Planes, Trains and Automobiles - John Hughes

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, so last night the family watched Planes, Trains and Automobiles. 1987 was a good year for a lot of things, especially if you were a teenager at the time, or if you happened to like John Hughes, Steve Martin, and John Candy. I love all of John Hughes' great movies, of which there are many, and I despise his crappy movies, of which there are also many. Planes, Trains and Automobiles is one of John Hughes' great movies.

The idea of watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles as a Thanksgiving tradition was Roger Ebert's, who gave the movie a great review. Ebert mentioned that his family watches Planes, Trains and Autombiles every Thanksgiving in one of his editions of Roger Ebert's Home Movie Companion. We had trouble finding it on DVD, but my wife finally got a used copy from eBay.

If you've never seen this movie, it's an Odd Couple type tale about two travelers, one of whom is trying to make it home in time for Thanksgiving. Steve Martin is the fussy straight man, while John Candy portrays the funny sloppy guy. Various disasters stand in the way making it home on time, many of them caused by John Candy's character. (Candy plays a shower-curtain ring salesman, but he doesn't just sell shower curtain rings. He sells the best shower-curtain rings in the world.)

Planes, Trains and Automobiles has one of the highest ratings on Rotten Tomatoes that I've ever seen at 97%. But the movie deserves its high rating, as it's a real holiday classic. Some of the music sounds hopelessly dated and 1980's, but since those were my teenage years, I don't mind a bit.

The best part of the movie for me was the look of understanding and happiness on my daughter Mary's face during the climax of the movie. I think some of the plot was over her head, but in the end, she got it.