THOSE AREN'T PILLOWS!

Thanksgiving is an oddity as far as holidays go. While it is most certainly a big day in the American calender as far as holidays go, it seems to be used very rarely in movies as anything more than a moment of exposition in what becomes a Christmas movie. So I've been racking my brain trying to come up with a real, good, Thanksgiving movie and the onlt thing that comes to mind is Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.

A film from the days back when Steve Martin was funny, and John Candy was, well, alive. Don't be fooled by the R rating, this films keeps the humor a lot more clean than much of what Hollywood throws at us today. As a matter of fact the R rating is based entirely on one scene in which Steve Martin's character uses the "word" we talked about in class the other day around 18 times.

The humor of this film though comes not from the bad language but from the outlandish situations that Neil Page (Steve Martin) enounters in his attempt to get home in time for Thanksgiving. While the film is prone to have its fair share of bawdy, ridiculous humor, it manages to maintain a distinct heart to it throughout. Even when Neil is at his most angry, and Del Griffith (John Candy) is at his most annoying, they both maintain an air of lovability, making a movie that not only makes you laugh, but pulls at your heartstrings at a few points too.

Now here are my real questions for the class: are there any other really successful Thanksgiving films you can think of? And if you can't think of any, why is it you think Hollywood ignores this holiday so much? Do you think that maybe its just less bankable holiday then Christmas? Have you tried the Turkey Gobbler at Wawa? Do you have any ideas for a good Thanksgiving movie?

-Happy Turkey Day

Jon Henry