Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) – Encore Review 8

“I didn’t introduce myself. Del Griffith. American Light and Fixture, Sales Director, shower curtain ring division.” – Del Griffith

Number of Times Seen – Too numerous to count (Theater in ’87, cable, video, DVD, 10 Jun 2013, 25 Dec 2014, 19 Jul 2016, 27 Dec 2017, 18 Dec 2018, 1 Jan 2020, 19 Nov 2020, 28 Dec 2021 and 27 Feb 2022)

Link to original review – Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – Two travelers from New York to Chicago have their plane diverted due to the weather and must find a way to get back home to their families before Thanksgiving.

My Take on it – This is a film that I have always loved ever since I was a kid.

That’s the main reason that I chose to do a MxM podcast on the film where I will be joined daily by a guest to dissect this movie one minute at a time starting tomorrow 28th Feb, 2022.

Check it out here.

The film works so well due to the amazing chemistry between Steve Martin and John Candy and stays so much fun the entire way thru.

The fact that John Hughes was able to make a 4 hour cut of this film says so much about his genius.

The fact that he was able to trim it down to a slim 93 minutes makes him even more of a genius because as good as those scenes and threads are (in the original script), due to pacing issues and the like, the film works so much better in this lean version.

The adventures and misadventures that these two characters are both hilarious and poignant and they each have great character arcs along the way.

Highly Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Whilst shooting a scene in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) Edie McClurg was approached by John Hughes who gave her a page of script featuring the car rental scene. He asked her to read both parts out loud for him, which she did and he took it back, saying nothing. A few months later she received a call from Hughes offering her the part of the desk clerk. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (10/10) (no change from original review)