansas. He runs across a guy named Del Griffith, played by John Candy.
And with these two polar opposite personalities, we basically have a road trip movie in which they’re trying to get Neil Page home to his family by Thanksgiving.
Pre-Internet Travel Era
Important to note that this was an era that the kids today will never understand. An era without the internet or cell phones.
If you were on a trip like this, you are isolated. Unless you can drown a bunch of quarters into a pay phone for a long-distance call, your family back at home just gets to worry about where you are.
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Maybe that’s why I appreciate going back to movies like this. You know, back before we were all so interconnected, but so divided, where things like a flight delay made you feel like you were on an island somewhere, you might as well be on Mars.
Movie Poster Perfect Summary
If I could sum up Planes, Trains, and Automobiles in one image, it would actually be the poster to the movie. tells you everything you need to know.
John Candy and Steve Martin are so good in this movie.
- Steve Martin as the introvert, well-to-do businessman
- John Candy as the more salt of the earth people person type
Lovable in the capacity that well, you could always just kind of break away. Maybe you meet the guy at the party. Maybe you’re on the bus when he’s singing the Flintstones theme.
But there’s a certain security and comfort allotted with the reality of the situation when you run across most people that when the situation is over, then you are over.
That person goes that way, you go that way. No one wears out their welcome.
Hotel Room Breaking Point
It’s different when you’re sharing a hotel room with someone you don’t know. And that’s why as lovable as John Candy’s character, Del Griffith, is in this movie, you understand where Steve Martin’s coming from.
That scene where he snaps on him in the hotel room – most people would reach that breaking point.
There’s something relatable when a guy’s just being this annoying this consistently and then you see a character snap on that guy and you’re like, “All right, I understand. I would have too.”
And then the response from the annoying guy just makes you be like, “Huh?” And I would feel like absolute [ __ ] right now.
But when a movie can make a response, like a snap, so relatable, the retort to the response is ever more convicting. No other way to say it.
It’s in terms of cinema, it’s just a great moment and it really shows. This whole movie absolutely shows everybody’s going through something.
If I could point to one movie that is the encapsulation of everybody’s going through something, you just don’t know it, it’s Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.
First-Time Viewer Recommendation
I’m not going to spoil the movie or anything like that because I feel like experiencing the movie, if you’ve never seen Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, I actually envy you that you get to watch this movie for the first time.
What I love about Steve Martin and John Candy in here is they’re both comedic performances with one of them being masked as a serious performance.
It’s easy to see John Candy as the comedic performance, Steve Martin as the serious guy, and that’s how they play off of each other.
It’s the contrast between the two, the opposites, but Steve Martin’s comedic acting still has to be here. I love that.
It’s not like it’s the only movie to ever do that, but I like it when a comedic performance is being hidden under the guise, under the mask of oh, serious boring guy.
Freeway Scene Masterpiece
The movie is not actually, it’s not a slapstick movie, but there are a couple moments in here where you’re like that it’s it’s more slapstick than the rest of the movie.
And that freeway, I can’t even describe it. If if you haven’t seen the movie, I don’t want to describe it. I just want you to experience it.
It almost plays out like a cartoon. There’s not another scene in the movie like it. But because John Hughes is so good at his job, it absolutely fits and works.
I mean, when I was young and watched it for the first time, I had never laughed as hard in a movie in my life as I did in the Freeway Scene.
But yeah, the movie makes me consistently laugh throughout it every year. Also brings me to the verge of tears every time.
I always appreciate a movie with that kind of contrast. A movie that will make you laugh and have a good time also is really emotional.
I’m telling you, by the end of this movie, that knot’s going to start hitting your throat.
John Candy’s Emotional Depth
And with that John Candy documentary titled I Like Me, talking about how in every John Candy role he took on, he wore himself. Like John Candy was on the sleeves of his characters.
Man, it just it brings more tears.
It’s easy to see this movie as, oh, the annoying guy is going to learn how to get some people skills, maybe chill out. But Del Griffith actually has people’s skills.
You see that in the movie. People love him. He knows the owners of a lot of places. He’s the one getting the hookup because he does rub the elbows.
The lesson here isn’t for Dell Griffith to learn people skills or learn how to chill out. The lesson here is for Steve Martin’s character.
Iconic Car Rental Rant
This movie would have been rated PG, maybe PG-13 for a couple of references, but if not for one scene.
When Steve Martin goes off on the lady at the car rental place – another classic John Hughes actress making an appearance in a John Hughes movie.
He just throws f-bombs at this lady. Oh gosh.
A couple dozen times. How much? How many f-bombs in this scene? Hold on. Let me try to guess just from memory. All right. 16. Ah, 18. I was off by two.
Childhood F-Bomb Memory
Story time, though. You want story time? Here’s young Jeremy as a child’s story time.
So, my family and I watched Planes, Trains, and Automobiles back in the day, even when I was a wee lad.
But when that scene came on, my brother and I had to plug our ears till it was over. Too many F-bombs for the children.
And one year I am covering my ears like this. Not like this. Like this. Because I had to hear what all the fuss was about.
I am telling you being a child not able to laugh because you’re going to show your hand. You’re going to give away the fact that you’re not actually plugging your ears in this hilarious scene.
Probably the most difficult thing I had done as a kid up until that point in life.
My mom watches my videos, dude. She shows support. Hi mom. Love you. I did not plug my ears one year as a child. So, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
And yes, that scene is hilarious. It’s just so unlike Steve Martin. Cherry on top.
Perfect Runtime & Legacy
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is about 90 minutes long. 93 minutes long. It’s as long as it needs to be. It doesn’t feel like it wastes your time.
And yeah. Anyhow, there’s a reason Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is one of my favorites.
One of my favorite John Hughes movies as well as one of my favorite movies in general.
It’s a wonderful character story starring two comedic actors playing off of each other perfectly. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll watch it every year because Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is awesometacular.
Train Scene Character Growth
You know, an interesting thing I gathered from this last rewatch, never noticed this before, the scene where Steve Martin is on the train, Del Griffith is elsewhere on the train, and he starts talking to the girl next to him,
and it’s so different than how he started the movie off. Starts the movie off. He doesn’t want to talk to anyone around him. He just wants to travel, get home, that’s it.
But he starts talking to this girl sitting next to him, and she’s just completely not interested in what he’s saying.
It almost feels like he’s become the Dell Griffith to her. Maybe John Hughes is illustrating that everyone’s Dell Griffith to someone.
Maybe he’s showing that after some time with Dell Griffith, Neil Page, whether he knew it or not, or even wants to accept it or not, has grown to find comfort in small talk that he didn’t find before.
Maybe John Hughes is showing that everyone we spend time with, has something rub off on us in some way.
Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I just something I noticed I never noticed before.
Final Call to Action
All right, so Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Have you seen it? What did you think about it? or what’s your favorite John Hughes film? That list is remarkably small.
