Planes, Trains and Automobiles Is Being Celebrated as the Ultimate Thanksgiving Movie of 2020

Now that Thanksgiving has arrived, Americans are celebrating the occasion with an annual viewing of the 1987 comedy Planes, Trains & Automobiles. Written and directed by John Hughes, the iconic movie stars Steve Martin and John Candy as a pair of unlikely traveling partners forced to hit the road together during the Thanksgiving holiday season. Due to its setting, it has become a staple for many American families with many watching the movie at least once a year to celebrate the festive holiday.

“Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates it! Time for the family and I to watch our annual showing of the best Thanksgiving movie ever! Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” a fan on Twitter writes, including a GIF of Candy in the movie.

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“Don’t be lazy. You gotta get Planes, Trains and Automobiles in at least twice today,” one tweet says in response to someone’s TV lineup including the movie.

“My favorite Thanksgiving film? Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” another fan writes. “Steve Martin & John Candy at the top of their game. Also John Hughes! At the time he was at the height of his filmmaking powers! A wonderful tribute to John Candy & John Hughes. Happy Thanksgiving!”

Another fan of the movie has other plans scheduled for the day, though he still makes sure to include a viewing of the movie. He tweets: “I’ve got the Thanksgiving episode of WKRP, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and Planes, Trains and Automobiles all queued up ready to watch today, along with the @dallascowboys game. Am I missing anything??”

Better yet, the Thanksgiving holiday is still introducing newcomers to the classic movie over three decades later, with one tweet reading, “I am very excited to watch Addams Family Values later. I also rented Planes, Trains and Automobiles, which I’ve never seen. This is me trying to make the best of things.”

Planes, Trains and Automobiles starred Martin as marketing executive Neal Page and Candy as talkative shower curtain ring salesman Del Griffith. The two spend three days traveling across the country with the hopes of getting Neal home on time for Thanksgiving. Both heartwarming and hilarious, the movie is universally-acclaimed and widely regarded as one of the best comedies of all time in addition to serving as the best Thanksgiving movie for many fans.

A remake of Planes, Trains and Automobiles is also in the works with Will Smith and Kevin Hart appearing in the lead roles. While full plot details are unclear, the remake will presumably star the two as strange bedfellows traveling across the United States during the holiday season. Ayesha Carr will write the script, and a director has yet to be named.

Days ago, Martin tweeted a link to a mini-documentary released online exploring the unused footage from the original cut of the movie. “Interesting take on PTA for Thanksgiving,” Martin says of the video. The deep dive details the lost scenes from the movie from cut footage and pages from the original script. You can check out the mini-doc below, courtesy of Hats Off Entertainment. Happy Thanksgiving!

Topics: Planes, Trains and Automobiles