FILM FOCUS: PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES

For every 20 or so Christmas movies there’s maybe 1 Thanksgiving equivalent.  TV shows are less discriminating when it comes to Christmas’ less commercial cousin, but the movie industry really hasn’t tapped into the November holiday.  I wrote at length last year about Home for the Holidays, one of the notable exceptions to this rule.  But if you were going to ask an Average Joe (or Jane) to name a Thanksgiving movie, most would probably mention Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

I’d seen only snippets of this 1987 film over the years, via its many showings on, so I was excited to finally sit down and watch the whole thing.  Surprisingly, I wasn’t aware that John Hughes wrote and directed it, though I quickly picked up on this while watching.  It has all of the Hughes hallmarks.  It co-stars John Candy and also features Edie McClurg, both of whom crop up in several of his films.  The storyline and humor, derived from a trip gone wrong at every turn, are reminiscent of other Hughes films like the National Lampoon series and The Great Outdoors (also starring Candy).   There’s even an idyllic red-brick, snow-bound house in the Chicago suburbs that is the virtual twin of the house seen in Home Alone.

Hughes’ movies may share many common themes but don’t get me wrong—I’m a huge fan of his work, both his writing and directing.  He had a unique gift of balancing the woes of modern life and sometimes brash or outright crude characters with a surprisingly sweet sentimentality.  This tone is perfectly struck throughout Planes, Trains and Automobiles, as acerbic businessman Steve Martin and a loutish (yet lovable) salesman played John Candy clash and then bond during their attempts to get home in time for Thanksgiving.

Predictably everything goes wrong for the two, from cancelled flights to rental cars bursting into flames.  They also encounter a delightful series of oddballs and enemies played by a who’s who of character actors from the 1980s.  The aforementioned Edie McClurg, always a favorite, has a memorable scene as a foul-mouthed rental car clerk.  Another favorite actress of mine, Susan Kellerman, plays a garishly made-up waitress.  I love movies that send me to IMDB after watching to look up the filmographies of various bit players.  And some not so bit players—a youngish Kevin Bacon has a small scene early on.

It’s not a perfect movie by any means; I’d rank it somewhere in the middle of Hughes’ oeuvre.  One of the film’s better known scenes, in which Martin and Candy share a bed, relies on dated gay panic “humor.”  This scene can be forgiven in light of the entire movie, which is ultimately a rather sweet love story between these two straight guys (with the aforementioned gay panic scene to reassure moviegoers that nothing physical is going on-- though Steve Martin is surprisingly foxy in this).

But wait—what about Thanksgiving?! Well, it’s around.  The whole movie takes place a couple days before the holiday, and ends on Thanksgiving Day, when we’re treated to a few fleeting, yet tantalizing, flashes of the perfect family gathering.   There’s lots of snow and Edie McClurg talks about preparing Thanksgiving dinner in her one scene.  And like any good Thanksgiving movie there’s a touch of Christmas as well—when the men eat in a diner there are already Christmas decorations in the background.  This pleases the yuletide fanatics like me, who know that Thanksgiving is just prelude to the holiday main event to come.