Movies - TV
The Heartfelt Improvised Line John Candy Added To Planes, Trains & Automobiles
By LEE ADAMS
In a version of the scene where Del comes clean about his real situation, John Candy reportedly ad-libbed the line, "But this time I couldn't let go," explaining why Del feels the need to latch onto strangers. The longer scene didn't make the final cut and the line was lost, but it stuck in Steve Martin’s memory.
According to Nick de Semlyen's book "Wild and Crazy Guys: How the Comedy Mavericks of the '80s Changed Hollywood Forever": “Martin would still shed a tear remembering the heartfelt confession.” Surprisingly, especially given the great screen chemistry between Candy and Martin, this was the only time they starred in a film together.
The pair got along very well behind the scenes too and, sometime after Candy's death in 1994, Martin stated in an interview, "He was a very sweet guy, and complicated [...] but I could tell he had kind of a little broken heart inside him." Perhaps Martin detected attributes in Candy that led him to conflate his late co-star with Del Griffith and that’s why the scene still touches him so deeply.