48 Fun Facts About Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Before Planes, Trains and Automobiles, writer-director John Hughes was best known for which kind of film?

Teen comedies. After Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, he said half the reviews of this story about two grown men began, 'Well... he grew up!'

What is Neal Page's job in Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

Advertising executive. John Hughes had worked in advertising himself, and based the story on a trip home from New York that went as badly wrong as Neal's.

What does John Candy's character, Del Griffith, sell for a living in Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

Shower curtain rings, 'the best in the world', he says. Neal throws the job back at him in their motel-room row, imagining strangers who hear Del's name and sigh, 'The shower curtain ring guy.'

In Planes, Trains and Automobiles, which holiday is Neal Page trying to get home for?

Thanksgiving. Paramount opened the film on the day before the holiday in 1987, and with so few other films set around it, it found a second life through television showings each year.

What does Del do on the freeway at night that nearly gets him and Neal killed?

Drives the wrong way. When a motorist across the divide shouts a warning, Del decides the man is drunk ('How would he know where we're going?') and ends up threading the car between two oncoming trucks.

Where is Neal and Del's flight diverted in Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

Wichita, Kansas. John Hughes took the detour from life: he said that on a flight home from New York of his own he was delayed five days and ended up in Phoenix by way of Wichita.

After a mix-up at their first motel, which of Neal's belongings ends up with Del?

His credit card. Del finds Neal's Diners Club card among his own, rents a car with it once the two have split up, and slips it back into Neal's wallet just before the car is wrecked.

What happens to Neal and Del's cash during their first night in a motel?

It is stolen by a thief. Scenes cut from the film explain him: he is the pizza delivery boy Del short-changed on the tip, back for his money, and Neal's first thought is that Del took the $700.

What happens to Neal and Del's train?

It breaks down, in the middle of a field. The passengers are told to walk a mile to the highway, where trucks are waiting to carry them on to Jefferson City, Missouri.

When Neal's choice of song falls flat on the bus, which TV theme does Del get everyone singing?

The Flintstones. Neal starts 'Three Coins in the Fountain' and gets blank stares; Del rescues him with a cartoon theme that the whole bus, Neal excepted, knows by heart.

In Planes, Trains and Automobiles, what happens when Neal insults a taxi dispatcher in St. Louis?

He is punched in the face. Neal has just trudged back from an empty parking bay to rage at the car-hire desk, and as he hits the ground Del pulls up in a car of his own.

What earned Planes, Trains and Automobiles its R rating in the United States?

Swearing in a single scene. Left with keys to a car that is not there, Neal walks back to the hire desk and delivers a tirade in which one four-letter word precedes nearly every noun.

In a subplot cut from Planes, Trains and Automobiles, what does Neal's wife suspect?

An affair: she takes 'Del' for an invented name, which is why she greets the real one so warmly. The subplot went when a first cut of three and three-quarter hours was trimmed.

Which NFL team do Neal and Del gruffly discuss after waking up in each other's arms?

The Chicago Bears. Mortified, the two men leap out of bed and reach for the manliest small talk they can find: 'See that Bears game last week?' 'They're gonna go all the way.'

Which film topped the US box office when Planes, Trains and Automobiles opened?

Three Men and a Baby. A reissue of Disney's Cinderella came second and the newcomer third, yet it went on to take $49.5 million at American cinemas on a budget of about $15 million.

Why can't Del tell the state trooper how fast he was driving the burnt-out car?

The speedometer has melted. Told his speed, Del says he can buy that, and insists the charred, mirrorless car is fit for the road: not pretty, he admits, but it will get them where they want to go.

A snowless Chicago sent the Planes, Trains and Automobiles shoot to which city?

Buffalo. Shooting began there in March 1987, and the crew then chased snow from state to state until the schedule had stretched to 85 days, about double the norm for a two-character comedy.

Waking up in a shared motel bed, where does Del tell Neal his other hand is?

Between two pillows. Neal's horrified reply, 'Those aren't pillows!', sends both men out of bed in a hurry; the film's publicist remembered it as a line John Candy came up with on the set.

What sets fire to the rental car while Del and Neal are stopped at the roadside?

A discarded cigarette. Del flicks it at the window, it lands on the back seat instead, and the two men are still collecting themselves after a near miss when the car goes up in flames behind them.

Which star has a cameo as the man who races Neal for a taxi in Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

Kevin Bacon. He had just starred in She's Having a Baby for John Hughes and asked to be put in the next film in any capacity; he ended up, in his own words, 'an extra with a trailer'.

Which actor plays the state trooper who impounds the burnt-out car in Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

Michael McKean. He recalled shooting the roadside scene twice: snow fell overnight after the first day, nothing matched any more, and the unit had to begin again.

Which actress plays the chirpy agent at the Marathon car hire desk in Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

Edie McClurg. She is on the phone, happily planning marshmallows for the holiday ambrosia, when Neal reaches her desk after his long walk back from the empty parking bay.

Which song plays as Neal brings Del home in the final scene of Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

Everytime You Go Away. The version heard is not Paul Young's 1985 hit but a cover by the group Blue Room; Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates wrote the song.

In his motel-room tirade, Neal says an evening with Del is like going on a date with what?

A Chatty Cathy doll, the toy that talks when its string is pulled. Neal pictures a string on Del's chest and adds the cruel twist: nobody else gets to pull it, because Del does it himself.

According to Del, what is the one thing in the burnt-out car that still works?

The radio. Del offers it to the state trooper as his clinching argument that the wreck is roadworthy, having just conceded that it has lost its outside mirror.

Where did the lost scenes of Planes, Trains and Automobiles turn up?

In John Hughes's archive. Paramount had found a single cut scene in its own vaults; the 75 minutes of extras on the 2022 disc came largely from videotapes of early edits he kept at home and liked to show visitors.

Which critic called Planes, Trains and Automobiles the one film his family watches as a custom?

Roger Ebert. He gave it a good review in 1987 and moved on, but it stayed in his memory, and he later added it to his Great Movies, writing that films that last are arrows 'straight to the heart'.

Which two stars did Paramount announce in 2020 for a remake of Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

Will Smith and Kevin Hart. Their production companies were to make it from a script by Aeysha Carr, but in 2025 she said the project 'fell apart', though the script exists.

Where does Neal find Del sitting alone at the end of Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

At an 'L' train station. The two say goodbye there, but on the ride home Neal replays Del's odd remarks, senses that something is wrong, and goes back to find him still on the bench.

What happens to Neal's first-class seat on the flight out of New York?

Reassigned to coach, next to Del. Told that first class is full, Neal fumes, 'First you delay me, then you bump me', and at journey's end it is Del who suggests that next time they go first class.

How does Del respond when Neal attacks his personality in the motel room?

He says he likes himself, and that his wife and his customers like him too, because he is 'the real article'; the speech shames Neal into silence, and its words come back to him on the train home.

Which airport were Neal and Del originally flying into?

O'Hare International. A snowstorm shuts it while Mid-Central flight 909 is in the air, and Del later warns Neal that 18 hours of air traffic are backed up behind it.

What is the name of the wife Del talks about throughout Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

Marie. Alone one night, Del speaks to her aloud ('Well, Marie, once again, my dear, you were as right as rain'), and when the two men part Neal asks him to say hello to her.

Out of cash at a bus terminal, what does Del pass his sales samples off as?

Earrings. His patter turns them into 'Diane Sawyer autographed' pairs, 'Czechoslovakian ivory' and helium-filled 'Walter Cronkite' moon jewellery, all at five dollars a pair.

What does Del do on the plane, soon after Neal sits down?

Takes off his shoes and socks. 'My dogs are barking today,' he sighs; John Candy's son later pointed to the moment to show that everyone has a little of Neal in them.

According to Neal, why did the beer cans burst open in their motel room?

They sat on a vibrating bed. 'What did you think would happen?' Neal demands; 'It just didn't occur to me,' says Del, and offers to swap sides of the sodden mattress.

What does Del offer Neal to make up for taking his taxi?

A hot dog and a beer. Neal turns the peace offering down in the departure lounge, only to find a few minutes later that the same talkative stranger has the seat beside his.

What does the agent at the Marathon car hire desk ask to see that Neal has already thrown away?

His rental agreement. He tore it up in the empty parking bay, and her cheerful two-word verdict on his chances without it ends the scene.

After the trooper impounds their car, how do Neal and Del ride the final leg home?

In a refrigerated truck trailer. Del talks a dairy driver into the lift, but the man is 'a little freaky about people riding in his cab', so the pair shiver in the back for the last few hours.

After the rental car fire, what does Neal trade for a motel room?

His expensive watch. With his cards burnt, Neal gets a room for '$17 and a hell of a nice watch'; Del, next in line, can offer only two dollars and a Casio, and is left outside in the snow.

Who performs 'Mess Around', the rhythm-and-blues number heard in Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

Ray Charles. He cut it in 1953 for Atlantic Records, whose co-founder Ahmet Ertegun had written the song himself under a pen name, and it became one of his first hits.

At the end of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, what does Del admit?

He has no home: his wife has been dead for eight years. The script gave Del a page-and-a-half speech here, but it drew giggles at screenings, so it was cut to a few lines.

In his motel-room tirade, what does Neal say he could happily sit through after Del's stories?

An insurance seminar: asked how he could stand it, he says, he would answer, ''Cause I've been with Del Griffith. I can take anything', a boast that gave the soundtrack's mock love theme its title.

Which deadpan actor plays an airport representative in Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

Ben Stein. A year after his monotone roll-call in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, he is the airline man who delivers the news that strands Neal and Del: their flight is cancelled.

Who sings 'Back in Baby's Arms', a song made famous by Patsy Cline, on the Planes, Trains and Automobiles soundtrack?

Emmylou Harris. John Hughes played her recording on the set while Steve Martin and John Candy lay in bed for the waking-up scene, and both said it made keeping a straight face very hard.

In a deleted scene, the trooper tells Neal and Del they have overshot Chicago and are in which state?

Wisconsin. In the longer cut the trooper says they have driven an hour past Chicago, and Del adds a second blow: he never paid for cover on the burnt rental.

Before Planes, Trains and Automobiles, John Candy first worked with John Hughes on which 1983 comedy?

Vacation. Candy joined National Lampoon's Vacation only when its ending was reshot; Hughes said he still preferred his original ending, but the rewrite gave him his introduction to the actor.

Who plays Owen, the redneck who lets Del and Neal ride in the bed of his pickup truck?

Dylan Baker. His Owen breaks the news that no passenger train leaves from where they are, unless they happen to be hogs or cattle: 'People train runs out of Stubbville.'