Steve Martin’s car accident in St. Louis shines in a Thanksgiving classic

ST. LOUIS — Tens of millions will take to the streets or the skies to reunite with loved ones on Thanksgiving. For some, the annual trip home isn’t always easy or smooth, as evidenced by the chaos that unfolds in a Thanksgiving classic through St. Louis.

The classic by John Hughes Planes, trains and automobilesa 1987 feature film starring Steve Martin and John Candy as Neal Page and Del Griffith. Despite opposing personalities, the two share the common goal of getting from New York to their hometown of Chicago in time for Thanksgiving.

Along the way, Neal and Del experience a series of comical misadventures, including a stopover at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. The two are unable to catch a flight and appear to go their separate ways for a short time. Then Neal’s attempt to rent a car in St. Louis goes comically wrong.

NOTE: Keep in mind that this is staged and not based on true events. Maybe a little spoiler for those who haven’t seen the film yet.

After a meal with Del, Neal calls his family and gets help arranging a rental car service.

Unfortunately, the rental car he ordered is not in the parking lot. This leads to a distraught Neal throwing away his paperwork in frustration and running back to the airport terminal through snow and freezing cold. The scene was filmed with a building in the background currently known as the Renaissance St. Louis Airport Hotel.

Moments later, Neal returns to the airport terminal and is visibly frustrated with his rental car situation. He waits in line at Marathon car rental while an employee chats on the phone about seemingly non-work-related matters.

A long rant follows, which introduced St. Louis to the film but also most likely gave it an R rating instead of PG or PG13.

Neal repeated a specific four-letter curse word 18 times in about a minute, demanding answers to questions about why his rental car was missing.

The clerk asks Neal for documentation of his rental car order, to which he states that he lost it. This doesn’t improve his situation, and the employee reverses the same curse word, ultimately ending their interaction.

What else happened in St. Louis?

Realizing he’s running out of options, things don’t get much better for Neal in St. Louis. He leaves the terminal at Lambert Airport and tells a taxi driver that he needs a ride to Chicago

To which the taxi driver replies, “He replies, “Chicago? You know you’re in St. Louis? “Try the airline, it’s much quicker and you get a free meal.” Neal responds with some sarcastic comments, which increases the tension between the two and ends with the dispatcher hitting Neal.

Neal falls to the ground and is almost hit by a car. This driver? None other than Del Griffith, through whom Neal reunites and realizes that returning to Chicago from this point on is pretty much the best-case scenario.

The film’s St. Louis scenes escalated fairly quickly, starting with Del selling shower curtain rings to travelers to make up for some financial losses from other hardships. Del and Neal then meet for dinner and share personal stories, after which Neal insists that the two go their separate ways to speed up their journey. Apparently that didn’t last long.

Although tensions escalated at times starting in St. Louis, the two made it back to the Chicago area on Thanksgiving Day, and a revelation from Neal led to a cordial ending.

For a closer look at the film’s St. Louis scenes, click here.

Where to stream?

Want to watch planes, trains and automobiles around your Thanksgiving plans? The film is available on Paramount+, HBO Max, YouTube TV, Sling TV, Philo, fuboTV and Amazon Prime Video with a subscription. It can also be purchased on YouTube, Google Play, Vudu and AppleTV. You may also be able to watch it for free on Pluto TV for a time.