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Are you Gus’s son?

usmc0331horn

By usmc0331horn
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South Austin

South Austin 52,521

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You're no saint. You got a free cab, you got a free room, and someone who'll listen to your boring stories. I mean, didn't you notice on the plane when you started talking, eventually I started reading the vomit bag? Didn't that give you some sort of clue, like, hey, maybe this guy's not enjoying it? You know, everything is not an anecdote. You have to discriminate. You choose things that are funny or mildly amusing or interesting. You're a miracle! Your stories have none of that. They're not even amusing *accidentally*! "Honey, I'd like you to meet Del Griffith, he's got some amusing anecodotes for you. Oh, and here's a gun so you can blow your brains out. You'll thank me for it." I could tolerate any insurance seminar. For days, I could sit there and listen to them go on and on with a big smile on my face. They'd say, "How can you stand it?" I'd say, "'Cause I've been with Del Griffith. I can take anything." You know what they'd say? They'd say, "I know what you mean. The shower curtain ring guy. Whoa." It's like going on a date with a Chatty Cathy doll. I expect you have a little string on your chest, you know, that I pull out and have to snap back. Except I wouldn't pull it out and snap it back, you would. Agh! Agh! Agh! Agh! And by the way, you know, when you're telling these little stories? Here's a good idea: have a point. It makes it so much more interesting for the listener!

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Guest Lobo

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15 minutes ago, ztejas said:

Underrated movie. I feel like it's held in most circles as a funny, classic comedy. It's a great fucking film. 

Hughes was good at doing that. 

Although Candy was one of Hughes' go-to "muses" for his films...Steve Martin was a longshot for the film.  He was already a huge star and was skeptical of how such a "straight man" role would be received, and the dynamic with Candy (as was Hughes).  Two scenes apparently convinced him, the challenge of playing straight while the big Candy fiddled around with the electric seats in the rental car, and then the scene with him unloading all the f-bombs at the Marathon counter.  After that he got the dynamic, did the movie for a discount, and created what I think is one of the best 5 comedy duos in film history.  They never worked together before or after, but they gave us a wonderful movie with no wasted scenes, every supporting character is played pitch-perfect. 

I post it every year, but watch the movie through the lens of Del's deceased wife.  Martin's purpose is to keep moving to his family, but she wants Del's purpose to be to stop moving and let go of her.  It's so beautiful and so goddamned funny.  

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ztejas

ztejas 43,487

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28 minutes ago, Lobo said:

I post it every year, but watch the movie through the lens of Del's deceased wife.  Martin's purpose is to keep moving to his family, but she wants Del's purpose to be to stop moving and let go of her.  It's so beautiful and so goddamned funny.

If him going back to the train station doesn't get you choked up a little then you don't have a soul. Sorry.

The last time I watched it I had kind of forgotten about that last 20 minutes or so of resolution and tying the ends together and thought "FUUUUUCK that's a great movie".

Everytime I watch the Breakfast Club there's always a new scene that I have to play back a couple times because it's so brilliant. There's something about the ability to present a scene or exchange of dialogue as lighthearted and comedic on the surface, but have it be very complex and deeply cathartic underneath that has always fascinated me. 

Maybe I'm just a sucker for screenplays like that. Butch Cassidy is probably my favorite screenplay ever for very similar reasons. To some degree it mirrors how I've always tended to cope with serious or morose situations by making light of them or downplaying the significance. That idea that "yeah this really fucking sucks but it's going to be okay".

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Guest Lobo

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 Fun fact---Two male actors from this movie appeared on "Seinfeld" 

Another fun fact about "Planes Trains & Automobiles"...in the initial Wichita hotel room scene.  Look on either side of the painting above the bed at the dirty handprints.  Though a long way from Ontario, the handprints certainly suggest that a Canadian was Mounted on that bed.  

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Guest Lobo

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the guy on Neal's right on the airplane, that falls asleep on his shoulder and they end up sharing food across the row...it's Bill Erwin......or Sidney Fields, aka "The Old Man" when George and Jerry spend time with the elderly.  He also briefly appears in "The Pilot" episode with Larry Hankin, the guy who plays Doobie the Cab Driver in PTAA.  Worlds have collided. 

Like you, I always recognized Doobie for years as the other "Kramer."  But only a few years ago, doing my annual tradition of watching this wonderful film...did I finally remember where the old guy on the plane was also from...turns out he was actually on two Seinfeld episodes...and one with Doobie.  Only figured it out after about 10 viewings of each, I'm sharp like that.  The actor was from Texas and just passed a few years ago at damn near 100.  Had a wonderful and lucrative TV career.  And reminds me of Hank Hill's father because imdb lists him as 6'4", but he musta had his shins blown off in Korea because he always looked about a foot shorter than that. 

RIP to Bill, John Hughes, and John Candy... and Happy Thanksgiving to all lovers of Planes Trains and Automobiles.  

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Guest Lobo

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Been a few years since I saw it, not doubting you.  but I remember it kind of picking up in early December about time that holiday parties for companies and clubs begin.  Maybe late November I guess, but no references to Turkey Day anyway.  And it certainly runs well past Christmas.  The crop report heist is on New Year's Eve, they execute on the information presumably when the markets reopen after the NYD holiday (3 January in the case of 1983).  And then of course the closing scene on the yacht/beach after that which of course could be anytime later that year.  

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Trey3216

Trey3216 15,349

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8 minutes ago, Lobo said:

Been a few years since I saw it, not doubting you.  but I remember it kind of picking up in early December about time that holiday parties for companies and clubs begin.  Maybe late November I guess, but no references to Turkey Day anyway.  And it certainly runs well past Christmas.  The crop report heist is on New Year's Eve, they execute on the information presumably when the markets reopen after the NYD holiday (3 January in the case of 1983).  And then of course the closing scene on the yacht/beach after that which of course could be anytime later that year.  

I always thought there was a reference early in the film of it starting right around Thanksgiving, but I could be wrong.  But yes, it runs in the weeks leading up to Christmas and into NYE.   Either way, I always watch it on Thanksgiving weekend since that’s usually when channels start running it repeatedly.  

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Guest Lobo

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It is a good Thanksgiving weekend movie, you're right.  There's not much else to watch after I'm done bawling watching "Planes Trains."  I should throw this into the rotation.  

I remember the opening credits/montage being all kinds of street "christmas flair" around Philly which is why the transition into Eddie Murphy as a beggar makes sense.  And it doesn't just go into NYE, it goes well past it.  I guess we'll just call it a "Happy Holidays" movie because people wanna hold their money and buy their boy a G.I. Joe with the Kung Fu Grip.  

I have to think, in small part, the reason you don't see more Thanksgiving movies is because you can only write so many scenes around that table.  But you can write a funny story, a comedy of errors/fish out of water...about the journey to get to that table.  Everybody knows the rush to get there on Thanksgiving and the struggle to get home.  But I'd like to think that after "Planes Trains & Automobiles"...everybody sorta felt the die was cast and there was nothing left to build on.  I still think a funny dialogue-two act Turkey Table movie could be made with the right ensemble cast.  But there's no 3-act, standard arc, protag-antag Thanksgiving Movie coming down the pike because it started and stopped with Martin & Candy.  Another nod to that beautiful chemistry they had accidentally.  

Come to think of it, as corny as it was to me when it first came out..."Scent of a Woman" has grown on me in my less cynical years.  And it takes place completely within the scope of Thanksgiving Week.  I think it starts on the Monday or Tuesday before the holiday and wraps up the Monday afterwards/first day back.  It's not that funny obviously, but its arc is made possible by the backdrop of the holiday.  

Alright, I'm getting the kids to bed.  We said we'd watch the Star Wars holiday lego special.  But I'm gonna dig around and watch Trading Places.  If for no other reason than to see the birth of the career of Giancarlo Esposito (aka Gus Fring) whose basic acting chops are to look fondly at Eddie Murphy when he learns of the demoralizing news that the phone in the limousine, is in fact....broken.  If only they had Argyle 

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Kennythetiger

Kennythetiger 9,395

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On 11/25/2020 at 10:14 AM, ztejas said:

If him going back to the train station doesn't get you choked up a little then you don't have a soul. Sorry.

The last time I watched it I had kind of forgotten about that last 20 minutes or so of resolution and tying the ends together and thought "FUUUUUCK that's a great movie".

Everytime I watch the Breakfast Club there's always a new scene that I have to play back a couple times because it's so brilliant. There's something about the ability to present a scene or exchange of dialogue as lighthearted and comedic on the surface, but have it be very complex and deeply cathartic underneath that has always fascinated me. 

Maybe I'm just a sucker for screenplays like that. Butch Cassidy is probably my favorite screenplay ever for very similar reasons. To some degree it mirrors how I've always tended to cope with serious or morose situations by making light of them or downplaying the significance. That idea that "yeah this really fucking sucks but it's going to be okay".

“I can’t swim.”  

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Sbbruin

Sbbruin 21,861

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On 11/26/2020 at 1:31 PM, Trey3216 said:

Trading Places, which kind of runs from Thanksgiving to Christmas.  

I think of it more as a Christmas movie for sure.  And another great one.  This s probably one of the funniest scenes in movie history (note: I’m prone to hyperbole).

 

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