S3E1 • Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Episode transcripts are imperfect due to the overlapping of speakers, however, we do our best to ensure speaking points are not lost. Thank you for your understanding and we apologize in advance for the tangents…

Really harping on that last scene.

It left an impression, I guess.

I’m sure it’s nice that he put his wife on this pedestal and that she is, you know, this goddess. I mean, I guess everyone would like that to be reality, but it just seems so silly.

You know, we’re not videoing these podcasts yet.

We should be, because I’m actively looking at her going, I put you on a pedestal every day.

And I’m afraid of heights.

She is afraid of heights.

Greetings and or salutations and welcome to Imbibe Cinema. The Imbibe Cinema podcast is brought to you by the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival, otherwise known as BWiFF. We are currently accepting submissions for our 2025 festival. We seek independent character driven films of all lengths, styles and genres. To learn more, please visit bwiff.com. I’m Festival Operations Director and emcee Jonathan C. Legat, along with my co-hosts Executive Director Michael Noens and Cinema Centennial Program Director Tricia Legat. In this episode, we are going to be discussing the quintessential Thanksgiving movie, at least in my humble opinion, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, the cocktails that we are imbibing. And I said, cocktails, yes.

Jon and the Imbibe Cinema have gone loko. I don’t even know what I’m saying anymore. We have gone off the rails, if you will. And the cocktails that we are imbibing were found on the interwebs as a cute idea. And I thought, yes, let’s do this because I’m dumb like that. It is Aviation Gin on the Rocks for Planes.

There is a cocktail called the Boxcar, which has bourbon, triple sec and sour mix for trains. And something called an Automobile, which has gin, scotch, vermouth, orange bitters and absinthe. That is for obviously automobiles.

And it does have a motor oil kind of glisten.

You have a motor oil kind of glisten.

Oh, okay.

Wow. All right.

Yeah, wow. The recipes as well as pictures are available on our websites, imbibecinema.com and our mobile app. In addition to this podcast, we also offer a variety of shorts and feature length independent films that can be enjoyed for free.

But when you become an Imbibe Cinema member for only $59.99 a year, you also gain access to monthly limited releases as well as virtual BWiFF experiences for next spring when we do our week long fest. To learn more and begin your membership, please visit imbibecinema.com or “down loud” the Imbibe Cinema mobile app available on the App Store and Google Play.

Okay, so are they gonna “down loud?”

I like that. Let’s make it “down loud.” Down loud that app.

Somebody needs to get on the “down loud.”

I like it.

I will state that, you know, I’m, we were having some technical difficulties and the aviation gin on the rocks is already gone and I’m on to the Boxcar before we’ve even done the intro.

However, that’s a normal day.

Did you happen to get a giant bottle of this size because it doesn’t seem like they have any other sizes?

I did not see any other size and yes, I got that size aviation gin and it was used for both the, obviously, the aviation gin on the rocks, but also for the automobiles. You also needed gin in that, so I used the aviation on that. Let me tell you, for those imbibe listeners who have either seen the behind the scenes footage or remember when we have previously drank gin, there’s a behind the scenes where Michael and I take a shot of straight gin and I had likened gin to filleting a Christmas tree.

I think it’s the most apt way of putting it.

Sure, that’s the…

That young listeners might not understand what exactly I’m saying, but it is definitely, has the sensation of going down on a pine tree. Aviation gin, which is even funnier, because I would think Ryan Reynolds would appreciate filleting a Christmas tree, does not taste like that. No, it really doesn’t.

It really doesn’t. I’m not a gin fan.

And me neither.

Same.

I think it’s for rappers and old ladies.

Yes.

Not for me. But I mean, I am getting old. But one of the things that I found interesting is he mentioned the size of the bottle.

Like, you can’t get smaller than that. And I think, yeah, in order to achieve takeoff, you have to have the right amount of fuel.

Oh, that is very good point. Well played.

Oh, nice.

I like that.

Is that from his website?

Oh, no. No. But maybe, maybe now it is.

I don’t know.

It’s a new tagline for Aviation. Aptly enough, as well, we are experiencing our first snowstorm here in Illinois this evening. And I say that because this whole situation of Planes, Trains and Automobiles starts because they cannot fly into Chicago due to a Chicago snowstorm.

Which is really funny because when you’re old enough to have traveled around via plane and to St. Louis, as they do in the film, we’re kind of like, the travel times here seem strange. And even at the time, I would think traffic didn’t move slower.

True, but they actually fly in to Wichita, Kansas. So they are diverted to Kansas. And then I did pull up a number of websites that are trying to determine what their locations were.

But at the same time, I still agree with Trish that the drive from St. Louis to Chicago should not have taken that long.

Right, well, you know, they had a lot of obstacles in their way.

True, but they left St. Louis when it was light out. And I mean, don’t get me wrong, there’s the whole like, you know, car fire thing that happens. But they switched off who was driving.

That’s true.

When they left St. Louis, Steve Martin was driving. And by the time the car fire happens, John Candy, they stayed the night after the car fire.

And then in the next day, when they’re trying to get up to Chicago, it’s still three hours. And I’m like, you did all that in two hours?

Yeah, so what we’re not factoring into this whole thing is movie time, which moves at a different speed. So like in the show 24, no matter where you are in LA, you’re always an hour away, which according to anybody in LA, that’s impossible. So movie time, though, can also work differently where it’s slower maybe.

Yes.

Well, because it’s the past and things moved slower in the past.

Yeah, maybe the speed limit was…

Like, ooh, ooh, the time it takes the meeting to end and him to get to the airport, and you’re like, in New York, in downtown New York.

Oh, yeah.

You’re like, wait a minute. He’s in a meeting and it’s like a quarter to five and the flight is at six. And it’s not like the meeting ends then.

It keeps going. And then he ends up being like in the airport at five to six. And I’m like, that’s impressive.

Now, again, we do have to go with the like, you know, airplane, the movie, you know, back in the 80s, you could walk into an airport for dinner. Like, you could just go there.

Sure.

Like, you know, have a meal or go hang out or meet somebody at a gate. Obviously, the restrictions have gotten a little bit more tight since the 80s. What a wonderful time.

All those Hare Krishnas are gone.

Yeah. I obviously wasn’t doing a whole lot of flying in the 80s as I was in my… Diaper?

Aughts?

No, I would say… Not the entire 80s, but sure.

My whole experience of what flying would be is the movie Airplane as a child, so I just expected a lot more religious fanatics in the Airplane.

Yes, that you have a punch to get past, exactly.

But you get lots of flowers as you go.

Yeah.

It’s fair.

I do love everybody waiting in line for the pay phones.

Oh yeah.

Because they have to find a place to stay for the night.

Oh yeah, I think one of the other quintessential 80s tells is the sheer fact that he can’t get a hold of his wife at all times. There’s a lock on one of the rotaries in one of the hotels that he would have to pay extra money to get to be able to make a call out. The sheer fact that we don’t have cell phones in this time.

People carry cash. And having a credit card is like a…

Taboo.

Well, not taboo, obviously, but it’s like not many people have one. Correct. It’s not.

And if they have one, they have one. They don’t have multiple credit cards.

And the fact that the thieves who steal all the cash out of their wallets opt not to take the credit cards because at that point, it wouldn’t be as advantageous for them.

Yeah, they wouldn’t know how to use it. Yeah. Yeah.

But it was also nice to see a lot of familiar faces in smaller roles. We’re like, oh my God.

Kevin Bacon.

Kevin Bacon right away in the very beginning of the film.

Michael McKean is the cop.

The other, sorry, in the beginning, the other, the colleague, isn’t he Ferris Bueller’s dad?

Correct.

I can’t remember the actor’s name, but I was like, hey, that’s Ferris Bueller’s dad.

Right.

Then the secretary for the principal in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. She’s the car rental agent.

Marathon car rental. Yes.

Yeah. Edie McClurg, when he’s in line and she’s putting him on hold. Yeah.

Yeah. She’s putting him on hold. Yeah.

Now I’m remembering. That’s Edie McClurg. Yeah.

Now I’m remembering, I’m picturing Ferris Bueller’s Day Off now. I was like, I couldn’t get the connection. But yeah, just a moment about this particular sequence.

I mean, there’s just so many F words in this scene.

Oh, God, yes.

I was like, Steve Martin, I forgot how much swearing you do in this movie. It’s really uncomfortable.

It really is.

But yeah, I just remember like, please.

Yeah, people didn’t swear like that.

What?

People didn’t swear like that. Back in the 80s. I mean, they did in reality, but in movies.

Yes, not in movies.

In the 80s, they didn’t swear.

They were very theoretical.

Smoked like chimneys.

Yes, and they drank like fish. And they talked about sex in front of children, and we all went, I don’t know, it’s Ghostbusters. There are ghosts in there.

Yeah, comedy, of course, is I remember seeing this as a kid. And my parents did bad and. Yeah.

Oh, wow.

Oh, yeah. I used to quote this movie.

Man.

Like between two pillows thing.

Well, you know what? I would I would say that this movie might be it’s probably in the same vein as far as vulgarity goes, actually, probably worse than my cousin Vinnie. And I remember I was a child when I first saw my cousin Vinnie.

I was playing outside, I remember, and I came inside and it was like, OK, we’re going to watch this movie. And there was like this whole sit down. All right.

You’re going to hear words in this movie. And they are not OK to say. Be like ever.

Like, I was given that little and I was like, oh, I’m going to watch a movie that’s not like, you know, cartoons. And it was awesome.

Yes.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. That was a good movie. Oh, but hey, speaking of two pillows.

Oh, OK. The two pillows.

Two pillows. Yes. Here’s how about the very when you mention it, it then makes me think of any Chris Farley and David Spade film.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

If this movie was made later, it would have been those two in this movie.

I mean, if if Chris Farley was still alive, this movie probably would have already been remade with the two of them. I could totally see that. Yeah, I could totally see that.

In fact, to to to a degree, I would almost say that Tummy Boy is a version of this. It is a road movie a la Bob Hope and, oh, Blue Eyes Shucks.

Oh, you’d have a Bing Crashing.

Bing. Good old Bing. Yeah, I would almost say that this is akin to a road movie in the sheer fact that it is them traveling from one destination to the next Yeah.

And the hijinks that ensue. I do think that they obviously, you know, edie-ized the road movie by making it vulgar and filthy and horrible.

And just speaking of 80s, man, the music in this movie.

Yeah.

You’re just like, I remember so many scenes in this movie, but I don’t remember how 80s the music was. I like plucked that out of my memory. I mean, it was awesome.

I just, maybe when I first saw it, I didn’t appreciate it as much. That’s fair. The music, but I like, oh, it was great.

It was so fun because otherwise I feel like without that, you could really kind of, I mean, other than like the phones situation, you could really kind of pluck this out of time, really.

Yeah. To a degree, yes.

To a degree.

As it relates to the music, no matter how many times I hear the song, and I know Tricia did not have the same reaction, I do, but I think this might have actually been Tricia’s official first time seeing the movie.

Yeah, I’ve seen it.

Bits and pieces. Every time you go away, you take a piece of me with you. Like, that song, to this day, I cannot hear without thinking of the two of them walking with the trunk down the Wanetka streets and practically sobbing, whereas Tricia’s like, oh, come on, this is, what’s with this hold?

And freeze frame, and wow, God, this is taking too long.

Oh, the freeze frame at the end?

No, I have a whole thing that I would like to discuss.

All right, discuss.

Mind you, I grew up watching John Hughes movies, so I don’t know why it was so jarring, but it just seems like the relationship, well, I mean, yeah, we talk about how it’s not a kids film and he did movies with teenagers for quite some time. And then, and they explained that in the behind the scenes director’s cut thing that we saw where there was an interview with him.

Yes.

But whatever Steve Martin’s relationship with his wife is so weird.

It’s very weird.

She’s like this 40s movie star look, which is, you know, she’s a beautiful lady. But she’s kind of like this thing, this unattainable like thing, like the fact that like there are lots of the scenes with her. There’s no speaking.

You just see her.

Yeah.

And and then like when they finally see each other again, there is this incredible like love story, kind of crazy over the top thing, which with people with three small children seems a little insane.

It’s fair, but I think that, you know, the whole part of, I mean, you know, Steve Martin’s character is the protagonist. And I think that being with Del Griffith is what causes him to change. He realizes that there are more important things than the job, that he realizes that he’s been on, you know, away too long, that he is missing moments with his kids, with his wife.

But we don’t get that. I get that. No, no, no, I understand.

I get, I mean, I think you don’t need to set it up as much for a lot of people to feel that way, to go, oh yeah, I feel that way. I feel like I don’t have enough time with my family and I give all this work to work, all this time to work. But in the movie, it opens, and he’s just sitting in a meeting going, I’ve got a plane to catch.

It’s not like I over, I’m spending too many late nights and I’m missing out on all this stuff, or I’m out of town all the time. It’s more like I’ll be, I promised her I’d be home by nine. And that seems pretty impressive if you’re in New York and she’s in Chicago and be like, I’ll just be back a little late tonight, honey.

It doesn’t seem like he is, the realist, I mean, they do a great job of him coming to terms and questioning and things like that. But it’s not like we see him different. We only see this version of him.

And like as much of a jerk as he is, he’s a jerk who’s provoked, right? He’s not like, he’s not when he’s in his world and things are going right. He’s a perfectly likable guy.

But then as soon as things start to get awry or go awry, that is, and the further they go, the meaner he gets because it’s like nothing goes his way. And the more it, yeah. And then it’s one of those things like, it’s like he gets punished for being-

A dick.

For being a dick, but he’s only being a dick because everything is just-

Punishing him already. Yeah.

Right. Well, and I think maybe what, you know, what I kind of got out of it was, you know, you know, like somebody that harbors a lot of anger and they don’t necessarily show it in their day-to-day, but it’s like underneath the surface. And that’s kind of what I got from him is it’s like he never really faced this anger, these things that like are, you know, like, there’s the scene where he goes off on, on Dell at the, you know, in the hotel room.

Yeah, before The Two Pillows.

Yes. You know, he says just really mean things. I mean, and he even references, like, how, you know, he can sit through these presentations, he can sit through, like, on the business end and be so angry, and it doesn’t make him as angry as this.

And so, I don’t know, what that communicated to me was how, how, like, he has an anger issue. It’s just beneath the surface. Yeah.

And really, Dell brought that out from underneath the surface so he could actually face it. Yeah. Which is really deeper than my first viewing of this movie.

But, yeah. That’s fair. Yeah.

No, I, I agree. I agree. Like, it, it was unhealthy what he, like, and, and that he buries this.

But then it’s societal norms, right? And I think this huge cathartic moment in the car rental situation at the counter, like, that is something I think if not, if not, I mean, maybe it’s just me. But I have wanted to say all of that.

For sure. I wanted to snap and yet what keeps me from doing it is the thought that this is not going to be received well. And also, the person at the counter had nothing to do with everything that went wrong in my personal experiences.

So then I’m like, don’t yell at them. They have nothing to do with it. But, oh, did I want to?

Yeah, and I think that’s what the audience kind of all gets like, oh, I’ve always wanted to do that, but I’ve never used that.

Well, and what makes it acceptable for him, what makes it acceptable for him is how she treats him before he gets up to her.

Oh, right? Yeah.

That’s where it’s like, you’re the worst. She’s on the phone, putzing around.

Yeah.

Yeah. Now, at the same time, Trick, if you ever were in a situation where the person was the person responsible, how would you handle it?

It depends on my aim of mind at the moment.

Okay.

I’m not a confrontational person.

No, you are not by nature.

But if I never have to see them again, maybe, maybe I would lose it.

Okay.

I mean, yeah, it’s really hard to probably tell what cuts that string.

I mean, you’re 1000% correct.

When you’re just dangling there and you’re like, just say one more thing to me. Yeah. I dare you.

I dare you. Yeah. And that was specifically what took me aside was the sheer fact that, like Trish lovingly pointed out, I understand this person is not the person, the reason that this is the way that it is.

And so I don’t want to take it out of them. So I’m like, I need to understand what would happen if it was the person who is responsible.

Sure.

Unfortunately, you usually get that part because it will be a service industry problem and I will be so mad and I will vent to you about how I’m going to just lay them out and I’m just gonna scream at them and I’m gonna blah, blah, blah and then I get on the phone and I’m like, hi. So I have a problem. And the times that I’m so angry that I’m gonna just come off snippy and whatnot, then I just give you the phone and you are charming is all get out to the people I want to punch in the face.

Which is funny considering I’m the one who would like laid into you about them. So maybe you guys have like. Yep.

But thankfully I don’t take it out of the messenger. Or wait, I am the messenger.

I don’t even know where I am in this. You know, it’s probably both of your years of service.

Service industry.

Oh, yeah.

But then that makes me mad because I have been in the service industry for so long that it’s like, there’s a standard. All right. And I have like when people can’t handle it, when you have bad customer service, then I get even more mad because it’s like, look, I had to do this with a smile.

The least you can do.

Is to give me the same smile I had to give somebody else once upon a time.

And they were screaming spit in my face. And all you’re doing, all I’m doing is saying, I need to just tell you my grievance. And they’re like, no, I can’t even like.

What does the world come to? Anyway.

That’s fair.

So so the journey isn’t just a physical journey from New York to Kansas, to St. Louis, which to Chicago.

Correct.

No, Kansas gets its own state. We’re not going to like in the same. Everybody else is a city.

But yeah, I know.

Does anybody else?

Illinois or Chicago?

With Wichita, did anybody else just immediately like when that happened to go, oh, the ice harvest? Yeah, my brain went right there.

I was like, oh, yeah, that’s where the John Cusack, that’s the mob. But yeah, so that yeah, all over the most of it is all over the good folks in the Midwest who are nice and warm and don’t swear like yeah, don’t swear.

But they’ll also for some god unknown reason only have flat bed trucks and oh, yeah, that no backseat essentially.

Oh, okay. Yes. And I do love that scene.

I mind you, the actor who plays that role, what’s?

Hold, please. Your call is important to me.

I only like whenever I see him, I think of Delirious where he’s got this giant growth on his neck and he’s like, what?

That would be Dylan Baker.

Yeah, and he usually plays a villain. He usually plays somebody smarmy, but like upper class and smarmy, but to see him play this very-

Redneck.

Redneck, with a lot of phlegm issues. Yes. That was definitely, wow, I did not expect this actor in this position.

He does an amazing job.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, ever since I saw Happiness, I think like that has ruined him for every movie I’ve seen of him, I feel, because Happiness is just so scarring.

It’s just so scarring that, you know.

I mean, it’s an incredible idea and it’s incredibly performed. It’s really well done, but it is so dark.

Why have I not seen Happiness? Oh, All-Star cast though. Jesus.

Yeah.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Lovitz.

We’re wandering away.

We always wander away.

That’s why people tune in. Right. When we talk about Planes, Trains and Automobiles, we also randomly talk about XYZ.

Right. But as far as-

Any film.

Okay. So Jon says, this is his family’s Thanksgiving film. Do you find it interesting?

Because a lot of people have a Christmas film.

So yeah. Similar to how both of our families, the ref, may God rest its soul, was both of our families’ Christmas movies, at least amongst my brother and I, and this is why I call it the quintessential Thanksgiving movie, is to me, this is a movie that says, Thanksgiving.

Yeah.

You know, this is, you know, you’re thankful for your family, you’re thankful for the things that you’ve got, you’re thankful for the friends that you have, and you want to share that love and thanks with those who may not have as much. And, you know, to have Del Griffith, who has lost so much, become essentially a part of Steve Martin’s family by the end, whether symbolically in the long, weird looks and freeze frames, or other, to me, this is a film that we would at least watch at Thanksgiving time, because once we started quoting this movie, it was over, similar to the ref.

Yeah, right. You just wanted to watch it again and again.

Oh yes. And why my brother bought me the director’s cut. Or yeah, the one that has all the scenes.

They weren’t just one day, right? Cause people came, like your family’s all over the place. So like, when they get together, it’s for like a few, you guys are in like a day or two.

It’s more than just one day.

Yeah, it was the full extended weekend. And again, my birthday also falls around Thanksgiving, sometimes on Thanksgiving, cause Thanksgiving moves. But you know, this has a special place in my heart.

So there’s the physical journey with his twists and turns and the emotional journey with his twists and turns. And I think he did a great job of bonding these two guys. Like, they aren’t always in a bad situation together.

And there is this, like the drunk scene in the hotel room.

Yes.

Motel room.

After the fire.

After the fire, that’s a really sweet scene.

Yes.

Yeah.

We’re gonna take a few more minutes to fill at least one of our glasses. I don’t know if I can do all three, I’d die. But get it ready to imbibe more after this.

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– Episode Break –

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Hi, I’m Jonathan C. Legat, and I am here with…

I’m Tricia Legat.

And I’m Michael Noens. And?

And Agnes?

Yeah, Agnes is there too.

Who is sleeping?

Agnes is just sleeping, because she’s a good girl. We are discussing Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Enjoying this podcast?

Please subscribe or follow us on all of your favorite podcast providers to get new episodes as soon as we release them. Rate and or leave us a review to help our show reach that larger audience. You can also follow Imbibe Cinema on Facebook, Instagram and now Threads.

That’s right, because we are not on X. Fuck that.

Yeah, FX. FX? No, that’s completely different.

No, actually FX is great. They do good stuff. Yeah, I like FX.

Fuck X, but FX is great.

So on that note, here, can we start off with, have you ever had a situation in which you had a long travel journey with another human being that brought you closer together?

Yes, and Michael can potentially attest to this. I say potentially because I don’t know if it had the exact same lasting impression on him as it did on me. But we once did an independent film called Coasting, where we traveled to…

Oh, Cleveland.

Cincinnati, Ohio.

Cincinnati, Ohio.

Sorry, Ohio.

So, I mean, this is a lasting memory at least for me because you have an actor, the director, the director of photography, the camera operator, and the second assistant director. And we only could afford a single hotel room. Now granted, you know, obviously this, nothing untoward occurred.

Then in fact, this was Michael’s first opportunity to sleep with me, which sounds awkward, but it’s probably not as awkward as you think. But this was the first time he…

Based on Trisha’s facial expression, it’s pretty awkward.

Yeah. She looks real uncomfortable.

She’s heard this story before.

A number of times. But this was the first time Michael and I shared a bit together.

That’s true.

But, you know, again, it was a lot of fun. There’s a number of behind the scenes footage, outtakes and whatnot that we filmed with a GoPro or a tiny camera. But it was just very interesting to go on.

It was outside of the hotel room, right?

Both. I mean, we shot some stuff inside the hotel room because we were just having it not like that. It did not turn into Prawn, if you will.

But, you know, it was just a lot of fun given how guerrilla the shoot was, that we were taking cameras out on the streets of Cincinnati and filming to try to get the larger feature film done. But we had to do it in Cincinnati. And so we gave Cincinnati a voice and its own kind of additional character in the film, if you will.

But that would be my hot take on that question.

I’m trying to remember if there has been a road trip or travel, what was the question?

Yeah, like a road trip or travel in which you unexpectedly bonded with the people that you were on the trip with. And we could say every family vacation, right?

I was going to say, yeah, because I don’t, I mean, I can’t reference a specific moment or particular trip, but I do know that three kids in the back seat is not fun.

Did you do off, like road trips often as a family?

No, we didn’t go on vacations, I think, until…

We went to the Dells. It was three hours in the car in the back seat.

Yeah.

What was the longest road trip you guys as a family took? It sounds like three hours is pretty consistent.

We drove to DC when I was in high school and we took the van. It was so nice to have a van because we all had our own space for the first time, instead of being on top of each other. Yeah, I remember, yeah, that was a long family trip.

Okay.

But it was fine. I mean, it wasn’t.

Yeah.

I mean.

It wasn’t filled with turmoil.

No.

Yeah, those always help. See, my road trip to remember was when my mother, my brother and I went from Illinois all the way to the West Coast and then back. My brother was in high school and then taken a pre-college class.

And so we went to drive to get him and then, but my father abstained from the entire trip. But like we went all the way to Yellowstone, Oregon and then like back.

Yeah, I think your mom saved your journal because you were-

I did write a journal, yes.

He had a journal and he was like talking about like the lifespan of the bug that had hit the windshield and it was very detailed.

Oh yeah, no, there was a number of entries including the one where I was specifically calling out that the no hallway motel, like straight up motels, like once you get out west of Illinois, you end up with all these motels where you are going to the outside as soon as you leave your room.

Yeah.

And what an interesting world that was to me.

No, I’ve blocked out any, cause I’ve deaf traveled and I’ve blocked out. Right now, I cannot. The Alka Seltzer has really just clouded my brain.

It’s funny cause I could think of some of your travels, but I don’t necessarily know if they are to be brought up onto the podcast.

Right, no, I don’t think so. I can’t remember, but I will say no. No.

They’re not travels with me.

Let’s not put everybody to sleep, shall we? Okay, so a big scene in the film is, I think that people who haven’t seen the movie might have seen this, is them driving in the dark and they’re going the wrong way on the highway.

Oh yeah.

And you’re going the wrong way. How do they know?

You’re gonna kill somebody.

How do they know where we’re going? They must be drunk. And that sequence, but the part that got me was the part leading up to that, where Steve Martin is asleep, which I find either like exhaustion has taken its toll, or he’s a very trusting passenger.

Cause yeah, John Candy is really getting down to, God.

Mess around.

Mess around.

Everybody do the mess around.

Yeah. And it is hysterical to watch, but then him getting caught, it’s like a testament to how dangerous his coat is.

His coat was clearly, clearly formed for this horrible purpose.

Why does it have those little loops on the outside?

The look on Trisha’s face is like, he gets the first arm stuck, and he starts moving with the second arm, and she’s like, no, no, don’t do it. Don’t do that.

And it’s funny, only because it’s like, there are things that people do in movies, and you’re like, well, that’s just ridiculous. That would never happen, but for whatever reason. I was like, no, that totally would happen.

That would happen. And the fact that he’s calmly telling himself, I got this. And his pants match the steering wheel.

Did anybody notice how color coordinated his pants were with the interior of the car? Weird.

But easily one of my favorite moments is immediately after they have righted themselves from narrowly surviving death between two semis. Is them literally prying their fingers off the dashboard and the now bent steering wheel? Just hands down that and then Steve Martin prying his fingers off the now burnt steering wheel.

I love when he pulls out his credit cards.

Yeah.

I have a diner card.

The cinder blocks that are his credit cards.

I have a Visa. I have whatever the gas card is.

Yep. I’ve been wearing the same underwear since Tuesday. I can attest to that.

I can attest to that.

How about $42 at a really nice watch? Yep.

And then he’s like, I’ve got $2 and a Casio.

And a Casio. Again, 80s, just John Candy died to you.

Yeah, of course, yes. The shower curtain rings. This is what he does.

He’s a shower curtain ring salesman. But then it’s like, okay, so in the beginning, I’m like, okay, hotels, that makes sense, right? Motels, it makes sense that he has people he knows through that.

But then it’s like the train. I’m like, why do you know people in the train industry? Where are the shower curtain rings?

I don’t understand. Are they the shipping? I don’t understand.

Del knows everybody and is lovable to everybody except for Steve Martin.

Which is so funny because you call him by his character name and you don’t remember Steve Martin’s character name.

Neil Page.

There you go.

Neil Page.

I remember everything.

Yes, I also love how not only is his wife put on a pedestal and idealized throughout the film, but the children are beautiful little angels.

Yes.

You’re like, yeah, no, that’s not true.

In his mind, they are. He’s blocked everything else out.

Okay. Another point that brings this film is the fact that John Candy is Canadian. Yeah.

He is.

National treasure of Canada. Yes, he is. So he has a book when they first are at the airport, and it’s Canadian mounted.

Correct.

Yeah. It’s Canadian erotica, whatever, and it’s a romance novel. He’s reading.

I saw the interview with, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with Ryan Reynolds.

Aviation Gin. We’ve brought it back full circle.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s right. Where he talks about how Deadpool has a paperback that he carries around, and it’s the same book because his childhood hero was John Candy.

Because Ryan Reynolds is also famously Canadian.

Yeah, it makes you like more. You’re like, I couldn’t I don’t think I could like that man more. Oh, no.

Now I do again.

Yep. Yes. He’s just great.

Do we have anything else or did you want me? Should we poke the bear? Oh, yeah.

All right.

Yes.

First review here we have is from the United Press International. And they well, I guess, you know, this is the first episode back. We should probably remind what poking the bear is.

What I’m going to do is I’m going to read some rotten reviews of this very well received movie and how some people just didn’t get it. So United Press International says the film barrels along with a bumbling zeal, but it’s comedy at its most predictable.

That’s a really funny sentence.

Right. That’s why I struggle with it.

They write for a living? Yeah.

Yeah. Clearly this particular journalist loves the thesaurus. Oh, shit.

That’s three drinks. No, four drinks now that are really hitting hard.

I mean, this gin is so dangerous.

It’s smooth.

It’s so good. And Ryan Reynolds is not paying us.

No, correct.

All right, so who else says this movie is terrible?

Let’s go to a more reputable source.

Yes, after that international shit.

New York Times. Oh, I know, right? “The film does have its scattered moments, but too often, the audience has as much reason as Del and Neal to wonder where, if anywhere, they are going.”

Home.

And that’s our comment.

I’m sorry. It was confusing for you. I mean, this is a very complicated, but they were going home.

Well, Neal is. Del’s technically not going home.

But he didn’t realize it. But he was. He was just going to somebody else’s home.

Yeah. And cut to three months later in the sequel where he won’t move out.

Then it becomes what about Bob?

All right. And then last but not least, who do you think that this is going to be from?

Oh, is it the… Oh, God. I can’t think of the…

Go ahead.

It’s been too long. It’s been too long.

It’s been too long.

Who is Chicago Reader?

Oh, there it is.

Because, you know, they’re a reader. They don’t go to movies.

Correct. It’s not called the Chicago Watcher.

That’s a different…

They’re actually just reading the script. They’re not watching the movie. They’re just like, well, this script makes no fucking sense.

If only there was visual representation of this.

So Chicago Reader. This is very, very simple. I don’t know if we’re going to even have a response to this.

But Chicago Reader says, “Pretty dispensable.”

Oh, I feel like that about the Chicago Reader.

Shit. Well, there goes best best.

Blame it on me. I sank the ship.

Well, we greatly appreciate all of our listeners for choosing this podcast and for supporting independent films. Keep an ear out for our next episodes. To check out our show notes or to drop us a note, please visit imbibecinema.com.

I’m Jonathan C. Legat and thanks for imbibing with us. Cheers.