Planes, Trains and Automobiles (partially lost 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, on the way, they go through a lot of situations and zany stuff and get to know each other better. The movie has since become a Thanksgiving classic, however, the film's original final shooting draft reveals that the movie may have ran for much longer.

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.
• Shots of Del imitating Elvis Presley in the motel bathroom. The trailer includes some of the shots.
• 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.
• Neil and Del stop at a local strip club to use their telephone after the car catches fire.
• A scene where Del asks Neil if he’s ever been to Hawaii.
• 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.
• 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.

Availability

For years the only scene from the original cut that has been released is a scene that shows Neal, Del, and all the other passengers eating their meal while on the plane. 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.

On October 1st, 2022, it was announced that Paramount Movies would be rereleasing the film on 4K Blu-Ray, with over 75 minutes of deleted and extended scenes included as a bonus.

On November 22nd, 2022, the Blu-Ray was released with the majority of the film’s deleted scenes included, however quite a few scenes were not included and are still lost. The scenes that were not released include:

• Most of the Affair Subplot
• Neil and Del stopping at the strip club to use the phone
• The State Trooper Scene
• Neil punching Del
• The Coffee Shop Scene
• The Extended Ending

Gallery

Every deleted scene from the Blu-Ray.

Mini-Documentary on the deleted scenes.

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  The lost coffee shop scene.

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  Shot of Neal eating pizza (taken from the trailer).