Planes, Trains And Automobiles

John Hughes' films launched the careers of many of today's middle-aged stars including Molly Ringwald, Jon Cryer and Matthew Broderick in the 1980's (including "Sixteen Candles," "Breakfast Club," and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"). In 1987, he paired up two already established comedians, Steve Martin and John Candy, in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," which has just been released on Blu-ray by Paramount.

Martin plays Neal Page, a conservative marketer trying to get home to Chicago from Manhattan for Thanksgiving. The exploits begin immediately, as Page misses a cab trying to get to JFK airport, then has his flight rerouted to Wichita after O'Hare airport in Chicago is closed due to snow. While racing for the New York taxi (against a young Kevin Bacon in a cameo appearance), he (literally) runs into Del Griffith (Candy), a jovial, outspoken, shower-ring salesman. The movie becomes the classic buddy film as the two opposites battle weather, various forms of transportation, and each other to get Page home to his waiting family.

Candy and Martin have a wonderful comedic chemistry, and though it takes awhile for the pace of the film to heighten to the point where the laughs overshadow the shallow premise, once it's attained, our funny bone is hooked. Of particular hilarity are scenes in which the slowly brooding Page finally lets his anger loose on an unsuspecting rental car clerk (played to perfection by a frequent member of Hughes' entourage, Edie McClurg), and a driving sequence featuring Candy's salesman mistakenly cruising the wrong way on an interstate.

Needless to say, all ends well for the pair, though Candy's sentimental turn at the end of the film is particularly endearing. The movie represents a poignant example of what further work we might've expected from Candy had he not died of a weight-induced heart attack at the age of 43.

The bonus features are also of interest as they include extensive and insightful interviews with Hughes (who also died of a heart attack, in 2009), and actors Alan Ruck, Broderick, Cryer, as well as the film's executive producer, Neil Machlis.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Blu-ray
www.paramount.com