A Classic Film to Revisit This Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a holiday of family, friends, food, and graciousness for everything that we have in our lives. It may not be as anticipated as Christmas or Halloween, but it is a special holiday that will touch the heart. A great movie to watch in preparation for this day is the 1987 hit “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.” This screwball comedy starring John Candy and Steve Martin will fill you with laughs the entire time, but it will also move you with its underlying messages of family and friendship.

The film tells the story of a man named Neil Page(Steven Martin). Page is on a business trip, and he is trying to get home to his family for the holidays. While trying to get a taxi, he encounters a man named Del Griffith(John Candy). Griffith unknowingly steals Page’s taxi, and Neil is furious. The trip gets even more taxing when Page meets Del on the plane they’re both on. The plane is soon diverted because of a storm, and the trip that was supposed to be an easy fly back to family becomes a journey and an unexpected friendship.

This film was written and directed by virtuoso John Hughes(“The Breakfast Club”), it has stars Steve Martin and John Candy, and there were many cameos by celebrities including Kevin Bacon, Ben Stein, and Edie McClurg.

During the first viewing of “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” I just saw the film as a really good laugh with a touching ending, but the more times I watched it, I started to realize that there was way more. John Hughes really gave one of his best efforts with this movie, because it blends really silly antics with some important messages. It portrays the vitality of good friends in life, because they are sometimes the best family a person has. It also features some of the funniest scenes ever. Between the car rental gag(beware the bad language in this scene only), the hotel scenes, and the many parts of travelling, your ribs will hurt from laughing so hard.

Overall, this is definitely a fantastic movie to watch for the holiday. If you watch it on television, then the one scene of bad language that gave the film an R rating will be censored, making a perfectly appropriate movie for the family to watch. Prepare to laugh and connect with one of the greatest duos of all time when you watch “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.”