Although best known as perhaps the definitive chronicler of the American teenager in films such as The Breakfast Club (1985), John Hughes also made the occasional foray into adulthood, with equally enduring success. Uptight advertising executive Neal Page (Steve Martin) hopes to make it home to spend Thanksgiving with his family. Thwarted at every turn, Neal is forced to team up with travelling salesman Del Griffith (the great John Candy), whose affable, easy-going nature is at odds with that of his irritable companion. Despite the comedy (and the film is very funny), it is also a sensitively managed study in loneliness and quiet despair.

The screening will be introduced by Mark O’Connell, writer.

Notes by Kevin Coyne