Rewind: Films of the 60s, 70s, 80s – Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987)

by RICHARD WINTERS

Some of my lady friends from the office suggested I watch and review this film for my column as they consider it to be the ultimate Thanksgiving Day movie. If other readers have suggestions for movies for me to see and review that were released between the years of 1960 and 1989, then feel free to drop me a line. Don’t worry, with my “connections” I can probably dig up even the most obscure ones, so go ahead and suggest whatever. Of course, even if you suggest a movie that you really like doesn’t necessarily mean I will like it, but if it helps create the healthy, spirited debate that we have about movies in the office then all the better.

This movie’s plot, which is threadbare and predictable and pretty much a one-joke, deals with a middle-aged businessman named Neal Page who is trying desperately to get home to Chicago to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with his family. During his trip he inadvertently meets an overweight, slightly obnoxious shower curtain hanger salesman by the name of Del Griffith (John Candy). Neal initially cannot stand the man, but is forced to sit with him through his plane flight when he is not able to get the first class seat that he had reserved. Unfortunately due to a snowstorm their flight is rerouted to Wichita, Kansas and the two men find themselves paired together again as they try any means of transportation possible to get themselves to the Windy City. Of course along the way they begrudgingly start up a friendship.

Martin is okay as the exasperated businessman. This film marked a transition for him as he was now moving away from roles where he played clownish, vapid, but lovable idiots and more into crusty and curmudgeonly middle-aged men. He is basically used simply for his annoyed reactions at all of Candy’s crazy antics and for that part he is fine, but there are a wide assortment of other actors that could have played the part just as well if not better. Martin at times still goes back to some of his old shtick like the dopey way he puts on a clenched teeth grin when he is trying to run real fast, which I never found to be particularly funny when he was doing it way back with skits on Saturday Night Live and still don’t find funny when he continues to do it now.

Candy is by far the best thing about the film and ends up saving the movie from being an uninspired, goofy mess. The character does at times border on being a caricature, but fortunately writer-director John Hughes pulls back just enough to let you see him as a real person. He does indeed have some laugh-out-loud moments. I chuckled at the way he tries to clear his throat when the two men are stuck in a motel room together. The part where he manages to get both his coat sleeves stuck on some car seat levers and he is forced to drive the car with his two legs is hilarious. I also liked the way he gyrates to a Ray Charles song that he listens to while driving and the conversation that he has with a policeman (Michael Mckean) when their burned out shell of a car gets pulled over is a classic. I thought the idea of having him be a salesman for shower curtain hangers hit just the right note of absurdity and the fact that he carries around a little box displaying all the different types of hangers he has was novel.

The only thing I didn’t like about the character is that at the end we find out that he is somehow rendered homeless simply because his wife died 8 years before. This doesn’t make a lot of sense, for one thing he seemed to have a lot of success selling his merchandise, so I’m sure he had money and for another thing there are many men and women whose spouses die, but that doesn’t mean they no longer have a home to go to. To me it just ends up being a cheap excuse for sloppy sentiment and should have been avoided.

The late Hughes’s writing and directing leaves a lot to be desired especially for the sophisticated viewer. The humor that is used is extremely broad and many times downright cartoonish. He seems to be either not confident in himself as a filmmaker, or in the intelligence of his audience to ever be subtle and subdued, but it would have been nice if a little bit of that had been thrown in. He also uses way too many poor plot devices that are simply there to propel the paper-thin story along and would be considered hack writing at most and something that a third grader could come up with. For instance why does the engine of the train that the two men are riding in suddenly break down? No logical explanation is given and what are the odds of that happening as well as having Neal’s rental car missing when all the rest of the cars are there. There is also the cab driver named Wolf who decorates his cab with all sorts of pornographic pictures and other provocative ornaments, which is at first funny until you realize that he supposedly works in Wichita, which is a small conservative city and no one would be riding his cab for long and he would go out of business. If there is no truth to the joke then the joke will fail, which it does here. The same goes for the character of the crude, gross, and very hick pickup truck driver that relies way too heavily on stereotypes and seems to be put in solely as filler.

I did like the fact that the movie was filmed on-location as the stark wintry landscapes do indeed put the viewer in the holiday frame of mind. I also liked the fact that for the most part real snow is used. I was born and raised in Minnesota and I can spot the fake stuff right away and I always find it annoying when it is used. I liked the fact that many performers from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off appeared in brief cameos including Ben Stein and Edie McClurg, although it would have been nice if they were given a little more to do. Kevin Bacon also appears as does William Windom who is amusing as a one of Neal’s clients who can’t decide on what photo layout to use. I was disappointed that he wasn’t given any lines of dialogue, but the fact that he does reappear at the very end after the credits makes up for it a bit. I also must mention the burned-out skeleton car that the two men drive in, which is the damnedest looking thing since the bus filled with bullet holes in The Gauntlet.

The music score is awful. It has too much of that tinny, synthesized ’80s sound that does not sound original and does not fit the mood or tone of the picture in any way. It also gets overplayed in certain scenes and hurts the films overall enjoyment.

I would say this movie would be great for the whole family as it does rely a lot on the broad, fast paced humor that most kids love. However, there is one scene where Martin goes into a long, F-word laden rant with McClurg when he can’t find his rental car. The rant in itself is pretty funny, but some might say it is not appropriate for children. Of course these days I have heard kids as young as six or seven using the word and I have also heard it used just in casual conversation by people I pass by while walking the streets of Indianapolis, so trying to shield children from it may be futile as they will all sooner or later hear it in abundance anyway.

My Rating: 6 out of 10 stars

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Last Time on Rewind: Avanti! (1972)
Coming Up Next: Apartment Zero (1988)