These days, far too many people seem eager to launch the Christmas season the moment Halloween ends, and it's understandable. Thanksgiving feels like a single day rather than a season. The holiday gets wedged between weeks of Halloween decorations and the early onslaught of Christmas cheer, and for some, it lacks the commercial sparkle that drives the others. To them, Thanksgiving is little more than a big family meal before the Black Friday shopping spree that marks the real beginning of the Christmas push. Entertainment doesn’t help either; October is bursting with scary movies, and Christmas has enough classics to last a dozen Decembers, so people start early just to squeeze them all in and justify hanging up the tinsel.
I’ve always believed that the Christmas season doesn’t truly begin until after Thanksgiving. There should be space to enjoy the calm before the Christmas chaos — and there’s one perfect movie to fill that in-between stretch: Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
Believe it or not, I didn’t see Planes, Trains and Automobiles until adulthood. I grew up loving the movies of Steve Martin, John Candy, and John Hughes, but somehow, I never got around to watching this one until about three years ago. It wasn’t because I hadn’t heard of it; I just never expected it to be something that would stick with me.
For those who haven’t seen it, the film follows Neal Page (Steve Martin), an uptight marketing executive, and Del Griffith (John Candy), a talkative, well-meaning shower curtain ring salesman, who are thrown together after their flight to Chicago is diverted. What unfolds is a three-day gauntlet of travel disasters as the mismatched pair try to get Neal to Chicago in time for Neal’s Thanksgiving dinner with his family.
Today, Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a Thanksgiving-season tradition in our house. We just watched it again Friday night, and it’s still as hilarious as ever. There aren’t many Thanksgiving movies out there, but Planes, Trains & Automobiles remains the undisputed classic of the bunch — funny, heartfelt, and worth saving for the season.
Martin plays Neal with a slow-simmering frustration that feels painfully real and relatable. Even in his worst moments, you can’t help but root for him. He’s a man pushed to the edge, desperate to get home, and who hasn’t been there? Del, meanwhile, is a walking disaster—messy, loud, and completely unaware of how exasperating he can be. Every attempt to help Neal just makes things worse. But Candy fills the character with so much warmth and humanity that you still end up loving him.
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I won’t rehash the whole movie, but if you haven’t seen it, trust me: The ultimate odd-couple comedy, it's set against the madness of holiday travel and filled with unforgettable scenes — the hotel bed situation, Neal’s epic meltdown at the car rental counter, and the flaming highway sequence, to name a few. There aren’t many comedies these days that will make laugh as hard as this flick. Decades later, these comedic moments never lose their charm, and you’ll laugh every time.
Ever since I finally discovered it, we’ve made a point to watch it every year between Halloween and Thanksgiving — sometimes twice. Movies like Planes, Trains and Automobiles remind us that life is messy, travel is unpredictable, and home is still the place to be thankful for.
Editor’s Note: After more than 40 days of screwing Americans, a few Dems have finally caved. The Schumer Shutdown was never about principle, just inflicting pain for political points before an election.
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