Ghostbusters
by Ivan Reitman
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Sigourney WeaverDirector: Ivan Reitman
Writer: Dan Aykroyd
Writer: Harold Ramis
Writer: Rick Moranis
Producer: Ivan Reitman
Producer: Bernie Brillstein
Producer: Joe Medjuck
Producer: Michael C. Gross
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 105 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-06-29
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Columbia Pictures
Movie Reviews of Ghostbusters
Movie Review: "Nice working with you, Dr. Venkman"
Summary: 5 Stars
It is a commonly accepted truism that when one returns as an adult to a book or film one loved as a child, the book or film proves to be a very different work from that which one remembered. One usually finds that the story one fell in love with as a child is significantly less funny, exciting or appealing than it was back then.
"Ghostbusters", which I recently saw for the first time in twenty years, is an exception to this rule. Admittedly I did not feel the same overwhelming excitement, amusement and awe that I experienced in my aunt's living room in 1986 -- I am no longer six years old -- but the **movie** itself is the same film, almost exactly as I remembered it. It was like meeting an old friend after twenty years and finding that he had not aged a day. So many scenes came flooding back to me: Aykroyd sliding down the firepole; Moranis running around New York looking for the Gatekeeper; Weaver greeting Murray at the door in her vamp outfit; the precise movement of girl-Gozer's arms as she shouts, "Then DIE!!!"; the first appearance of the Marshmallow Man, glimpsed between the buildings...
Another commonly accepted fact is that comedy is harder to do well than drama. Even so, I'm not sure people realize how much work goes into making a film like "Ghostbusters" as good as it is. The steadily mounting levels of humor and terror in this film crescendo so effectively that, by the time Mr. Stay-Puft shows up, we willingly suspend our disbelief. On some level I am aware as a viewer that our world isn't quite as wacky as the world of "Ghostbusters" -- but on some level I wish it were.
Seldom can the cast of a motion picture have been so intrinsic to its essence. "The Lord of the Rings" would have been much the same film with Sean Connery as Gandalf, just as "The Wizard of Oz" would be the same with W.C. Fields in the title role. If John Belushi had lived to star in "Ghostbusters" instead of Bill Murray, or if John Candy had signed up for the role taken by Rick Moranis, it probably would have been an excellent film... but it wouldn't have been the **same** film, not by any stretch of the imagination. (But I have to say that Aykroyd delivers my favorite performance in the movie.)
As Ivan Reitman, Joe Medjuck and Harold Ramis point out on their DVD commentary, the unsung hero of "Ghostbusters" is Elmer Bernstein. Unfairly overshadowed by Ray Parker Jr.'s deservedly successful theme song, Bernstein's music captures and enhances all the charm, humor and terror of this film, from the ickiness of Venkman throwing the slime on his hand onto the library books to the blossoming of the love theme for Venkman and Dana over the happiest of happy ending scenes.
Oddly enough, the feature of the film that stuck with me most strongly as a six-year-old is almost never mentioned in reviews: the one moment of sincere manly emotion between Murray and Aykroyd's characters at the film's climax. This moment, perfectly played by the two actors, does not even appear in the final shooting script and must have been a last minute addition. It is very fitting that this moment is as brief as it is, and is soon forgotten in the jubilation of the end credit scene. Little boys long for this kind of emotion, and yet at the same time are deeply embarrassed by it. The heroes of "Ghostbusters" are the kind of adults most little boys want to grow up to be -- clever, funny, kind and brave. And after twenty-two years "Ghostbusters" remains (and this is no criticism) one of the best movies ever made for those who are little boys at heart, whether they are six or twenty-seven.
And it has the best final line in the history of cinema. "I LOVE THIS TOWN!!!"
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