Planes, Trains and Automobiles
What he really wanted was to spend Thanksgiving with his family. What he got was three days with the turkey.
Country
Production
Genre
Budget
$30 000 000
Box office
$49 530 552
Director
Actors
Scenario
Producer
John Hughes, Michael Chinich, Neil A. Machlis
Camera operator
Donald Peterman
Composer
Ira Newborn
Artist
John W. Corso
Audition
Editing
Short description
An irritable marketing executive, Neal Page, is heading home to Chicago for Thanksgiving when a number of delays force him to travel with a well meaning but overbearing shower curtain ring salesman, Del Griffith.
What's left behind the scenes
- The idea to write the screenplay and make the film came to John Hughes (writer and director) after a flight from New York to Chicago. The plane was diverted to Kansas, making his journey home take five days.
- Footage from the cabin of a “Boeing 707” from the 1980 film “Airplane!” (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker), also released by Paramount Pictures, was reused in the scenes in the airplane cabin.
- Steve Martin, who initially refused to appear in the film, was persuaded by two scenes he read in the script—the scene with the car seats and the tirade with profanity near the car rental counter.
- It took John Hughes three days to write the first draft of the screenplay. During that period, it typically took him three to five days to write a script, followed by rewriting (ultimately resulting in just over twenty versions).
- Steve Martin's seven-room house was built on the set and took five months to construct. The construction cost $100,000, which infuriated studio executives.
- It is known that John Hughes often put his actors in situations where they were caught off guard, as the director needed to elicit unforced reactions from them. For example, after filming several takes of the scene where Steve Martin and Dylan Baker's characters meet, he quietly instructed Baker to spit into the palm of his right hand, and then shake Martin's hand. Martin wasn't expecting anything like that; he shook Baker’s hand and immediately went to wash it, and Hughes achieved the genuine reaction he was looking for.
- John Hughes shot over 600,000 feet (180,000 meters) of film, almost twice the average for films of that length.
- According to editor Paul Hirsch, the original version of the film was 3 hours and 40 minutes long. He and John Hughes cut it down to 2 hours. They then held test screenings, after which the film was reduced to 1 hour and 43 minutes. According to Hirsch, the two-hour version of the film still exists, but he doesn't know where it is.
- The scenes at St. Louis Airport were filmed in winter, but the winter was mild, so snow had to be brought in for the airport.
- The film crew had to rent 20 miles of railway track and repair old rolling stock, build airport sets, invent an emblem and uniforms for a car rental company, and rent 250 cars, as existing companies on the market flatly refused to risk their own image.
- The film features one scene that completely clashes with this otherwise conflict-free family comedy—an argument with a car rental agency employee, during which the characters utter the word “fuck” 19 times. Because of this, the film received an R rating from the MPAA, and this scene is most often cut when the film is shown on television.
- The idea to write the screenplay and direct the film came to John Hughes after a flight from New York to Chicago. The plane was diverted to Kansas, so the journey home took him five days.
- For the scenes inside the aircraft cabin, footage of a Boeing 707 cabin from the 1980 film 'Airplane!' (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker), also released by Paramount Pictures, was reused.
- Steve Martin, who initially refused to star in the film, was won over by two scenes he read in the script: the scene with the car seats and the profanity-laced tirade at the car rental counter.
- It took John Hughes three days to write the first draft of the script. During that period, it typically took him between three to five days to write a draft, which was then followed by rewrites (resulting in over twenty versions in total).
- The seven-room house of Steve Martin's character was built on the studio lot, and its construction took five months. The build cost $100,000, which left the studio executives furious.
- It is known that John Hughes often puts his actors in situations where they are caught off guard; the director does this to elicit an unacted reaction. For example, after filming several takes of the scene where Steve Martin's and Dylan Baker's characters meet, he quietly instructed Baker to spit into his right palm before shaking Martin's hand. Martin didn't expect this; he shook Baker's hand and immediately rushed to wash it, allowing Hughes to capture a genuine reaction.
- John Hughes shot over 600,000 feet (180,000 meters) of film, nearly double the average for movies of this length.
- According to editor Paul Hirsch, the original version of the film was 3 hours and 40 minutes long. He and John Hughes cut it down to 2 hours. After organizing test screenings, the film was further trimmed to 1 hour and 43 minutes. Hirsch states that the two-hour version still exists, but he does not know where it is.
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