Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987): Holiday Comedy Classic

0:00 H in a world where podcasts reign supreme. Two Friends dare to ask, do you even? Movie? Hosted by filmmaker Enrique Kuto and movie aficionado David Denyer spoiler alert, Steve Martin and John Candy just made it please star play stars. They have nothing in common except the next seventy two hours stick with me. Do you feel this vehicle is safe for highway trap? Yes?

0:52 I do, Steve Martin, there's your other hand, John Cannon, the toll two tools, planes, trains and automobiles. Those are a love. Hey, my friends, and welcome to another episode, the inaugural Yes episode. We are setting sales. What's on sale? What's on sale? Well, so you were near Black Friday because it's almost American Thanksgiving kids, Rue, and I am your host, Enrique Kuto here with my good buddy and co host Double D David de Noiyang early, which, by the way, it is but the worst way to show your thankfulness is to be French.

1:36 Yes, so I'm afraid we're I'm sorry about that. We're gonna have to ask you to leave, but no, no, we're here today to talk about Easily, one of my favorite movies. I'm not a big fan of saying a movie is my quintessential favorite or even the best movie ever. That's something I'm not comfortable with. But this is, without a out, always in my top five, if not always in maybe even my top three with stuff like Terminator two or maybe even a Diehard depending on my mood. But I will say that, no matter what my mood, I always love planes, trains and automobiles. It's I mean, it's it's a masterpiece in every sense of the word in my opinion. And it's also like a quintessential film to our friendship, like that's that's what friendship held you and I's friendship.

2:28 Yet Sun of a Bitch. Interesting first I'm hearing of this? Oh is that as that a fact? So there's no record of us, you know, doing anything in regards to possible you know, buying t shirts together that were planes, trains and autmobiles, or even doing a photo shoot with our good buddy Randy Jennings. Please no, David, just say it now. David and I one time years ago we weren't feeling the holiday spirit. We were not, so we decided to well, how do you do you know, how do you remember it coming? I remember it coming about to where we were both having like really days, if not really shit weeks in November. In November November, and we were I don't know if we had done our Thanksgiving marathon at this point yet or not. I don't know if that was a thing or not. No, because at that point we were under the foolish belief that there were only like three Thanksgiving abste right, yeah, And so I I was at work and I texted you and I was like, what would you think about doing the planes trains photo shoot? Because for one, that's an image that we both cry whenever we see. But also he's referring to the image of John Candy and Steve Steve Martin holding the trunk.

3:29 Yeah, which we'll get to all get all that, all the hits are coming right up. But yeah, So I texted you and your response back was if you can get a trunk, we'll do it, you know, yeah, yeah, Because I was like, if you if you can locate a trunk, yeah, which, because thing, what is the thing that you know you don't have laying around is the is John Candy's incredibly memorable trunk, which I found out by the way that John Hughes had it. I took it off set and had it put in his office, like in one of one of his offices in Wichita, of all places, had an office in Wichita, apparently, so that was where it was. I found out that little tidbit of trivia, that little nugget, little nugget, a little detail, but yeah, you said if I get a trunk, we'll do it. And it just so happened that I knew a couple of people and I texted one of them. It's like I know a guy. I was like, Hey, do you buy chance have like a just like a traveling trunk? And they're like, I think I do. Why And I was like could I possibly borrow it? And they're like yeah, if you come get it. So I texted you and I was like, we're on.

4:24 And then I think it was the next day, if not two days later, we met with Randy and took all those photos. Yes, So once you found the trunk, I immediately jumped into action, and I went to thrift stores and started finding the closest thing I could find to John Candy's wardrobe. I ended up the only thing I couldn't find was a big blue park up. Yeah, you wanted to find the Parker. I ended up having to buy a brand new one, which was like seventy dollars. Yeah, and I was like, why have I done this? And I think the only only thing you wanted was the hat. I think the hat was the hat I had to buy. Yeah, yeah, no, no, And we also, I mean, see now I'm getting really nerdy. I had to decide which hat because he actually goes through a few different different ones, So I chose the Aviator one with the flaps, and yeah, the rest is history. We had all these pictures done, and I don't know that that was a very wholesome moment in our friendship. Absolute, but planes, trains and automobiles, in my opinion, not only the ultimate American Thanksgiving film, but one of the best films of one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, John Hughes. Absolutely, I think clearly one of his best films and his first film to be mature in that means. He was doing a lot of films with teenagers. He was doing a lot of The Breakfast Club, and they were all great films. But to have him have a space for John Candy and Steve Martin was a big, big moment, big deal, and I mean, Planes, Trains and Automobiles is one of those

5:56 movies that I didn't really fall into a space with of like having it be in my mema repertoire of films probably until my teens. I actually have I actually have an interesting story about my first experience of the movie, which we'll get, which we won't talk about. No, well, I can't lie though. Actually I didn't see Planes Trains for the first time until I was in my twenties. Okay, yeah, so it was not on the holiday radar, yeah, as it were. Well, and I think so many people forget that it's not a Christmas movie, it's a it's a Thanksgiving movie, because I think it gets lopped in with the Christmas lineup all the time, does it. I feel like it does, because that was maybe that whenever I would go because there whenever the Christmas movies would roll out at like Walmart or Meyer, I would always go check out those because they'd have the displays of all of them. And ninety percent of the time, yeah, you would find Plane Trains zomboils with all the Christmas movies. Well, and I mean, I mean, it is a holiday time movie. It's there's a lot of snow in it. I mean, I think it could be enjoyed any time of year, but of course you and I almost exclusively enjoy it on Thanksgiving evenings. Yes, along with Dutch another John Hughes Penn highly Oh this one's that one's highly underrated. Plain Strains I think mostly gets the do at dessert. I think most people really like planes trains. So and of course i'd be remiss if I didn't invite our guests. Oh yes, yes, go get him my very own Dell Griffith. That's John Candy's character in Planes Strains. My very own del Griffith. What are they called now They're like it's it's it's a plush, but it's like a wrestling buddy plush.

7:30 And the way that they marketed this, I'm not plugging it anyway. It was it was. It was an Etsy thing. I know because it went out. They sold out in three minutes. I remember because I was sitting in the parking lot of my of my post office mailing something and I dropped everything I did to order this little guy. But I remember in the marketing Oh yeah, I know you, but to but what they said on there that made me want him so badly was they said, if you love planes, trains and automobiles as much as we do, then here's somebody to give a hug to when the movie's over. And I love it. So it's it's literally Dell in his outfit with his red mittens. He's got his blue jacket, his scarf, the details very got. His boots are undone, like they are during most of the film. But I'll tell you I'll start with my planes train story if you don't mind, Yeah, go ahead.

8:24 So when I first saw planes trains was during what I would call the dark times of my life. Yes, I like it. You're like, you're like, of course, of course, because it seems like like not to put you on the spot, but what it seems like you had a lot of great film discoveries during the dark times. Even though the dark times refer to when you didn't see a lot of movies. Well okay, okay, no, no, so those are like cute dark times. There was like times when I did go no, no, I'm talking about dark times. Is in like there was a year that I was unemployed and really depressed and basically and I'm not saying this with any gravitas, but all I did was download movies. And I'm a big believer that if you can afford to pay for movies, you should if you, I mean, unless you're watching it, you know, on tub or something. Yeah, but I would just download movies. And during that period of time, I spent the holidays alone, so I watched The first time I watched planes, trains and Automobiles was by myself in my bedroom on my computer screen while I ate a turkey sandwich on Thanksgivings. Go ahead, laugh, go ahead, loud. That's that's a hell of a way to laugh. Two parents, I'm not gonna laugh. Wow, that's a new one. I'm proud of you. Oh I've been saving that one for a rainy day. Oh so no, but that was the first time I watched it, and all I really remembered about

9:58 it was how hard I cried at the end, and that made me go, wow, this is a ten out of ten. And then I bought it on Blu Ray like a year later, and I started watching it every year. And but I think it really hit its critical mass for me when you and I bonded over Yeah. Yeah, absolutely, so that was a big moment for me. When you and I would talk about it, you were like, no, it's like one of the best movies ever, and I was like somebody else, Well, because I remember it. You used to basically signify the end of Thanksgiving and start of Christmas with it, because you would decorate your tree while you watched it. If I remember correctly, I did that a few ten times. Yeah, yeah, because I really can't even remember when the first like actual Thanksgiving planes trains in Dutch double feature happened. But that was probably eleven years ago. Is eleven years ago?

10:48 I mean as of the recording of this in twenty twenty three. Yeah, it was probably eleven. It might have even been twelve. No, no, no, wait, actually it probably was twelve or thirteen. Yet me think it would have been twenty thirteen. Okay, yeah, yeah, I ah, Enrique math I'm like, who was I dating? That's how I know when it was so and real quick. So, since you know that we are broadcasting quote unquote live, yes, Dave, I want you to do this mine with me. Okay, hand on your microphone, yes, bring it over to the front of your mouth more over over other way? Got it? Word you got it. Keep going, yeah, now point it towards now, Now, twist it towards your mouth. There you go, Now go like now, go like this and push your nose up and say I'm the podcast. No, but anyway, so that all being said, it is the Thanksgiving time of year when we're recording this. Yeah, I'm wearing my Thanksgiving Hawaiian shirt, which people are always surprised about, believe it or not. As sad as that story was, and I spent four I've spent four Thanksgivings completely alone, which I can't really say I recommend absolutely yes, But that being said, I am not I'm not black pilled on Thanksgiving. I like thanksgiving a lot to what are you has to be thankful for? A good point just till now now I have no explanation, but

12:18 no, that's for you, Dave. So you want to hear my first experience of planes trains, which actually wasn't what actually sold me on the movie. So actually, no, I was in the middle of saying something, well, then go ahead. Actually I was just going to say something. I think this will lead in to your point. Okay, all I was going to say is I actually love Thanksgiving. I love the concept of stopping all of the bs, yeah, and being thankful for the things you have and I don't. And I love Christmas very very much, and people are going to find that out as we cover a bunch of Christmas movies in December. But I love Thanksgiving. I hate when it gets overlooked. I like having a few weeks before we go crazy with the Christmas stuff where everything gets to be yellow and orange and brown. And so that's all I really want to say is I love Thanksgiving. I think that, and I think anybody who whenever I talk to somebody who gets all like, well, actually the Pilgrims were blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Those people are so annoying because I have too many things to say, so I'll just go with a very very simple Enrique is right and also handsome, and if the voice of God says it, then it's true. But no, this is true.

13:35 I love Thanksgiving and I think that. And I'm glad that we have a little movie that is heartfelt and fun and memorable and stars excellent cast members and it's about Thanksgiving. Yeah, because it could have just as easily been turned into a Christmas movie easily, very easily. And by the way, there is a history of Thanksgiving movies being turned into Christmas movies before they're made. Oh no shit, oh. One of my favorite, actually one of my favorite modern Christmas movies, Almost Christmas. It was supposed to be Thanksgiving movie, which is actually Wow, here's the thing, which is actually why movie, which is actually why Sweet potato pie is a lead thing. Now, not that people not that people don't eat sweet potato pie for Christmas, but that was it's much more a Thanksgiving thing that totally makes sense. And then if you and also if you haven't seen Almost Christmas, that is a movie that I cannot recommend enough. That is a fantastic That was like just one that we stumbled into in theaters, wasn't it. Well, you don't stumble into a movie in theaters? No, No. I saw the trailer in theaters with you. I was like, wow, this looks really fun, and then we went and saw it and we really enjoyed it. Same with Christmas with the Coopers, Christopher the Cranks, No, no, no, oh, Love the Coopers, Love the Coopers, thank you, No, no, You're right. Love the Coopers was another one. That came out around that time that I really enjoyed. But no, So, I mean, I understand. And as a filmmaker who's I've made Thanksgiving movies and Christmas movies, there's a lot more money in the Christmas movies, absolutely, and a lot more appeal the Christmas movies can sell overseas, there are a lot

15:07 more areas. I mean, nobody celebrates Thanksgiving the way we do, and in the time period we do. I mean even Canadian Thanksgiving. I mean, what do they have to be thankful for? No, but but it's in October and ours is in November, right around Christmas. So anyway, I just wanted to say big ups. I think Thanksgiving doesn't get enough love. And I put my money where my mouth is. I made a Thanksgiving we called Awkward Thanksgiving. Yes you did, and I'm still very proud of it because it was a movie about families and togetherness and all of the good that good stuff. Do you even movie will be right back, welcome back to do You even movie. So, but on that note, David, I sincerely would love if you would please leave. Pretty sure you've heard this story. I'm just I'm not leaving. He didn't even listen, man, I swear no, no, I would love to hear the story. I think you've heard it before. But so then I then I'll turn off my head so so and then you'll leave. So it had to have been, uh, circa two thousand let me thank you for a second. It had to have been either two thousand and eight or two thousand and nine. And by this point I had my my permit or did I have my license?

16:32 I got my license. I have my license. At this point, it's like watching Boyhood. We're having a great time here. I had my licen at this point, and our Hollywood video was right by our Kroger, and I was allowed to go get dinner from Wendy's and go to Hollywood Video. But my parents are very very strict about not going on the Interstate Way because there was a turn to go the back roads to our house, and they were like, make sure you take the long way around. Don't go across the interstate Way. And I was like, okay, yeah, I won't. I totally did. Ah, he's a bad son. So backing up a little bit, so I got a hot video and I pick up. By this point, I had really gotten into going into a lot of the classics I hadn't seen, so I had a list thanks to IMDb that I was kind of marking off, and I know two titles in particular I got this round was Running Scared, the Billy Crystal comedy action comedy Playing Strength Automobiles, which I had never seen before. I'd heard about it and I think I'd seen a couple of scenes on TV, but was super curious. So I got those two movies and I go out and I cross on the interstate and I get into an accident. I get into a fender bender. Oh my god, car, A car hits me because I turn left on a red light. So it's entirely my fault. I mean I would have blamed you regardless. But yeah, long story short. So I had my rentals I got I didn't end up getting food because my parents got called. My mom had to come down with the car and everything, the real tragedy.

17:53 So I have these two or three movies, and by this point in the week, like I know that I have to go in front of the chords because I have to go get my license reviewed and the accent reviewed and everything. So I remember watching Planes Trains and being like that was fun, and then I don't really remember much else about it, because I think I was just in a state of mind that I was just worried about my license at that point. So fast forward about two years later. I'm at Walmart, like I said, and I got into their holiday selection and I see planes trains as with them and it's the uh, those aren't those aren't pillows Edition? Okay, so I didn't have it. So I was like, well, shit, I remember liking this, but I couldn't remember a damn thing about it. So I bought it along with some other movies ticket home and watched it, and I remember balling my eyes out in my bedroom when that shot comes of them carrying the trunk at the end, And from that point on, I was like, this is just a great movie, Like it's got so much into it, with the heart, the laughs, and I mean, we'll get into all that. And that was basically when I was like, well shit, I really really liked this movie, and I was kind of bummed I hadn't seen it earlier. And then I kind of started showing it to the family too, who had seen it previously but also not a long time. It was probably on cable or cinemax or what happened?

19:02 Well, my parents even said they rented it when they were when they were living together early on, so they had gotten it a VHS copy up and watched it. Yeah, they were like, let's watch this one. She's having a baby's too close to home. Let's let's watch this other one. So but yeah, that was that was basically my initial introduction into it. But it didn't take until another couple of years for me to pick up on what a frickin' phenomenal movie this is. And I mean, where do we start? I guess is the question? And a deeply rewatchable thing. Absolutely. Well, first of all, my first question you is when you saw planes, trains and automobiles? Yeah? Were you already a John Hughes fan? Yes, absolutely, because by this point I had had access to the video cabinet that I've that I've mentioned before, and we had a copy of The Breakfast Club. I grew up watching Sixteen Candles and Weird Science on Comedy Central basically anytime I could catch it. My first exposure to Weird Science was the USA t USA TV show. Yeah, yeah, that made me want to find the movie. Yeah. Actually, I think I think I knew about the TV series before I about the movie, so that totally tracks.

20:00 So anyway, I really was into John Hughes early on, but I think I was mainly sticking to the staple of the Brat pack, So sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club, Weird Science, and like the other ones mixed in there that I can't think of all of a sudden, Oh, pretty in pink and she's having a baby, like we mentioned, so like I love she's having a baby. That's the one that I think is underrated. Absolutely. I didn't get to those later ones probably until the last decade, I would say, And in my honest opinion, I think Hughes is just unbeatable when it comes to a producer, a writer, a director. I mean, the dude's resume, which again i'll get into here in a bit, is just absolutely NonStop. And I can't understand why. I can't understand why people haven't seen a lot of his movies, especially Plainstrants has gotten his crack.

20:47 But Hughes my generation, which is a little bit older than your generation. Yeah, in a lot of ways, Hughes wasn't known for his directing at that point. He was known for his writing and his producing because We Got Home Alone. Yeah, John Hughes at his production company. Yeah, and I think that that's something really worth mentioning too. That made him a household name to me. Also the Dennis the Menace movie. Yep, yeah, he has his resume. Just to give you a taste if you didn't know, I mean, director of sixteen Candles in nineteen eighty four, Breakfast Club in eighty five, Weird Science the same year, Theerris Bueller's Day Off, which actually has a lot of alumni in this movie too. It's pronounced anix Alumnis She's having a baby in eighty eight, Uncle Buck eighty nine, Curly Sue in ninety one. But then people don't realize his writing credits. He did Mister Mom in nineteen eighty three, which is which actually I didn't know.

21:33 Yah, was the first John Hughes movie I loved, Yeah, because I caught that on Like Stars when I was probably seventeen, and I loved it. Yeah, I really love it. It's fantastic. And then National Lampoon's Vacation. He's the guy that penned the Griswolds like he is the inventor of the Griz' that was the other one. I was trying to think of that, like put him on the map, and then producing what was pretty in pink and eighty six The Great Outdoors eighty eight Dennis the Menaces Enrique mentioned, and then also one of my personal favorites that I've really come back around to love even though it's pretty silly, is his remake of Miracle on thirty fourth Street. I love that. Well, it's so good. I'm so sorry David that that the remake of a movie about putting Santa Claus on trial was a little out there for you. It was more so the fact.

22:17 Do you remember the text. I think it was a couple of years ago when I was like, dude, you should revisit Miracle on thirty fourth Street. And you're like, you're like, is it good? And I'm like, it's really good. And then you're like, it's a little silly, but it's a lot of fun, and like I almost got offended. I was like, it's not silly, like it's heart. Look I'm not I'm not when it comes to Miracle on thirty fourth Street. I'm just saying I found it a little hard to believe. Yeah, like, how how did they get the death penalty off the table so quickly in that courtroom. That's all I'm saying. Oh my god, I'm sorry, Santa, You're guilty, and this state we execute the mentally challenged. I will say, if you haven't seen the original in a while, that's become like a go to for me every year. I was like a light version. I was blown away. Last year I sat down and watched It's a Wonderful Life, so the first time and for even ever, not a Christmas movie. No, it's a snowy, heartfelt movie. There's a little Christmas, there's a little Christmas a little bit. Yeah, so but no, I think that that one. I'll allow that one to be a Christmas movie simply because it always aired, it was synonymous with Christmas. It became very much synonymous with Christmas.

23:22 That was a film that became for a while public domain, and because of its public domain status, it basically became a Night of the Living Dead was Halloween's public domain movie. And then It's a Wonderful Life was Christmas's public domain movie. Yeah, and I kind of love that, actually like it. And also It's a Wonderful Life was very panned at the time, but maybe we'll cover that someday. So John Hughes writes and directs planes, trains, and automobiles. Yeah, and he was even quoted as saying he wanted to make a more mature film and it's based off of the personal experience he had where he was actually in He was either in Wichita or New York, but he had to get to one and it took five days. I'm sure he had to get back to Chicago. Chicago, Yes, that's where he famously he had. It took five days for him to get back and that was when he kind of got the inspiration for it and penn the script in three days, mind you. Well, yes, I believe that. But Hughes had a lot of stories like that about like writing whole scripts in three or four days. Yeah. I think he really means the first draft.

24:23 Yeah, but that's not me trying to negate that the dude was genius. Oh, genius indeed, And also not to mention the first draft one hundred and forty nine pages, which we'll get to. Yes, because last year we were treated to something we thought we would never get, which was all and I do mean all of the deleted scenes we're missing one. Well, yeah, well when it's over an hour, how long? It was fifty four minutes. Fifty four minutes of movie that we didn't have before on a ninety three minute movie already h which which I gotta admit as a filmmaker, there's part of me that doesn't want to like that. Yeah, because there's part of its like but at the end of the day, John Hughes thought this was the better movie. Yeah, Like you and I were talking before we started the show about how you were mentioning, like, I wish that the John Candy stuff where he was like pretending to be Elvis stuff, the bath I wish it was in the movie. And my response was, I like that we didn't see him in the bathroom much that way when Steve Martin goes to clean his face, ye you know, spoiler alert that way when he cleans his face, you know, it realizes it's underwear and screens it hits better good. But that being said, I'm a guy who will punch in the August twenty ninth, nineteen ninety seven into my Blu ray of Terminity so that I can see the ultimate cut that's everything edited back in Yeah, because there is for me, and maybe this is this way for you.

25:48 There is a point where I love a movie so much that I kind of lose abjectivity, okay, and instead of like having objectivity of like, oh, I really like this movie because it's this. At some point, you fall so in love with the concept, you fall so in love with the backstory, fall so in love with the characters, you just want as much of it as you can get. Yeah, and that's it. Yeah. I feel that way about Terminator too. I feel that way about there's one other movie that Tremors. Well, there's not a lot of extra stuff for Tremors. Oh, Gone to the Dead. That's another film where like I'll watch the mall hours cut yea, even though it's like a completely different film. Yeah, absolutely is. I think honestly too, what goes into with the release of the deleted scenes was it changed a lot of character motivations and just general attitude. I think that there's a very clear reason that that they made those changes. Yeah, because Dell is not likable a lot of the time. Yeah. But I'll also I'll say this sincerely, I've done movies, you know, produced and directed movies where my my character was the comic relief. I did this flick hold alone in the Ghost House where my character was comic relief. Yeah, and when we were editing it, we probably cut out seventy percent. You said you cut the lines because the problem is when you're filming. Not problem, but when you're filming, you want you get as much wrong material as you can. You don't. You don't sit there and go like, let's not tell that joke. You just roll the camera and get it. But in post, as you're watching it, you're like, you know, it's kind of exhausting and annoying this guy spouting jokes

27:22 every five seconds. But then you're like, well, good news. We can choose the best ones. Yeah, and we can take those and keep those. Also, as you're watching it on film or on video or on screen or whatever, you get a better idea of how it plays. And I think that that's a major thing. I think John Hughes sat down with that work print and was like, it's a little much. He's coming off as too much, but it is fun. It's fun to feel like you get to know the character is a little bit better. Yeah, so let's let's get into it. So the IMDb. The IMDb synopsis for Planes Reasonable says as a Chicago advertising man must struggle to travel home from New York for Thanksgiving with a lovable oath of a shower curtain ring salesman as his only companion.

28:08 Well, I mean lovable oaf indeed, here's my rewrite okay. Neil Page played by Steve Martin is an ad executive on his way home to Chicago for Thanksgiving with his family when a snowstorm strand him in Wichita with loudmouth but well meaning shower curtain ring salesman Del Griffith played by John Candy, who joins Neil and adventure to help Neil get home by any means or wheels necessary, where hilarity ensues and through time Neil may just find a new friend. Okay, here's mine. Man goes home for the Man goes home for Thanksgiving? Almost doesn't there? You go, Hey, I'll leave. That's fine if you don't mind, that would be lovely. We would really appreciate it. But no, no, no, I mean that's a pretty solid way to nail down the movie. Yeah, And I think honestly, where you need to start with this is understand where these two huge stars are in their careers.

28:56 So Steve Martin at this point has done Serget Pepper's Low Heart's Band. In seventy eight, he did the Mundy David That's an album, that's not a movie, it's a movie, and he doesn't Alice Cooper song in it too. Of Courss did the Mommy Movie, Sallas Cooper did the Muppet Movie in seventy nine, does The Jerk in seventy nine as well, then goes to do Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid in eighty two, Man with Two Brains in eighty three, Three Amigos in eighty six, Little Shop of Horrors in eighty six as well, and rocks In in eighty seven. So at this point Martin's on fire, so naturally he is a big name grab for this movie. John Candy is in The Silent Partner, which is a movie I want to show you soon. I mean, I'm always down to watch them. Steve Martin, John Candy, Oh listen you mumble lot go on.

29:37 John Dandy Silent Partner in nineteen seventy eight. Of course, Second City TV in seventy six. He does appearance in Stripes in eighty one. St famously Yes, Yeah, that stood for Second City National Lampoon's Vacation eighty three. He does Splash in eighty four, Brewsters Millions in eighty five, Summer Rental in eighty five, also Little Shop of Horrors in eighty six, and then Spaceball's eighty seven before this, So he hasn't even done Great Outdoors or Uncle Buck yet. Well that makes wow. You know, that actually surprises me because Dell Griffith is a character that's so subtle but so like thick and memorable. And when I say thick, I mean like a tapestry. He's got a lot of layers to him. Yeah, I'm surprised that that came first because I would almost imagine, you know, Uncle I mean Uncle Buck's another classic, another movie that'll really make you love John Candy, although I I mean I I've come close in the past to liking Uncle Buck as much as planes, but I'm just not quite there unless we're talking about the Uncle Buck TV series with Kevin Meane. Parents are dead. I'm gonna flip a pancake with a shovel. Also, we miss your parents. Yeah, your parents are gone. So but no, that is an interesting thing. So he was kind of he was on his way up to a matt Well. And it's also important to point out that John Candy didn't never reached his piece.

31:08 No, Unfortunately, sadly he passed away way too young in the nineties. You probably haven't written down be so he never even got to hit that massive stardom he was heading towards, which is it really is a shame. It's a shame. And I mean he left behind such a great body of work though for us to enjoy. But yeah, there is definitely pieces there still of stuff you hear about, Well, he was going to be optioned for this, or he was gonna be up for this, and it's like, I'm so mad we never got to see him be Batman. Oh well that would have been interesting. Hey you could hurt me, God, you can kill my parents, But I'm a genuine article. What you see is what you get. I have little bad ears and no nipples on my chest piece.

31:55 Yet do you even move? He will be right back, welcome back to do you even movie? And I think honestly going back to Candy as well, is just we have such a lovable character with him in this movie that when the tragedy strikes it just hits you so hard with his character. Yes, uh, that's what makes the movie special to me. Yeah, it's it is absolutely a tour de force with these two. Their comedic timing playing off each other, the chemistry is just spot on. And I mean, what I really really love most about Plane Strains is it's a road trip movie. But it's not like a free road trip movie, like there is an assignment in place, like they have to go from point A to point Usually road trip movies do have a purpose, yeah, like of where they're heading. Yeah, but this one, I mean, I know, I know that I'm a little bit more of a globetrotter than you. Yeah, but have you have you ever failed to get at home? Not that I can recall right now, that's okay, that's okay. I mean it was it the older you get, the further well until you know a few years ago with the airlines got a little funky. But for a while, you know, the older or the further into time you got, the less likely it was you'd have those incidents where you just don't get home, but I would be flying out of Chicago's really bad because your O'Hair is right off the lake, so you could literally be told like and the runway's frozen. You're

33:29 like, how's it frozen already? Like like effect, and you're like, I guess I'm gonna die. So I mean, I I've had those incidents. I one time, I was coming back to Ohio after a long stint away and I was in West Virginia visiting some friends. I needed a rest, and I was. I was eating dinner with them and a blizzard came in that turned out to be about ten times as bad as they thought it was going to be. Oh god. Now when I say it was ten times as bad, what I mean is they were closing the on ramps to the highway. Holy shit. So I had to jump in my car ditch my friends, be like, thanks guys for everything, thanks for the bye, And they were all like, why don't you just stay one more night.

34:10 I was hungry to go home. I had I had been living away from home for three years. I missed my mother, I missed my friends. So I jumped in my car and drove as snow was pounding down, and every time I found an on ramp it was closed. Wow. I ended up no joke in the pouring snow driving on a one lane road through a farming area. Yeah, found an on ramp to the highway that hadn't been closed, got up on there and drove the rest of the way to Ohio on Interstate seventy Jesus, And when I stopped to get gas about two hours later, Yeah, my car was encased in ice. No, but I mean like completely, Like I had to take a knife and pop my gas thing open in order to put fuel in because it was it was a literal like it looked like a dome of glass over the entire car. Wow.

35:00 So I had to sit there and go wam and then and then when it cracked a little, I would take my knife and like and it would thank goodness that Volkswagen had already been through hell with me. But like, there's things like that I've I've I've had car trouble in the middle of nowhere and had to sleep at the rest area and wait for like that stuff happens, and when it does, there's this element. But the best part and why I think he came up with this, why I think John Hughes kind of ran with this was whenever it happened to me, when I wasn't alone the amount of human experience. Let's call it experience. Let's not call it vicious insults, fights, aggravation, that's fair. The amount of human experience that came from it was he mets. Yeah, and I'm I'm off I'm known as a Pollyanna. Yeah. You know, I'm a very positive person and I cannot tell you how much that frustrates some people. Yeah, because we'll just be sitting there and they'll be like, well, great, we can't get we can't get back for a whole other day. And I'm like, at least the car has a heater, We're not going to be cold tonight. And they're like, yeah, but there's nothing neat. I'm like, I got three candy bars out of the vending machine before I ran out of ones. There you go, and they're like, you know, and I'm like, you can have two of them, that's okay. Like that is literally what I was like. And this is back when like vending machines didn't have credit card swipers, so it literally be like all there is is a vending machine and all you have is the change on the bottom of your car. Yeah, you know, it's not even that you're broke it's that you don't have access to cash. So that's another reason I really like this movie because I've traveled this country. Yeah, many many times driving. I

36:32 actually have taken a Greyhound bus fifteen sixteen hours straight if you were done the greyhound. I've done a Greyhound once and it's been a how far ago six hours? Where'd you go Dayton, Ohio to wear from Columbus to Michigan? I believe close to like travers, Yeah, travers travers. So I took it from Dayton, Ohio to Rochester, New York. Shit, it's like it's about it's like I want to say, it's actually about eighteen hours. Yeah, it was. It was an experience that would imagine. That's why I laughed so hard when we watch it and he goes, have you ever traveled with bus before? He's like no, He's like, your's change. It was probably not going to improve so anyway, so sorry. But that's that's why I think this movie connects with so many people, and why I could totally see an incredibly creative person like John Hughes sitting there after that experience and going I gotta like, literally, I bet you, I bet you that during that experience on this. On the first two days he was trying to get home. I bet you he was like, God, I miss my wife, God, I miss my kids, Like I can't wait to see my wife. But I bet you, by day five he was like, I gotta get to my typewriter. I gotta get to my typewriter.

37:34 I have to write a script about this. So going back to Hughes in our cast, would you like to play the game of who was almost in planes Trains that he was wanted? Did you mean so? Supposedly Hughes wanted Tom Hanks to play Neil Page and John Travolta to play Del Griffith, but the studio said no to Travolta because he was quote box office poison at this point. What did you have done that point that made him box office poison? I'm gonna guess it would have been so for Paramount. Let's see if this is eighty seven eighty seven, So wait, man, because hadn't you done like at that point, he would have done blowout already done that, right, that was a hit. I would think, Yeah, let me check, because I believe that he I'm trying to think at this point he would have been Grease would have been his big one, of course, it would have brought him. And then in regard to the news for him, yeah, I'm really curious why you would be boxed to blow out in eighty one, Staying Alive in eighty three, Too of a Kind in eighty three, Perfect in eighty five, I remember that movie. Look Who's Talking?

38:39 Is actually two years later eighty nine. Oh okay, so that was his comeback. Yeah, Perfect was probably the one that bombed him. That's the one with him and Jamie Lee Curtis is the Aerobics Instructors. Yeah, nobody remembers that. No, it's rightfully notoriously a bad movie. But then on top of that, there was also rumored to be Dudley Moore, Bill Murray and Robin Williams for Dell. Really you know, of all of them, I can only see Robin Williams. Yeah. And then this is the one that kicks me. Is Chevy Chase or Keaton for Neil Page. I could totally see chevy Chase. I could see Keaton as well, but I couldn't see Keaton saying yes to that role at that point because he was in there, like listen, asshole, I'm about to be bad. But like, uh so, if let's say, let's say he got Travolta to be Del Griffith, and for those listening, that's John Candy's role. I want to make that clear to you guys in case you know, not everybody speaks fluent planes, trains, and automobiles. What you do do you how do you think he Well, first of all, I think Travolta could have done something interesting with it, probably, yeah, because he's a very good actor.

39:44 But what do you think, like, would he be in a fat suit? Do you think he would like have grown a big beard or something like? Do you think he would have tried to hide that he was John Travolta. See, I think at this point Travolta is still Eye Candy, So I don't know. Yeah, I don't think they would fatten him up. No, I think they would have to have to make because it's not like they cast John Candy in his you know, his usual role. Yeah, I mean because Candy is I mean, yes, he's the the wild guy in this and Steve Martin's the straight man. Yeah, but Candy is still relatively subdued. I mean, it's some of the best John Candy. The thing. The thing that I love about John Candy in this film is we have all these movies where he's all like wide eyed and goofy and you laugh your ass off. Yeah, but he there are multiple scenes in that movie where his eyes tell the entire story. There's that part where remember when he when they're in the hotel room toward the end of the film and he says, at the end of the day, bare minimum, you have a woman to go home to who loves you. And the way he like, he likes smiled. He's like yes, and he's like, but his eyes are like way off. Love is not a big enough word to describe it.

40:53 It's it's incredible. Yeah. And also when he's sitting in the car alone, just the scene before that, and he says like, well, I guess I screwed this up till may. I guess that's not gonna happen, you know, Like he's such a force to be reckoned with him. Yeah. Absolutely, And Steve Martin, I mean, he does a great job in it, but I feel like he got so many opportunities to be more than what people knew him as. Yeah. Obviously he also had like a five times longer career. Yeah, and nothing against him, it's just but del Griffith is the heart and soul of the movie. Yeah and yeah, I'll get to my other point in it. So because I don't want to get I can get emotion. I get it. I get it. So let's let's get into the movie. So we open with Neil Page is at an executive meeting and he is sitting with Ferris Muehler's dad in this office and this guy is at the head of the table, who is the owner of the company looking at these two cover shots. Well, he's the owner of the company who hired his firm to make a marketing marketing, and he can't decide on these two covers. And you see Martin is trying to basically leave the office because he's got a ticket for o'herry's gonna fly out at six and the excis it's Monday, Thanksgiving Thanksgiving today, so it be Tuesday, Tuesday, yea ok. Yeah, So literally he finds out that they're they're gonna hold off until after the holiday to make the decision. He rices off to the airport and in doing so, he has to catch a cab and that's when we meet a very young Kevin Bacon. Yeah, and they make eye contact in what I can only describe as a man who lived on the East

42:23 Coast, the most New York City scene I've ever seen, just two men locking eyes across the way. He's on the other side of the street, on the sidewalk, and they both know they just they have none meet each other. To get the hell out of Dodge because there's a whole part, you know where He's like, I got to go because he has a six o'clock six o'clock ticket, which is just insane to make a while working a full day name his buddy says. So he goes racing, and unfortunately Bacon gets the cab, and so Martin tries to hail down another cab with this lawyer guy, and in doing Griffith comes up and takes the cab from both the guys while they're in a coach. Yeah, he doesn't even notice that they're there. He's a loof. And that's one of the big things about Dell Is Dell is a loof. He has no desire to be rude or to be combative, but he is very he's very aloof. So fast forward a little bit. They get to the airport and Steve Martin sitting in the waiting room across from Dell, and he keeps seeing this guy that he recognizes, and then they flash back to the shot where Martin actually at one point chases after the cab, opens the door and calls him the son of a bit and you get this look of yeah, you get this look from Candy.

43:34 So then he's like, Candy's like, I know you, don't I. And that's when Martin tells him he stole his cab, and he's like, well, that doesn't sound like me at all, stolen anything in my life. It's good to point out too that Candy, like we said, has this trunk the entire movie, and at one point when they lift the trunk up, there's one of the shower. No, they are all kinds of little easter eggs like that. Yeah, So long story short, the two don't necessarily hit it off because Martin, through the first like I would say, twenty thirty minutes of this, is just wanting to get home, not deal with anybody, and he's just fed. Oh well, yeah, he's just he's a studious man. He's trying to get home to see his family and he well, and also think about this, it took so long for him to get back. He had a long weekend. Yeah, he was gonna be able to take too. He was gonna get home on Tuesday night before Thanksgiving yep, and not have to be back in the office till Monday. Yeah, he was gonna have a night. By the way, I'm self employed. That sounds amazing. I would love to have a off Tuesday before Thanksgiving and back at work on Monday. Yeah. But yet here I am recording a podcast with Day. The best thing too about the scene is Candy feels so bad and he's like, He's like, let me get you a coffee, a beer, slurpy slurpey glass of milk, and then going back, what about a hot dog? Then coming back to those deleted scenes, there's an extension of this scenes so specifically where he looks over at Candy and Candy is just holding this giant chili dog smoking a cigarette. They cut a lot of him smoking stress out, Yeah they did, and it just so long story short. Martin gets to the plane, he has a

45:06 first class assignment, realizes he's been bumped and he's in a coach seating, gets to a seat and guess who he's sitting right next to. Isn't this funny? Isn't this a coincident? What a coincience? This is? So that the two of them sit down and uh, he's trying to make conversation with Steve Martin's character, and again Martin just wants nothing to do with it. He just wants to get home and then can He starts taking his shoes off, the socks and starts waving him around. My dogs are barking, My dogs are barking. Do you even move? He will be right back. Welcome back to do you even movie? So New York City? I tell you, they fly, they get, the plane goes off, they end up having to detour to which it because there's a huge snowstorm that moves in. And now they realize that all the hotels are booked, there's no flights, there's no hotels, and we get to see a very young Ben Stein announced that the flights are canceled and then smiling everyone, which is such a I guarantee you that is such a directory gag to be like to have him doing like action, Good Ben, good Ben? How about on this one just give a smile at the end, why would I do just just just do it fun like act like you loved saying, and then they use that one and it is very memorable because of it. Yeah, well at that point and ben Stein, Benn and Bueller, Yeah, Fesis Bueller's day off. So it is either it was the year before the year after this because yeah, you have I McClure, ben Stein, and Lyman Woodward,

46:38 who are three alumnis from Perispueller that made it into this one, right, So yeah, we basically then are treated to one of the best scenes where they go to get into a guy's taxi. His name is Doobie and Doobie's taxi. Doobey is played by the great Larry Hankin, and he has a co over. He's got his taxi. It's not a cover that's like a full pompadour. It's homemade. It's like three and a half feet high. Okay, it was like two inches three inches off his head and his taxi is just adorn oh yeah, with with nude women, Christmas lights, nick nack. It's the inside of like your best friend in high school's burnout Older Brothers basement pad. Yeah, like like after he just decorated it so chicks would like it. Yeah, that says about that's what he thinks ain't gonna be what chicks are gonna like. But and again going back to the deleted scenes, this is when we watched these for the first time last year that this this deleted scene in particular, like, well, I wonder why they cut this. Not really, Yeah, because Doobe is in the In the theatrical cut, they drive in the taxi, he's taken the long roads around and then about like two minutes later they get to the Brave would in the extended sequence is like ten minutes longer. Doobe straight up threatens Martin to kill him. And then at one point John Canty's like, now, Dooby, you don't mean that. It's you don't mean silly to take those thoughts.

47:58 It's silly to wait, Doobie, are you driving around in circles again? Because they've revealed it to extend the meter? Oh yeah, yeah, because he gets paid by the mile. Yeah, you know. Actually a funny story really is a quick side note. I was in Chicago a couple of weeks back or maybe a month ago, and I had an Uber driver and the Uber driver was telling me how Oh no, he's a nice guy. I like it. Dave just went, oh no, because I remember when you and John were in a text. Well that was John's fault, but that was his fault, he put the wrong address in. But the driver was telling me that the hardest part about that job is that people don't understand it's not a taxi. So when he gets in and doesn't follow the computer because he knows a faster way, they're like, hey, don't do that, and he's like, you already agreed to the price. I can't.

48:43 I can't run the meter up. There's no meter. There's no meter. Of course he said it in a thick accent that I'm not going to replicate, but but yeah, he was like, there's no meter. Like, I'm just going the way I know is faster. So but yeah, Dooby is dubious. Dube is dubious. Indeed. So they get to the braid would end and they have to you find out they have to share a room because there's no rooms available except for one, So they share a room. They get into the room and then we've realized that there is one bed in the room, singular bed, and it's I would call it. I wouldn't even call it a queen. I'd call it a full yeah. Yeah, not a twin. No, it's it's well. And the look they share because that Martin's panning the room and then goes back to the one bed, and then it cuts to Candy and he's just like he just has yep, okay. So we get to the funniest sequence then, which is the bathroom sequence. So they're unloading and everything, and Martin's in the shower, John Candy has done his bathroom duties, and they're waiting for the food to be delivered, and you find out that Candy has used up all the towels except for a washcloth except for one. And when I when he says when David says washcloth, he means a worsh cloth like a little a little it is the size of like you know, the envelope you get from the I R S when they decide they're gonna fuck you so And also in this scene too, there's just water all over the bathroom floor like it is flooded almost and Martin said that he actually got athletes for the first time since his teen's shooting that scene, well knowing what I know about grips and gaffers. I believe that. So he gets out of the shower and Candy has a So this

50:16 is where we had one of the best deleted scenes of all is there's a pizza delivery guy that rolls into the braid would end because Candy orders a pizza that is the most disgusting pizza that has garbonzo, beans, corn and all this stuff on it. It's got so much stuff on it that I've just never even heard of on pizza. And I lived in Jersey, where they make amazing I mean like I got a broccoli pie once that was amazing. But anyway, so the pizza guy comes to the door, knocks on it, and Candy's in the bathroom at this point with Martin, and he's like, He's like, doors open. He's like, well, no, it's not. And for like two minutes they go back and forth, and then Candy goes to the door, opens the door, and you realize the pizza guys on the wrong side of the hallway. Yes, because he's like, what room's going for? Yes, what's that door? Say? One eleven?

51:00 He turns around. Oh, so this is where we talked about their characters. Candy lays into this pizza guy. Yeah, he's really really really insult him in everything. And like I said, this is the extended scene. This isn't in the mood, this isn't in the final cut. So we get to the scene where Martin and Candy are laying in bed and you find out that the beer's exploded on the bed. There's a vibrating bead he turned on the massage sin. Yeah, which for those who've never had the luxury of taking a fine young woman or a confused young man to a fine vibrate in bed, it's a sign of pure quality. Absolutely. So the beer's exploded, Martin has to lay in a bed that's just full of beer at this point, and then Candy is smoking a cigarette in bed. He's cracking his neck, he's cracking his knuckles, he's clearing his throat, and Martin has had it and lays into him and basically says, you know, you've been under my skin since the moment that we left the airport and just continues to knock him down. And that's when Candy does, oh my god.

51:55 But here's something I want to mention that's really interesting about the film. So Steve Martin lays into him, says like, you're fat, you're stupid, you're cheap, you smoke, you're you're a slob, you do all these things, and he just like really beats him down. And then John Candy defends himself with that incredible speech about you know, on the genuine article, what he sees, what you get. I like me, my clients, my customers like me, my wife likes me. That's incredible. But what I think is more special about this movie as we are talking about it now than talking about what he says, is when this happens in the movie, it's dead in the middle. Usually this is the kind of thing you would see right around the third act, or maybe even maybe in the middle of the third act, because that would institute like the moment where the characters are tired of each other and then they come back together. But instead we have it right in the middle. It like gets it gets it all out so quickly that then you have this moment you're like, well, what happens next? And that's where John Hughes really shines because he's like, well, what happens next is humanity humanity indeed, And that's where we go from there.

53:05 And that's one of the reasons I love this movie is it's John Hughes, in my opinion, and I think in a lot of people's opinions, is a master of formula. Yeah, he's a master of efficient storytelling. Yeah. And he was like, nah, this is how it has to go this time, and a brilliant move to make it, because at this point you get the flare up of the music, you get Dell delivering this amazing monologue, and then the two of them get back into bed and you know, differences aside, they go to sleep. Well, then in the theatrical cut, you think this guy is just a you know, random robber, it's the pizza guy. Yeah, the pizza guy comes back. So in the film, the guy who comes into the room and robs them, ye, steals their money while they're asleep, is actually the pizza guy returning for revenge for being treated like an idiot. Granted he was an idiot, you know, and apparently a thief and a thief. So the next morning they decide that they've got to find a way back home, and Candy finds out that he's got a buddy in the railroad, and they decide that they're going to hop a train and try to make it the rest of the way.

54:01 And that's when we get the film debut and one of the best debuts of Dylan Baker, who was in Trick or Treat Happiness just as the the pedophile, Yes, but film debut as Owen, who is the son of Gus comes into the parking lot and he looks terrifying. He is sincerely so intimidating as he walks up power curtain. Fella, fella, No, it's a it's a great ye. And he well, he references pigs. Yeah, and then he's like snorting like a pig with a mouthful of chew. And this and this sequence is also great because one of the elements that that plays a role in every decision is Dell has been everywhere in America as a traveling salesman. Therefore he has a friend everywhere. Yet like like when he gets to the braid Wood in the dude is thrilled to see him. Yeah, he is, so usually when he goes somewhere and introduce and and people know Dell, they're always happy to see him. Of course, Dell is also you know, I don't want to say, he's like a sucker, but he's he's well meaning and he'll accept whatever he gets. Yeah, and that definitely pisss off his travel companion. It does, indeed, because so they have to go to Stubbsville or no people train Subsville, stubbs people train don't run out of Wichita lesson you're a cattle or a hog. So they have to go to Stubbsville. So they have to climb into the back of this pickup. And that's when Candy's like, you know, it's a little farther their original destination. How much father sixty seventy miles? No more than

55:32 seventy five, No more than ninety, definitely under ninety. And as they're driving along, they're freezing the they're freezing. Do you think it is out here? One run? Do you even? Movie? Will be right back, welcome back to do you even movie? So they get to the train, They get on the train and basically you think they're gonna part ways because Neil wishes del well, because Neil tells him and they get that. They get on the train, the train breaks down and then they have to now meet up again. Well, he sees Dell dragging his giants trus giant trunk by himself and just picks it up because the train breaks down. They're all walking through farmland that is not currently being because it's November, so the farm land, their farm is done tilling and cultivating this season. So they're all walking across giant hunks of sod and it's a really cool scene, it really is. And so now we've gotten we've we've done our plane, we've done our plane, our train, and now we're going to go and try to get on to first of two automobiles. Yes, the first of two automobiles.

56:46 So they decide that dell or Neil decides that he's going to try to get a rental car or no, wait, this is the bus. No, this is the bus. Yeah. They all walk to a bus station. Yeah. So they get in the bus station and they're singing songs like ninety nine Bowles of Beer on the Wall and the flint Stones, and then Neil tries to do one which is three Coins in a Fountain by Frank Sinatra, and the whole bus turns around. Man, he stops dead in this track. Flint stones made the flintstones. That's the most you can sing before he gets fair enough. So they get to the airport, Neil decides he's gonna rent a car, and then we are treated to probably what is the most famous scene of the movie, I would say, because this is where it gets its R rating. Oh yeah, yeah, So he gets dropped off. He gets dropped off at the uh where is rental car? Yes, And as he was it's like a massive parking lot the size of like several malls. Yeah. And as he arrives, there is no car in the spot, but there's like tire marks, like it's been peeled out, Which I love that because that's just a just extra insult to injury. That's like, well there was a car here at some point, yeah, exactly.

57:51 So now he has to walk back. He can't get the shuttle to pick him up. No, he misses the shuttle. Yeah, So he has to rock across the runway. It's freezing cold at this point. He has to go down ramps and he almost gets falls down. He almost gets smashed by a semi truck. Yeah, more than once in this movie. His briefcase gets smashed more than once as well too. So he gets it to the rental place and Eadie mcclug in. One of her best roles is talking on the phone to what we understand as a family member talking about the Thanksgiving dinner, not paying any mind to him, and he's got his tie tied around his ears. Yeah, he's trying to stay warm. And I also want to point out she's not. She could be a lot crummier to it. Yeah, because she's literally because when he walks up and he says excuse me, she just gives him the fingers and the one finger, the one second finger, yeah, and then says all right bye, like she's just had fun and the sh was like, how may I help you?

58:37 And then she notices he like looks really rough. So she's actually not even that bad. No, she's not. But at this point Neil is done, rage addicted, and because he opens with the first thing you can do is wipe that smile off your rosy fucking cheeks. And this is where the film guarantees it's our raid. Nineteen f bombs. He says that were nineteen times, nineteen times. I want a fucking car right fucking now. Actually he says it eighteen because EATI mclearg replies back with, may I see your rental agreement. I threw it away. Oh boy, oh boy, what you're fucked. And that's it's one of the best scenes. Uh. And I love the idea that they that I bet you hughes purposely was like, let's not have any other efforts. Yeah, that way, that scene stands out. I can fully believe that. So at this point, now he has to leave and he goes out to get a rental car, and that's when he insults the rental car provider guy. No, it's not a rental car he's getting. He's getting taxi. That's the thing, because he says, like I want to get a taxi. He's like where to and he's like Chicago, and he's like Chicago airlines are faster and you can get a free meal. If I wanted the want of a joke, I'd follow you into the john And then this guy lays him out, punches him and falls into the road and almost gets his head run over a second time, but the car stops and out gets the driver Del Griffith, so dell Is his chest does again for laying in the road, asking what happened, and the

1:00:07 taxi driver's like, get out of here, and he's like, He's like, you would sensitive asshole help my friend. He's like with pleasures, yeah yeah, and just pulls them away. Oh my good thing that cop shut up when he did. Otherwise you'd have to lift your schnis to tie your shoes. Martin in the next scene in the car just has a high pitched voice. I mean, it's probably the silliest joke in the movie. Really enjoy it. So then we get to the two of them driving in this car together and uh, Candy is driving it first, and he is what and sit next to Martin of course, and he's messing with it or no, is it Candy's Martin's driving first? I think I'm trying to think, yeah, yeah, because Candy breaks the seat. Yeah. So there gets to a point where Candy's driving and he wants to take his coat off.

1:00:50 But he also before this has done one of the other famous scenes in this where he does Ray Charles mess around while he's playing it while Martin sleeps in the car next to him and he's getting into it. And they even they even did another version of it too, because I remember when you and I saw that in theaters, we were both shot well, I mean Yeah, that was a great scene. So he smoking a cigarette, he throws it out the window. It goes into the back seat unaware, and he starts to get hot because the cigarette starts to burn away at the car at this point, and if you're driving in the winter, yeah, you know, the cars get hot. So he tries to take his coat off and gets wrapped around the seat. So now he's got both his hands stuck. He can't do anything. The car does a full one eighty and goes on to the other side of the road unaware of them. Wakes kneel up and heels like, it's a little hot here, you should take your jacket off.

1:01:36 Well, well, what happens is he goes off the off ramps. Yeah, and then when he gets back on, he's so distracted he gets he goes the wrong way, and so they're driving down the wrong way, and we see these two people in a car next to them on the other street and they're like, oh my god, they're going the wrong way. So they start honking trying to get their attention. Try, you're going the wrong way. You're going to kill somebody. I love the first time I say out, you're going the wrong He's like, how do you know where we're going? Yeah, thank you, and Candy does an impression of them drinking. They're drunk. You know, this joker wants to race. He thinks they want to race. So then they look forward and two semis are going simultaneously side by side. The car goes between the semis, and while they're doing this, Martin looks over at Candy. Candy has now turned into a devil who's laughing. Which is my shirt by the way, Dave is wearing that shirt. Yeah, and and well, and then they're both skeletons.

1:02:25 There's all kinds of like like subliminates. So the car gets completely just demolished between these two semis. They're off on the side of the road, and that's when he gets out and reveals that unfortunately Dell took Neil's diner's card out of his walls and rented the car with it. So now this pisses off Martin because that's after they realize the car is also the car's also on fire at this point, yeah, yeah, because the cigarettes fully caught it. Now. Yeah, So they get into a fight and they end up getting the car back on the road and they go to this new little like little cabin area and they go inside. Their credit cards are melted, their wallets are melted. They have like little to no cash, and the owner of the end comes out and he's like, you know, what, what can I do for you? They want a room and this this point, no, they don't want a room. Oh yeah, Neil want wants a room, one room, one room. You get your own room. You pay for your own room, damn it. So then he only had the cost is forty two to fifty because at one hilarious point, he takes out the credit cards because he's like a let me charged, and he lays down visa diners like a gasoline card and they're just sitting there's like these aren't credit cards.

1:03:36 So he denies him and he's like, how much is the room? Forty two to fifty and he's like seventeen dollars and a hell of a nice watch. So he gives him the watch and then he gets his room. It is a goal. Yeah, it's a very nice watch. So Candy goes up and he's like I need a room too. He's like, I've got two dollars and a nice cassio and yeah, it's like the kind of watch you would expect El Griffith three words. So Martin's in the room and Dell's keeping outside. There's a snowstorm that starts falling. And during this whole movie, Dell has talked about his wife Marie very very little, except that he's crazy about her. He has a photo of her that he always puts on his bet on the nightstand where he's sleeping. Yeah, so he's talking to her and he's like, you know, well, Marie, I did it again. I found a friend and I smothered the poor, poor soul.

1:04:20 And that's when Martin goes out, opens the door and sees the snowfalling. He's like, you're gonna freeze out there, invites him in, and then we're treated to one of you and I's all time favorite scenes. The two of them have basically let bygones be bygones, and they've gotten into the mini bar together. Oh yes, well, well, and I get where Steve Martin's coming from, because he's like, I paid like six hundred dollars for this room because I gave up my watch. Yeah, so I'm gonna raid this mini bar. So they're just drinking like tequila rum meeting bags. Yeah, is this a good combo or what it is? Probably too tequila? Probably not. So they get into a discussion about know, haven't been home in years, is what Dell says, and he's like, you know, at the very most, at the very the very least, you have a woman to go grow old with and that you love. And you know he delivers just this. You know, love is not a big enough word for what I feel for my wife. Yeah, yeah, Dell definitely cares about his wife the whole hell of a lot. And then the next morning, yeah, they are, and I want to mention real quick before we get to that. Also, like, as they're laughing it's time to go to bed, it literally feels like I'm watching them in summer camp. It's like, this is like summer camp. And Dell opens the bathroom door to laugh some more, and everywhere I loved it. I love it. So the next morning they've got to leave and they get in the car and it's stuck in the snow. But then as they're rocking it, it accidentally backs up and just punch. The reason I love that scene so much because it's very broad humor. It's not the kind of humor that I that I think

1:05:51 makes this movie special. Yeah. The reason I love it is because then it cuts to a close up. It cuts to a close up of Steve Martin. He goes, oh, like because he's mad. He's still mad. He gave up his gold watch. He's still mad. So I love that little moment. All let's go. And then when they pull away, Yeah, I also love that as they turn out they had the going the other way. It's so good. So they're going down the road. The car is a piece of shit at this point, completely destroyed. The tires are bouncing, the cars scraped, and then they end up getting pulled over by Michael mckeanon as a state trooper. He asked them if they think the car is drivable, it is not. And then this is the deleted scene that we still have not found. So what happens is in the deleted scene they decide uh or they find out that they've driven three hours past Chicago.

1:06:42 They're in Wisconsin. Oh yeah, they drove right past. Yeah, I thought they drove the wrong way. They were driving away from Yeah, he says, they overshot it from what I could find. And then that's when they get into like a physical fight. And then that's why Candy in the one scene has a black eye. That's where I can't remember hearing that because because in the next scene, after they're kind of trapped, we go and this is one thing I love this movie, and this is an example how it flies by, even though we're taking over an hour to talk about it, because that at that moment. Then the next scene is they're sitting there after the car has been impounded until it can be made, you know, safe to drive on the State Highway. And and then Candy pulls up and he's with a truck driver and he's like, come on, we're gonna ride it. He's gonna give us a ride to Chicago. It's straight through.

1:07:23 And he's like, oh, we can't sit up there. He has a weird thing about that, and he has a black eye while he's saying all that. Yeah. So a lot of people take that to assume that like the truck driver slaunched him. Yea. So now there in I believe it was a cheese or milk. Oh my gosh, oshma gosh or whatever. I can't remember. It was cheese or butter. So now they're sitting in the back of a refrigerated truck in winter. Yes, and there is heading straight into Chicago. They finally made it to the Windy City. They finally made it where Neil's family is and where we assume Dell's family is. Yea. And now we get to the bus or to the train station training because and it's the rail system in Chicago. Chicago is a very nice rail system. And that is when the movie takes a turn, in my opinion, from being a good comedy to being a phenomenal film, absolute masterpiece of and I don't like, I don't use words like masterpiece lightly and I stand by it here. So now, as Neil gets I could talk about the scene forever. As Neil gets on the train and he's heading home, he starts thinking about what he's looking forward to. He sees his little kids, because he's got a daughter and a son and a little baby boy here's maybe a year old, and he imagines, I'm sorry, no, you're right, and he just he imagines the dinner, he imagines seeing his wife and smiling, and then he flushes back to Dell, kissing his ear and note, but that's the thing is he's is they they made it the way human memory works. He thinks about embracing his wife, which then makes him think about

1:08:57 when Dell and him embrace, and then he kind of chuck about it. But as he's remembering more and more about the time together, yeah, he realizes that the thing he never noticed was that Dell is so lonely. Yeah, no he is. And the like we said earlier, we get Marie mentioned throughout the movie, but we never really get more than just I love her. She's the best I will you know, I always love her. And then that's when he returns to the train station and lo and behold, there's Dell sitting. Dell's just sitting because he has nowhere to go. He has no end of the line. Yeah, he's just when he was headed to Chicago, it was just to keep being on the road with him.

1:09:38 And and when he says, what are you doing, Harry tells it Marie's been dead seven years, yes, for eight years, and he just never went home. Yeah, he says, I have no home. And then that's when Martin just gets this look if he's just so sad for him, and then he looks up and then we because the music swells yes, away them carrying the trunk down the street with towards the which was throughout the entire film the symbol of Neil showing that dell kindness was always helping him, and to me, symbolically that was about helping a person carry the weight of their emotions. And maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm looking into it too much. I don't give a shit. I mean, well, I mean, do I have to hit them? I'm right again, button Enrique is right and also handsome, Yes, thank you, but no. So now they're walking down the neighborhood. They're walking down Neil's neighborhood, which is a beautiful neighborhood full of big houses, and that's one of my favorite lines because they're walking up to the house he goes, he goes, Wow, you're a lucky guy, Neil. And then as they walk and he's like, I'll just you know, I'll just stay and say hello, you know, real quick or whatever. He's like, just come on, Dell. And I love it because they open the door and you know, his whole family there and they're happy to see him, and his wife is there and she has tears in her eyes. And then also it's mostly edited out of the movie, there is a little hint of his wife thinking maybe he's fooling around him.

1:11:03 So when she sees Dell, he's described to her on the phone and she says, hello, mister Griffith, Hello missus Page. There's that moment where she realizes, like, my husband isn't a liar, and you know, and now he's here, and I'm a big believer, Like I've been making movies a long time and that's my day job, and I'm a big believer that your mo That what tells the audience what the movie was about is the last thing you show and when you end and the movie. I'm sorry if I'm stealing your but at the end, after everybody's hugging and kissing, it cuts to Dell, and Dell smiles and it freeze frames that eighties freeze frame we all fucking love, or at least I do. It freezes, and then it fades out to show that Dell found what he needed, because the movie wasn't about getting Neil home from the holidays. It was about Dell finding something that was deeply missing from his life. And that, my dear listener, I pray you've already listened or seen the movie before we talk about it.

1:12:15 But that, my dear listener, is what makes this movie for me, a five star film. It makes me want to watch it every year when I'm with my loved ones. It makes me want to I'm sorry, like I'm now, you know, fuck it. This is my movie podcast, God damn it. This is what movies. This is what makes movies great. This is a movie that makes you want to be a better person because it's a movie that reminds you that all of your problems are yours, but people have their own problems, and sometimes you get so self absorbed that you don't realize that in front of you is somebody who really needs your help.

1:12:58 Because the whole movie is Dell helping Neil get home. Yeah, I mean Neil helping Dell is just carrying the trunk. Yeah, So that's the other element. So, you know, just the fact that when he's finally almost home is the first time Neil actually gets to sit and think about the other guy's life, maybe what he's been saying this whole time, Yeah, and then realizes that he really cares about it. He absolutely does. It's the essence of Thanksgiving, It's the essence of the holidays. It's the essence of humanity and it's and I love it. It's a John Hughes five star staple, Like this is prime Hughes because that's the one thing I've always loved about John Hughes is he's really good at the comedy, but he's really good at also showing you the mirror and being like, hey, can you relate to this character or have you taken into account like some of the people in your life that relate to these characters and not thought about their story in it?

1:13:45 And then the response is, well, no, I'm a vampire and I don't understand why you're holding this mirror in front of me. But no, John Hughes is just I mean, he has so many wins under his belt, and I mean even some of his movies that aren't really well known, like I really love Curly Sue. That's one I want to sell. I mean, I'd love to watch it again. Oh we can absolutely do that, but yeah, yeah, but I mean yeah, to bring it all home. Planes Trains is a perfect Thanksgiving film. It's a perfect family film minus the one scene. But I'm sure all your kids know, you know, what, how do you make a family through fucking let the F word fly come on, and uh. With that in mind, I am going to give this here on do you even movie? We have three ratings for when we have our finals. It's either a by it, a rent it, or a stream it. Yes, and of course because stream it would mean watch it when you have as to it. Yeah, rent it would mean drop a couple of coins to watch it, but don't own it.

1:14:39 And of course own it would mean this is something you will want to revisit many, many, many times. Absolutely, And this is a by it. This is we cannot recommend enough that four K, that four K with the fifty four minutes of eleited scene. Yeah, it's it's an incredible experience. It's something that that planes trains fans thought they'd never never get. Yeah, and you've got a retrospective on Candy, you got a retrospective on John Hughes. You've got a panel, a really cool little panel they did after they showed a bunch of critics the movie. That is a little interviews and stuff with Candy and whatnot. It's super super fun. But with that in mind, we also try to do you one more recommend and I'm gonna cheat this time because I'm gonna give you two recommends. Nope, show's over too, It's up. Where is it? Where is it? Please? No, David So. Dutch nineteen ninety one is another film that is a Thanksgiving movie that has a lot of that tie with you know, having the road trip but also finding yourself and finding the friends you have along the way too. Yes, and Dutch is a great one. Stars Ed O'Neil from Married with Children, Ethan Embery from a Lot of Stuff, but he's a boy, he's a young Ethan Randall. Yeah, and can't recommend it enough and it just started streaming again. It is so you can find it, so if you if you get a chance to watch Dutch, it is in my opinion, it's a lot lighter, yeah, but still very sentimental, very Hughes style. Yeah, totally worth watching it to a future episode.

1:16:03 I've noticed on social media people are rediscovering the rediscovery It's on that It's so awesome. I love that. And then the other recommendation I'm gonna give is one I know you like to twenty seventeen's All Nighter with Emil Hirsch and JK. Simmons. That movie such a good movie and kind of the same turn. You have a workaholic father who attempts to visit his daughter during a layover in LA only to discover that she's disappeared, and he is forced to team up with her awkward ex boyfriend to find her over the course of one transformative night, super fun, super heartfelt, and honestly, nobody knows that movie. So I mean I rented it when it first came out. Yeah, I would love for what people to find all nighter, but that my friends is playing trans Nomable The Bills nineteen eighty seven, John Hughes classic perfect for your Thanksgiving lineup? This I and thanks for stopping over me. I would also say by it. He doesn't ask me sorry, no, no, no, I stand with you. You're gonna say no, no, just rent it. It's fine, you know, just streaming if you can find it or whatever. No, I say, buy it. Absolutely. I can't get enough of those sound effects. So do you have anything else that you would like to say? Well, I will say that Thanksgiving movies, I do hope that they attract more audiences. I hope that we get more Thanksgiving movies. Absolutely, if you get a chance, you should check out Awkward Thanksgiving. That's my Thanksgiving movie. I'm very proud of it, and I just appreciate everybody checking out our inaugural episode of Do You Even Movie?

1:17:24 Thank You. We'll be back next Tuesday. In fact, we can say see you next Tuesday. That's not an appropriate out, but we'll be back next Tuesday with even more movies. And we're going to go and go and go, and thank you to everybody from the Freddy's Nightmares podcast we've been doing. Who's joining us on this adventure? We appreciate it. If you want to check out more, learn on more, go to do You Even Movie? Podcast? Or Sorry Things? Do You Even Movie? Dot com? I just bought it. It's do You Even Movie dot com? And you can email us at do You Even Movie Pod at gmail dot com. We'd love to hear from you. We'd love to hear suggestions, recommendations, anything like that. But now we're going to get out of here because I am eyeing some leftovers and leftovers, are you sure those are pillows? And who the fuck eats pillows? I hate David? I hate him. Until next time, kids, We'll see ye bye. Are they still going? Dave?

1:18:19 They got your number,