When Is ‘Planes, Trains & Automobiles’ Airing on TV This Year?
Planes, Trains & Automobiles may be one of the only true classic Thanksgiving movies. The film, in which Steve Martin’s Neal, an uptight uptight family man, and John Candy’s Del, an annoyingly freewheeling salesman, must join forces to make it from New York to Chicago in time for Thanksgiving dinner, was a critical and financial hit during its 1987 release, and has remained a go-to holiday favorite ever since. So when can you watch Planes, Trains & Automobiles this year?
Unfortunately, while fellow holiday classics A Christmas Story and Home Alone take over the airwaves each November and December, Planes, Trains & Automobiles will only air a handful of times this year — with only one of those showings falling before Thanksgiving.
If you’re an early riser, you can catch Planes, Trains & Automobiles at 7am ET on Wednesday, Nov. 27 on Showtime.
After that, the movie will air twice more: at 6pm on Saturday, Dec. 7 and at 12:30am on Sunday, Dec. 8, both on AMC.
If none of those showings work for you (or if you really just want to watch it on Thanksgiving Day), you can still stream it on Paramount+ and Pluto TV. Paramount+ requires a subscription, but Pluto TV is free and does not (though it does have ad breaks).
The John Hughes classic is a based on a true holiday story
Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection
Planes, Trains & Automobiles was written and directed by John Hughes, who’s more traditionally associated with teen classics like The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. In fact, it was his big break away from teen films — Planes, Trains & Automobiles was the first non-teen movie he directed (though he had previously written scripts for more mature comedies like National Lampoon’s Vacation and Mr. Mom). In the 22 years between Planes, Trains & Automobiles and his death in 2009, Hughes concentrated on family fare, writing movies like the first three Home Alone films.
Hughes based the idea on an incident in his own life: As he said in a 1987 interview promoting the film, “This movie is based on an incident that actually happened to me. When I was an advertising copywriter, I set out from New York to Chicago on Thanksgiving weekend and after a five-day delay, ended up in Phoenix, Arizona, via Wichita, Kansas.”
But the original version may have followed Hughes’ own adventures a little too closely — the first cut of the film was over three hours long. More than half of the film was cut to reach its final 92 minute run time.
Home For The Holidays
November 2021
Celebrate the holidays with your favorite classic stars!
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