In honor of one of the (very few) Thanksgiving movies, Nostalgia Critic takes a look at subtle touches that were put into the film Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
What we never knew about Planes, Trains, and Automobiles:
- 16. Contrast to popular belief, Neal's family's house in Chicago is not the same house from Home Alone. However, the house from Home Alone is located a few miles down the street.
- 15. The film actually gives us a few hints to Del Griffith's character before actually introducing us to him. For example, when Del accidentally takes Neal's cab, you can see a shower curtain ring in the puddle where the cab used to be. These scenes also foreshadows his Dark and Troubled Past.
- 14. Micheal McKean, the boy from Mrs. Doubtfire, the lawyer from Jurassic Park (1993), Ferris Buellers's father, teacher, principal's secretary, the guy from the plane in Home Alone, and Kevin Bacon make cameos throughout the film.
- 13. The version of the film that is shown on TV adds a deleted scene of Neal trying (and failing) to eat his airplane food.
- 12. The only reason the film got an R rating was because of Neal's Cluster F-Bomb scene. And the F word is only used in that one scene. Had the scene been removed, it would've had no problem getting a PG rating. This was done on purpose by John Hughes so that people wouldn't assume it's another one of his usual teen-based movies.
- 11. In a moment of irony, if Neal and Del waited at O'Hare a little longer, the weather would've cleared up and they would've gotten to Chicago on time. So Neal took a big road trip for nothing. Yowch.
- 10. John Candy threw in subtle references in his performance of Del Griffith.
- 9. Part of the humor in the movie comes from how Neal and Del encounter bizarre people and areas.
- 8. The guy who gives Neal and Del a ride spits and wipes his mouth with his hand. He then uses that same hand to shake Neal's hand. Ewwwwww.
- 7. Even though Neal and Del crash into a hotel room without telling anyone, they still take the time to turn on their turn signal.
- 6. The shot of the plane in this movie is the exact same one from Airplane!.
- 5. One of the film's finer touches is showing Neal's thought process.
- 4. In other opposite personality comedy movies, the big blowup occurs in the last third. In Planes, Trains and Automobiles, it occurs in the first third of the movie, which is never done. This makes the scenes where Neal and Del separate and reunite all the more enjoyable.
- 3. Those hotel mattresses are really filled with some weird crunchy stuff, aren't they?
- 2. Del has a black eye towards the end of the movie. It's implied from a line spoken by Del that the driver doesn't like strangers up front.
- 1. There are two hand prints above the bed of the hotel room where Neal and Del were staying at. Think about that for a second.
