Poll Position: Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)

Last week I tossed together a poll with all the big Steve Martin movies I've never seen. I was secretly hoping that Planes, Trains & Automobiles would win, and you guys didn't let me down. Actually though, it only beat out Dirt Rotten Scoundrels by 1 vote, so I should probably keep that one in mind for something in the future. The great part about this one winning though, is that it also stars John Candy! He is definitely up in the upper tier of great actors in my books. He's just such a joy to watch. Also, I'm not sure how it worked out this way, but I've now seen 2 Thanksgiving movies within a few days of each other. So with my hopes built up from the John Candy/Steve Martin combo, hit the jump to see if it was as fun as I had hoped.


The story of Planes, Trains & Automobiles revolves around 2 strangers who are flung together by fate again and again while they try to get home for the Thanksgiving holidays. Neal Page, played by Steve Martin, desperately wants to be home with his family on Thanksgiving, but everything seems to be working against him from the very start. First his work day runs long, then he can't get a cab, and when he finally barters one off of another man, it's stolen by someone else after he's already paid off the first guy! It turns out this cab thief is Del Griffith, who is played by John Candy. No matter what Neal tries to do, he is always brought back to Del in one way or another. It seems they were destined to be together.

After a long day on the road, Neal and Del are forced to share a room, with awkward but hilarious consequences

Just as I had anticipated, this movie was just plain charming and fun. Steve Martin may have been the protagonist, but the heart of the movie lies in John Candy's portrayal of Del Griffith, the shower-curtain rings salesmen. At first it seems like Del is the most useless and annoying person to know in the whole world. But time and time again it's only through his efforts and vast array of contacts ("Hey, I sold him his shower curtain rings, he owes me a favor!") that allows them to get anywhere at all. Funny enough, it's also Del that causes nearly all the misfortune that keeps holding them back. Neal tries to ditch him several times, but without Del, he still ends up getting nowhere with is own bad luck. With Del it truly is two steps forward, one step back. But at least they're still moving forward.

"We had a small fire officer, but luckily we caught it in time."

I really liked all the situations that they got into, and it just never seemed to end, and always getting worse somehow. I also enjoyed seeing them have to keep resorting to more and more different forms of transportation. The title really doesn't lie. I'd be curious to know how much the whole trip actually cost Neal in the end, as he has to pay for pretty much everything, even the rental car that ends up getting totally gutted by fire. Then there's also the $700+ he has stolen from his wallet, and seeing how this is in the 80's, that would have been far more then, than it is now.

Finally there's a nice touching story about friendship and simply being a good person running through the whole film. Another thing I liked was a small truth that was just ever so gently woven into the background of the movie about why Del is on the road. When Neal finally peaces it all together, just when he's finally, legitimately home-free, he does the right thing and goes back for his friend. It was just a really nice moment.

There are only a few things I can say bad about the movie, and that would have to do with the very ending, which came off as a little awkward to me instead of happy and touching. I actually think it should have ended a few moments earlier than that just as they go in the house, and fade out. The other thing was the music. I'm not sure if the songs featured in here were big hits in '87, but nearly all of them were utterly unrecognizable to me, and I really didn't like them. It's too bad the music just couldn't hold up like the rest of the movie did.

A trunk too heavy for one, but easy to carry between friends

It was no surprise to me, after watching the whole movie and it just having that charming warm feeling of a good friendship, to see that it was directed by John Hughes. You may remember we reviewed his Sixteen Candles film a little while back ( Jim's | Puneet's ). It was also fun to see Michael McKean pop up yet again, and seeing Kevin Bacon show up as the "Taxi Racer" at the beginning was great.

I'd definitely recommend this movie to others, and I'm glad so many of you voted for it, because it really was a good movie. While there are other Steve Martin films I'd like to see, watching this has just made me realize how much I need to watch all of John Candy's films even more. I sense a new poll in the winds!