Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off on moments pages. You Have Been Warned
"The movies that last, the ones we return to, don't always have lofty themes or Byzantine complexities. Sometimes they last because they are arrows straight to the heart. When Neal unleashes that tirade in the motel room and Del's face saddens, he says, 'Oh. I see.' It is a moment that not only defines Del's life, but is a turning point in Neal's, because he also is a lonely soul, and too well organized to know it. Strange, how much poignancy creeps into this comedy, and only becomes stronger while we're laughing."
— Roger Ebert in his review
for the film
for the film- Del's "the real article" speech is as sad as it is beautiful. You get the impression that he's probably either had this is conversation many times before or has been practicing it for a while.
- When Neal starts yelling at him, Del is willing to argue back for a few minutes... until Neal insults his "boring stories," at which point he goes quiet and starts breathing more heavily, as if he's about to cry, and remains awkwardly quiet until Neal is finished laying into him. Neal clearly took it too far by making it personal.
- His line about how his wife likes him is especially sad once you learn said wife was Dead All Along.
- While John Candy's excellent performance is what sells the scene, the instrumental version of "Power To Believe" by Dream Academy, which scores it, elevates it to gut-wrenching perfection.
- The Wham Line in the penultimate scene: "I don't have a home. Marie's been dead for eight years."
- Del's monologue to his dead wife about how much of a screw-up he is while sitting in the burnt-up wreck of a car, just as it's beginning to snow. Not only does he know he has problems that needs to work on, but it implies that things weren't so rosy between them when she died."Well, Marie, once again my dear, you were as right as rain. I am, without a doubt, the biggest pain in the butt that ever came down the pike. I meet someone whose company I really enjoy, and what do I do? I go overboard. I smother the poor soul. I cause him more trouble than he has a right to. God, I got a big mouth. When am I ever gonna wake up? I wish you were here with me right now. But I guess... that's not gonna happen. Not now, anyway."
- While cutting it benefited the film in the long run, the monologue Del gives Neal in the original script about how he came to be a homeless drifter is devastating, especially his particular choice of words when he talks about how lucky Neal is to be the father he'd never had the chance to be himself."I sat on that plane with you and I thought about you heading home to be with your people. And Tuesday night when you were in the shower and I looked at the picture of your kids, man, I thought you gotta be the luckiest man on Earth to go home and put those little guys on your knee and hug 'em and kiss 'em. I'm thirty-nine years old and I never had that and... I never will."
- There's also his line about how he tries to make it to church around this time every year just to feel like he belongs somewhere, but couldn't make it in time. Del knows he's clingy, but also makes it clear that this desperation to have friends is the one thing keeping him sane. And yet, true to his character, he apologizes to Neal for burdening him and advises him that he'd "better run" before Del makes things worse.
