John Candy’s ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’ Erotic Novel Was Restored by a Fan

There’s arguably no better Thanksgiving movie than Planes, Trains and Automobiles, John Hughes’ classic road comedy about two strangers (played by Steve Martin and John Candy) who bond while trying to make their way back home for the holidays. It’s not just funny, it’s extremely heartwarming — at least, for those who don’t subscribe to the theory that Candy’s character murdered his wife and keeps her skeletal remains in that trunk.

One memorable joke from the movie wasn’t even a joke, exactly. During their travels, Candy’s character Del Griffith can be seen reading a book: an old paperback copy of a Canuck-themed porn novel called The Canadian Mounted.

The screenplay did spell out that Del is reading a “pornographic novel” and originally contained a scene in which Del remarks that he finished the book (calling it a “filthy goddarn thing”). But the title of the book is never spelled out.  

The Canadian Mounted has taken on a life of its own in subsequent years; for example, Candy fan (and fellow Canadian) Ryan Reynolds can be seen reading a replica of the paperback in Deadpool 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine.

As noted in the Planes, Trains and Automobiles “trivia guide” by Mark Leslie (which is also called The Canadian Mounted), though rumored to be a prop, the book is totally real. The Canadian Mounted was published in 1981 by Bee-Line books, the company behind other erotic pulp-fiction titles such as Leave ‘em Lusting and Seduce Me… Anybody!

The back of the book explains the synopsis: “Ann-Marie is sexually very free. Throughout the land of Canada, many men have had her — some are famous, some are shady, but they all admit, she’s one very horny lady!”

Bee-Line books reportedly went bankrupt in 1987 and copies of The Canadian Mounted seem to be extremely rare, leading some booksellers to believe that the book was, in fact, a prop made for the production. But three years ago, a fan claimed to have found a copy, and even posted some excerpts of the novel on Reddit. The pages include lines like: “Jean and Anne-Marie were pretending to be swimming — he was really grinding his hard tool against her ass!” So, not exactly Faulkner.

According to the same fan, the copyright on the book was “never registered” so he proceeded to scan the entire thing, then “cleaned up the art” and “re-typeset the book (exactly as it was, line for line).” And now he’s put it up for sale on a print-on-demand website.

Which is good news for anyone who’s a huge fan of the film, or just really wants to find out what happens to “Northern nymph” Anne-Marie.