Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) is frequently considered John Hughes’ best work. Its Rotten Tomatoes score is 92%. It ranks either #1 or #2 on lists from Variety, Screen Rant, and Movie Maker. Dan Ackroyd even likens the movie to Arthur Miller’s great American play, Death of a Salesman, calling John Candy’s shower curtain ring salesman “the Willy Loman of his age.”

Why has Planes, Trains and Automobiles earned this elevated status in John Hughes’ body of work? It’s just a comedy with a simple premise, silly slapstick, and caricatures as leads, right? 

Yes, the movie is all of that. But it is also perhaps Hughes’ most mature screenplay.

In this program featuring HD video footage, you’ll visit the suburban Chicago house where Planes, Trains and Automobiles ends. You’ll hear plenty of behind-the-scenes stories. And you’ll discover how the movie intertwines humor with the complex notion that “home” is both a comfort and a constraint.