A buttoned-up marketing executive just wants to get home to Chicago for Thanksgiving, but every flight, train, and rental car conspires against him.

Stuck sharing the journey with an overly chatty, relentlessly good-natured shower curtain ring salesman, what starts as pure irritation slowly turns into one of the most unexpected friendships in movie history.

It is Steve Martin and John Candy at their absolute best, hilarious right up until it quietly breaks your heart, and if you have never seen it, The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen, thanks to Fetch and Hisense, is giving you the perfect reason to do so

Full AI generated transcript below

Planes Trains and Automobiles

Best Movies You’ve Never Seen  |  25 September 2026  | 

Hosts: Stephen Fenech & Trevor Long

[00:01:43]  Stephen: The Best Movies You’ve Never Seen. Hello and welcome to our movie podcast, a podcast about movies that you may not have seen, but that Trevor Long, my co-host, has definitely not seen. My name’s Stephen Fenech. I’m the movie nerd of the podcast. I’ve seen all these movies more than once, and I show them each and every week to Trevor. And you know what? You might be watching them for yourself for the very first time.

[00:02:04]  Trevor: You are. I’m not the only person, there’s no doubt.

[00:02:06]  Stephen: No, you’re not. No, the podcast is not only named after you, it’s named after a lot of other people.

[00:02:10]  Trevor: Yeah, and that could be generational. It could be simply because this movie was released when you were very young or well before you were born. Actually, my— it’s become my favorite thing about this podcast is that we’re not talking about movies just because you like them and I haven’t seen them. We’re talking about because people are discovering movies from generations ago, which is awesome.

[00:02:29]  Stephen: That’s it. This week we are going back to 1987 and watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

[00:02:36]  Trevor: Yeah.

[00:02:37]  Stephen: Now just to note, there is one scene in this movie that makes it explicit. Okay, there’s only one scene where the F-bomb is dropped. Wow. Quite a number of times.

[00:02:49]  Trevor: That would have affected its rating.

[00:02:50]  Stephen: It did, and more on that later. But, uh, we’re talking Planes, Trains and Automobiles was released in 1987. Steve Martin starring, John Candy, written and directed by John Hughes. Okay, now John Hughes wrote the script, the first draft of the script anyway, in 3 days.

[00:03:09]  Trevor: Wow.

[00:03:10]  Stephen: Yeah, he’s a quick writer. He’s averaging writing time when he writes a script back in the day used to take between 3 and 5 days, but then he’d have like 15, 20 rewrites, treatments and things. He’d improve it. Now Steve Martin joined the production. He read the script and he said on the strength of 2 scenes, he decided, I mean, the first one was the seat adjustment scene, and the second one is the F-bomb tirade at the car rental desk.

[00:03:41]  Trevor: Oh really?

[00:03:42]  Stephen: That’s why this— I was talking about it being explicit. More on that later though. Steve Martin has said publicly that John Candy’s performance in this film was probably the best of his career.

[00:03:53]  Trevor: Wow.

[00:03:54]  Stephen: Yeah, he died back in—

[00:03:55]  Trevor: I’ve seen a little bit of his work and I think this is— yeah, this is up there.

[00:04:00]  Stephen: Now the big thing about this film, the myth, is that the original cut was over 3 hours and 40 minutes. So John Hughes had to edit it down to less than 2 hours.

[00:04:19]  Trevor: So they shot a 3-hour movie?

[00:04:21]  Stephen: There is a 3-hour movie, uh, on the— if you buy the 4K disc, which I own, there’s heaps of deleted scenes.

[00:04:29]  Trevor: Heaps of deleted scenes, which would be hilarious.

[00:04:32]  Stephen: We’ll go through some of the memorable deleted scenes. But they edited it down at the studio’s behest, and they said, right, it needs to come down even further. So they eventually got it down to 1 hour and 33 minutes.

[00:04:48]  Trevor: Yeah, mate, it’s a perfect length.

[00:04:48]  Stephen: Yeah, you know what, it’s the perfect length for this movie as well.

[00:04:51]  Trevor: Like, I get it, some movies need to be 2 hours, some movies need to be 2 and a half, whatever. But yeah, this is a fun comedy, you don’t need more than an hour and a half.

[00:05:00]  Stephen: What helped, what added to the length of the movie was that John Hughes, the director, loved for them to improvise. There was a lot of improvisation. And eventually though, some of it had to hit the cutting room floor. It was just too long.

[00:05:17]  Trevor: But yeah. But to get it down, that’s remarkable to get it down to what they got it down to.

[00:05:21]  Stephen: According to the editor, Paul Hirsch, a 2-hour version still exists somewhere. Many of the deleted scenes, as I said, have been included on the 4K disc. And also, as I said, I’ll discuss some of the deleted scenes after the run-through. Had you any impressions of this? Did you know about this? What’s your thoughts?

[00:05:39]  Trevor: I mean, I’ve heard the phrase planes, trains, and automobiles. I knew it was a piece of content. I couldn’t have said whether it was a TV show or a movie, and I couldn’t have picked the cast. I wouldn’t have— if you said to me, what movie did these two star in, I wouldn’t have guessed. So, so I’m aware of it being— I would call it some sort of cult classic, which is why last week I said to you, is this like Airplane? Is this like Flying High? Because I wondered whether in my head when you said Steve Martin, John Candy, I wondered whether it was a bit of a slapstick style.

[00:06:07]  Stephen: This was after Airplane, so it was a few years after that. Now let’s talk about our mate Roger Ebert. Now Roger Ebert gave, in 1987, his initial review of this film was 3.5 stars out of 4.

[00:06:22]  Trevor: Out of 4? Yeah, that’s—

[00:06:23]  Stephen: yeah, he loved it. But in 2000, 6 years after John Candy passed away, he wrote a reflective review of the film and added it to his Great Movies series, and he bumped it up to 4 out of 4 stars. So here’s what he said. ‘The last scenes of the movie carry the emotional payoff we’ve been half waiting all along. For Neil, they reflect a kind of moral rebirth such as Scrooge experiences in another great holiday tale. He’s learned his lesson. He’ll no longer judge people by their appearances or by his own selfish standards. There’s a true poignancy in the scene where Neil finds Del waiting alone on the L platform. One night, a few years after Planes, Trains and Automobiles was released, I came upon John Candy sitting all by himself in a hotel bar in New York, smoking and drinking, and we talked for a while. We were going to be on the same TV show the next day. He was depressed. People loved him, but he didn’t seem to know that, or it wasn’t enough. He was a sweet guy and nobody had a word to say against him, but he was down on himself. All he wanted to do was make people laugh, but sometimes he tried too hard and he hated himself for doing that in some of his movies. I thought of Del. There’s so much truth in the role that it transforms the whole movie. Hughes knew it and captured it again in Only the Lonely, released in 1991. And Steve Martin knew it and played straight into it. The movies that last, the ones we return to, don’t always have lofty themes or Byzantine complexities. Sometimes they last because they are arrows straight to the heart. When Neil unleashes that tirade in the motel room and Del’s face saddens, he says, Oh, I see. It’s a moment that not only defines Del’s life, but it’s a turning point in Neil’s because he also is a lonely soul and too well organized to know it. Strange how poignancy creeps into this comedy and only becomes stronger while we’re laughing.’

[00:08:31]  Trevor: That’s crazy writing.

[00:08:33]  Stephen: Amazing. And that’s—

[00:08:35]  Trevor: I could just shivers listening to that.

[00:08:37]  Stephen: Such a great summary of the theme of the movie and the whole feel of it.

[00:08:43]  Trevor: Because it is amazing, we’ll get to it, but it’s amazing how just things like a facial expression or a single shot can create emotion in this comedy.

[00:08:53]  Stephen: Absolutely, that’s why they’re great. They were great actors. They could convey so much just with a look. Righto, this is your last exit before the freeway. We’re gonna take a massive drive through Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

[00:09:04]  Trevor: Oh, I see what we did.

[00:09:05]  Stephen: If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it on Fetch.

[00:09:08]  Trevor: And if you don’t have Fetch, you can fly on in to your local retailer and get your— See, didn’t like that? Fly on in to your local retailer. Anyway, that’s enough Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. Fetch is available at major retailers through Telstra, and you can get it at fetchtv.com.au. And also, if you hear us banging on about it and you don’t really know what it is, jump onto the Fetch website and have a look. Have a look through the movies, have a look through the movie box, have a look through the movie store, look at the streaming apps, everything you can do with Fetch. There is not a box like it, and I genuinely mean that. We’ve tested all the streaming boxes out there, all the pay TV services. There’s a lot of individual things you can do out there, but Fetch seems to do them all, and that’s what makes it great value. If not just as a movie buff, it’s a great way to enjoy entertainment across a range of different platforms and methods. And it’s all on that one little box and one little remote control in your home. So you can check it out and get your own Fetch at fetchtv.com.au.

[00:10:06]  Stephen: Okay. You’ve now seen Planes, Trains and Automobiles. You proved that with your hostage photo this week.

[00:10:12]  Trevor: I feel like I should now start posting those hostage photos on social.

[00:10:16]  Stephen: And I think this was your post. I think the shot you took was right at the start of the movie. Yeah.

[00:10:20]  Trevor: Yeah, because sometimes I take it trying to see whether you know what the movie is. Maybe that’s what I should do is like— you know, not the title of the thing, it’s just like a person or a scene. And you know, just see if people know.

[00:10:40]  Stephen: Yeah, movie. Very cool. Okay, so what do you think now after you’ve seen it?

[00:10:45]  Trevor: It’s a weird one for me because I think I expected to laugh a lot more. Yeah, like, I think I came in wrong. I think I came in thinking just back-to-back slapstick comedy. Yeah, so that was wrong. But there’s a lot of laughter, like, I get it, there’s a lot of humor in this movie. But a lot of it is just— there’s also this couple of strong underlying threads across this whole movie which you don’t— as Roger Ebert said, you don’t even— you’re not even actually expecting it to pay off. Yeah, yeah, like, there’s moments in this movie we’ll talk about where I’m like, are we going to know about that? Are we going to— am I just guessing that? And then it pays off at the end and you’re like, oh my God. So it’s a weird one because I feel like the payoff is what scores this movie, you know? So yeah, I enjoyed it. Mate, perfect length for a movie. Bring it on.

[00:11:29]  Stephen: Hour 33.

[00:11:30]  Trevor: And yeah, what?

[00:11:31]  Stephen: Just the Trevor Long length.

[00:11:32]  Trevor: What an unbelievable duo.

[00:11:34]  Stephen: Oh yeah.

[00:11:35]  Trevor: Like I could watch Steve Martin in anything.

[00:11:36]  Stephen: They are comedy titans.

[00:11:38]  Trevor: Yes.

[00:11:38]  Stephen: Shoulder to shoulder.

[00:11:40]  Stephen: Amazing.

[00:11:40]  Trevor: It’s legit sad that John Candy’s not with us. It’s that simple.

[00:11:43]  Stephen: What’s your social media post here?

[00:11:45]  Trevor: Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a movie that early on feels predictable— two men thrust together by the travel delay— but it ebbs and flows as a crazy story of getting home for Thanksgiving. John Candy and Steve Martin, that’s an instant yes for any movie.

[00:11:58]  Stephen: Okay, if we’ve traveled together quite a bit, mate, who would you be?

[00:12:02]  Trevor: Planes, trains, and automobiles. Have we done trains? No, I’ve done trains in China. Oh, we haven’t done trains. But in a hotel room I’m quite likely to end up being the John Candy character, like annoying you with the way I’ve laid out my stuff in the bathroom, you know, using one too many towels.

[00:12:31]  Stephen: Thank God we’ve never had to share a hotel room. Share an Airbnb, that’s as close as we’ve come.

[00:12:35]  Trevor: Imagine having to share a hotel room. But then I think there’s times where if we were in a car or, and we have been, and I think that we’d be the other way around. So I don’t know. I think we’re equal parts.

[00:12:43]  Stephen: We’ve been in cars plenty of times.

[00:12:45]  Stephen: Well, I watched this at the movies. It was released in—

[00:12:49]  Trevor: Yeah, when was it?

[00:12:49]  Stephen: I know when it was. 1987. It was released on Boxing Day, 1987.

[00:12:53]  Trevor: Okay, so I’m 11. Go on.

[00:12:54]  Stephen: I watched this. Jo and I had been together for about 4 months now, so watched it with her, my future wife, during— and I was doing preseason training for Souths. So I remember it was 1987. My first season with Souths was ’88. So I remember, I still remember, we were preseason training for the Rabbitohs. And since then, of course, watched it many times. And the most recent time I watched it was on 4K, and it actually looked really good for a 39-year-old movie. All right, let’s talk about the cast. Really only two actors in this. Steve Martin plays Neil Page. He was in The Jerk, Roxanne. He played, uh, he was in The Pink Panther. He was in Bowfinger. That’s a really funny comedy with him and Eddie Murphy. He’s also— did you ever watch the show Only Murders in the Building on Disney Plus?

[00:13:47]  Trevor: I watched maybe 3 episodes and it’s not— it’s good, but it’s not for me.

[00:13:52]  Stephen: Yeah, he’s good in that. Uh, John Candy plays Del Griffith. He was in Uncle Buck. He had a cameo in Home Alone. Spaceballs. He was very funny in Stripes. Yeah, with Bill Murray. And he was in Cool Runnings, which we’ve done.

[00:14:08]  Trevor: Cool Runnings. Yeah, yes.

[00:14:10]  Stephen: Now, mate, he passed away in 1994. Aged 43.

[00:14:15]  Trevor: That’s just—

[00:14:16]  Stephen: yeah, yeah.

[00:14:17]  Trevor: Wow.

[00:14:18]  Stephen: So yeah, it’s, uh, nearly more than 30 years ago, but his memory lives on in movies like this.

[00:14:25]  Trevor: Yeah.

[00:14:25]  Stephen: Before we get to the top scenes, let’s have a chat about Hisense. And you know what, if you’re in the market for a TV, check out Hisense’s brand new range of RGB Mini LED TVs. Now these are brand new. This is brand new technology, the RGB backlight. Instead of there being one colored backlight, there’s now red, green, and blue cells that make up the backlight. So not only providing the luminance but also providing the color, and the result is greater contrast, greater color volume, much more natural colors as well. You will see a difference. And the great thing about the Hisense is that it does have dedicated processors to make sure that all works fine. The HiView AI Engine RGB runs the show to give you the best possible result. And not only does this TV look great, it also sounds great. Out of the box, you’re getting 4.1.2 multi-channel surround sound. So really surprisingly good sound. No need to add a soundbar, this TV sounds great in its own right. It’s also got a native 180Hz game mode. And if you’d love to watch your sport, of course, it’s like being at the game. It is pure elegance, top to bottom. Check it out for yourself, the Hisense TVs, at any of your electrical retailers, but also check it out at their website, hisense.com.au. Okay, we’re in an office. Neil Page is sitting there— that’s Steve Martin’s character— in a high-powered New York advertising meeting, anxiously looking at the clock.

[00:16:25]  Movie Audio: Two solid hours of staring at the material to decide to reconvene after the holidays for a fresh look at the layout. Selling cosmetics, not curing cancer. Why are you going to the airport? What’s the point of busting my ass to catch a 6 o’clock flight? Why don’t you wait and go out with me on the 8th? You’re never going to get a cab at this hour. I told Susan I’d be home by 9. That’s you. Oh, damn it, I left my gloves in Brian’s office. I don’t need them. I get in the elevator, I get in the taxi, I get on a plane, and I’m home. Would you pick them up for me? I’ll drive over tomorrow and get them. Great. Have a good holiday. I’ll see you in Chicago, John. You’ll never make the city.

[00:17:01]  Stephen: So we see, as we expected, it’s rush hour. And you know what, how realistic is he thinking that he can get to the airport from Manhattan?

[00:17:11]  Trevor: Yeah, I mean, anyone that’s been to New York should know. Possible.

[00:17:15]  Stephen: So he’s hoping to get a 6 PM flight to Chicago, and he goes out and tries to find a taxi during rush hour. Now my little interjections are going to be called potholes. Okay, my pothole here— did you notice he races a person to the taxi?

[00:17:35]  Trevor: Kevin Bacon. Kevin Bacon.

[00:17:37]  Stephen: He’s Kevin Bacon. He’s Kevin Bacon. He’s in the movie for like 20 seconds.

[00:17:41]  Trevor: That’s so cool.

[00:17:42]  Stephen: It’s crazy.

[00:17:43]  Trevor: I like those little Easter eggs because there’s a fair few cameos in this movie.

[00:17:47]  Stephen: There are, and there’s even— if you want to go deeper in the Kevin Bacon rabbit hole, when he’s at the airport later on the phone to his wife, Kevin Bacon made a movie called She’s Having a Baby with Elizabeth McGovern, right? That’s another John Hughes film. The argument they have over the phone can be heard in the background when he’s on the phone to someone else. So the argument in that movie is the same argument in this one.

[00:18:24]  Trevor: Wow.

[00:18:24]  Stephen: If you want a really deep dive into it. John Hughes loves sort of crossing swords.

[00:18:27]  Trevor: I love a good crossover. I’ve become a fan of the crossover.

[00:18:30]  Stephen: Anyway, Neil’s trying to pay a guy for his cab, but a gregarious salesman, turns out to be Del Griffith, steals it right out from under him. Neil eventually arrives late to JFK.

[00:18:44]  Trevor: And the thing is, he’s walking through JFK, it’s 5:58, and he’s still walking as if he’s going to get to the plane, bro. Yeah, if it’s 5:45, you’re not going to get— I don’t think he wasn’t checking luggage, but yeah, it doesn’t matter, they closed the doors.

[00:18:57]  Stephen: They took a bit of liberty with that.

[00:18:59]  Trevor: Yeah, a little bit.

[00:18:59]  Stephen: But he gets there and they go, my flight’s delayed, I rushed for nothing. But he runs into Del in the terminal.

[00:19:07]  Movie Audio: I know you, don’t I? I’m usually very good with names, but I’ll be damned if I haven’t forgotten yours. You stole my cab. I’ve never stole anything in my life. I hailed a cab on Park Avenue this afternoon, and before I could get in it, you stole it. You’re the guy who tried to get my cab. I knew I knew you. Yeah. Come to think of it, it was awful easy to get a cab during rush hour. Forget it. I can’t forget it. I am sorry. I had no idea that was your cab. Let me make it up to you somehow, huh? Please. How about a nice hot dog and a beer? Uh, no thanks. Just a hot dog then. I’m kind of picky about what I eat. Some coffee? No. Milk? No. Soda? No. Some tea? No. Lifesavers? No. Slurpee? Sir, please, just let me know. I’m here. He knew I knew you.

[00:20:16]  Stephen: That’s funny.

[00:20:16]  Trevor: It’s a real little exposition of his character. He’s very positive. I’m talking about Del. He’s very positive about things. He wouldn’t want to hear bad of himself because he wouldn’t— then even then he recognizes that he may have stolen the cab, so he wants to make it up to him. I like that about him. And then, yeah, we learn a lot about Steve Martin’s character as well.

[00:20:41]  Stephen: Definitely. Well, he gets on the plane, I think because he was late, his first class seat was downgraded. He ends up sitting next to old mate in coach. He’s filthy, by the way.

[00:20:51]  Trevor: I know, but it’s a cutscene. It’s like, you know, cut to old mate having a shower and then you realize. So the whole point of that is to show that in the end, Del had the first shower. So he’s getting comfy in bed. He’s turned on the massage bed. He’s snacking in bed. He’s smoking while old mate’s stuck in the bathroom.

[00:21:02]  Stephen: And not only a single room, but a single bed in there too.

[00:21:19]  Movie Audio: I never did introduce myself. Del Griffith, American Light and Fixture, Director of Sales, Shower Curtain Ring Division. I sell shower curtain rings. Best in the world. And you are? Uh, Neil Page. Neil Page. Pleased to meet you, Neil Page. So what do you do for a living, Neil Page? Marketing. Marketing. Super, super fabulous. Isn’t that nice? Uh, look, I don’t want to be rude, but I’m not much of a conversationalist, and I’d really like to finish this article. Please don’t let me stand in your way. The last thing I want to be remembered as is an annoying blabbermouth. You know, nothing grinds my gears worse than some chowderhead who doesn’t know when to keep his big trap shut. You catch me running off with the mouth, just give me a poke in the chops.

[00:22:20]  Stephen: Then he decides to take off his shoes and socks.

[00:22:22]  Trevor: Yeah, which is foul anywhere.

[00:22:27]  Movie Audio: Oh, oh, that feels good. Oh God, I’m telling you, my dogs are barking today. Oh, that feels better.

[00:22:45]  Stephen: And Neil is just horrified.

[00:22:47]  Trevor: Yeah, I mean, that is one of the most horrific things I’ve ever seen.

[00:22:50]  Stephen: It is. Uh, anyway, the flight takes off. Severe blizzard has hit Chicago and the flight is diverted, landing late at night in Wichita, Kansas. And they’re stuck there for the night.

[00:23:05]  Movie Audio: There’s no way on earth we’re gonna get out of here tonight. We’d have more luck playing pick-up sticks with our butt cheeks than we will getting a flight out of here before daybreak. I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Yeah, but by the time the airline cancels this flight, which they will sooner or later, you’d have more of a chance to find a three-legged ballerina than you would a hotel room. You’re saying I could be stuck in Wichita? I’m saying you are stuck in Wichita. Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please? I’m sorry to announce that we’re canceling Flight 909 due to severe weather in Chicago. Hi, I was wondering if you had any rooms available for tonight? Anything will do. No, I’m sorry. All right. Do you know of any other motel— Neil. Hi. Well, welcome to Wichita. Did you book a room yet? I couldn’t get in anywhere. As soon as we got off the plane, you called home. I called the Braidwood Inn. I missed that one. I know the manager pretty well. I sold him some rings for his curtains. If you want to pick up the cab fare, I’ll make sure you get a room for the night.

[00:24:21]  Stephen: That’s exactly what they do.

[00:24:22]  Trevor: That’s what they do. Sadly, there’s not two rooms, there’s clearly only one. And during the check-in process, there’s a good flashback here in life, really, the old swipe card machine. But it’s really interesting the way it’s shot here because they shoot this so that you intentionally notice that there’s a credit card swap that occurs. And so for me, that placed this doubt in this Del character. I thought he had a swindle going with the hotel guy to get people’s credit cards. I thought, it’s a bit dark, this is strange. Yeah. And then they end up in a single room together. I’m like, oh, that doesn’t make sense.

[00:25:06]  Stephen: I know he’s trying to swindle him. And not only a single room, but a single bed in there too.

[00:25:13]  Trevor: It’s so well shot because it’s like the camera is staring at a bed and then it’s like back at the room, it’s like, what is going on here? This can’t be good. This is a single room for two blokes.

[00:25:23]  Stephen: And so they’re forced to share that single bed. I like that he says, oh, do you want to have a shower? He goes, no, not together, but you go first. And he’s in there, has his shower, the water cuts off, all the towels have been used, and he’s got this little face cloth to use.

[00:25:39]  Trevor: And you know, Big Del left stuff everywhere. He’s clearly used all the towels. He’s a big human. So he goes, you want to have the first shower? I know, but it’s a cutscene. You realize Del had the first shower. So he’s getting comfy in bed. He’s turned on the massage bed. He’s snacking in bed. He’s smoking while old mate’s stuck in the bathroom.

[00:26:04]  Stephen: But also we find that when he eventually gets to bed, he’d spilled a beer in the bed. And then he mentioned, he goes, I’m just sitting in a puddle of beer.

[00:26:14]  Trevor: I’m just sitting there going, how could he?

[00:26:16]  Stephen: That was one of the cutscenes — when he left the bed, he put a quarter into the thing, the bed was shaking, so it shook up the beer and then exploded on his side of the bed. That’s another deleted scene.

[00:26:27]  Trevor: I get that you change the sheets, but that doesn’t make the bed— how could you even lie on the bed?

[00:26:36]  Stephen: Call reception. Although no, there were no dry towels. Yeah. They head to bed, and I think it was at the point where he was clearing his sinuses where Neil loses his temper.

[00:26:50]  Trevor: Yeah, he’s sitting there. Yeah, it sounded like he’s hocking a loogie, but he says he’s clearing his sinuses. But it sets Neil right off.

[00:26:55]  Stephen: He delivers this blistering rant.

[00:26:57]  Trevor: Uh, he’s leaving. He’s put his shirt on. He’s getting out of here.

[00:27:00]  Stephen: And he’s tearing Del down. And Del responds with what I call quiet dignity.

[00:27:06]  Movie Audio: I could tolerate any insurance seminar for days. I could sit there and listen to them go on and on with a big smile on my face. They’d say, how can you stand it? And I’d say, ‘Cause I’ve been with Del Griffith. I can take anything. You know what they’d say? They’d say, I know what you mean. The shower curtain ring guy. Whoa. It’s like going on a date with a Chatty Cathy doll. I expect you to have a little string on your chest, you know, that I pull out and have to snap back. Except I wouldn’t pull it out and snap it back. You would. And by the way, when you’re telling these little stories, here’s a good idea— have a point. It makes it so much more interesting for the listener.

[00:27:53]  Trevor: Oh, that’s harsh.

[00:27:56]  Movie Audio: You want to hurt me? Go right ahead if it makes you feel any better. I’m an easy target. Yeah, you’re right. I talk too much. I also listen too much. I could be a cold-hearted cynic like you, but I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings. Well, you think what you want about me. I’m not changing. I like— I like me. My wife likes me. My customers like me because I’m the real article. What you see is what you get.

[00:28:32]  Trevor: See, when you told me that story about Roger Ebert finding him in a bar and him being depressed, that was the first thing I thought of was that line where he says, I like me.

[00:28:40]  Stephen: Just to be clear, he died of— he had a heart condition.

[00:28:45]  Trevor: Yeah. No, no, no, no. But it’s just— but that goes to his mentality. It’s like, it’s sad that you would have that. And then you hear those lines and you think, delivered with gusto.

[00:28:58]  Stephen: Haven’t you heard that? Like, comedians are not always happy people.

[00:29:05]  Trevor: No, it’s funny enough. Oh no, you talk to most comedians, their job comes from some sort of adversity in life more than anything else.

[00:29:11]  Stephen: Yeah, amazing. Uh, anyway, they decide to patch things up and they just—

[00:29:17]  Trevor: sorry, I know where this is going. He ends up getting back in bed because he feels bad.

[00:29:22]  Stephen: They get back in bed and they cut to the morning and they—

[00:29:26]  Trevor: Del gives him a kiss on the ear. Spooning.

[00:29:30]  Movie Audio: Del, why did you kiss my ear? Why are you holding my hand? Where’s your other hand? Between two pillows. Those aren’t pillows.

[00:30:00]  Stephen: That’s quite funny when they chuck pillows.

[00:30:04]  Trevor: Gotta man up.

[00:30:06]  Movie Audio: See that Bears game last week? Yeah, hell of a game, hell of a game. Bears got a great team this year. They’re gonna go all the way.

[00:30:14]  Stephen: Oh yeah, that’s funny. That’s sort of an iconic scene, iconic line.

[00:30:22]  Trevor: Yeah, those aren’t pillows.

[00:30:26]  Stephen: Yeah, uh, next morning at breakfast they discover that some young punk robbed them. They both had a decent amount of cash, like $700 versus $200, and then Del was adamant that he had $263 and told Neil to check for it and he had none. They’ve both been robbed.

[00:30:51]  Stephen: Well, initially Neil gets accused of stealing it.

[00:30:53]  Trevor: Neil’s, no, but after they find both wallets, there’s a little doubt in Neil’s mind whether Del actually did steal. So he’s like, oh, it’s stuff now. But his money was gone too, yeah. Yeah.

[00:31:02]  Stephen: So Del has arranged train tickets to Chicago. He knows a customer, he’s got a connection, but they get on and the locomotive breaks down in the middle of a Kansas field. So their luck is not getting any better.

[00:31:14]  Trevor: No, not at all.

[00:31:16]  Stephen: Del decides, you know what, I’m going to sell some shower curtain rings disguised as earrings to raise cash for the bus tickets.

[00:31:23]  Trevor: I mean, it’s a wild idea, but he does it.

[00:31:28]  Movie Audio: I’ve been spending too much time away from home. I haven’t been home in years. What, seriously? No, it’s a figure of speech. You know, I’m on the road so much, it’s like not being there. Yeah. By the way, I called a good friend of mine at Eastern Airlines. Doesn’t look good. I know. I called all the airlines. Well, at least we’re still sitting on over 100 beans from my brilliant idea. Terrific sales. You know, I’ve been thinking that when we put our heads together, you know, we’ve really gotten nowhere. And I think I’m holding you up. Oh, no, don’t say that about yourself. That’s not true, Neil. It really isn’t true. No, I really think we’d get to where we’re going a lot faster if we were alone. Okay. I see. I think I’m just gonna take care of this, and I think I’m gonna get going. I appreciate that. Yeah, that’s fine. That’s— You know, it’s just harder for two people to travel, you know? Yeah, yeah. Sure. Sure it is. And if you got reservations— Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re saying. Thanks for the meal. Yeah, okay, that’s all right. Take this stuff. Like I told you, I do not feel like taking your money, dude. All right, just shut up. Take the money. Buy your kids a chocolate turkey or something like that. I don’t want the money, okay? It’s left for you. I’ve gotta have my business. Then leave it there. Then leave it. If you wanna leave it fine. That’s okay. I’m done, okay? I’ve gotta get going now so if you’ll excuse me… Good luck to you and good night. And I hope you get home soon.

[00:32:57]  Stephen: So this is the first of many times they’ve said goodbye to each other.

[00:33:00]  Trevor: That’s right. Now there’s a moment there where he says, I haven’t been home in years. It’s just a figure of speech. But that was the moment where I went, so he’s divorced. Like that picture of his wife, he loves her still, but they’re broken up. That’s your initial thought. That’s the seed that I have through this whole thing.

[00:33:15]  Stephen: First time I saw it, I thought the same.

[00:33:17]  Trevor: When we get back to Chicago, I’ll tell you what I thought at that point before we find out what really happened.

[00:33:21]  Stephen: My pothole here is if you notice, if you look carefully in the background, the waitress and a female customer in the background both are wearing the shower curtain rings as earrings. And as it turns out, they both booked the same bus ride and are back together again, of course, on a bus ride to St. Louis. Del leads— after, when they’re having a sing-along, I think Neil tried to sing Three Coins in the Fountain.

[00:33:50]  Trevor: That’s the remarkable thing, is Neil actually buys into it. He’s like, has anyone got a song? And so Neil goes, yeah, I do. And he starts singing a song, but he realizes he’s out of touch. He’s out of touch with the common man. No one knows what this song is.

[00:34:00]  Stephen: Everyone turns around and looks at him.

[00:34:01]  Trevor: He’s like, Flintstones, meet the Flintstones, they’re the modern Stone Age.

[00:34:06]  Stephen: My brother loves that.

[00:34:07]  Trevor: Yeah, yeah, that’s a good theme.

[00:34:09]  Stephen: And then they get to St. Louis and Neil attempts to rent a car, but he’s assigned spot and when he gets here, there’s no car there. Just a tip for Neil: all the cars have the keys in them, so just jump in any car and drive anywhere. That’s my only plot hole.

[00:34:40]  Trevor: He could have just got in any other car and driven away.

[00:34:49]  Stephen: Well, yeah, the movie would have ended pretty early. So he’s walked miles back through a mud-filled lot. He returns to the rental counter.

[00:34:59]  Trevor: He walks across the runway of the airport, which is wild.

[00:35:01]  Stephen: But anyway, yeah, this is pre-9/11, mate.

[00:35:04]  Trevor: Yeah.

[00:35:04]  Stephen: And he delivers an iconic expletive-laden rant to the lady at the rental car desk.

[00:35:09]  Trevor: She’s a very iconic actress. She’s not really a major part. But her voice is just iconic.

[00:35:21]  Movie Audio: Welcome to Marathon, may I help you? Yes. How may I help you? You can start by wiping that fucking dumbass smile off your rosy fucking cheeks. Then you can give me a fucking automobile. A fucking Datsun, a fucking Toyota, a fucking Mustang, a fucking Buick. Four fucking wheels and a seat. I really don’t care for the way you’re speaking to me. And I really don’t care for the way your company left me in the middle of fucking nowhere with fucking keys to a fucking car that isn’t fucking there. And I really didn’t care to fucking walk down a fucking highway and across a fucking runway to get back here to have you smile at my fucking face. I want a fucking car right fucking now. May I see your rental agreement? I threw it away. Oh boy. Oh boy, what? You’re fucked.

[00:36:30]  Trevor: This is great. It’s like she’s building up to that moment. It’s very well played.

[00:36:34]  Stephen: Now that scene is exactly 60 seconds long, right? And in that, Steve Martin says the F-word 19 times.

[00:36:47]  Trevor: Now get this right, record of mine, by the way.

[00:36:51]  Stephen: The film, if it wasn’t for that scene, would have had a PG or PG-13 rating because of that one scene. The MPAA said, oh well, it can’t be PG-13, it’s got to be the next rating up. Now Edie McClurg, who plays the woman behind the counter, she was in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. And she partially improvised ’cause at the very start of it, you remember she was on the phone. He was waiting in line and she just came up with the idea to speak with her sister about who’s gonna make what for the Thanksgiving deal. And to this day, Edie McClurg, random people come up to her and tell her they’re fucked. To this day, imagine being famous for that, for saying, tell us about it, you’re fucked.

[00:37:48]  Trevor: I just love the concept of the producers and the studio going, are we okay with this rating for this 60 seconds?

[00:37:59]  Stephen: Well, I’ve got another fact later why they kept it in as well.

[00:38:03]  Trevor: Okay.

[00:38:03]  Stephen: I want to hold my powder dry for that one. Anyway, Neil meets back up with Del, who’s managed to secure a rental car.

[00:38:12]  Trevor: Of course, every time Neil fails, Del succeeds. The hotel room, fail, Del succeeds. This time Del’s got the car, so they’re driving, they’re in the car, and they switch around, they do different people driving. And this is the iconic scene where Del’s mucking around with the seat a lot, trying to get it all sorted, and he stuffs the seat up for Neil, who then sits there, and Neil’s asleep in the seat, and Del’s driving, just thinking, I’ll take my jacket off because it’s getting hot in here. And one arm gets caught and then the other arm gets caught.

[00:38:42]  Stephen: But meanwhile, when he gets out of that, passing motorists are screaming at them and they think that they want to race or something.

[00:38:49]  Movie Audio: Holy shit, look at that guy on the wrong side of the highway! He’s going to kill somebody! Hey, what’s going on? Some joker wants to race. Haha. Don’t race, that’s ridiculous. All right, come on, let’s go, let’s go. Put your window down! You want something? Probably drunk. You’re going the wrong way! What? You’re going the wrong way! He says we’re going the wrong way. Oh, he’s drunk. How would he know where we’re going? Yeah, how would he know? Thank you. Thanks a lot. Terrific. Thank you. What a moron. You’re going in the wrong direction. You’re going to kill somebody. Hey, you’re going the wrong way!

[00:40:12]  Trevor: It’s a pretty epic little scene. It would have been a bit of their budget too.

[00:40:22]  Stephen: While Del was trying to get his jacket out, he actually diverted onto the wrong entrance— the exit.

[00:40:27]  Trevor: Well, you know what happened was he tried to get his jacket out and he spun, and he just, instead of checking where he was going, he just drove back the same road, which was an exit ramp, came back onto the wrong side of the highway. So he traced his tracks back beautifully.

[00:40:39]  Stephen: But the car squeezes between two oncoming trucks, scraping both sides. And before this, Del had flicked a cigarette into the back seat. Well, he thought he flicked it out the window, nicked the window cap. So when they get out of the car, they look back and then whoosh, it catches fire.

[00:40:58]  Trevor: Yeah.

[00:40:59]  Stephen: So think, you’re thinking at this point, what the hell could go wrong?

[00:41:02]  Trevor: Anything could go wrong. They’ve had every possible challenge put in front of them.

[00:41:06]  Stephen: So after putting out the fire, they drive the completely charred roofless wreck down the highway in sub-zero temperatures. They have another fight. Neil checks into a room and leaves Del in the car to finish.

[00:41:19]  Trevor: Because they’ve got no money, Neil pulls together a couple of bucks and a watch. Del has less bucks and a crappier watch, so he just sits in the car freezing, literally snow on him. And, you know, but Neil gets the guilts, looks out the window, feels sorry for him.

[00:41:35]  Stephen: Yeah, but in this room there were two single beds. There was room for it. But I love this. The next morning, Del accidentally backs into the hotel.

[00:41:43]  Trevor: Yeah, he’s trying to get out of the snow. But puts it in reverse and goes straight into the room. And then the now, you know, the devil in Neil says, let’s just go. Let’s just blow the joint. Yeah, get the hell out of here.

[00:41:54]  Stephen: But it’s not long before they’re stopped by a state trooper who decides, you know what, this car ain’t fit to drive.

[00:42:01]  Movie Audio: Is there something I can help you with? What the hell are you driving here? We had a small fire last night, but we caught it in the nick of time. You have any idea how fast you were going? Oh, funnily enough, I was just talking to my friend about that. Our speedometer’s melted, and as a result, it’s very hard to say with any degree of accuracy exactly how fast we were going. 78 miles an hour. 78, huh? Well, yeah, I could buy that. Sure, I guess. Do you feel this vehicle is safe for highway travel? Yes, I do. Yes, I really do. I believe that. I know it’s not pretty to look at, but it’ll get you where you want to go. Now, you got no outside mirror? No, we lost— You have no functioning gauges. No, not a one. Not a one. However, the radio still works. Funny as that may seem with all this mess, that the radio is the only thing that’s really working good, and it’s as clear as a bell. Don’t ask me how. I can’t let you go ahead in this vehicle. The vehicle will be impounded until such time as it can be made safe for travel on state highways. Okay, officer, I admit it. I broke the law, and for that I’m really sorry. I am. It’ll never happen again. You got me there, and I won’t argue with you one iota, I swear. But it’s impounded. Impounded.

[00:43:22]  Stephen: My other pothole here is during that section, he uses a line in this movie. He says, I know it’s not pretty to look at, but it’ll get you to where you gotta go. That’s the exact line he used in Cool Runnings.

[00:43:37]  Trevor: Oh wow.

[00:43:37]  Stephen: When he revealed—

[00:43:38]  Trevor: when he reveals the bobsled.

[00:43:39]  Stephen: Yeah. Desperate, Del convinces a milk truck driver to give them a lift.

[00:43:47]  Trevor: But Neil’s excited because he’s like, okay, is the heater on in there? And he doesn’t really like having people with him, so you’ve got to sit in the back.

[00:43:54]  Stephen: They’re in the refrigerator cargo area. So cold, battered, and exhausted, they finally reached Chicago.

[00:43:59]  Trevor: Whatever gets you there. We’re getting close to home. It’s funny because early in the movie you got a sense that the next day was when they needed to be there. It’s obviously a couple of days away. So there we’re now in that kind of sense of we must be very close to Thanksgiving.

[00:44:15]  Stephen: So they are at the Chicago El Train station, and they bid each other a farewell.

[00:44:22]  Movie Audio: It’s been a hell of a trip. It sure is. But after all is said and done, you did get me home, and I really appreciate it. Hey, next time, let’s go first class, all right? God, I hope there isn’t a next time. I know what you mean. I really do. This you? Yeah. It’s been great meeting you, Neil. It really has. Again, I’m sorry if I caused you any trouble. Oh no, you didn’t cause me any trouble. You got me home. And, uh, a little late. Couple days. But I’m a little wiser too, so. Me too. Happy holidays. Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving, Neil. Okay. Give my love to the family, will ya? Same to you. Maybe I’ll get a chance to meet ’em one day. Okay. Say hello to Marie for me. I feel like I know her. Yeah. So, okay. And you have a happy Thanksgiving. Hey, you know it.

[00:45:31]  Trevor: So at this point, there’s something up. And I think at this point, I think he’s going back to try and patch it up with the missus. Because I remember, I think he’s divorced. He’s been kicked out of home because he’s got a big trunk. That’s not a salesman’s trunk because he never showed any more than the rings that were in his pocket, right? So you get the sense early on in the movie, that’s his life in there because he’s a traveling salesman. But I get the sense that now that’s his life in there — he’s trying to come back home for Thanksgiving. So that’s where my head’s still at. He’s going to try and patch things up with the wife.

[00:46:00]  Stephen: But as Neil is riding the train home, he flashes back to pieces of Del’s comments, like, I haven’t been home for a year, and something clicks.

[00:46:11]  Stephen: So he turns around, goes back to the train station, and finds Del sitting alone on his trunk. Del says he has no home to go back to for Thanksgiving and that his wife died 8 years ago.

[00:46:22]  Trevor: What a punch in the guts.

[00:46:25]  Movie Audio: Del, what are you doing here? You said you were going home. What are you doing here? I, uh, I don’t have a home. Marie’s been dead for 8 years. Bye, kiddo. Daddy! Daddy! Bill Griffith, I want you to meet my father-in-law Walt, my mother-in-law Peg, my mother Joy, my dad Mark. Welcome, Bill. Guys, Neil Jr., Jim, Marty, and somewhere around here is my little baby boy Seth. I’d, uh, like you to meet a friend of mine. Hello, Mr. Griffiths. Hello, Mrs. Page.

[00:47:45]  Stephen: Have you heard that song before? Yeah, Every Time You Go Away. Yeah, yeah, that was the main theme of the movie. We’ll talk more about music in a moment.

[00:47:53]  Trevor: I don’t like that version of it, but yeah, yeah.

[00:47:55]  Stephen: And I tried to patch— there was quite a long stretch I had to patch together.

[00:47:59]  Trevor: Yeah, you— all you’re doing there— yeah, Stephen’s got himself a self-imposed audio limit. What you’ve done there is you’ve just bridged two together.

[00:48:05]  Stephen: I have, yeah, I was at my limit. Yeah, that’s right.

[00:48:08]  Trevor: Anyway, it’s lovely because they’re home, they’ve got the Thanksgiving, he gets to have a family Thanksgiving in there.

[00:48:14]  Stephen: Yeah, and on the very last shot is Del smiling. He feels like he’s home. Yeah, which is beautiful. Right, let’s catch some lines here. There’s some good ones. We played a lot of them already, but these are the others that I found as well.

[00:48:28]  Movie Audio: You know, the finest line a man will walk is between success at work and success at home. I got a motto: like your work, love your wife.

[00:48:38]  Trevor: Like your work, love your wife.

[00:48:40]  Stephen: Here’s another one. Remember when he was arguing with the bloke at the taxi stand? And Del nearly got run over by the car that Del was driving, the rental car? And the guy actually picked him up by the, uh, by the jat crackers.

[00:48:55]  Movie Audio: I’ve never seen a guy get picked up by his testicles before. Lucky thing for you that cop passed by when he did, otherwise you’d be lifting up your schnutz to tie your shoes. I’m suffering. That’s fair.

[00:49:08]  Stephen: And here’s the other one. Remember they’re saying, what, what do you do that annoys you? And uh, this is when Del reveals that he’s got a nut problem.

[00:49:21]  Movie Audio: Larry Bird doesn’t do as much ball handling in one night as you do in an hour. Are you trying to start a fight? No, I’m simply stating a fact, that’s all. You fidget with your nuts a lot.

[00:49:32]  Stephen: Oh man. All right, your plot hole was that the key could have just jumped in another car. My plot hole is that if they had just stayed at the airport, they could have made it back to Chicago. Because a scene shortly after Neil rings his wife, remember? And she’s watching the TV and on the TV it says O’Hare, which is Chicago Airport, is starting to clear up.

[00:50:01]  Trevor: Yeah, right. Should have stayed there.

[00:50:02]  Stephen: Should have hung there. Yeah. Anyhow, wouldn’t have had a movie otherwise. The other thing is that they didn’t realize their flight’s canceled until after they landed in Wichita. Shouldn’t they have been told before takeoff that there’s a chance Chicago’s in a blizzard?

[00:50:20]  Trevor: Well, obviously the blizzard came through quickly, so they took off thinking they were gonna get to Chicago and then they made a diversion.

[00:50:26]  Stephen: Yeah, and the other discrepancy is, did he take off from LaGuardia or did he go and have to get to JFK? There’s a mention of LaGuardia as well, so there’s confusion about which airport he actually left from.

[00:50:40]  Trevor: Oh, okay.

[00:50:41]  Stephen: Now I told you about the deleted scenes.

[00:50:44]  Trevor: Yes.

[00:50:45]  Stephen: Now here are the top ones. In the 3-hour cut of the movie, the Braidwood Inn sequence is longer. There’s a scene where he orders a pizza and a 6-pack of beer using money that he took out of Neil’s wallet. He only gives the delivery boy a dollar tip. The delivery boy turns out to be the guy who ends up robbing them. So he hangs in the lobby, he’s got more money you bastard. And he’s the guy who ends up robbing them. Del opens the beer and sprays it all over the bedsheets. So we actually see how that happened. Now when I told you about the rental car scene, right, where he’s expletive-laden. It was given— they got an R rating by the MPAA because of that one scene. Now remember the scene, 19 F-words in the span of a minute, 60 seconds. So they did an alternate shot of the scene with no profanity in it. But Hughes said, nah, hated it. So Hughes denied Paramount’s request. Paramount said, look, mate, just take that scene out, put the other one in, and we’ll get a PG rating. And he goes, no, mate, that’s not the movie. I’m not going to do it. Because do you remember I told you earlier, Steve Martin revealed that’s why he took the movie, was because of that.

[00:52:17]  Trevor: And so it was in the script, guys, so you can’t be complaining now.

[00:52:22]  Stephen: Hughes, wanting to be loyal to Steve Martin, said, nah, I’m not cutting that scene because that’s the reason why he joined the production in the first place. I don’t want to dud the bloke. So that’s what he kept it in.

[00:52:32]  Trevor: Also, as I keep saying, it was in the script. It wasn’t like it was ad-libbed.

[00:52:35]  Stephen: Yeah, that’s right. Yeah, but see, a movie’s guaranteed an R rating if there’s a lot of swearing. With some exceptions, the rule of thumb, if a film can use the word more than 3 times, if it uses it more than 3 times, you get an R rating, right? And that scene uses it 19 times in 60 seconds.

[00:52:55]  Trevor: So, and what I’m saying is Paramount knew that from accepting the script. Absolutely. They knew it all along.

[00:53:01]  Stephen: Yeah, but they’re— Paramount’s thinking, well, less people are going to be able to watch the movie because it’s going to have an R rating instead of PG.

[00:53:08]  Trevor: Yeah, but again, they should have known that going in.

[00:53:10]  Stephen: Yeah, of course, of course. All right, the speaker workout— just by the way, on the 4K disc, it’s a DTS-HD 5.1 mix on this, which is pretty good. I thought it had a really good music soundtrack. I’ve got more info on that in the things you should know, you might not know. Now in terms of the action and the highway scene and the cars.

[00:53:31]  Trevor: Highway, the highway with the trucks. That was pretty good.

[00:53:33]  Stephen: Yeah, that was epic. Thank God I got a big screen. Now the cinematographer was Donald Peterman, who also shot Point Break, Men in Black, and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. So he’s had some movies under his belt. I quite like the train sequence. We see a lot of the countryside. Some lovely shots of the countryside, the scenery shots, the shots of Chicago as well when they’re approaching Chicago.

[00:53:59]  Trevor: I like the train sequence, especially when they’re walking across the field. They go wide, you get enough, you get a real aspect of it.

[00:54:05]  Stephen: All right, now the business. Now if your flight is canceled because of bad weather in Australia, you don’t receive cash compensation. You have to— you’ve got the right to be rebooked on a flight or a refund. Bad weather is an event outside an airline’s control, and because of this, our rules differ from Europe and North America. What you are owed: you’re either owed a new flight, so it’ll usually book you on the next available flight for free. If the rebook time does not work, you can ask for a refund for the unused part of your ticket. What you are not owed: there’s no— they don’t give you extra money for inconvenience caused by weather. They do not have to pay for your hotel rooms, meals, or taxis when weather stops a flight. What you can do: check the app. So look at your airline app or email for quick rebooking options. Use your travel insurance. Also read the ticket rules. Cheap tickets have stricter terms.

[00:55:15]  Trevor: Yes, as well.

[00:55:16]  Stephen: Yeah, right. Oh, if this movie was made today, it’d be a lot shorter because there’d be easy ways to rebook with the internet and mobile phones?

[00:55:24]  Trevor: Yeah, yeah. I mean, that’s the problem with that question really, is you just wouldn’t try and make it in the modern variant.

[00:55:32]  Stephen: The time it was made was perfect because that was one of the obstacles. They couldn’t— they didn’t have the internet, they didn’t have mobile phones.

[00:55:41]  Trevor: I mean, yeah, maybe you could, but weather doesn’t— technology doesn’t change weather though.

[00:55:44]  Stephen: No, exactly. Like, if Sydney had a weather event, they could close the airport for, you know, 12 hours. And you could then go to Central and get a CountryLink train, but that could be put down by a tree on the line. It’s not gonna be fixed quickly. So I think you could find a way to make it. Yeah, okay. Maybe you wouldn’t see the 3-day adventure, that’s the hard part.

[00:56:06]  Stephen: All right, every day is a school day. What is your theme or lesson here?

[00:56:11]  Trevor: Um, yeah, don’t judge a book by its cover.

[00:56:13]  Stephen: It’s pretty clear. Don’t judge a person by appearances. And Roger Ebert said it, or your own misguided standards, your own biases, not necessarily in line with other people. And at home is where the heart is too. So that’s another thing where it’s the whole work-life balance. He says in the movie, I work too much, I hardly see my kids. And remember he says, look, love your work, love your life.

[00:56:41]  Trevor: Conversely, you could look at Del and say, mate, if you were more open with people, weirdly, that’s a funny thing to say, but if you were more open to people about your real situation — it’s not on day one, but in that first morning in the hotel room, or maybe after that tirade in the first hotel, he could have said, look, I gotta tell you, like, literally the first time I’ve even shared time with someone ’cause my wife died 8 years ago. Like, that could have changed the entire course of the plot.

[00:57:03]  Stephen: The whole movie would have been different, yeah. It would have been a different movie.

[00:57:05]  Trevor: Their whole relationship, everything would have changed ’cause Neil would have been like, mate, come to my place for Thanksgiving, you know.

[00:57:09]  Stephen: I’m glad they didn’t do it.

[00:57:11]  Trevor: Oh no, of course not. As a movie, yeah— as a script, brilliant. But just in terms of a moral lesson, yeah, I think you could say if you’re harboring something like that, I think it’s better to share it.

[00:57:23]  Stephen: Fair enough, mate. Uh, best use of the pause button. Did you get a look at Neil’s watch?

[00:57:29]  Trevor: No, I saw it.

[00:57:31]  Stephen: It was a Piaget Polo 8673.

[00:57:35]  Trevor: Right, what do we know?

[00:57:36]  Stephen: Quite expensive. Very nice one.

[00:57:38]  Trevor: Yeah, right.

[00:57:39]  Stephen: So it was a good trade for the hotel room. He could have got 5 rooms. Yeah.

[00:57:43]  Stephen: Uh, things you might not know. Do you remember when they caught the train and it busted down in a small rural station? They filmed that in the Western New York town of Gowanda. That train is still sitting on that track and it’s remained there unused since the film. And you can see it with a logo still on it all these years later. Music-wise, Elton John was commissioned to write the theme song for the movie.

[00:58:24]  Trevor: Wow.

[00:58:24]  Stephen: They nearly completed it. Two days before they were going to record it, Paramount issued a last-minute demand that the original song master, if they recorded it, would become the property of the studio. Elton went, stuff that. Polygram would not allow this as he was under contractual obligation to give Polygram rights to all his released music. So Paramount said, they couldn’t reach a deal and they both went their separate ways. Paramount instead opted to license Paul Young’s song Every Time You Go Away as the movie’s theme song. And Elton John’s original theme song, which we never knew, was never recorded.

[00:59:06]  Trevor: So I was going to say, I wonder if it became just one of his songs.

[00:59:09]  Stephen: It might have been, yeah, but I don’t know which one.

[00:59:11]  Trevor: Wow.

[00:59:12]  Stephen: Steve Martin— I told you how much this was cut down and scenes deleted. He was upset that a speech given by John Candy near the end of the movie was cut. And he considered it to be one of the best scenes with lots of emotional weight. He discussed his opposition to John Hughes. He said, mate, you can’t have cut that. What are you doing? And Hughes said, mate, I’m upset too, but they were under so much pressure from Paramount to keep the film well under 2 hours. Martin was so upset with Paramount, he didn’t work with them for years. And it wasn’t until ’92, so 5 years later, they made a movie together, Leap of Faith, in ’92. So he hung out. Did you notice when you were starting the movie, the opening titles, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, they play those sound effects in that order as the main title goes. Also, the exterior shot of the aircraft in flight was the same 707 that they used for filming Flying High, also a Paramount Pictures movie. So they thought, oh, let’s use that plane, save some money.

[01:00:30]  Stephen: Did you wait till after the credits?

[01:00:32]  Trevor: No, I didn’t.

[01:00:33]  Stephen: Well, if you did, you would have noticed Neil’s boss still looking at the pictures, trying to make his decision, and his Thanksgiving dinner is on his desk. That’s how long he was taking to make the decision. That’s funny. What’s the meme? I think a couple of obvious ones. They’re not pillows, I think would be my favorite.

[01:00:52]  Trevor: I think you’re fucked.

[01:00:54]  Stephen: That’s my next one I had down. Um, I love it when he says, look, it doesn’t look like much, but is she still going?

[01:01:00]  Trevor: I know, I think I like me is a good one as well.

[01:01:02]  Stephen: I like me. Yeah. Or, um, oh, there’s so many.

[01:01:06]  Trevor: There’s, uh, you know what, if someone was fat shaming me on social, I just go back with it. I like me. John Candy, I like me written underneath. That’s perfect.

[01:01:15]  Stephen: Fair, cool. By Any Other Name. I mean, that’s, it’s iconic.

[01:01:20]  Trevor: It’s ridiculous.

[01:01:21]  Stephen: Or you know, The Long Way Home. Or Show Me the Way Home. Again, doesn’t sound like anything. A Thanksgiving Story or anything.

[01:01:32]  Trevor: It’s just not that movie.

[01:01:33]  Stephen: It doesn’t sound like a comedy. Yes, Planes Trains Automobiles, it’s a comedy.

[01:01:37]  Trevor: Yeah.

[01:01:39]  Stephen: The one thing you want? Oh, I’ll take Neil’s Piaget watch.

[01:01:46]  Trevor: Wouldn’t mind one of their wallets just as a keepsake.

[01:01:48]  Stephen: Well, I’ve said Neil’s credit cards. Yeah, his name on it. The Diner’s Club card. Yes, that’s still around, Diner’s Club. Neil’s briefcase. Del’s trunk. I’ll take the trunk with the stickers on it.

[01:02:00]  Trevor: That’d be amazing. Yeah, wow, what a prop.

[01:02:02]  Stephen: That’d be somewhere for sure. Someone owns that. Yeah.

[01:02:07]  Stephen: All right, 3 questions for Trev.

[01:02:08]  Trevor: Hit me.

[01:02:09]  Stephen: What happens to Neil and Del? Do they now become lifelong friends?

[01:02:13]  Trevor: Lifelong friends. Hey, you know what? He’s there every Thanksgiving.

[01:02:17]  Stephen: He’s become like a brother to him.

[01:02:18]  Trevor: Yeah. That’s nice. That’s it.

[01:02:20]  Stephen: Question 2, do you think Neil takes Del’s advice and spends more time at home with the family?

[01:02:26]  Trevor: No, I don’t think that comes across as much as just the Del story.

[01:02:30]  Stephen: Yeah. So you reckon Neil’s still gonna be a workaholic and spend time away from home? Okay.

[01:02:36]  Trevor: Yeah. Sorry.

[01:02:37]  Stephen: Question 3: sequel, prequel, or leave it alone?

[01:02:40]  Trevor: I mean, you could easily sequel this. You could have back in the day, you know, with some other shenanigans these two got up to because they do become friends. It’s like, okay, let’s go and meet Del’s family for Christmas. He might have a brother or something, you know. And so let’s take Neil’s family on a trip to see Del’s family for Christmas and you make a trip out of it.

[01:03:01]  Stephen: Vacation.

[01:03:02]  Trevor: You know, funny.

[01:03:03]  Stephen: Yeah, I’d watch that. Righto, that is Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Give us your wrap-up and rating.

[01:03:10]  Trevor: I enjoyed it. It wasn’t as funny as I would have liked it to be, and I do wonder whether—

[01:03:15]  Stephen: I was laughing out loud at this. Jo would come in there and go, what are you watching? I said, oh, this for the podcast.

[01:03:21]  Trevor: I don’t think I have that sense of humor. I think that’s happened to me with a few of the movies, classic comedies. I just think I struggle with that level of sense of humor. I’m more of a—

[01:03:31]  Stephen: you think it was stand-up style?

[01:03:36]  Trevor: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Definitely some fun lines, some— all that. I get the lines and all that stuff. So yeah, love the length. I loved— I just loved the ending. The ending adds a point, as it were. I’m absolutely not joking. Yeah. This was a 6. It becomes a 7 just because it ended so perfectly.

[01:03:53]  Stephen: Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I’m an 8. I’ll give it an 8.

[01:03:55]  Trevor: Yeah. We’re so regularly one off each other. It’s amazing. All right, I’m a 7, you’re an 8.

[01:04:02]  Stephen: I’m particularly generous, especially because I’m coming up with the movies, you know.

[01:04:04]  Trevor: Yeah, well, you should always. Well, speaking of which, next week we’re going back in time. We’re going to recast our episode of Cars movie, unquestionably the best movie of all time, and I won’t hear an argument otherwise. Cars was released in 2006, and it’s as old as my eldest child, so it’s little wonder he is the biggest fan of Lightning McQueen there is still to this day. Jackson is the biggest fan of Lightning McQueen. Like, he wears Lightning McQueen shirts to work. Like, legit. So to get us there, I have a millionaire question for you, Stephen. John Ratzenberger. Well known as an iconic actor, face, and voice, Cliff from Cheers. 274 episodes of Cheers. He directed 4 episodes of Cheers. Did you know that? He’s best known in my family as Mack from Cars, the truck Mack. Your question is, how many Pixar movies has Ratzenberger done? Is it 3, 8, 13, or 24?

[01:05:05]  Stephen: Well, I know he was in Toy Story.

[01:05:07]  Trevor: Okay. He wasn’t in 5.

[01:05:11]  Stephen: He wasn’t in 5. Right. So there’s 4 just there, Toy Stories.

[01:05:15]  Trevor: He’s alive, mate.

[01:05:16]  Stephen: Is he still alive?

[01:05:16]  Trevor: Really? 79?

[01:05:17]  Stephen: Yeah, I’m thinking of someone else from Cheers. Sorry. I’m thinking of someone else from Cheers.

[01:05:21]  Trevor: You’re thinking of his sidekick. Cliff and— oh, you’re killing me now anyway.

[01:05:27]  Stephen: Yes. He passed away, didn’t he?

[01:05:25]  Trevor: No, okay, so what are the options? 3, 8, 13, or 24?

[01:05:36]  Stephen: Mate, I’m gonna go 13.

[01:05:38]  Trevor: So, ’cause you’re thinking he was in Cars, he was in all the Toy Stories and all the Cars. That’s 8 or 9 just there. So it’s 8.

[01:05:46]  Stephen: Oh, so it’s 8.

[01:05:47]  Trevor: It’s 24. What, mate? He’s basically there in every one. He’s been in more Pixar movies than any other actor. And I won’t bother listing them all, but everything from Monsters University through to Finding Dory, um, you know, A Bug’s Life.

[01:06:01]  Stephen: John Ratzenberger trivia. Yeah, he was in The Empire Strikes Back.

[01:06:07]  Trevor: Wow, you had to bring the whole episode down with bloody Star Wars. Next week, folks, the greatest movie of all time, 20-year anniversary according to Trevor, of Cars, the Cars movie. And we’ll bring you that next week, Stephen. Until then, we’ll be back next week.

[01:06:24]  Stephen: Yeah, start your engines.

[01:06:25]  Trevor: See you, mate.

[01:06:26]  Stephen: Bye.