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An Appreciation: "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" (1987)

Revisiting the late John Hughes' seminal and rare "adults only" comedy movie on its 30th anniversary.

By Carlos GonzalezPublished 6 years ago 8 min read
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Courtesy of Paramount Pictures/Hughes Films.
"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."The late John Candy as Del Griffith.

Hello one and all.

Every year around Thanksgiving, after wrapping up my Halloween Horrorthon, I like to take time to revisit my favorite movies; many of which I now consider to be contemporary classics. The first entry is a hit comedy released over 30 years ago by the late John Hughes, who was and still is, a major influence on me as a writer. As a writer/director of mostly teen-angst comedy movies, he would break the mold with his first-ever "adult" comedy. A mostly sweet farcical comedy about two people forced to connect with each other over the course of three days as each tries to make it home for Thanksgiving with their respective families.

The strange irony is that when I first saw this film, I wasn't an instant fan of it. I was always a die-hard Hughes fan and watched many of his films repeatedly and knew them all by heart. But, Hughes had an uncanny gift of making you watch all his films with a fresh set of eyes every time. There was always something that you might've missed the first time out that clarified everything in the second, perhaps third or more, viewing. This was his first comedy with an adult cast and it featured two of the greatest comedy icons in the world: Steve Martin and John Candy. It would prove a successful teaming and it was a big hit for Hughes who would follow it up with another "adult" comedy in 1988 called She's Having a Baby. That one failed at the box-office, but more on that later.

The plot: Martin plays NYC advertising executive Neal Page, whom we meet at a Madison Avenue ad account meeting. He's dying to get out of there; a fact he makes very clear to his colleague (Lyman Ward). But his boss (William Windom) refuses to end the meeting until he is completely satisfied with the photo layout. He isn't, but decides to reconvene after the holiday. Then, it's a mad dash to the airport during NYC rush hour traffic (a funny cameo by Kevin Bacon sets things in motion for Martin's character and the impending disasters he would face throughout the story). He "accidentally" meets Del Griffith (Candy in a career-defining film role) as he haggles a cab from a smarmy lawyer (Nicholas Wyman). He inadvertently steals the cab, thinking it to be empty cab waiting for a fare. But, once the haggling stops, Page is shocked to learn that Griffith had driven off. A hilarious on-foot chase is when he officially meets him and of course, Page is now stranded in midtown Manhattan and he's left with a busted briefcase and his tail between his legs.

At the airport, Page meets Griffith again and finally confronts him about the cab incident. Griffith, a large man who wears his joy all over his girth, realizes his mistake and attempts to make amends. Page, way too cynical and cold for his own good, rebuffs him. He'd rather forget all about it. But, soon after, he finds himself in a series of mishaps and cruel twists of fate (he's bumped from first-class to coach for starters) and there's only one way to redeem himself. Spend repeated, hard-time with Griffith every time. It's almost like a strange cosmic prison sentence.

Griffith, for the most part, is a genuinely sweet human soul. He sees the best in everybody and refuses to be mean. This annoys Page to the hilt. He overtly blames Griffith for the nightmarish events he's now forced to endure. Yes, Griffith is overly talkative, has bizarre, often head-scratching quirks; is often naive when it comes to good manners and doesn't know when to stop, even when he's told often and incessantly to do so. In a key scene when they are forced to share a motel room and Page is beyond his limit, he scolds Griffith for what he perceives him as being a naive boob and a moron. But, the opening quote, beautifully delivered by Candy, is what shifts the film and changes its tone. He requests (not demands) to be seen as what he is; a human being like Page is, and worthy of all the respect in the world he deserves. It's here that, in my opinion, is what the film is all about. Karma.

The 1987 Film Poster

Paramount Pictures.

In my humble opinion, the reason why Page is forced to deal openly with Griffith is for basic human connection. He's far too wrapped up in his own world and not seeing its many denizens for who and what they are. Sure, he misses his family and longs to be with them; but he's now forced to see Griffith as his wildly askew guardian angel. It's almost cosmic punishment every time he tries to dismiss him or abandons him. In another hilariously crucial scene, as soon as he feels free from the shackles of Del Griffith, he's now in the free-and-clear and can make it to Chicago by renting a car. But, a funny thing happens as the ferry bus drives him to the parking lot. He has no car. None, zero, zilch, nada, bupkus etc. etc. The airport is miles and miles away and he has no choice but to hoof it back, which of course, causes his pent-up rage to go full throttle. At the airport, he stands and waits for a chirpy and chuckle-ly rental car clerk (played memorably by John Hughes' veteran Edie McClurg) to finish her phone conversation and lets a torrent of expletives rip against the woman, who strangely takes it all in stride. She asks for his rental agreement. When he smugly admits he's thrown it away, her two-word answer proves priceless and forthcoming. What makes the scene work is her facial expression as if to say, "Yeah, asshole. You brought this on yourself."

Yes, Page is once again reunited with Griffith, who finally accepts the fact that he has no choice but to accept his fate. There are some sweet and tender scenes between the two obviously straight men (not exactly counting the pseudo-tender-borderline-homophobic moment they shared in the hotel room bed set to Emmylou Harris' "Back in Baby's Arms" and delineating that Candy's hand wasn't between "two pillows") and are soon opening up to each other as two people should. It's a friendship that has been built on bizarre happenstance, but proves that Page and Griffith needed each other from the word go. Nothing proves this more when Page, riding the "L" train to his home, realizes why the cosmic forces had brought them together in the first place.

On that, I will end. Planes, Trains and Automobiles could be the first example of a "Bro-mantic Comedy," an idea that was pretty original in its early phase and set the precedent for many of Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen's comedies in the 00s. It's a movie that still has its flaws; my quibbles include the occasional descent into stereotyping and labeling of people from the city outskirts for the sake of a laugh, the heavy slapstick that while funny, also proves halting to the movie's rhythm, and yes, even though the borderline-homophobic bed scene admittedly was played strictly for laughs, and yes, it was filmed in the decade where many LGBTQ men lost their lives to AIDS, I guess it still makes me, the viewer, uncomfortable watching it, even if it was done with a sense of innocence and good humor. For the record, I don't believe that neither Martin or Candy were in any way homophobic; but Hughes' may have perhaps been in life (I only speculate due to the occasional slip of the word "faggot" in his films); but, to be fair, his films still endear me to this day for their willingness to break stereotypes and go out of comfort zones as to how he perhaps viewed the human race as a whole and I would like to believe that he may have changed his tune before his death in 2009. Mind you, I can ONLY speculate about this without proof. I still watch his films and will always admire his skills as a writer and director who gave us many terrific films such as Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and wrote Pretty In Pink, and Home Alone. I always have and I always will admire him. He is still one of my muses... and I'm an openly gay man.

In wrapping (yes, I promise), Planes, Trains and Automobiles still holds up well after 30 years and is a movie I always watch around the turkey holiday. It's one of the few movies I know that actually has that theme! I will try to remember that opening line as to what Hughes' underlying message was the whole time. We are all human beings seeking connection. If we allow our fellow man in, we just might raise our good karmic intake. If we just allow it... willfully.

My two cents: Okay, I lied a little about wrapping up. His 1988 followup film She's Having a Baby was a box-office bomb despite the presence of Kevin Bacon (who cameoed briefly in this), Elizabeth McGovern, and a wonderfully smug Alec Baldwin as Bacon's best friend. It's heard briefly in a scene with Steve Martin's on-screen wife waiting up for him in bed. It's still one of my favorite John Hughes' films, but sadly, ended Hughes' attempt to ever make another "adults only" comedy or drama. Candy would follow up this iconic role with Hughes' reverting back to juvenility in 1989's Uncle Buck and then, his 1990 holiday blockbuster, Home Alone. Proof that his one adult hit couldn't allow further exploration of people beyond their teen years. Sad.

Thank you and enjoy your turkey day with lots of stuffing.

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About the Creator

Carlos Gonzalez

A passionate writer and graphic artist looking to break into the BIG TIME! Short stories, scripts and graphic art are my forte! Brooklyn N.Y. born and raised. Living in Manchester, Connecticut! Working on two novels now!

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