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Planes, Trains and Automobiles

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Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJohn Hughes
Written byJohn Hughes
Produced byJohn Hughes
Starring
CinematographyDonald Peterman
Edited byPaul Hirsch
Music byIra Newborn
Production
company
Hughes Entertainment
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • November 25, 1987 (1987-11-25)
Running time
92 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$30 million[2]
Box office$49.5 million

Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a 1987 American comedy film written, produced, and directed by John Hughes. It stars Steve Martin as Neal Page, a high-strung marketing executive, and John Candy as Del Griffith, a goodhearted but annoying salesman. In spite of their differences, they share a three-day odyssey of misadventures trying to get Neal home to Chicago in time for Thanksgiving Day dinner with his family. The film received critical acclaim, with many praising it for Hughes branching out from teen comedies, and for the performances of Candy and Martin. Watching it has become a Thanksgiving Day tradition for some.[3]

Plot

Route taken by Del Griffith and Neal Page in the film

Neal Page is an advertising executive on a business trip in New York City, eager to return to his family in Chicago before Thanksgiving, which is in two days' time. After a late-running business meeting with an indecisive client, Neal has horrible luck trying to get a cab during rush hour. As he bribes a man to let him have a cab he's hailed, it is unwittingly taken by a third man. Neal gets to LaGuardia Airport just as his flight is delayed. While waiting, he meets Del Griffith, a loquacious man who sells shower curtain rings, whom he recognizes as the man who "stole" that cab. To his chagrin (and Del's delight) Neal is then assigned a seat next to Del on the crowded plane to O'Hare.

Due to a blizzard in Chicago, their plane is diverted to Wichita, where they must spend the night. Neal is unable to get a room, but Del – a traveling salesman – has successfully secured one, and Neal reluctantly accepts his invitation to share it. During check-in, Del mistakenly takes Neal's credit card. In the small room, Neal loses his temper over Del's irritating behavior, and Del criticizes Neal's lack of gratitude for his hospitality, but they make peace and awkwardly share the only bed. While they sleep, their cash is stolen by a burglar.

The following day, with air travel still prohibitively delayed, Neal buys them both train tickets to Chicago, but with seats in separate cars. However, the locomotive breaks down near Jefferson City, Missouri, stranding its passengers in a field. Neal takes pity on Del struggling with his trunk, and they are reunited. They travel on a crowded bus to St. Louis, where Del raises cash by selling curtain ring samples to passersby, as earrings. Neal offends Del over lunch and the two angrily part ways again.

At the St. Louis airport, Neal attempts to rent a car, but it is not there when he gets to the lot, so he returns to the terminal where his profanity-filled tirade offends the agent. He attempts to hire a taxi to Chicago, but furiously insults the dispatcher, who punches him. By chance, Del arrives at the scene in his own rental car, and takes the dazed Neal with him. As they drive, they resume arguing, and after nightfall, Del nearly gets them killed by driving in the wrong direction on a freeway. While they compose themselves by the side of the road, Del's carelessly discarded cigarette sets fire to the car's interior. Neal initially gloats, thinking that Del is liable for the damage, until Del reveals that he'd found Neal's credit card in his wallet instead of his own and used it to rent the car.

With their cards now destroyed in the fire, Neal barters his expensive watch for a motel room, only for himself. Del has nothing of value, so he attempts to sleep in the roofless car. Neal eventually feels sympathy for Del and invites him in from the cold. They share Del's collection of miniature liquor bottles and laugh about the events of the past two days. The pair resume driving to Chicago the next morning, but their badly damaged car is impounded by the police as unroadworthy. Del persuades a trucker to take them into Chicago, riding in the semi's refrigerated trailer.

At a Chicago "L" station, Neal sincerely thanks Del for getting him home, and they part ways with affection. As Neal rides a commuter train to his neighborhood, he thinks about the trip, recalling some of Del's odd comments and silences during the journey, and it occurs to him that Del hasn't actually been trying to get home himself. He returns to the station, where he finds Del still sitting. Del explains that he doesn't have a home, and that the beloved wife he's talked about died eight years earlier. Neal brings Del home with him for Thanksgiving dinner, introducing his family to his dear friend.

In a post-credits scene, the client from Neal's Tuesday meeting is still in the conference room trying to decide which ad to choose, with a partially eaten Thanksgiving dinner on the table.

Cast

Production

Filming

Planes, Train and Automobiles was filmed in 85 days,[4] mostly in Batavia, New York, and South Dayton, New York.[5] A scene that takes place in St. Louis was filmed at Lambert International Airport.[6][7] There was also a scene in Braidwood, Illinois at the Sun Motel.[8] Rewrites Hughes did during filming made the amount of footage he shot much larger than what the original screenplay needed, and the first cut of the film was three hours and forty-five minutes long.[4] A sub-plot about Neal's wife not believing him, and suspecting that he's with other women, was cut.[4] Test screenings were poorly received, with audiences perceiving Del as a freeloader and Neal as a patsy; to address this, the director and editor restored a sub-plot about their credit cards getting mixed up and dialog showing Del's intention to repay Neal.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to Planes, Trains & Automobiles features a mix of rock and roll, country and pop. The frenetic musical score by Ira Newborn makes extensive use of the folk song "Red River Valley," including a cover of Johnny and the Hurricanes' rock and roll version, "Red River Rock," performed by the British group Silicon Teens. Among other tracks is a cover version of "Back in Baby's Arms". The song, popularized by Patsy Cline, is performed by Emmylou Harris. Another popular song used in the movie is "Mess Around" written by Ahmet Ertegun and performed by Ray Charles. A cover version of Six Days on the Road was used in the film, it was performed by Steve Earle & The Dukes. The film also featured the contemporary pop song "Modigliani (Lost in Your Eyes)" by Book of Love, using both the original single and the Requiem Mass Remix. A special instrumental version of "Power to Believe" by The Dream Academy, which the band recorded at John Hughes' request, is extensively used in the film as Del Griffith's unofficial theme. A cover of "Everytime You Go Away" performed by Blue Room is played over the final scene and the credits; Hughes planned to use Paul Young's well-known hit version but was denied the rights by the record company even though Young approved of Hughes' planned use of the song and wanted to see it included.[9] The soundtrack album was released in 1987 as a physical vinyl and compact disc, but has since gone out of print. It is available for download on iTunes.[10] "Everytime You Go Away" and "Power to Believe" were not included on the album (the soundtrack instead featured the original version of "Power to Believe" with lyrics). The instrumental version of "Power to Believe" would not be released until 2014 when The Dream Academy included it on their compilation album The Morning Lasted All Day: A Retrospective.

Release

Box office

The movie opened in American theaters on November 25, 1987 (the Wednesday before Thanksgiving), and finished third for the weekend, grossing $7,009,482. After its first five days, the film grossed $10,131,242 and stayed in the top ten for seven weeks. The movie finished its twelve-week American run on January 22, 1988, with $49,530,280.[11] The production budget was $15 million.[2] The film was released in the United Kingdom on February 12, 1988, and topped the country's box office that weekend.[12]

Reception

The film marked a widely noticed change in the repertoire of John Hughes.[13] It was greeted with critical acclaim upon release, a surprise since Hughes was considered a teen angst filmmaker.[14] It also got two thumbs up from Siskel & Ebert, with Gene Siskel declaring it John Candy's best role to date.

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 92% rating based on reviews from 62 critics. The site's consensus states: "Thanks to the impeccable chemistry between Steve Martin and John Candy, as well as a deft mix of humor and heart, Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a hilarious, heartfelt holiday classic."[15] On Metacritic it has a score of 72% based on reviews from 22 critic, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[16] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B+" on scale of A to F.[17] The film is featured in Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" collection. Ebert wrote that the film "is perfectly cast and soundly constructed, and all else flows naturally. Steve Martin and John Candy don't play characters; they embody themselves. That's why the comedy, which begins securely planted in the twin genres of the road movie and the buddy picture, is able to reveal so much heart and truth."[18]

Casey Burchby of DVD Talk said, "John Hughes, like a lot of other filmmakers who specialised in comedy during the 1980s, knew how to explore a varied range of tones in crafting a full bodied movie that went well beyond the one note comedies that are par for the course. Hughes took comedy subgenre such as the teen film, the buddy movie, the family comedy, and the road film, and boosted these flattened out, cliché bound stories with robust characters capable of generating believably absurd cinematic situations. Planes, Trains & Automobiles displays Hughes' powers at their height, as well as Steve Martin and John Candy in two of their very best roles."[19] While some reviewers were critical of the sentimentality and silliness seen in the movie, which affected the ability to convey emotional range,[14] most applauded the humor itself.[20][21][22][23]

Leonard Maltin called the movie a "bittersweet farce," adding that Hughes "refuses to make either one (Martin or Candy) a caricature—which keeps this amiable film teetering between slapstick shenanigans and compassionate comedy."[24] Maltin added that the movie was "hurt by an awful music score."[24]

Post-release

Themes

Argun Ulgen categorized Planes, Trains and Automobiles as a lively portrayal of in-person interactions between people of different economic classes: "people curse, make out in public, speak in platitudes, and retell the same jokes; generally, they are coarse and loud, imperfect, but not without love."[25]

Home media

Planes, Trains and Automobiles had its first DVD release on November 21, 2000, when a 480i widescreen version of the film was issued on DVD in the United States. The DVD featured its original English soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and English subtitles; but had no foreign language options for subtitles and audio.[citation needed] The same 5.1 English audio track was later included on 576i DVDs issued in European territories the following year.[citation needed] The UK, Danish and Finnish releases include a stereo version of the German dub and Finnish, Swedish, English, German, Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, and Turkish subtitles.[citation needed] Both the Italy and Spain editions include French, Italian, and Spanish stereo dubs; and have Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, Italian, Croatian, Greek, Hebrew, and Slovenian subtitles.[citation needed] The Swedish DVD, on the other hand, is the most limited in features, only including the English audio and Swedish subtitles.[citation needed] An American "Those Aren't Pillows!" DVD edition of Planes, Trains and Automobiles includes a mono Spanish dub and English, French, and Spanish subtitles.[citation needed] The same day, Wal-mart issued an exclusive version of the edition that included a digital copy of the film.[citation needed]

The film's first United States Blu-ray was released on September 25, 2011, as a Best Buy exclusive.[citation needed] Canada's first Blu-ray of the film, also issued on September 25, was a Future Shop exclusive of the "Those Aren't Pillows!" edition.[citation needed] The Blu-ray was released in the United Kingdom on September 26, 2011, Australia on July 31, 2013, and Germany on February 5, 2015.[citation needed]

On October 18, 2004, the UK DVD was issued as part of a Digipack Paramount Pictures' collection I Love 80s Movies: John Hughes Classic 80s, which also included Pretty in Pink (1986), Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986), and Some Kind of Wonderful (1987).[citation needed]

Remake

In August 2020, a remake was reported in development, with Will Smith and Kevin Hart starring as the leads.[26]

References

  1. ^ "Planes, Trains and Automobiles (15)". British Board of Film Classification. December 7, 1987. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  2. ^ a b Dan Zinski (August 17, 2020). "Will Smith & Kevin Hart Starring In Planes, Trains & Automobiles Remake". Screen Rant. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  3. ^ "Planes, Trains and Automobiles Is Being Celebrated as the Ultimate Thanksgiving Movie of 2020". MovieWeb. November 26, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Hullfish, Steve (April 13, 2019). "ART OF THE CUT with Oscar winner, Paul Hirsch, ACE". Pro Video Coalition. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  5. ^ Greenwood, Marcia (November 22, 2017). "Planes, Trains and Automobiles filmed in Batavia: Behind the scenes". Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester, New York: Gannett Company. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  6. ^ "5 Movies With Locations in St. Louis". FOX2now.com. July 17, 2014. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  7. ^ Gordon, William A. (1995). Shot on This Site: A Traveler's Guide to the Places and Locations Used to Film Famous Movies and TV Shows. Citadel Press. ISBN 9780806516479.
  8. ^ "'Planes, Trains & Automobiles' motel in Braidwood site of prostitution bust, drug overdoses". WGN TV. March 29, 2019. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  9. ^ Paul Young on Twitter
  10. ^ iTunes Store Retrieved December 14, 2014.
  11. ^ "Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)". Box Office Mojo. Los Angeles, California: Fandango Media. Retrieved March 25, 2019.
  12. ^ "UK Weekend Box Office 12th February 1988 - 14th February 1988". www.25thframe.co.uk. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  13. ^ Mathews, Jack (December 15, 1987). "'PTA' Transports John Hughes Beyond His Teen Comedy Image". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. p. 1.
  14. ^ a b Carr, Jay (November 25, 1987). "'PLANES, TRAINS' NEVER GETS OFF THE GROUND". Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts: Boston Globe Partners, L.P. p. 34.
  15. ^ "Planes, Trains and Automobiles". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
  16. ^ "Planes, Trains & Automobiles". Metacritic. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
  17. ^ "PLANES TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES (1987) B+". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018.
  18. ^ Ebert, Roger (November 12, 2000). "Planes, Trains and Automobiles". Chicago Sun-Times. Chicago, Illinois: Sun-Times Media Group – via RogerEbert.com.
  19. ^ Burchby, Casey (October 20, 2009). "Planes, Trains and Automobiles". DVD Talk. Retrieved August 7, 2011.
  20. ^ Boyar, Jay (November 27, 1987). "PLANES, TRAINS' A PERFECTLY GOOFY COMEDY VEHICLE". Orlando Sentinel. Orlando, Florida: Tribune Publishing. p. D1.
  21. ^ Janusonis, Michael (November 27, 1987). "Flights of comedy, down-to-earth characters Martin and Candy are on a roll in 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles'". Providence Journal. Providence, Rhode Island: GateHouse Media. p. D-04.
  22. ^ Maslin, Janet (November 25, 1987). "Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)". The New York Times. New York City.
  23. ^ Schickel, Richard (November 30, 1987). "Worst-Case Scenario: Planes, Trains and Automobiles". Time. New York City: Time, Inc. Archived from the original on September 5, 2009.
  24. ^ a b Maltin, Leonard (2006). Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide. New York City: Signet Books. p. 1009. ISBN 0-451-21265-7.
  25. ^ Ulgen, Argun (November 14, 2017). "'Planes, Trains and Automobiles' Celebrates Its 30th Anniversary at a Time We Need It Most". PopMatters. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  26. ^ Jr, Mike Fleming; Jr, Mike Fleming (August 17, 2020). "'Planes, Trains & Automobiles' Gets Paramount Pictures Remake With Will Smith & Kevin Hart Starring; Westbook, Hartbeat Produce". Deadline. Retrieved November 22, 2021.
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