Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a 1987 American comedy film released by Paramount Pictures. It was written, produced and directed by John Hughes. The film stars Steve Martin as Neal Page, a high-strung advertising executive, who meets Del Griffith, played by John Candy, an eternally sunny, overly talkative, well-meaning, but accident-prone shower curtain ring salesman who seems to live in a world governed by a different set of rules. They share a two-day odyssey of misadventures trying to get Neal home to Chicago from New York in time for Thanksgiving dinner.
Sun Jun 11, 2006 11:31 pm
Dr. Lecter
You must have big rats
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 4:28 pm Posts: 92093 Location: Bonn, Germany
B+
This is a great comedy flick. I've seen it last weekend and I have to say that I really liked it a lot. I have never been a big fan of Steve Martin and this movie didn't change that, but the chemistry between him and John Candy is great. John Candy himself is excellent in the film and certainly the movie's highlight. There are several laugh-out-loud scenes in the movie, but most of the comedy relies on the great timing between Candy and Martin. Towards the end it gets less and less funny and more sentimental. The moral delivery of the movie is pretty obvious, but the film does have its heart in the right place and the ending with Candy is even a bit touching. Great stuff.
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Sun Jun 11, 2006 11:37 pm
Box
Extraordinary
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 12:52 am Posts: 25990
Dr. Lecter wrote:
B+
This is a great comedy flick. I've seen it last weekend and I have to say that I really liked it a lot. I have never been a big fan of Steve Martin and this movie didn't change that, but the chemistry between him and John Candy is great. John Candy himself is excellent in the film and certainly the movie's highlight. There are several laugh-out-loud scenes in the movie, but most of the comedy relies on the great timing between Candy and Martin. Towards the end it gets less and less funny and more sentimental. The moral delivery of the movie is pretty obvious, but the film does have its heart in the right place and the ending with Candy is even a bit touching. Great stuff.
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Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 4:28 pm Posts: 92093 Location: Bonn, Germany
Box wrote:
Dr. Lecter wrote:
B+
This is a great comedy flick. I've seen it last weekend and I have to say that I really liked it a lot. I have never been a big fan of Steve Martin and this movie didn't change that, but the chemistry between him and John Candy is great. John Candy himself is excellent in the film and certainly the movie's highlight. There are several laugh-out-loud scenes in the movie, but most of the comedy relies on the great timing between Candy and Martin. Towards the end it gets less and less funny and more sentimental. The moral delivery of the movie is pretty obvious, but the film does have its heart in the right place and the ending with Candy is even a bit touching. Great stuff.
"YOU'RE F%@#*D!"
"Those aren't pillows!"
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Sun Jun 11, 2006 11:45 pm
insomniacdude
I just lost the game
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 7:00 pm Posts: 5868
One of the best comedies ever. Highly recommended. A
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Mon Jun 12, 2006 3:30 am
baumer72
Mod Team Leader
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:00 pm Posts: 7087 Location: Crystal Lake
John Candy was a comic genius. He really was. Never was his talent on display better than it was in this film. John Hughes and John Candy went on to develop what I can only surmise was quite the friendship because Candy appeared in many Hughes films either as the star ( this one, Uncle Buck, Great Outdoors ) or with a cameo ( Home Alone, Vacation and a few others that I can't think of right now, but check the imdb and you'll see that he did ). But of all the films that Candy did, including Stripes, I don't think he has ever been as good and as funny as he was in here. If there was any justice in the Academy ( and we all know that is an oxmoron, Academy and justice ) then Candy would have at least been nominated for best actor in 1987. I think Douglas won that year for Wall Street and he deserved to but Candy was brilliant in this film. It was a shame to see his career cut short because even in his bad films he was good. This is his best and most complete role. He will be missed but at least we have great roles like this to remember him by.
Planes.... is a film about one man trying to get home for the American Thanksgiving. He is Neil Page and he is played with perfect analness ( is that a word, oh well it is now ) by Steve Martin. He is a work-a-holic and his lifestyle is that of many John Hughes family men that live in suburbia Chicago. He lives in a huge house, much like the one in Home Alone and Weird Science, and his family is a beautiful one that consists of a lovely wife and three kids. But he is never home and for all of his success professionally, it is the kind of family that although is together now, it may not surive the fast appraoching 90's if Neil Page continues his ways.
John Candy plays Dell Griffith. He is a jolly man, much like Santa Clause but without the beird and the age. This is a man that carries a giant trunk around with him and is a constant chatter box. He is the kind of man that you know is good at sales, but on a lower level. He is too much of a slob to really be a corporate sales guy. Of course this Laurel and Hardy pair cross paths and from here on out Neil's simple task of getting home to his family for Thanksgiving is going to be a journery from hell.
First of all he loses his cab in New York rush hour to Candy who unwittingly steals it from him, then he is bumped from first class and ends up sitting next to Candy on the plane. Then they are delayed because of weather problems and what do you know, they end up spending the night together in not only the same hotel, not only the same room but the same bed. This presents all sorts of comic possibilities and Hughes doesn't miss one of them. His comic timing and development of the two characters is brilliant. Some of the best scenes are when the two are bantering and Candy is verbally assaulted by Martin. Martin goes off and says that he is annoying to listen to and then he says this: " You know I could sit through an insurance seminar and still look happy and the others would say how do you do it? And I would say, because I can take anything, I've been with Dell Griffith, and they'd say, " I know what you mean. Whooooo, shower curtain guy! " And as funny as that scene is, Hughes goes for more than the quick payoff of laughter. He then reminds you that this isn't just a comedy but a film with many layers and substance to it. Because the next scene has Candy delivering a monologue that almost makes you embarrassed for laughing at what Martin said.
But truth be told, first and foremost, this is a funny, funny film. And if anyone has scene it, they will tell you about the airport scene where Page has lost his rental car and he comes back and does what we have all dreamed of doing ourselves, he goes balistic on the person behind the desk, who subsequently is Grace, from Ferris Bueller's Day Off. She must have been fired by Ed Rooney and now rents cars at airports for a living. She plays a desk clerk that has decided to take the Thanksgiving holiday a little sooner that she is supposed to. Martin comes in and she starts by saying, "Can I help you?" Martin replies, "You can start by wiping that f***ing dumbass smile off your rosy f@**ing cheeks. " From there he goes into an F-Word filled tirade about how her company left him in the middle of f***ing nowhere with f****ing keys to a f***ing car that isn't f***ing there. It is one of the funniest moments that I have seen in any film because you don't expect it from a Hughes film.
Planes... is a heart warming film about family, friendship and good will towards men. It is also a wickedly funny movie and it will stand the test of time and I think in 30 or 40 years from now, it may be looked upon as Hughes best film. Candy and Martin are wonderful in here and it is really a treat to watch them work together.
9 out of 10
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Tue Jun 13, 2006 8:00 am
Thegun
On autopilot for the summer
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 10:14 pm Posts: 21777 Location: Walking around somewhere
Re: Planes, Trains & Automobiles
Very funny and warm movie with two awesome leads. Many funny things throughout, but much like many Hughes films, theres one scene that stands out above the rest. That of course is Steve Martin's meltdown at the airport with at least 10 f bombs in less than a minute. That part of the movie is simply hysterical. Very good movie with some great laughs. John Candy was great at playing someone endearing at the same time annoying as hell.
A-
Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:35 am
Darth Indiana Bond
007
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2005 11:43 pm Posts: 11346 Location: Wouldn't you like to know
Re: Planes, Trains & Automobiles
The best comedy ever, no film makes me laugh so hard, the meltdown of course, and Steve Martin's character in general. God I miss when he was the greatest ever. What then makes this a great film is the touching story that doesn't come across as mushy or corny, but subtle and near somber at times.
A+
Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:55 am
Gulli
Jordan Mugen-Honda
Joined: Mon May 01, 2006 9:53 am Posts: 13403
Re: Planes, Trains & Automobiles
You fidget with your ball alot!!
Brilliant comedy, Martin was in a rich vane of form here.
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 10:14 pm Posts: 21777 Location: Walking around somewhere
Re: Planes, Trains & Automobiles
Candy turning into the Devil and Martin's reaction is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. This whole movie is just amazing.
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Thu Jul 23, 2009 6:30 pm
Darth Indiana Bond
007
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2005 11:43 pm Posts: 11346 Location: Wouldn't you like to know
Re: Planes, Trains & Automobiles
Darth Indiana Bond wrote:
The best comedy ever, no film makes me laugh so hard, the meltdown of course, and Steve Martin's character in general. God I miss when he was the greatest ever. What then makes this a great film is the touching story that doesn't come across as mushy or corny, but subtle and near somber at times.
A+
Make that an A, and how can I miss an actor's past career when I was born the year this came out, so stupid I am
Steve Martin's rant at the airport is classic. Great comedy.
Tue Aug 07, 2012 5:31 pm
Terminator1997
George A. Romero
Joined: Mon Oct 11, 2004 10:30 pm Posts: 9773 Location: Enjoying a cold pint
Re: Planes, Trains and Automobiles
One of the best comedies of all time. John Candy and Steve Martin give arguably the best performances of their careers.
A
Tue Aug 07, 2012 10:37 pm
Algren
now we know
Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 9:31 pm Posts: 67688
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
This is a funny film though not a patch on Uncle Buck. I am just surprised I've never seen it before. Candy makes the film. Martin is good but when he overacts it loses something, although his Marathon Car Rental rant is gold. Good holiday film with some priceless scenes of outrage and bad luck. I also love the small roles of Michael McKean, Kevin Bacon, and Dylan Baker. Oh, and the post-credits scene. I wonder if this was the first film to have a post-credits scene.
B+
Fri Dec 29, 2017 5:29 am
Price
Gamaur's sex slave
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2005 7:15 pm Posts: 8889 Location: Los Pollos Hermanos
Re: Planes, Trains and Automobiles
It seems it was The Muppet Movie in 1979, followed by Airplane a year later.
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Fri Dec 29, 2017 1:02 pm
David
Pure Phase
Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 7:33 am Posts: 34865 Location: Maryland
Re: Planes, Trains and Automobiles
John Hughes himself used one a year before this in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
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Fri Dec 29, 2017 1:09 pm
Price
Gamaur's sex slave
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2005 7:15 pm Posts: 8889 Location: Los Pollos Hermanos
Re: Planes, Trains and Automobiles
And Young Sherlock Holmes in 1985 has one of the most famous ones, that almost always gets cut from TV showings (if it's not a pay TV channel), and that has a very important piece of information setting up future sequels that never came to fruition.
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