Planes, Trains and Automobiles (found deleted scenes of comedy film; 1987)

Theatrical film poster.

Status: Partially Lost

Planes, Trains and Automobiles is a 1987 comedy film directed by John Hughes. The plot is about a man named Neal Page (Steve Martin), who thanks to many plane delays, and cancellations, has to travel with another guy named Del Griffith (John Candy), who's kind of a blabbermouth for Neal. However, in the way they go through a lot of situations and zany stuff, and get to know each other better. The movie originally ran for 3 hours and 30 minutes. The film's editor Paul Hirsch, and John Hughes, cut the film down to 2 hours. The studio still believing it was too long and made them cut 30 more minutes.^[1] Leaving it down to the 1 hour and 30 minute cut we know today. The original three hour cut of the movie has never surfaced.

Scenes Cut

Here is a list of some of the deleted scenes (taken from the original shooting script):

Short description of a snowflake going through the city before the office scene, at the film's beginning (probably not filmed)
A long, three-paragraph monologue, told by Del on the airplane.
In their first motel, Del orders a really gross-looking pizza. Neal complains because he told him to order salad too, but Del tells him the pizza 'has some vegetables on it'. Neal tries to eat it but he's grossed out. This is referenced by Neal during the diner scene in the final film.
The thief that steals their money is actually the pizza boy, who decides to steal their money because Del only gave him 100 pennies as a tip.
The park ranger (Michael McKean) tells Del and Neal they have already over past Chicago, 100 miles. The two start to argue, and are soon arrested.
Follow-up to the previous scene, getting out of the police station, Neal reveals they strip-searched him. Del reveals he didn't purchase insurance on the car they destroyed previously in the film, and Neal punches him in the face. While the scene is absent from the final film, Del does have a black eye during part of the film.^[2]
Del and Neal go to a cafe to talk about the sad facts Deal has revealed, talking about how hard Del's life has been.
A major subplot, involving Neal's wife, Susan, believing he's actually having an affair, was cut.
Shots of Del imitating Elvis Presley. The trailer includes some of the shots.

Surviving Scene

The only scene from the three hour cut that has been released is when Neal, Del and all the other passengers eating their meal. Del makes some comments about the food he orders in every single airplane line, a story of how a friend of his cut her finger, and how the lasagna is completely over-heated.