Planes, Trains and Automobiles Still Wins Thanksgiving, 39 Years After Its November 25, 1987 Release

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Planes, Trains and Automobiles came out on November 25, 1987, just before Thanksgiving, and 39 years later it is still the film I put on that week. John Hughes wrote and directed it, with Steve Martin as the uptight marketing executive Neal Page and John Candy as the shower-curtain-ring salesman Del Griffith.

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The plot is straightforward. Neal wants to get home to his family in time for the holiday, and Del keeps turning up and making the journey worse. Flights are cancelled, trains break down and a rental car goes missing. It sounds like a standard odd-couple comedy, and it is, but the details are what make it special.

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The two leads are perfect. Martin is brilliant at barely contained fury, and Candy is lovable and infuriating at the same time. The scene where they wake up in a motel bed together and the car rental counter argument are among the best comic set pieces of the decade.

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But the reason it has lasted is the ending. Hughes was already known for teen comedies, and here he showed that he could be sentimental and honest about loneliness without making a fuss. Candy has a moment near the end that I find quietly devastating.

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Do you watch it every year? And which scene do you quote the most? I will not say which one I use, because it involves a lot of swearing.