Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

Written & Directed by John Hughes

Steve Martin, John Candy, Laila Robins, Michael McKean, Kevin Bacon, Dylan Baker, Edie McClurg, Diana Douglas, Martin Ferrero, Larry Hankin.

It’s a couple of days out of Thanksgiving, and Neal Page (Martin) a tightly wound New York working executive, is trying to get back home to Chicago. When a series of events cause his transportation to go awry, he finds himself joined by easy going shower ring salesman Del Griffin (the late great Candy) – as they navigate their way across the country by Planes, Trains, (Busses) and Automobiles.

American classic film (reviewed here by an Australian), is still solid with plenty of laughs. The dry humour of Martin pairs well with the more physical comedy of Candy. They work well together, and you can tell they were good friends, as their chemistry is brilliant. This is one of Candy’s best roles, and it is still painful he is no longer with us almost 30 years later.

While not “technically” a Christmas movie, as it is set at Thanksgiving, the wintery backdrop almost feels like I was watching a classic Christmas movie.

The screenplay by Hughes is very well written, with a balance of humour and heart. One criticism I found was that the tension that built between Neil to Del was released too early into the film. The touching “I like me” monologue is barely 25 minutes into the film, when it really should have been another half an hour to three quarters of an hour later. There are also plenty of laughs throughout.

Being the first time watching this film in over 25 years, it was also fun to see some now very established actors in roles that I’m not used to seeing them in (Baker and Hankin especially).

A fun movie, and well worth watching.

3.5/5