I think I saw it when it first came out on pay per view. Ebert said in his Great Movies review, he saw it once, gave it a good review, and then forgot about it. Then reevaluted.
It’s now on Prime, and I’m watching for the 5th time I think.
“You want to take a shower?”
“No!”
“Those aren’t two pillows!”
Neal:
And I really don’t care for the way your company left me in the middle of fing nowhere with fing keys to a fing car that isn’t fing there. And I really didn’t care to fing walk down a fing highway and across a fing runway to get back here to have you smile at my fing face. I want a fing car RIGHT FING NOW!
Car Rental Agent:
May I see your rental agreement.
Neal:
I threw it away.
Car Rental Agent:
Oh boy.
Neal:
Oh boy what?
Car Rental Agent:
You’re f***ed!
BTW, this is not the Pit. Do I need to * out the F word?
Anyway, the thing that makes it a great movie are scenes like this -
You wanna hurt me? Go right ahead if it makes you feel any better. I’m an easy target. Yeah, you’re right, I talk too much. I also listen too much. I could be a cold-hearted cynic like you… but I don’t like to hurt people’s feelings. Well, you think what you want about me; I’m not changing. I like… I like me. My wife likes me. My customers like me. 'Cause I’m the real article. What you see is what you get.
I saw it when it was first in the the theaters, but I don’t think I’ve seen more than a few minutes, here or there on cable, since.
It has a lot of funny moments, but I agree, it has a heart to it, as well. I remember the scene with the last line you quoted, in your OP, and how hard that hit me, back then.
My wife had never seen the movie and we watched it on Thanksgiving. I was a little hesitant because, you know, sometimes you haven’t seen a movie in years and it hasn’t aged well and the person seeing it for the first time is “It was… okay… I guess.” But, nope, it held up just fine in my opinion and my wife enjoyed it. She might have liked it more except we were watching it in a noisy family setting.
Wife and I watch it every Thanksgiving night. This is one of the few cheesy 80s John Hughes movies that holds up in every way.
I remember watching it for the first time as a kid (maybe 11 or 12), and the final scene where Del walks into the house and looks at Neil’s wife and says “Mrs. Page” and she says “Mr. Griffith.” I said, “Holy cow! They already knew each other!” I thought it was the most epic twist ending ever! Like, they had gone to school together or something.
My dad was like, “Mmm, no. I don’t think that was it.” I don’t think he convinced me otherwise and it wasn’t until a few years later that I realized they were just politely greeting each other.
My favorite scene is Steve Martin riding the subway at the end, thinking about all the times and laughing. I do that every day riding to and from work.
yeah, I try to catch this every year when it gets shown a lot near Thanksgiving.
amusingly, in 2010 work sent me to Nashville for a media event. I flew into BNA and went to the rental counter to pick up the keys to my car. The clerk was just like Edie McClurg’s character at the rental counter in the movie. Heavy southern accent and cloyingly sweet attitude. Tells me the car is in parking spot 38 (or whatever, don’t remember.) I walk out to the lot and find spot 38 to be empty. I looked at the empty space, looked at my receipt, briefly thought “I want a fucking car. Right. Fucking. Now.” then I realized I was in the “premium” lot and needed to look two rows over. Had a chuckle at that one
then I found the car they gave me was a Nissan Versa. a fate worse than death.
Apparently Steve Martin didn’t even know he was on camera in that scene. He was just sitting there laughing because he was thinking about the next scene they were supposed to shoot. But the camera was actually still rolling, and his facial expressions were so good they decided to use it.
The entire scene at the end when Steve Martin is realizing that John Candys wife is actually dead and goes back to take him home for dinner will always be one of the most gut wrenching tear jerking moments in movie history for me. It was extremely well done. The montage really worked well and didn’t beat you over the head with the twist. Movie isn’t the same watching it after that but is still hilarious.
