John Hughes Planes Trains and Automobiles Directors Cut Makes Far More Sense

John Hughes’ Planes, Trains and Automobiles Director’s Cut Makes Far More Sense

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Planes, Trains, and Automobiles is a beloved holiday classic, but the original was almost four hours long, with several deleted subplots.

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John Hughes Planes Trains and Automobiles Directors Cut Makes Far More Sense

John Hughes’ Planes, Trains and Automobiles has become a movie that fans re-watch every holiday season. Starring Steve Martin and John Candy, the movie follows two unfortunate travelers trying to get home during the Thanksgiving holidays, only to find one obstacle after the next. While the film is almost universally beloved, checking in at a tight 93 minutes, the original script was allegedly more than twice that length. It was over 145 pages long and included scenes that never appeared in the final cut and massive blocks of dialogue that comedy actors like Candy could devour.

Hughes created a movie that clocked in at 220 minutes, almost 40 minutes longer than Avengers: Endgame, and more than double the length of a basic comedy movie. While the version that finally reached theaters has several iconic scenes, certain moments feel confusing or out of place, and the cutting of the script explains why.

Is There a Director’s Cut of Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

John Hughes Planes Trains and Automobiles Directors Cut Makes Far More Sense

Hughes’ original version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles was a monster and even the director knew that it needed to be cut for time. Along with editor Paul Hirsch, Hughes sat down and cut the film down to two hours, which was still longer than the studio wanted. They ended up cutting out another 30 minutes, and that is the movie fans watch to this day.

Sadly, no director’s cut of Planes, Trains and Automobiles has been released. Not only that, but even with all the extra footage, there is only one surviving deleted scene from the movie, taking place on the airplane with Candy’s Del Griffith and Martin’s Neal Page. With almost 130 minutes of deleted footage, there is a lot missing and Hughes himself said that he believed the original film footage had deteriorated in a film vault somewhere.

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However, while the footage is not available to audiences and a director’s cut is unlikely to ever appear, the alleged shooting script still exists. It presents a wealth of information that helps clear up some of the more out-of-place and confusing moments from the beloved comedy classic. Hats Off Entertainment created a short documentary that explains a lot of what was cut out of the movie.

John Hughes’ Cut of Planes, Trains and Automobiles Explains Everything

John Hughes Planes Trains and Automobiles Directors Cut Makes Far More Sense

In one of Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ most iconic scenes, Del and Neal share a motel room and end up sleeping in one small bed. This scene is short and effective, but it contains a moment that seems like it came from a different movie. Someone breaks into their room and steals all the money from Neal’s wallet. Neal mentioned that Del went into his wallet the night before for pizza, but the moment it happened was never shown in the movie. In the original cut of the movie, some scenes explain what happened and why this infuriated Martin’s character.

While Neal was in the shower, Del ordered pizza and beer. It was a huge mess because Neal wanted a salad, but Del claimed they didn’t have any and ordered a pizza with every imaginable vegetable on it for him instead. Del also didn’t have the cash to pay for it, so he took the money out of Neal’s wallet without asking permission. This angered Neal, but it also angered the pizza delivery driver, who Del only tipped one dollar. It was the delivery driver who broke in to steal the money and it was because Del got into Neal’s wallet the night before that he grew distrustful of his traveling companion.

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Another moment that seemed strange was when the two men arrived at Neal’s house and his wife was standing on the stairs and seemed like she was about to cry. While Neal was running very late, her emotions seemed a little much. However, there were also several moments in the original version that explain why she was so worried about Neal and his travels.

There was an entire subplot from the film where Neal’s wife believed that he was cheating on her and that Del was a woman. There was even a funny scene where she straight-up tells him that he better not come home with Del’s “panties” in his briefcase, and Neal commented that he dried his face off with them that morning, causing her to hang up on him. The entire trip, Neal’s wife was sitting at home and worrying her husband was cheating on her. When he showed up with Del and she realized he was telling the truth and remained faithful, the moment overwhelmed her.

Other omissions include the two overshooting Chicago for Wisconsin, adding to the reasons they ran so late, and a moment where Neal punched Del a second time after getting arrested, which explains the black eye that appeared for no apparent reason. Finally, the big diner scene where Del breaks down to Neal about his losses, his holiday struggles and the sadness in his life was almost all cut. Despite all these cuts, Planes, Trains and Automobiles remains a beloved movie and works well, but these little moments add even more to the holiday classic’s touching story.

Link Source : https://www.cbr.com/planes-trains-automobiles-directors-cut-explained/

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