Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
Retro Review #73: A travel nightmare with laughs by the mile.
Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)
+ Feature film, 1h 32m🎖️
A+>
Grade: A+> (20.0) / HOF: 90
EQ 👍A+ | 📖A+ 👥A+ 📽️A 🎼A+
DW 🕶️9.0 | 🌚9 🌝9
POPCAP 💯n/a 🍿n/a 🧢n/a
L-R 💻⬇️0️⃣ 👀⬆️🔼 🛐⬇️2️⃣
Every Thanksgiving, I’m thankful I’ve never experienced a trip as bad as the one Neal Page experiences in Planes, Trains & Automobiles.
This movie sees John Hughes depart from his typical teen comedy, and, with the assistance of the comedic talents of Steve Martin and John Candy, he gives us what I think is his funniest movie from a long and very funny filmography of hits.
Martin plays Neal Page, an uptight marketing executive trying to get from his job in New York City to his home in Chicago in time for Thanksgiving. He’s leaving New York on Tuesday, so what could go wrong? Enter John Candy as travelling salesman Del Griffith. Del is good-hearted, but he’s also a borderline disaster, overly friendly and overly irritating.
Needless to say, everything that can go wrong does go wrong. If that isn’t funny to you, you won’t like this movie! I don’t normally like cringe humor, and there is some of that here, but the chemistry between Martin and Candy and the warm heart of the film soften the cringe for me just enough. When the problems get so ridiculous the characters begin laughing at their own predicament, you are right there laughing with them, remembering your own worst travel glitches!
(Oh, please, please, someone share with us a story of a disastrous travel experience that you can laugh about now!)
I watched Planes, Trains & Automobiles last Thanksgiving, the last film I watched before becoming Rick Retro and reviewing everything since. It’s a movie that lends itself to being a Thanksgiving holiday tradition.
Sadly, Planes… isn’t family friendly. There’s a brief but close up shot of nude photos in a taxi driver’s car. And there’s a lot of adult language, even though every use of the f-word is all crammed together in one scene. As always, I recommend VidAngel dot com for your filtering needs if you want a version with offensive content filtered out.
For me, it isn’t the comedy alone that makes this a great film. And for me, the offensive content is greatly outweighed by a really powerful message. This movie is, to me, like a modern day Good Samaritan story. But instead of seeing a couple of people who are bad neighbors and one who is a good neighbor, we instead watch our two main characters alternate between bad and good. It’s less of a parable and more like real life, but the same message comes through if you are open to it.
How does the movie hit me? Every time I watch Planes, Trains & Automobiles, I laugh and laugh for about an hour and twenty minutes and then fight off the tears through the last ten minutes. Your mileage may vary.
Onwards!
+ last viewed (4) 2025-06-13, HDX7, 1.85v, 2M
+ first viewed 1987, ThX, 1.85, 2
+ 🎈🦃✈️🚂🚗😏😥🥸
+ ❌1️⃣ Light adults-only content. | R
+ 😡+1 😵💫+0 🤬-3^^ 🤭-1 🫣-1
+ 👀⬆️🔼 ➖(😍)
+ ✝️ +2 ➕😇😇❤️❤️💒🩸 ➖(🤬👙)
+ ✡️ -1 ➖🤬🖤
+ 🗽 -0
Last updated 2025-06-13
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I agree. I laugh through the whole thing and the last ten minutes is a tear-jerker. It's an incredible movie from the first minute to last with tons of heart. I'm not big on profanity but the way they cram most of it into that one scene was awesome. It made that scene unforgettable. Martin and Candy both shine in this one, especially Candy. I love their clash of personalities, too. It may be John Hughs' best and that is saying a whole lot. Great review, Rick.
Thanks, Parker!
I think most people can relate to being so frustrated with a series of unfortunate events that they snap and exceed their normal profanity usage. I agree that it's an unforgettable scene, and the relatability is a stroke of genius that makes you forgive the filmmakers for including it, even if you normally would be more offended.
And as an aside, the actress who played the car rental agent, Edie McClurg, was phenomenal in that scene. Her reactions were priceless!
I'm glad you enjoyed the review. Thanks for commenting!