Planes, Trains and Automobiles

My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving, which will be this coming Thursday, the 24th.  It is not religious (Christmas) nor patriotic (Independence Day).  Its essence is friends and family coming together to share a turkey dinner and appreciate the good things in their lives.

Thanksgiving has become a holiday in which more Americans travel to get home or to wherever they are celebrating than any other time of the year.  As it falls on a Thursday (the fourth in November as mandated by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863), it has lately been expanding from a four-day holiday to a five-plus-day celebration.

As a child, Thanksgiving represented days off from school, having to eat my mother's very dry turkey at our dining room table (instead of in the kitchen where we normally ate), topped off with three different kinds of pies (apple, pumpkin and lemon meringue) for dessert, and the Lions-Packers annual pro football game on our black-and-white TV.

As an adult, I discovered that turkey can be moist and delicious.  Plus, cranberry sauce can be freshly made instead of spooned out of a can.  Bonita and I took our children to Broadway in front of the Ed Sullivan Theater to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving parade in person.  There were trips to our friend Donna's house in rural Connecticut for gourmet food.  I cooked my first turkey when my son, Bret, came to visit me in Chapel Hill.  When I was going to be alone my last Thanksgiving before moving to Brazil, I remember the kindness of my OSR colleague, Karen Mansfield, who invited me to her home. Now I cook a 1 kg. boneless turkey breast, pre-seasoned, in order to celebrate Thankgiving in Sao Paulo.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles, written, produced, and directed by John Hughes in 1987, is my favorite Thanksgiving movie.  It starred my "friend" Steve Martin (see blog post of 10/4/2015-Parenthood) and the late John Candy as two strangers who meet while trying to get home to Chicago for Thanksgiving.  Everything that could possibly go wrong, goes wrong.  But it's a comedy.

Neal (Martin), an advertising executive, is finishing a business trip to New York and is struggling to get home for Thanksgiving on time.  He pays a man on the street to give up his taxi, but Del (Candy), a salesman, unknowingly takes the taxi away from him and heads to the airport.  As such, Neal is peeved.  What a coincidence when they sit next to each other on the same plane flying to Chicago.  Neal's first impression carries over, while Del tries to make amends. 

Because of a blizzard, the plane is diverted to Wichita, Kansas.  That night, Neal (grudgingly) and Del are forced to share a room and a bed in a cheap motel.  While they are sleeping, a burglar steals all their money.  Thinking the worst, Neal is sure that Del was the thief, but is finally convinced otherwise.  The next day, Neal and Del board a train bound for Chicago.  More bad luck as the engine breaks down stranding all the passengers in the middle of a field in rural Missouri. 

Neal and Del walk to nearby Jefferson City where they buy (after Del sells all his samples) bus tickets to St. Louis whereupon Neal happily (for him) parts company with Del.  At the St. Louis airport, Neal rents a car, but when he is dropped off at his designated location, there is no car waiting for him.  However, always amenable Del rescues Neal with his own rented car. 

While driving the wrong way on the freeway, Del almost gets them killed.  Later, the car catches fire.  All their credit cards having been burned, Neal has to sell his designer watch to pay for a motel room for himself, while Del tries to sleep in his burnt-out car parked in the motel parking lot.  Finally feeling compassion for Del, Neal invites him into his room for the night.  The next day, their car is impounded by the police because of the fire damage, but the two are able to finally get to Chicago in the back of a refrigerator truck (thanks to Del). 

Neal and Del part company at a train station in the city.  While Neal is happily heading home, he comes to the realization that Del may be alone for the holiday.  Neal returns to the station and finds Del still there.  Del admits that his wife died eight years before and he has no where to go.  Understanding the essence of this holiday (see above), Neal invites his new friend, Del, to his home where he will share Thanksgiving dinner with his family.  It is a fitting end to an otherwise funny story.