PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES
(1987)With Steve Martin, John Candy
Directed by John Hughes
Reviewed by JB
When Second City Television star John Candy, one of the
jolliest
of all our jolly fat men, died in March of 1994, I felt we lost a
national treasure (on loan from Canada, of course). To steal
a
phrase from Cecilia Ager, John Candy was never in a movie as wonderful
as he was. And, since circumstances dictate that he never
will
be, I guess we'll have to be satisfied with films like PLANES, TRAINS
AND AUTOMOBILES and UNCLE BUCK. John Hughes' first "adult"
film
after a string of good teen comedies, PT&A concerns Neal Page
(Steve Martin), a marketing executive, who tries to get home from New
York to Chicago in time for Thanksgiving, finds his flight grounded in
Kansas, and winds up on a long and winding road trip with a sweet but
obnoxious blabbermouth, shower curtain ring salesman Del. W. Griffith
(Candy).
The comedy is never
as funny as it could
be, but there are moments of high hilarity and the film keeps you
chuckling quietly throughout, with many quotable lines ("Her first baby
come out sideways, and she didn't scream or nuthin'") and
pratfalls. It is not the gags that keep me coming back to
PT&A every few years, but the work of two of the finest comic
actors of the 1980s. Steve Martin has had better showcases,
but
here he holds back, for the most part, a slow-burning Edgar Kennedy to
Candy's one-man Laurel and Hardy. His obsessive self-control makes his
occasional outbursts all the more funny. Candy himself has
never
been more sympathetic in a movie, toning down his shtick so that a real
person emerges behind his incessant babbling and
chuckling.
These two actors play uptight Neal and chatterbox Del not as
caricatures but as flesh and blood people you could meet in any diner
or bus depot in America, and that brings a richness to many
scenes. Early on, after one humiliation too many, Martin rips
into Candy with a hilarious tirade about how boring he is ("Here's an
idea: when you tell one of your little stories... have a
point!"). But while we are laughing at Martin, we are also
aching
for Candy, who stands there and takes it, choking back tears. We feel
for Del because all he has done is tried to help a stranger get home
for the holidays, but we also sympathize with Neal's anger because,
despite the good intentions, Del has brought Neal nothing but
misfortune and embarrassment. Yet after every squabble, mishap and
near-death experience, the two men find themselves together once again,
in some new vehicle, inching ever closer to Chicago. Despite
the
stumbles and spats, there is a growing sense of real friendship, the
kind that will always rise above disaster - much like Stan and Ollie,
who could have easily played this same story in the thirties.
PT&A actually works
better the second time
around, when knowledge of the bittersweet ending allows you to see
Candy's performance, and a wonderful performance it is, in an entirely
new light. Not Hughes' funniest comedy, but certainly one of
his
best all-around films, which also stands out as a highlight in the
careers of both comics. 
- JB
http://thestuffyougottawatch.com
Copyright © 2010 John V. Brennan, John Larrabee