Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Ghost [Special Collector's Edition]


It has been a very long time since I´ve last seen the Jerry Zucker film "Ghost." In fact, the last time I have sat down and watched the romantic thriller was with my high school sweetheart when the film was first released theatrically. I had just started dating her and was completely infatuated with the tall girl, so without hesitation, I took her to see this little film that had revived the Righteous Brothers careers and sent their song "Unchained Melody" to the top of many radio station playlists. My memories of "Ghost" was that the film was a very romantic picture that had some drama, comedy and action. Mostly, I remembered it as being more romantic than anything. When this film hit theaters, Zucker was mostly known for his films "Top Secret" and "Airplane," but Patrick Swayze was a huge star. Revisiting "Ghost" nearly seventeen years later brought back a few memories and the film didn´t play out as I had remembered it.

In "Ghost," Patrick Swayze is Sam Wheat. He and his loving girlfriend Molly Jensen (Demi Moore) are renovating an old building to be their dream loft and have a strong and powerful love. Sam has a wonderful friend in Carl Bruner (Tony Goldwyn) and is a successful business person. He is on top of the world with his good job, great friend and absolutely amazing girlfriend. Unfortunately, Sam Wheat´s existence does not remain blessed for long. After the iconic pottery love scene where "Unchained Melody" became "Our Song" for many young couples, Sam is gunned down in a botched robbery and Molly is left without the man she loves. Sam becomes the ghost in "Ghost." His love is strong enough to keep his spirit in the material world and Sam finds that he is able to communicate to the land of the living through a phony medium named Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg). Sam sets out to use Oda Mae to communicate with Molly and save her from a potentially dangerous situation and to also reveal the identity of the man who killed Sam and is looking to do Molly harm as well.

I remembered "Ghost" as being more special than it felt the second time around. Granted, Nechel was no longer at my side and I´m sure her presence and my feelings for her at the current time were reason enough to make "Ghost" feel like a truly special film. It did garner Oscars for Whoopi Goldberg for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and for Bruce Joel Rubin for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. Whereas I remembered "Ghost" as being more of a heartfelt film that dripped with sappiness, this wasn´t the case and much of the running time of "Ghost" between the genres of Comedy, Drama, Mystery and Thriller. The film wasn´t nearly as tear-jerking as I had remembered it to be, but it was still a warm film that took the morbidity of death and created a loving story between girl and ghost.

The seventeen years between my first and second viewings of "Ghost" has seen many things change in our world. Patrick Swayze is far from a box office stud and the veteran actor is hardly seen in current cinema. Demi Moore has married somebody that was only twelve when the film was released and I´m not exactly sure where the delightful Whoopi Goldberg is these days. The film itself feels quite dated in content. The special effects of the spirits look extremely primitive and some of the more poignant scenes in "Ghost" have been rehashed and reused so many times that this film feels quite pedestrian. Imitation has a way of lessening the importance of what is imitated and the countless films that have been touched by "Ghost" since this film was released have robbed this film of being something special and leaving it as a walk down memory lane of 1990. It is still a film that can bring about sentimentality, but as each year passes by, "Ghost" feels a little less timeless.

I enjoyed watching "Ghost" one more time. I fondly remember those days when Swayze was the guy every girl wanted to be with and Demi Moore was America´s sweetheart. The film does well to combine elements of a good thriller with a few laughs and at least three lengthy romantic scenes. It does feel slightly creepy to see Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze dance during one of the memorable scenes and now fully understanding that Demi is really dancing with Whoopi, according to the story. With "Ghost" quickly revealing the film´s villain to the audience through Sam´s eyes, some of the suspense is lost and it does take away from the amount of thrills that "Ghost" could have packed. It is still a nice romantic film that is well loved by many women who still think that Patrick Swayze is their idea of a perfect man. I can´t say I felt as moved by "Ghost" watching it as I did when I sat beside Nechel in a theater, but back then I was young and in love. I´ve aged and this film has aged and I´m not sure that either one of us has aged for the better.

It has been a very long time since I´ve last seen the Jerry Zucker film "Ghost." In fact, the last time I have sat down and watched the romantic thriller was with my high school sweetheart when the film was first released theatrically. I had just started dating her and was completely infatuated with the tall girl, so without hesitation, I took her to see this little film that had revived the Righteous Brothers careers and sent their song "Unchained Melody" to the top of many radio station playlists. My memories of "Ghost" was that the film was a very romantic picture that had some drama, comedy and action. Mostly, I remembered it as being more romantic than anything. When this film hit theaters, Zucker was mostly known for his films "Top Secret" and "Airplane," but Patrick Swayze was a huge star. Revisiting "Ghost" nearly seventeen years later brought back a few memories and the film didn´t play out as I had remembered it.

In "Ghost," Patrick Swayze is Sam Wheat. He and his loving girlfriend Molly Jensen (Demi Moore) are renovating an old building to be their dream loft and have a strong and powerful love. Sam has a wonderful friend in Carl Bruner (Tony Goldwyn) and is a successful business person. He is on top of the world with his good job, great friend and absolutely amazing girlfriend. Unfortunately, Sam Wheat´s existence does not remain blessed for long. After the iconic pottery love scene where "Unchained Melody" became "Our Song" for many young couples, Sam is gunned down in a botched robbery and Molly is left without the man she loves. Sam becomes the ghost in "Ghost." His love is strong enough to keep his spirit in the material world and Sam finds that he is able to communicate to the land of the living through a phony medium named Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg). Sam sets out to use Oda Mae to communicate with Molly and save her from a potentially dangerous situation and to also reveal the identity of the man who killed Sam and is looking to do Molly harm as well.

I remembered "Ghost" as being more special than it felt the second time around. Granted, Nechel was no longer at my side and I´m sure her presence and my feelings for her at the current time were reason enough to make "Ghost" feel like a truly special film. It did garner Oscars for Whoopi Goldberg for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and for Bruce Joel Rubin for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. Whereas I remembered "Ghost" as being more of a heartfelt film that dripped with sappiness, this wasn´t the case and much of the running time of "Ghost" between the genres of Comedy, Drama, Mystery and Thriller. The film wasn´t nearly as tear-jerking as I had remembered it to be, but it was still a warm film that took the morbidity of death and created a loving story between girl and ghost.

The seventeen years between my first and second viewings of "Ghost" has seen many things change in our world. Patrick Swayze is far from a box office stud and the veteran actor is hardly seen in current cinema. Demi Moore has married somebody that was only twelve when the film was released and I´m not exactly sure where the delightful Whoopi Goldberg is these days. The film itself feels quite dated in content. The special effects of the spirits look extremely primitive and some of the more poignant scenes in "Ghost" have been rehashed and reused so many times that this film feels quite pedestrian. Imitation has a way of lessening the importance of what is imitated and the countless films that have been touched by "Ghost" since this film was released have robbed this film of being something special and leaving it as a walk down memory lane of 1990. It is still a film that can bring about sentimentality, but as each year passes by, "Ghost" feels a little less timeless.

I enjoyed watching "Ghost" one more time. I fondly remember those days when Swayze was the guy every girl wanted to be with and Demi Moore was America´s sweetheart. The film does well to combine elements of a good thriller with a few laughs and at least three lengthy romantic scenes. It does feel slightly creepy to see Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze dance during one of the memorable scenes and now fully understanding that Demi is really dancing with Whoopi, according to the story. With "Ghost" quickly revealing the film´s villain to the audience through Sam´s eyes, some of the suspense is lost and it does take away from the amount of thrills that "Ghost" could have packed. It is still a nice romantic film that is well loved by many women who still think that Patrick Swayze is their idea of a perfect man. I can´t say I felt as moved by "Ghost" watching it as I did when I sat beside Nechel in a theater, but back then I was young and in love. I´ve aged and this film has aged and I´m not sure that either one of us has aged for the better.

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