Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)

A man must struggle to travel home for Thanksgiving with an obnoxious slob of a shower curtain ring salesman as his only companion.

Director:

John Hughes

Writer:

John Hughes

Stars:

Steve Martin, John Candy, Laila Robins

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Steve Martin	...	Neal Page
John Candy	...	Del Griffith
Laila Robins	...	Susan Page
Michael McKean	...	State Trooper
Dylan Baker	...	Owen
Carol Bruce	...	Joy
Olivia Burnette	...	Marti
Diana Douglas	...	Peg
Martin Ferrero	...	Second Motel Clerk
Larry Hankin	...	Doobie
Richard Herd	...	Walt
Susan Kellermann	...	Waitress (as Susan Kellerman)
Matthew Lawrence	...	Little Neal
Edie McClurg	...	Car Rental Agent
George Petrie	...	Martin (as George O. Petrie)

Storyline

All that Neal Page wants to do is to get home for Thanksgiving. His flight has been cancelled due to bad weather, so he decides on other means of transport. As well as bad luck, Neal is blessed with the presence of Del Griffith, shower curtain ring salesman and all-around blabbermouth who is never short of advice, conversation, bad jokes, or company. And when he decides that he is going the same direction as Neal....

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Plot Keywords:

shower curtain ring | shower curtain | shower | thanksgiving | airport | 

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Taglines:

What he really wanted was to spend Thanksgiving with his family. What he got was three days with the turkey.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 November 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Filming Locations:

Batavia, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$49,230,280 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Hughes Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

After Del "steals" Neal's cab at the beginning of the movie, Neal looks down and sees that the cab is gone. In the puddle on the ground, there are two shower curtain rings.

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Goofs

Del and Neil travel in a hire care from St Louis to Chicago but it seems like they are traveling for a very long time indeed. Long enough for it to get dark. Granted it is meant to be in the autumn/fall but even then. St Louis to Chicago is only 4.5 hours away in the car and it is a single interstate road to get there.

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Quotes

Del: Was that seat hot or what? I feel like a Whopper. Turn me over, I'm done on this side. I'm afraid to look at my ass. There'll be griddle marks.

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Crazy Credits

After all the end credits, we get to see advertising exec William Windom in the office as in the scene in the beginning of the movie, still examining the pictures Neal Page were waiting for him to get through with at that point.

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Connections

Featured in Hollywood's Top Ten: Thanksgiving Scenes (2011)

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Soundtracks

Lost Again
(1983)
Written by Boris Blank & Dieter Meier
Performed and produced by Yello
Courtesy of Polygram Special Products, a division of Polygram Records, Inc.

User Reviews

The best Thanksgiving movie ever!

When jittery advertising executive Neal Page (Steve Martin) is trying to go home for Thanksgiving, he gets stuck with boorish shower ring salesman Del Griffith (John Candy). Their experiences over the next two days are some of the funniest moments ever to grace the silver screen. The best parts are the "pillow" scene, the car rental scene, and the freeway scene (warning: you may very well laugh yourself to death). But overall, the reason that the movie is so good is because we come to understand why these two men are like they are.

I can't do "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" justice by trying to describe it. You have to see it to understand how hilarious it is. You won't have a dull moment in it.