Thanksgiving Movies: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

 

Ready for another Tocquevillian reflection on America through cinema–after yesterday’s Avalon? Over at the Acton Institute, I have an essay on the best John Hughes movie, the one about adults.

Thanksgiving is a distinctively American holiday, unlike Christmas, & yet we have very few popular movies about it. Maybe this is a good thing—it’s a family affair, not necessarily a public spectacle. But it might be a bad thing—there’s something about giving thanks that we don’t quite grasp & it might be that nobody feels up to the task of letting us know. Certainly, back when presidents called for a day of thanksgiving through public proclamations, it was supposed to bring the nation together, & when’s the last time America came together?

These are unhappy times in America & there’s little movies can do to fix whatever’s wrong with us, but they can at least dramatize the American puzzle—America is a nation of unusually charitable, unusually religious people for a modern country, & yet Americans are remarkably uncomfortable around one another because we’re too aware that we remain mostly strangers. Being middle class makes us more or less the same, but that doesn’t necessarily bring us together. That takes something else—perhaps it takes charity.

There is a movie all about this moral drama, Planes, Trains, & Automobiles, made by John Hughes in 1988, starring Steve Martin & John Candy as two middle-aged men who come together by accident while traveling, going home for the holidays. Martin plays a successful middle-class man with a lovely family, the kind of man who would never watch John Hughes movies, which were mostly about kids. He fails to close a sale in New York & hurries to make a plane bound for Chicago—that as much as seals his fate.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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There are 13 comments.

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  1. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Happy Thanksgiving, Titus.

    • #1
  2. Jeff Petraska Member
    Jeff Petraska
    @JeffPetraska

    Trains, Planes, and Automobiles seems to be getting a lot of love this year.  The Spectator published a favorable article about it as well.  As a result, I made a point of watching it again on AMC this week.  Although I didn’t laugh as long and hard as I used to, I still appreciated its message.

    • #2
  3. Eustace C. Scrubb Member
    Eustace C. Scrubb
    @EustaceCScrubb

    Great film, I only dislike the overuse of flashbacks at the end.

    • #3
  4. Gossamer Cat Coolidge
    Gossamer Cat
    @GossamerCat

    Certain movies just have a sweetness about them that makes one overlook any quibbles one might have.  This movie is one of them. Just makes me happy when I watch it and it is one I’ll always stop to view when channel surfing.  

    • #4
  5. Mad Gerald Coolidge
    Mad Gerald
    @Jose

    The director John Hughes had an almost magical touch on every movie he did.

    • #5
  6. crogg Inactive
    crogg
    @crogg

    “Those aren’t pillows!”

    • #6
  7. Titus Techera Contributor
    Titus Techera
    @TitusTechera

    Gossamer Cat (View Comment):

    Certain movies just have a sweetness about them that makes one overlook any quibbles one might have. This movie is one of them. Just makes me happy when I watch it and it is one I’ll always stop to view when channel surfing.

    Glad to hear it–I got messages from friends saying the same thing. It does seem to strike a chord!

    • #7
  8. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    crogg (View Comment):

    “Those aren’t pillows!”

    “Oh boy.”

    “Oh boy, what?”

    “You’re ____ed.”

    • #8
  9. Titus Techera Contributor
    Titus Techera
    @TitusTechera

    crogg (View Comment):

    “Those aren’t pillows!”

    More!

    • #9
  10. Mad Gerald Coolidge
    Mad Gerald
    @Jose

    Titus Techera (View Comment):

    crogg (View Comment):

    “Those aren’t pillows!”

    More!

    This reminds me of the movie Hannibal, where Hannibal Lecter shares his meal with the little boy who doesn’t want to eat airplane food.

    “It isn’t even food as I understand the definition”

    • #10
  11. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    Happy Thanksgiving Titus. I still have fond memories of your visit to Arizona. Going to the Pima County pistol range. The range master thanking you for visiting Arizona. The drive to and from the Phoenix area, and the trip to San Xavier del Bac with @lidenscheng

    • #11
  12. Titus Techera Contributor
    Titus Techera
    @TitusTechera

    Hey, Doug! I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving yourself & the family’s all well. Tucson was amazing, from the pistol range to the great sunsets & dawn with the Santa Rita mountains in the backyard… Also, Tom Mix highway! Wonderful bit of America & I’m very grateful you showed me around!

    • #12
  13. OwnedByDogs Lincoln
    OwnedByDogs
    @JuliaBlaschke

    We rewatched it and really enjoyed it. Perfect Thanksgiving movie.

    • #13
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