"The last thing I want to be remembered as is an annoying blabbermouth." - Del Griffith

"Planes, Trains and Automobiles" tells the story of Neal Page, a fussy, finicky businessman trying to get home for Thanksgiving, and running into obstacles at every turn. His biggest obstacle may just be Del Griffith, a friendly but annoying shower curtain ring salesman who wants nothing more than to talk Neal's ear off every inch of the way. After an initial taxicab-stealing incident, the two hapless travelers are continually thrown together by chance and circumstance, despite Neal's best efforts to ditch his unwanted companion. Along the way they learn a little about each other, a little about themselves, and a lot about finding alternate modes of travel. "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" is an absolute classic, one of my personal favorite comedies. It's the best kind of comedy, too: realistic characters (not caricatures) put in bizarre, funny situations through the logical machinations of the simple plot. Loaded with great dialogue, tons of laughs, and a big heart, "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" succeeds on every level. Steve Martin and John Candy are absolutely perfect as Neal and Del, an odd couple if there ever was one. The script is amazingly believable in it's progression. From their ride in "Doobby's Taxiola", to sharing a motel room with one bed ("Those aren't pillows!"), to destroying their rental car ("The speedometer is melted, so it's hard to gauge with any degree of accuracy exactly how fast we were going", Del explains to a police officer), this film is one great scene after another. It's somewhat surprising how touching the ending of the film is, but that just goes to show the depth of these characters, and how much we have come to care for them over the course of the movie. Comedy with a heart is an absolute treasure, and this is one of the best combinations of that, in my humble opinion. Written and directed by John Hughes, this is arguably his best work. For the past eight years or so I've had a Thanksgiving tradition of watching "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" with a group of friends and family, and revisiting Neal and Del is almost like seeing old friends. I must have seen the film at least fifteen times by now, but it still hasn't lost an ounce of it's charm, humor, and heart. Those who have seen it know what I'm talking about, and to those who haven't - what are you waiting for?

Picture: A nice, very adequate presentation here. The anamorphically enhanced widescreen picture looks very good, with crisp detail and generally strong colors. It's not quite flawless, but the defects are kept to a minimum. Sound: The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack serves the film excellently. Dialogue is clear and centered, with music and occasional sound effects filling out the soundstage.

When this title was announced for release on DVD, it was said to include some deleted scenes; however, the DVD disappointingly lacks these - this is a bare-bones disc in every sense of the word. No trailer, no extras, no foreign language dubs, no nothing. About the only choices you can make on this disc are subtitles on/off, and selecting a particular chapter. Pretty disappointing effort, Paramount.

Despite the lack of extra features and the rather high price, this DVD gets an overwhelming recommendation based on the film alone. Hopefully someday Paramount will do this classic right with a full-fledged special edition, but until then this DVD will have to do. This Thanksgiving I will be thankful for "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" being available on DVD, but all I want for Christmas is a "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" Ultimate Edition!