Film
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
A shower-curtain-ring salesman and an uptight ad exec are thrown together by a chain of transport disasters, and what starts as farce slides, without ever losing its jokes, into something genuinely tender. It's the platonic ideal of the odd-couple road movie: broadly funny, occasionally wrenching, and one of the few comedies that earns its ending rather than just arriving at it.
If you liked this
Midnight Run1988
De Niro's bounty hunter and Grodin's fussy accountant bicker their way across the country in the funniest, tightest odd-couple movie of the era — same DNA as Neal and Del, sharper edges.
But More cynical and less sentimental than Planes, Trains — don't expect a hug at the end.
Uncle Buck1989no page yet
John Candy again, this time as the lovable disaster uncle rather than the disaster travelling companion — same warmth, same chaos, John Hughes' other great use of him.
But Lower stakes and more slapstick, without the emotional gut-punch that makes Planes, Trains linger.
National Lampoon's Vacation1983
The blueprint for the doomed-journey comedy — everything that can go wrong on the way to a destination does, with Chevy Chase's stubborn optimism driving it straight into the ground.
But Meaner and cruder than Hughes' later work, with far less interest in redeeming its lead.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
It Happened One Night1934
Every odd-couple road comedy, including Planes, Trains, is quoting Capra's template — strangers, forced proximity, transport chaos, grudging affection.
A runaway heiress and a wisecracking reporter share a bus, a hitchhike, and a blanket-hung motel room — the film that invented the opposites-forced-together-on-the-road formula, decades before anyone else tried it.
But Black-and-white, 1930s pacing and manners; the screwball rhythms take some adjusting to.
More like this (8)
Due Date2010
A looming deadline, a stranger who won't stop talking, a cross-country nightmare — this is Planes, Trains rebuilt for the 2010s, with drugs and a dog urn standing in for shower curtain rings.
But Nastier and more mean-spirited toward its odd couple than Hughes ever allowed himself to be.
Rain Man1988
Another reluctant road trip, another selfish man changed by the person he's stuck with — Cruise and Hoffman play out the same emotional arc with the dial turned toward drama.
But Barely a comedy at all; go in expecting something quieter and sadder.
Tommy Boy1995no page yet
Farley and Spade's mismatched road trip runs on the same engine — obnoxious guy, uptight guy, forced proximity — but cranks the volume and the pratfalls up considerably.
But Broader and dumber by design; the tenderness is there but buried much deeper.
The Great Outdoors1988no page yet
John Candy and John Hughes again, this time with families instead of strangers — same big-hearted chaos, same year, a nice companion piece if you want more of exactly this mood.
But Less structure and urgency than a journey movie gives you; it's a hangout comedy, not a race against time.
Green Book2018
A driver and passenger forced into each other's company across a hostile landscape, slowly wearing down each other's defenses — the odd-couple road movie dressed up for awards season.
But Its handling of race and history has been seriously and fairly contested; go in aware of that debate.
Sideways2004
Two mismatched friends on a road trip through wine country, one uptight and grieving, one a lovable mess — the comedy curdles into real sadness in exactly the way Hughes' film does.
But Slower and more melancholic, more interested in male self-pity than in slapstick set pieces.
Y Tu Mamá También2001
Same structure — a journey that starts as comic chaos and quietly reveals itself to be about something much sadder — transplanted into a completely different genre and culture.
Two teenage boys and an older woman take an impromptu road trip across Mexico that's funny, horny, and unexpectedly devastating about class and mortality by the time it ends.
But Explicit sexuality and a much rawer, more political register than anything in Hughes' film; subtitles required.
The Straight Story1999
Both films use a forced, absurd mode of travel as the engine for a story that's really about reconciliation and running out of time to say what matters.
David Lynch's gentlest film follows an old man driving a lawn mower across two states to reconcile with his estranged brother — a journey movie stripped of jokes but full of the same tenderness.
But Almost no comedy at all, and a deliberately slow, meditative pace — the opposite experience of Del Griffith's chatter.
People
Cast
Steve MartinNeal Page
John CandyDel Griffith
Laila RobinsSusan Page
Michael McKeanState Trooper
Dylan BakerOwen
Kevin BaconTaxi Racer
Olivia BurnetteMarti Page
Carol BruceJoy Page
Martin FerreroMotel Clerk
Larry HankinDoobie
Richard HerdWalt
Directing
- John HughesDirector
- Mark RadcliffeFirst Assistant Director
- Arthur AndersonSecond Assistant Director
Writing
- John HughesScreenplay
Production
- Michael ChinichExecutive Producer
- Neil MachlisExecutive Producer
- Robbie GoldsteinLocation Manager
- John HughesProducer
- Neil MachlisUnit Production Manager
Recommended by
It Happened One Night, Genevieve, Midnight Run, Rain Man, National Lampoon's Vacation, Due Date