Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters is a 1984 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City, who start a ghost catching business. Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis co-star as a potential client and her neighbor, respectively. It was released in the United States on June 8, 1984 and made US$238,632,124 in the United States.^[2]

The film was followed by a sequel, Ghostbusters II in 1989, and two animated television series, The Real Ghostbusters (later renamed Slimer! And the Real Ghostbusters) and Extreme Ghostbusters. Ramis, who co-wrote the first two films, confirmed as of 2008^[update] that a script for a potential third film was being developed by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, the writing team best known for their work on Curb Your Enthusiasm and the American version of The Office. Ramis told a Chicago Tribune columnist in 2008 that the original films' four main cast members may have minor on-screen roles: "The concept is that the old Ghostbusters would appear in the film in some mentor capacity".^[3] The American Film Institute ranked Ghostbusters 28th in its AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs list of film comedies.

Plot

After losing their academic positions at Columbia University, a trio of misfit parapsychologists — Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd), and Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) – establish a paranormal exterminator service known as "Ghostbusters" at a retired New York City firehouse. While still facing dire straits after setting up the company, they are summoned by the Sedgewick Hotel to investigate a haunting. At the hotel, they capture their first ghost and deposit it in a "containment unit" located in the basement of their office. Paranormal activity soon increases in New York City, and the Ghostbusters become celebrities containing it, while at the same time becoming increasingly burdened by the hectic schedule. To satisfy increased demand, they hire a fourth member, Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson).

The Ghostbusters are hired by a woman named Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver), whose apartment at 55 Central Park West is haunted by a demonic spirit called Zuul, a demigod worshiped as a servant to Gozer the Gozerian, a Sumerian shape-changer god of destruction. Venkman takes a particular interest in the case, competing for Dana's affection with her neighbor Louis Tully (Rick Moranis). As they investigate, Dana is possessed by Zuul, which declares itself "The Gatekeeper", and Louis by a similar demon called Vinz Clortho, "The Keymaster". Both demons speak of the coming of the destructive Gozer, and the Ghostbusters plan to keep the two apart. Thereafter the Ghostbusters' office is visited by Walter Peck (William Atherton) of the EPA, who arrests the team for operating an unlicensed nuclear device in their basement and orders their ghost containment deactivated, unleashing hundreds of ghosts onto New York City. Freed from the Ghostbusters' custody, Louis/Vinz advances toward Dana/Zuul's apartment while the escaped ghosts create havoc throughout the city.

Consulting blueprints of 55 Central Park West, the Ghostbusters learn that it was built by a mad doctor and cult leader named Ivo Shandor, who designed the building to summon Gozer and bring about the end of the world saying humanity was too sick to live. The Ghostbusters are brought to the mayor's office and freed in order to combat the paranormal activity; but are unable to prevent the appearance of Gozer, who initially appears as a woman (Slavitza Jovan). Briefly subdued by the team, Gozer disappears; but her voice echoes that the "destructor" will follow, taking a form chosen by the team. Venkman, holding that this means that whatever they imagine will appear as a destroying force, urges his comrades to avoid giving form to the destructor. Unable to keep his mind blank, Stantz attempts to imagine "something that could never, ever possibly destroy us"; whereupon the destructor arrives in Stantz's chosen form of the giant Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and begins laying waste to the city, including stepping on and destroying a church. To defeat this manifestation, the team decides to merge the energy streams of their proton packs (against which they were advised earlier in the film) while directing these against Gozer's entrance, at the risk of their own lives. The plan succeeds, destroying Gozer and the Marshmallow Man in a single explosion. Thereafter Dana and Louis are freed from the remains of their possessors, and the Ghostbusters are applauded by the city's population.

Production

Development

The concept was inspired by Aykroyd's own fascination with the paranormal and it was conceived as a vehicle for himself and friend John Belushi, fellow Saturday Night Live alumnus.^[4] The original story, as written by Aykroyd, was very different from what was eventually filmed; in the initial version, a group of "Ghostsmashers" traveled through time, space, and other dimensions combating huge ghosts (of which the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man was one of many). Also, the Ghostbusters wore SWAT-like outfits and used wands instead of proton packs to fight the ghosts. Ghostbusters storyboards show them wearing riotsquad-type helmets with movable transparent visors.^[5] In addition to a similar title, the movie shares the premise of professional "exterminators" on a paranormal mission with The Bowery Boys slapstick comedy Spook Busters (1946, directed by William Beaudine).

Aykroyd pitched his story to director/producer Ivan Reitman, who liked the basic idea but immediately saw the budgetary impossibilities demanded by Aykroyd's first draft.^[6] At Reitman's suggestion, the story was given a major overhaul, eventually evolving into the final screenplay which Aykroyd and Ramis hammered out over the course of three weeks in a Martha's Vineyard bomb shelter in May–June 1982.^[7] Aykroyd and Ramis initially wrote the script with roles written especially for Belushi, Eddie Murphy, and John Candy; but Belushi died during the writing of the screenplay, and neither Murphy nor Candy would commit to the movie, so Aykroyd and Ramis made some changes and polished a basic, science-fiction-oriented screenplay for their final draft.^[6]

In addition to Aykroyd's high-concept basic premise, and Ramis' skill at grounding the fantastic elements with a realistic setting, the film benefits from Bill Murray's semi-improvisational performance as Peter Venkman, the character initially intended for Belushi.^[6][7]

Casting

Louis Tully was originally conceived as a conservative man in a business suit played by comedian John Candy; but with Candy unable to commit to the role, it was taken by Rick Moranis who portrayed Louis as a geek.^[6] Gozer was originally going to appear in the form of Ivo Shandor as a slender, unremarkable man in a suit played by Paul Reubens;^[8] but the role was played by Yugoslav model Slavitza Jovan.

Harold Ramis had no intention of acting in any role, as he planned only helping Aykroyd write the screenplay; but the crew struggled to cast the role of Egon Spengler, even after renowned actors such as Chevy Chase, Michael Keaton, Christopher Walken, John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, and Jeff Goldblum were considered. Feeling he knew the character best, being its creator, Ramis accepted the role of Egon. He credited this move in revitalizing his acting career, having previously focused on off-screen work such as writing and directing.

Winston Zeddemore was written with Eddie Murphy in mind, but Murphy had to decline the role as he was filming Beverly Hills Cop at the same time. If Murphy had been cast, Zeddemore would have been hired much earlier in the film, and would have accompanied the trio on their hunt for Slimer at the hotel and been slimed in place of Peter Venkman. When Ernie Hudson took over, it was decided that he be brought in later to indicate how the Ghostbusters were struggling to keep up with the outbreak of ghosts.

For the test screening of Ghostbusters, half of the ghost effects were missing, not yet having been completed by the production team.^[6] The audience response was still enthusiastic, and the ghost elements were completed for the official theatrical release shortly thereafter.^[6]

Cast

• Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman
• Dan Aykroyd as Dr. Raymond Stantz
• Sigourney Weaver as Dana Barrett
• Harold Ramis as Dr. Egon Spengler
• Ernie Hudson as Winston Zeddemore
• Rick Moranis as Louis Tully
• Annie Potts as Janine Melnitz
• William Atherton as Walter Peck
• David Margulies as Mayor Lenny
• Slavitza Jovan as Gozer
• Paddi Edwards as Gozer (voice)
• Ivan Reitman as Zuul (voice)/Slimer (voice)
• Alice Drummond as Librarian at the New York Public Library
• Jennifer Runyon as Female ESP volunteer

Cameos

• Roger Grimsby
• Larry King
• Joe Franklin
• Casey Kasem

Reception

Box office

Ghostbusters was released on June 8, 1984 in 1,339 theaters and grossed $13.6 million on its opening weekend^[9] and $23 million in its first week, a studio record at the time.^[10] The film was number one at the box office for five consecutive weeks, grossing $99.8 million.^[11] After seven weeks at number one, it was finally knocked to second place by Prince's film, Purple Rain and had grossed $142.6 million, second only to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom as the year's top moneymaker.^[12] However, Ghostbusters regained top spot the next week, and then again six weeks later.^[13] It went on to gross $229.2 million at the box office, making it the second highest-grossing film of 1984, behind only Beverly Hills Cop.^[14] At the time, these figures put it within the top ten highest-grossing films of all-time.^[15] A re-release in 1985 gave the film a total gross of $238.6 million surpassing Beverly Hills Cop^[16] and making Ghostbusters the most successful comedy of the 1980s.

Critical response

Ghostbusters received generally positive reviews from critics and is considered by many as one of the best films of 1984.^{[17][18][19][20]} It currently holds a 93% approval rating on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 46 reviews.^[21] Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "This movie is an exception to the general rule that big special effects can wreck a comedy ... Rarely has a movie this expensive provided so many quotable lines".^[22] Newsweek magazine's David Ansen wrote, "Everyone seems to be working toward the same goal of relaxed insanity. Ghostbusters is wonderful summer nonsense".^[23] In his review for TIME, Richard Schickel praised the three lead actors: "Of the ghost wranglers, the pair played by Writers Aykroyd and Ramis are sweetly earnest about their calling, and gracious about giving the picture to their co-star Bill Murray. He obviously (and wisely) regards Dr. Peter Venkman as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to develop fully his patented comic character".^[24] Pauline Kael had problems with the chemistry between the three lead actors: "Murray is the film's comic mechanism ... But nobody else has much in the way of material, and since there's almost no give-and-take among the three men, Murray's lines fall on dead air".^[25] In her review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin wrote, "Its jokes, characters and story line are as wispy as the ghosts themselves, and a good deal less substantial".^[26]

Music

Soundtrack

The film's theme song, "Ghostbusters", written and performed by Ray Parker Jr, sparked the catchphrases "Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!" and "I ain't afraid of no ghost." The song was a huge hit, staying #1 for three weeks on Billboard's Hot 100 chart and #1 for two weeks on the Black Singles chart. The song earned Parker an Academy Award nomination for "Best Original Song". According to Bruce A. Austin (in 1989), this theme "purportedly added $20 million to the box office take of the film".^[27]

The music video produced for the song became a #1 MTV video. Featuring actress Cindy Harrell, directed by Ivan Reitman, produced by Jeffrey Abelson, and conceptualized by Keith Williams, the video integrated footage of the film intercut with a humorous performance by Parker. The video also featured cameo appearances by celebrities who joined in the call-and-response chorus, including Chevy Chase, Irene Cara, John Candy, Nickolas Ashford, Melissa Gilbert, Jeffrey Tambor, George Wendt, Al Franken, Danny DeVito, Carly Simon, Peter Falk, and Teri Garr. The video ends with footage of the four main Ghostbusters actors in costume and character, dancing in Times Square behind Parker, joining in the singing.

Score

The film score was composed by Elmer Bernstein, and is notable for its use of ondes Martenot (a staple of Bernstein's 1980s work) and also the Yamaha DX-7 synthesizer. Orchestrators contributing to the film were Peter Bernstein, David Spear and Patrick Russ.

Critical reception

Reviewers at Allmusic have awarded both the Original Soundtrack Album and the Original Motion Picture Score 4 out of a total 5 stars. Evan Cater describes the Original Soundtrack Album somewhat pejoratively as "a very disjointed, schizophrenic listen" that "does very little to conjure memories of the film". However, he notes that there are exceptions to this, namely Ray Parker Jr's title track "Ghostbusters", Mick Smiley's "Magic", and the two inclusions from Elmer Bernstein's score.^[28] Jason Ankeny describes the Original Motion Picture Score as "epic in both sound and scale", noting that it "ranks among Bernstein's most dazzling and entertaining efforts, evoking the widescreen wonder of its source material", concluding that "his melodies beautifully complement the wit and creativity of the onscreen narrative."^[31]

Legacy

The film spawned a franchise of related sequels, animated television series, toys, computer and video games, and other merchandise.

The American Film Institute ranked it 28th in its list of the top 100 comedies of all time (in their 100 Years... 100 Laughs list),^[32] and nominated it for its lists of the 100 greatest movies in 1998^[33] and 2007^[34] and the 100 most heart-pounding movies (in AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills).^[35] The title song was nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs,^[36] and two quotes were nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes: "We came. We saw. We kicked its ass." and "I've been slimed.", both spoken by Venkman.^[37] In 2005, IGN voted Ghostbusters the greatest comedy ever.^[38] In 2006, Bravo ranked Ghostbusters 76 on their 100 Funniest Movies list.^[39] Entertainment Weekly ranked it as the Funniest Movie of the Past 25 Years.^[40] In 2008, Empire magazine ranked the film #189 on its list of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.^[41] In 2009, National Review magazine ranked Ghostbusters number 10 on its 25 Best Conservative Movies of the Last 25 Years list.^[42] In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Ghostbusters the 44th greatest comedy film of all time.

American Film Institute Lists

• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies - Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs - #28
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills - Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years…100 Songs:
  • Ghostbusters Theme Song - Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes:
  • "We came. We saw. We kicked its ass." - Nominated
  • "I've been slimed." - Nominated
• AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) - Nominated

Releases

Director Ivan Reitman was not happy with the laserdisc release of the film because "it pumped up the light level so much you saw all the matte lines. I was embarrassed about it all these years".^[43] The DVD version of the movie was released and became one of the fastest selling units ever on Reel.com.^[44] Sony had announced at Comic-Con 2008 that the Blu-ray version of the film was to be released on October 21, 2008. However, it was released first through Sony Pictures' campaign site, Ghostbustersishiring.com as a way to drum up sales of its release. The movie was released on Blu-ray on June 16, 2009 to coincide with the film's 25th Anniversary. Ghostbusters was the first film ever officially released on a USB flashdrive.^[45] The film was also released onto YouTube for a week on a deal with Sony to provide ad-supported full-length movies on YouTube in August 2009, though it was only available in the United States.^[46]

Sony Pictures will re-release the film in nearly 500 theaters in the United States starting October 13, 2011, "and continuing on the next two Thursdays before Halloween."^[47]

Controversies and legal problems

In autumn 1984 Huey Lewis sued Ray Parker, Jr. for plagiarism, claiming that Parker copied the melody from his 1983 song "I Want a New Drug". Lewis had been approached to compose the main theme song for the movie, but he declined due to his work on the soundtrack for Back to the Future. The two musicians settled out of court. It was reported in 2001 that Lewis allegedly breached an agreement not to mention the original suit, doing so on VH1's Behind the Music.^[48]

References

External links

• Official website
• Ghostbusters at the Internet Movie Database
• Ghostbusters at AllRovi