Rewatchables Reference

• Neal realizes they're sharing a hotel room – discovering one bed, the disgusting shower, sharing the bed.
• 'Those aren't pillows.'
• Neal's tirade ripping into Del – 'Didn't you realize when I started reading the vomit bag?'
• Del's response: 'I like me. My wife likes me. My customers like me. Because I'm the real article.'
• 'You're going the wrong way' – Del drinking while driving the wrong direction on the highway.
• The marathon car rental scene with Edie McClurg.
• Candy selling shower curtain rings as earrings in the bus station.
• Del admitting the truth – Marie has been dead for eight years.
• Neal going back for Del at the train station.

• John Candy's quirks – shower curtain ring salesman, taking off shoes, constant smoking, folksy sayings.
• The dice game that is travel – entirely relatable.
• Hughes's common-people villains – flight attendants, rental car clerks, valets who don't care.
• The leanness of the movie – 92 minutes, every scene matters.

'Mess Around' when Del is driving – unanimous pick.

• The wide shot of Neal and Del sitting outside the Braidwood Inn with the sign.
• Del alone in the car with snow falling on him.

Neal's wife – underwritten character, the subplot about her not believing him was cut.

• Being a shower curtain ring salesman – now you just buy them on Amazon.
• All the 1987 travel logistics: smoking everywhere, no cell phones, no Uber/Lyft, no Airbnb.
• Travelling in suits – everyone at the airport is in a suit.
• They couldn't get the Paul Young version of 'Every Time You Go Away.'

• John Candy doesn't get 100% of the respect he deserves – he's at maybe 80-88%.
• People skip from Belushi to Farley without recognizing Candy had the most enduring body of work.

• Hughes wanted Tom Hanks for Neal and John Travolta for Del.
• Hanks was unavailable (shooting Big). Paramount vetoed Travolta.

• Ben Stein (the boardroom colleague).
• Edie McClurg (the car rental agent).

Dylan Baker as Owen – the tobacco-chewing truck driver, 'an incredible 2 minutes.'

No overacting identified – scrapped this category for this film.

• George Clooney for the Neal role in a 2000s version.
• 2022 version: Daniel Kaluuya as Neal, Kevin Hart or Tracy Morgan as Del.
• All-black cast: Sterling K. Brown as Neal, Dave Chappelle as Del.

• The exterior airplane is the same one from Airplane!
• No transportation company wanted to appear inept – used a fictional car rental company.
• Neal's house was built from scratch for $100,000.
• Candy showed up with exercise equipment and never used it.
• Dylan Baker's spit-handshake was an ad-lib on take 11.

• Steve Martin: Not this – probably late 1970s (The Jerk).
• John Candy: Uncle Buck, not this.
• Road trip movies: Bill says 'Midnight Run'. Van says this.
• Thanksgiving movies: 100% yes.

• Neal pays $75 to steal a cab but won't get his own hotel room.
• Someone should have slept on the floor instead of sharing the bed.
• It's only about 4-4.5 hours from St. Louis to Chicago.
• Could they really have driven the burnt car?
• The entire ordeal is only Tuesday to Thursday – about 36-48 hours.

Untouchable – should not be remade. Will Smith and Kevin Hart were announced to do it; hosts are firmly against it.

• Where was Del going if he doesn't have a home?
• Why is this called 'Planes, Trains, and Automobiles' when they also take a bus?

• Van: Del's shower curtain rings.
• Bill: Del's trunk.

• Don't ever put your wallet in the glove compartment.
• Always ask about somebody's trauma – if Neal had just asked Del 'Are you OK?', the whole trip would have been different.

• Van: Planes, Trains and Automobiles followed by Christmas Vacation (Thanksgiving-to-Christmas Hughes double feature).
• Bill: Vacation followed by this, or this followed by Uncle Buck.

John Candy.