Planes, Trains And Automobiles (1987)

Kindness can come in the most annoying packages, and the people who drive us craziest may need us the most. John Hughes' "Planes, Trains and Automobiles," which he wrote and directed, stars Steve Martin as Neal Page, an uptight advertising executive who just wants to get home from a business trip in New York to his wife (Laila Robins) and kids in Chicago for Thanksgiving. His troubles begin when he loses a race for a taxi to a stranger (Kevin Bacon in a cameo), and they only get worse when a snowstorm diverts his flight to Wichita, Kansas. There he's stuck with Del Griffith (John Candy), a big-hearted, nonstop talker who sells shower curtain rings and has a habit of making every bad situation worse. Forced to share a single cramped bed in a dingy motel, then robbed of their cash, the mismatched pair set off cross-country by train, bus, truck and a rental car that goes up in flames after they drive the wrong way down the highway. Along the way, Neal loses his temper in a hilarious, profanity-laced tirade at a cheerful rental car clerk (Edie McClurg). But as the miles and misadventures pile up, the prickly Neal begins to see the lonely man behind Del's endless chatter, and discovers he's been hiding a heartbreaking secret. It's a warm, very funny holiday classic.