Plane, Trains, & Automobiles (1987) is well known for being “the only good Thanksgiving movie.” But that statement is selling the movie short. It’s not just, “the only good Thanksgiving movie” but also a good comedy with a lot of heart in it.

The film was written and directed by John Hughes also (known for writing the first two Home Alone movies, and writing and directing Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Breakfast Club, and Weird Science.)

The film’s plot follows Neal Page (Steve Martin), an uptight advertising executive, and Del Griffith (John Candy) a shower curtain ring salesman who’s easy going and a bit of an oaf. Both of them are taking a plane from New York to Chicago in order to visit their families during Thanksgiving.

After their flight is forced to make an early landing in Kansas due to bad weather, the two men work together in order to make it to their families on time for the holidays. 

Both leads do a very good job in their roles, and easily slip into them.

Steve Martin does a great job pulling off a man who’s very high strung while not making him a complete jerk. Even before he gets on the plane the audience is shown how taxing his job is, and that he just wants to see his family. 

This comes to great comedic effect when he meets some of the weirdest and meanest people who do nothing but make his life difficult, and the entire time he’s just trying to keep his cool. Another great part of his performance is whenever he loses it or runs out of patience, he lets out everything in angry tirades.

A great example is when, after arriving in a car rental lot only to find it not there, he’s forced to walk several miles down the interstate and across a runway in order to talk to the rental agency. While talking to the woman at the desk he drops 19 F-bombs in a film that, beforehand, didn’t really seem to require an R rating. 

John Candy was one of funniest actors to have lived, and he has great timing when it comes to the film’s comedy. But something that’s surprising is how well he brings so much heart and soul into his character while still keeping him funny.

The film’s comedy comes from three factors. 

The first is just all the situations the two characters get into purely because of the horrible luck the two of them share. Their luck is so bad it wouldn’t be surprising if it turned out they both walked on top of a crack, while under a ladder, looking at a cracked mirror, and a black cat crossed them.

The second source of comedy is that the two of them are so different personality wise, yet they’re forced to work together. Example, while Page is reserved, mostly keeping to himself whenever he can, Griffith is very open, loves talking about pretty much anything, and does so a little too much.

The third source of comedy is all the weird people they meet while on their travels. From a taxi driver who really likes his city, a person who just has a box with a mouse in it, and Kevin Bacon, the film is full of strange and kooky folks.

What also helps make the film so good is its heart. There are some genuinely heartfelt and poignant scenes that are very well written and acted.

Planes, Trains, & Automobiles is one of those films that could have only been made in the ‘80s, a film that’s full of laughs as well as joy.