A timeless fantasy about the power of love. Walking back to their apartment one night, Sam and Molly are mugged, leaving Sam murdered in a dark alley. Unable to fully leave Molly, especially now that she is in grave danger, Sam is trapped as ghost between this world and the next. With the help of an eclectic medium, Oda Mae Brown, Sam tries to communicate with Molly in hopes of ensuring she lives a long life of happiness, even if it is without the love of her life. Director Jerry Zucker’s “Ghost” is a timeless tale of fantasy and romance.
Directed by: Jerry Zucker
The cast includes: Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn, Rick Aviles, Vincent Schiavelli, and Armelia McQueen.
Tagline: “You will believe.”
GHOST was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. Whoopi won a Supporting Actress Oscar for her “Ghost” performance.
GHOST is a love story, a supernatural tale and a murder mystery thriller with comedic moments mixed in, all of which are uniquely blended together to make a superbly entertaining movie.
The script, by Bruce Joel Ruben, was well thought out, well-paced and well written. The story opens with the young couple, Molly Jensen and Sam Wheat (Demi Moore & Patrick Swayze), and their good friend, Carl Bruner (Tony), working on renovating an old floor of a building into their dream apartment, so that they have plenty of room for Molly to create her pottery/clay art. It is established that Patrick and Tony are good friends who work together at the same financial business company in New York City. Tragedy befalls the happy couple when Patrick is murdered by a thug during a night robbery. Willie Lopez (Rick Aviles), plays the robber who was supposedly after their money.
Sam’s spirit hangs around their dream apartment at first, wishing to comfort his grieving love, but can’t do so. When his murderer comes back into the apartment, but leaves when scratched by the cat, Sam follows Willie back to Willie’s place on the rundown side of town. Patrick decides to seek the help of spiritualist, Oda May Brown (Whoopi), who was a charlatan, until she gets involved with Patrick, which unblocks her sixth sense, so she can truly help both the living and the dead, instead of pretending to have “the gift.”
When he finds out who is really behind his murder, and why he was killed, Sam not only resolves to protect Molly, but also wants to get some justice for this personal disaster, with the help of the reforming Oda May Brown.
Ruben’s screenplay also deals with spiritual issues of Life After Death, Heaven and Hell as well, with the help of the visual effects wizards, Larry Weiss, Doug Chiang, Tom Cranham, Richard Edlund, and Harrison Ellenshaw, just to name a few.
The direction and pacing of the movie, all under control of Jerry Zucker, was well done. Whoopi Goldberg really provides a stellar performance that integrates her enormous comedic talent with her acting ability, which earned her the supporting actress Oscar in 1991.
Tony Goldwyn was excellent as the villain, showing many sides of the feelings of his character’s emotions and weaknesses.
Patrick and Demi work very well together, convincing and touching the audience with their individual and team performances. This film showcases one of their best performances.
Willie Lopez is convincing as the slimy killer, who gets the scare of his life. He portrays absolute terror perfectly, adding a lot to the scene with Sam, the angry ghost, who comes for a little visit.
Vincent Schiavelli does a great job as the emotionally unbalanced ghost on the subway, who teaches Sam how to move objects with his mind, an important skill to have for a ghost.
Favorite scenes include: Patrick meets Oda May, Oda May’s trip to the bank with Patrick, Willie and Patrick’s apartment chase scene, the night scene in the dream apartment, with Demi, Patrick, and Oda May, and the final chase & fight scene with the fantastic ending.
