Yesterdays Movies on Tuesday: Ghostbusters 1984
The last several weeks have been filled with Ghostbusters talk - lots of talk about the newly released video game, a lot of talk about Ghostbusters 3 which is currently in script phase and the release of Ghostbusters on Blu-Ray. All of the talk and exposure to the classic franchise, I had to go back and watch the first Ghostbusters film to relive some of the excitement especially with the possibility of a new film. On top of that, I've been watching a lot of play-throughs of the new video game online - the reason being, I don't have the time to play video games anymore and because I'm a loser and I do these things.
There are a lot of movies that I look fondly on from my childhood and Ghostbusters is definitely in the top 20, I'd say at least. I've never tried to place it honestly - it wouldn't be fair because in those days with the mentality of a younger boy, all these movies deserve the number one spot as best movie of all-time. Without a doubt, Ghostbusters is included in that feeling. So this past Saturday night, I sat down in front to my television, bought myself a pizza and relaxed while watching this movie for the millionth time in my life.
"Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson star as a quartet of Manhattan-based "paranormal investigators". When their government grants run out, the former three go into business as The Ghostbusters, later hiring Hudson on. Armed with electronic paraphernalia, the team is spectacularly successful, ridding The Big Apple of dozens of ghoulies, ghosties and long-legged beasties. Tight-lipped bureaucrat William Atherton regards the Ghostbusters as a bunch of charlatans, but is forced to eat his words when New York is besieged by an army of unfriendly spirits, conjured up by a long-dead Babylonian demon and "channelled" through beautiful cellist Sigourney Weaver and nerdish Rick Moranis." [Moviefone]
In trying to keep this Tuesday review brief, I'll only talk about a few things that I love about this film, starting with the incredible cast. It is interesting to read over at Wikipedia, that the cast of Murray, Aykroyd, Ramis and Hudson were initially not going to be the cast to turn Ghostbusters into the legendary 80s comedy that it became. Did you know John Belushi was going to play Peter? Sadly, his death caused a recasting and a rewrite to accommodate Murray, however, fate works in strange ways because, especially now, I can't picture anyone else as Peter Venkman. In no small measure, Aykroyd who also wrote the script along side Ramis, portrayd Ray brilliantly, as did Ramis and Hudson in their respected parts. The cast gelled together creating a perfect chemistry. I remember when I was a kid, I always wanted to play the part of Venkman - not because he's simply the headliner character but because he's heroic although being brash and irresponsible. The combination, on top of Murray's performance, created a fantastic character that all kids tried to be like.
The thing that I love most in films, not just Ghostbusters, is the mythology that goes behind the plot - in this case, Ivo Shandor and Gozer the Gozerian. I think it is great how the mythology behind those characters were created and told in some funny, very interesting exposition - during the jail scene. All of the prisoners leaning in to hear Egon's story I always thought was hysterical. Originally, in the film, Gozer was not going to appear as a woman but Shandor himself played by Paul Rubens - how different would that have been? I've never been entirely sure if Gozer was taken from mythology and used for this film - I've looked around, trying to research that, briefly, but I haven't been able to find anything. I'm under the assumption that Gozer was created for this film, but if anyone knows their mythology, please, email and let me know - I'm curious.
Can anyone deny that the score/soundtrack of Ghostbustes is awesome?! I think everyone has sung the theme song by Ray Parker Jr. to themselves at least once it their lives. Currently, at the moment, I have "Saving the Day" buzzing around my head on replay mode - It's a good thing I'm distracted doing other things because that eventually would become annoying although I love the scene it was used; it's bad ass. The score was composed by Elmer Bernstein who's composed a huge list of movies, which you can look at over at IMDB. Besides scoring Ghostbusters, he also scored one of my favorite scores of all time (among so many) - the classic Charlton Heston epic, The Ten Commandments.
Lastly, what kid during the 80s didn't love a good light show of special/visual effects. Today we see so much of it, most of which defeats the purpose of making movies but in the 80s, nothing was more spectacular. The proton packs - what kid didn't want one? I remember I had a toy proton pack when I was young - wow, such fond memories. I had a trap and a PKE meter. I'm getting depressed - things were so much simpler back then.
During this article, I spoke a lot about how Ghostbusters is a great movie for kids but don't be mistakened, adults will also love this movie too. This is forever an all-time classic but I fear that Ghostbusters 3, if greenlit, will not be able to follow suit. Sure, it won't be anything near to what the original offered but if this turns into another Indiana Jones 4, a lot of folks are going to be very very upset. Until that film gets made, however, sit back and watch the original that started it all.
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