Ghost (1990)
Directed by Jerry Zucker
After a young man is murdered, his spirit stays behind to warn his lover of impending danger, with the help of a reluctant psychic.
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Jerry Zucker's 1990 fantasy combines elements of Spielbergian wistfulness a la Always (a dead man yearns to tell his beloved how much he loves her) and what appear to be very dim memories of Cocteau's Orpheus (a hunk walks through walls).
As Sam and Molly circle each other, accompanied by the rapturous strains of the Righteous Brothers singing ''Unchained Melody,'' Ghost becomes the movie Steven Spielberg's Always wanted to be ?
And now, in the past few months, we've had ghost stories: Spielberg's "Always," Bo and John Derek's hideous "Ghosts Can't Do It," the aforementioned "Ghost Dad" and this one, with the no-nonsense title "Ghost."
Jerry Zucker's 1990 fantasy combines elements of Spielbergian wistfulness a la Always (a dead man yearns to tell his beloved how much he loves her) and what appear to be very dim memories of Cocteau's Orpheus (a hunk walks through walls).
Since her memorable performance in "The Color Purple," she's been mired in macho formula.
Sam, in a desperate attempt to make contact with Molly, visits storefront spiritual adviser Oda Mae Brown, played by Whoopi Goldberg in her first good movie role since "The Color Purple."
As Oda Mae, she's finally found a role that combines the hipness of her standup act with a bit of the serious side she's shown in "The Color Purple" and "Clara's Heart," and she's made the most of it.
But it is also the kind of movie where the delightful Whoopi Goldberg - in her first decent role since 1985's The Color Purple - plays a bogus medium who, to her horror, discovers that she really has the gift.
Still, The Color Purple is unquestionably a work of heart and soul dazzlingly performed by Spielberg's tightest ensemble since Jaws--although familiarity has retroactively rendered Goldberg, then a complete unknown, an awfully unconvincing shrinking violet, and a scene in which she shimmies and blurts "ha-cha-cha!" in an outfit not unlike the one Oda Mae Brown wears to the bank in Ghost is an inexplicable harbinger of the Goldberg persona that momentarily zaps you out of the picture.
"Ghost" is a mix of too many genres (the ending looks like the conclusion of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind") and a rather wrong-headed romance.
When people ask me what the best movies on ghosts are, at the top of my list are "Topper" and "Ghost" (though my fave is "The Time of Their Lives").
Ah well, the same audiences who bought Jennifer Beals as a rugged shipyard welder in "Flashdance"--from the same studio--will probably have no trouble with Swayze's banker.
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Director Jerry Zucker's resume of raucous farces like "Airplane!", "Ruthless People" and "The Naked Gun" gives no indication of his being capable of sustaining the movie's many shifts of tone and tempo, but he pulls it off, certainly more successfully than Spielberg did in "Always," which was more saccharine than romantic and was weighed down by overblown comic interludes.
…and "The Naked Gun," makes his solo directing debut and displays a knack for mixing comedy, suspense and romance.
"Ruthless People" and "Naked Gun" among his chief credits.
In this artistically devalued summer of schlockbusters ("Days of Total RoboCop III"), it means Jerry Zucker's movie (he made "Airplane!" and "Ruthless People") is surprisingly entertaining and goes along nicely with the theater's air conditioning.
Director Jerry Zucker's resume of raucous farces like "Airplane!", "Ruthless People" and "The Naked Gun" gives no indication of his being capable of sustaining the movie's many shifts of tone and tempo, but he pulls it off, certainly more successfully than Spielberg did in "Always," which was more saccharine than romantic and was weighed down by overblown comic interludes.
Jerry Zucker's breakthrough helming--after making his name as a comedy director (Airplane!, Ruthless People)--made a well-oiled ensemble of disparate stars and created moments so memorable they invited Zucker-esque parody.
Written by Bruce Joel Rubin of "Brainstorm," the story recalls last year's "Always," except it's much more emotionally honest: A man who can't say "I love you" to the woman who makes his heart sing suddenly can't make her hear or see him.
And now, in the past few months, we've had ghost stories: Spielberg's "Always," Bo and John Derek's hideous "Ghosts Can't Do It," the aforementioned "Ghost Dad" and this one, with the no-nonsense title "Ghost."
Along the way, Swayze also learns, with the help of subway-haunting spirit Vincent ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") Schiavelli, that ghosts can concentrate their psychic power into moving physical objects: making objects fly around the room, slapping bad guys around, that sort of thing.
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In this artistically devalued summer of schlockbusters ("Days of Total RoboCop III"), it means Jerry Zucker's movie (he made "Airplane!" and "Ruthless People") is surprisingly entertaining and goes along nicely with the theater's air conditioning.
That director Jerry Zucker was best known at the time for the comic spoofs "Airplane!" and "Top Secret" didn't help matters either.
Director Jerry Zucker, part of the moviemaking team responsible for such comedies as "Airplane!"
Director Jerry Zucker's resume of raucous farces like "Airplane!", "Ruthless People" and "The Naked Gun" gives no indication of his being capable of sustaining the movie's many shifts of tone and tempo, but he pulls it off, certainly more successfully than Spielberg did in "Always," which was more saccharine than romantic and was weighed down by overblown comic interludes.