Steve Martin's St. Louis rental car meltdown shines in a Thanksgiving classic

ST. LOUIS - Tens of millions will hit the roads or the skies to reunite with loved ones over Thanksgiving. For some, the annual journey back home isn't always easy or smooth, as depicted by the chaos that unfolds in a Thanksgiving classic that rolls through St. Louis.

John Hughes’ classic Planes, Trains and Automobiles, a fictional film from 1987, stars Steve Martin and John Candy in the lead roles as Neal Page and Del Griffith. Despite clashing personalities, the two share a common goal of making it from New York to their hometown Chicago in time for Thanksgiving.

Along the way, Neal and Del face a series of comical misadventures, including a stop at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. The two can't catch a flight and appear to briefly go their separate ways. That's when Neal's attempt to rent a car in St. Louis goes hilariously awry.

NOTE: Keep in mind, this is staged and not based on true events. Also perhaps a bit of a spoiler for those who haven't seen the movie.

After a meal with Del, Neal makes a phone call to his family and gets help in arranging a rental car service.

Unfortunately, the rental car on his order isn’t parked at the lot. This leads a distraught Neal to throw his paperwork in frustration and walk back to the airport terminal through snow and frigid cold conditions. The scene was filmed with a building currently known as the Renaissance St. Louis Airport Hotel in the background.

Moments later, Neal returns to the airport terminal and is visibly frustrated by his rental car situation. He waits in a line for the Marathon car rental service with one clerk chit-chatting over apparent non-work-related matters over the phone.

This follows with a lengthy tirade that put St. Louis on the map with the movie, but also most likely gave it an R-rating as opposed to PG or PG13.

Neal used some iteration of a certain four-letter curse word 18 times in roughly one minute to the clerk, demanding answers as to why his rental car was missing.

The clerk asks Neal for documentation of his rental car order, to which he says he lost it. That doesn’t help his situation, and the clerk reverses that same curse word to ultimately end their interaction.

What else transpired in St. Louis?

Realizing he was running out of options, it doesn't get much better for Neal in St. Louis. He exits the Lambert Airport terminal and tells a cab dispatcher he needs a ride to Chicago

To which the cab driver replies, "He replies: “Chicago? You know you’re in St. Louis? Why don’t you try the airline, it’s a lot faster and you get a free meal.” Neal fires back with some sarcastic comments, which builds tension between the two and ends with the dispatcher punching Neal.

Neal falls to the ground and nearly gets run over by a car. That driver? None other than Del Griffith, through which Neal reunites, realizing it’s pretty much the best-case scenario to get back to Chicago from that point forward.

The St. Louis scenes of the movie escalated rather quickly, starting with Del selling shower curtain rings to travelers to recoup some financial losses from other ordeals. Del and Neal then meet for a meal and share personal stories, after which Neal insists that the two go separate ways to speed up their travels. Obviously, that didn't last long.

Though tensions escalated at times from St. Louis on, the two made it back to the Chicago area on Thanksgiving Day, and a revelation from Neal leads to a heartfelt ending.

For a closer look at the St. Louis scenes of the movie, click here.

Where to stream?

Want to watch Planes, Trains, and Automobiles around your Thanksgiving plans? The movie 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 might be able to catch it for free at times on Pluto TV as well.