This article is about the film. For the musical stage adaptation, see
GHOST The Musical.
Ghost is a 1990 romantic drama film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Tony Goldwyn and Whoopi Goldberg, written by Bruce Joel Rubin and directed by Jerry Zucker. It was nominated for multiple Academy Awards, including Best Picture, winning for Best Original Screenplay, as well as Best Supporting Actress for Whoopi Goldberg.
It has also inspired a musical stage version which will open in the West End in 2010.[1]
Cast
The film also stars Rick Aviles as Willy Lopez. Stephen Root and the director's mother, Charlotte Zucker, have cameo roles, as does Phil Leeds as the hospital ghost, and Vincent Schiavelli as the "Subway Ghost", one of the film's more memorable characters.
Plot
Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze) and Molly Jensen (Demi Moore) are a happy and loving couple living in New York City. The only problem in their relationship is Sam's apparent discomfort with saying "I love you" to his girlfriend, only responding to her saying it with "ditto." This bothers Molly, who feels she needs to hear him say "I love you" in return.
One night, while walking back to their new apartment after going to the theatre, they encounter a thief named Willy Lopez (Rick Aviles). He pulls a gun and Sam is shot. Sam chases Willy, but loses him; when he returns to Molly, he sees her cradling his own corpse, and realizes that he is now a ghost, trapped between worlds. Lights descend to take him away, but he flees.
Sam realizes that the robbery was planned when Willy sneaks into the house and rifles through his belongings. Sam follows Willy home and learns that his close friend and co-worker, Carl Bruner (Tony Goldwyn), hired Willy to rob Sam in order to obtain his office computer password. Carl had been using Sam's computer to facilitate a money laundering scheme and needs the new password to regain access after the password was changed. Sam lashes out in frustration at his supposed best friend, but realizes that, as a ghost, he can do little.
Sam knows that Molly is in danger but he is unable to communicate with her in his spiritual form. However, he encounters Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg), a con artist posing as a medium who ironically discovers (through hearing Sam say that her business is a "crock of shit") that she really does have her family's power to hear ghosts, though she cannot see them. Realizing she is his only hope of communicating with Molly, Sam endlessly pesters Oda Mae until she eventually gives in and agrees to help him.
Oda Mae reluctantly calls Molly and tells her she is communicating with Sam, but Molly is understandably skeptical. Molly is convinced only when Oda Mae tells her several private things that only Sam could know, most importantly Sam's use of the word "ditto."
Meanwhile, Sam sets off in search of a disturbed poltergiest (Vincent Schiavelli) whom he encountered during his first night as a ghost in the subway, who is able to move and touch objects by focusing and summoning all his emotions on his intended target. Sam seeks to learn and the ghost is willing to teach, but before he can learn anymore the ghost snaps and disappears into the subway.
During his journeys Sam also learns that, thanks to him, Oda Mae is now being plagued by ghosts coming from as far away as New Jersey to speak to their living relatives. One briefly possesses her, but it is seen that this greatly saps a ghost's energy. He promises that she will no longer be bothered if she helps him.
Meanwhile, Molly visits the police, having become quite skeptical of Oda Mae's claims. The desk sergeant assures her that she's right to be suspicious, as there's no file on any 'Willy Lopez'—but there is an amazingly large file on Oda Mae Brown, who is well-known to local police as a huckster and small-time fraud.
Sam and Oda Mae move to thwart Carl's plan. Sam has finally discovered the extent of Carl's fraud and finds that $4 million has been placed in fraudulent accounts under the name of "Rita Miller." Sam sends Oda Mae to the bank to withdraw the money from the accounts, and convinces her (grudgingly) to give the large cheque to two nuns collecting for charity. Carl panics when he realizes the account has been closed, and is tormented by Sam, who, invisible, behaves like a poltergeist and types the word "MURDERER" on his computer. He then reveals himself to Carl, who ransacks the office in his terror and runs to Molly with Sam in hot pursuit.
When Carl gets to Molly's apartment he asks her about Oda Mae, unaware that Molly has already gone to the police with her concerns and that she had seen Oda Mae at the bank earlier that day. Molly tells Carl that Oda Mae's claims about Sam are a scam and that Oda Mae's name was really Rita Miller. Carl suddenly realizes what's happened and panics. At the same time, he realizes Sam's ghost is present and tells him he will be back to kill Molly if he doesn't get the money back.
Armed with that information Sam runs off to warn Oda Mae, but Carl and Willy arrive shortly thereafter. Oda Mae and her sisters escape as Sam terrorizes Willy, prompting Willy to run out into the street screaming and then get hit by a truck, killing him. However, much like had happened earlier when he shot and killed Sam, Willy doesn't realize he's dead until he sees his own corpse lying in the street. Shortly after the realization the shadows surrounding his body take the form of screeching demons who come to life and drag Willy into the darkness, where he vanishes.
Sam and Oda Mae head back to Molly, who refuses to believe Oda Mae and threatens to call the police. Sam is only able to convince Molly after using the knowledge the subway ghost gave to him to push a penny up the wall. Sam then uses Oda Mae's body to share a passionate moment with Molly, but an outraged Carl storms in and threatens to kill Molly and Oda Mae if he does not get his money. Sam is forcefully ejected from Oda Mae's body and tries to stop Carl, but, as seen before, the possession has left him drained.
Molly and Oda Mae escape to a loft above the apartment, with Carl in pursuit. He tries desperately to catch up with the women and finally gets to Oda Mae, pulling out a gun. Molly comes to Oda Mae's defense, but Carl overpowers her and he takes her hostage instead, calling out Sam to challenge him. Sam's energy is restored and he forces Carl to throw the gun away, enabling Molly to escape unharmed. Fighting in vain to stop Sam's attacks, Carl foolishly swings a hanging hook at him and scampers toward an open window to escape. The hook completely misses Sam and swings back, shattering the window into a jagged mass of glass shards. The remains of the window then come crashing down and impale Carl in the stomach, instantly killing him. Sam expresses regret as the demons take Carl's terrified spirit away.
Sam returns to Oda Mae and Molly, checking to see if they are alright. Slowly, something begins to happen as Molly can now hear Sam to his surprise. Immediately after, Sam begins to be enveloped in bright light, which makes him visible to both Oda Mae and Molly. After sharing a kiss with Molly and saying a final goodbye to Oda Mae, he tells Molly he loves her, to which she responds "Ditto." Sam slowly walks off into the bright light, saying "It's amazing Molly. The love inside, you take it with you. See ya."
Production
The first part cast was that of Molly Jensen, which went to Demi Moore after a series of names had been auditioned, including Kim Basinger, Geena Davis, Jodie Foster, Sandra Bullock, Melanie Griffith, Mariel Hemingway, Madonna, Nicole Kidman, Helen Hunt, Michelle Pfeiffer, Meg Ryan, Molly Ringwald, Brooke Shields, Mary Steenburgen, Kathleen Turner and Debra Winger. The part was hence written with Moore in mind.
Writer Bruce Joel Rubin suggested Swayze for the role of Sam Wheat, but director Jerry Zucker felt that Swayze was completely wrong for the part. After being turned down by Moore's husband Bruce Willis and others including Al Pacino, Nicolas Cage, Tom Cruise, Johnny Depp, Kevin Bacon, Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Tom Hanks, Mickey Rourke, David Duchovny and Paul Hogan; who all felt the part was too light for them. Zucker reluctantly agreed to audition Swayze, who was cast immediately.
The producers took on the script, and wanted to cast a relative unknown in the part of Oda Mae to keep the focus on Sam and Molly. They hence rejected the option to audition Goldberg, but did audition Patti LaBelle. Goldberg found out about the movie from a friend over lunch, and asked her agent why she wasn't being auditioned for the part, who gave her the background. Goldberg hence agreed to play alongside Sissy Spacek in The Long Walk Home, which started shooting in Montgomery, Alabama. Two weeks into shooting, the producers of Ghost cast Swayze, who questioned why they had not auditioned Goldberg. On hearing the producers reasoning, Swayze rejected signing the final copy of his contract until the producers auditioned Goldberg. The producers and Swayze flew to Montgomery, and two weeks later offered the part to Goldberg. When Goldberg received her Oscar, the only person she thanked apart from her family was Swayze.
Writer Rubin's mother makes a cameo, as the nun who faints over the size of the check that Oda Mae endorses. The subway scenes were filmed on the abandoned lower level of the 42nd St. station of the IND 8th Ave. line. Trains appearing in the film wrong railed through the station; that is, they ran in the opposite direction of normal operation.
Cultural significance
- Notorious BIG has the line: "When he drop, take his glock, and I'm Swayze" in the song, "Runnin."
- Swayze's name was also used in an episode of Supernatural; when Dean Winchester has an out of body experience, he smashes a glass to get the attention of his brother and father, to whom he is invisible, after which he says, "Dude, I full-on Swayzed that mother!"
- When Patrick Swayze hosted Saturday Night Live, he reprises his role as Sam Wheat in a sketch parodying the movie in which he tries to communicate with Molly, played by Victoria Jackson; but is put off by her disgusting habits (since she thinks she is alone). When "Oda Mae" (Chris Rock) arrives, he tells her "[she's] a pig. I'm hauling my ass up to Heaven."
- The 69 Eyes have a song inspired by this movie called "Ghost" on their 2007 album Angels
The pottery scene
The film's iconic love scene, where Sam helps Molly on a potter's wheel and begins kissing her as "Unchained Melody" by The Righteous Brothers plays, has been parodied in several formats:
- Perhaps the most apt parody of the pottery scene is in The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear, as Ghost director Jerry Zucker was heavily involved in the making of all three Naked Gun films, having written part of the first film and being executive producer of the other two (as well as co-creating the television series that spawned the movies with his brother David and Jim Abrahams). The scene in question involved Leslie Nielsen and Priscilla Presley.
- Doogie Howser, M.D. Season 3 Episode 1, "The Summer of '91", begins with a parody of the scene between Doogie and Wanda.
- In the Family Guy episode "The Story on Page One", there is a scene in which Peter, in a flashback, telling Meg about his summer as a member of the Ghostbusters. He interrupts the potter's wheel scene in the movie by sucking up Sam (Patrick Swayze) (though Sam was actually alive during the scene). He then says to Molly (Demi Moore), "That'll be $27.50". The scene was parodied again in Baby Not On Board when Peter is getting a massage, and a wider shot reveals the pottery scene being acted out using his back flab.
- An episode of Blue Collar TV featured Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall, and Jeff Foxworthy going to a pottery store. While molding a pot, Engvall does the famous gesture behind Foxworthy. Foxworthy remarks, "Bill, this isn't Ghost".
- A popular television commercial for the Ford Fiesta depicts two German engineers moulding a car out of clay and getting caught up in the moment, as "Unchained Melody" plays in the background.
- The scene was also parodied in an episode of Spin City in a fantasy of Jennifer Esposito's character featuring her and Michael J. Fox's character
- Other films and TV series that have parodied the potter's wheel scene include: The Big Hit, Chappelle's show and the Futurama episode "Bendless Love". It has also appeared in the anime School Rumble, and the Japanese dorama series Densha Otoko.
- On episode 41 of the Discovery Channel show Mythbusters, the movie is mentioned during a segment on ancient pottery batteries. The narrator says, "and yes, he does get asked about that movie Ghost all the time. So don't."
- An episode of the Fox show Mad TV parodied this scene during a skit starring the fictional character Antonia (Nicole Sullivan), and a male pottery teacher (Pat Killbane).
- In the Futurama movie Bender's Game, there is a flashback scene in which Professor Farnsworth plays with a spinning model of atoms, while Mom reaches around from behind him.
- In the music video, Built to Last, by Melee, the pottery scene of Ghost is one of several plays on romantic films that are seen through out the video.
- In the Wallace and Gromit short A Matter of Loaf and Death, where Wallace and Piella are re-enacting the scene right down to the music in the background.
- Big Wolf on Campus' Series Finale features this moment when Merton (Ghost Form) tries to convince Lori to feel the Swayze when she is doing pottery and so they make pottery together. It mentions the Movie title and Year by Merton.
- The new Horne and Corden sketch show on the same name.
- Saturday morning tv show SM:TV Live used it in the game "Wonkey Donkey" where you had to guess the name of the animal and that weeks current animal was the "Potter Otter"
- The scene was even parodied in a Hong Kong film titled All's Well, Ends Well.
Notes
- The scene where the "Subway Ghost" (Vincent Schiavelli) teaches Sam to move objects with his "ghost powers" was filmed in an abandoned lower platform at the 42nd Street A station in New York. Interestingly though, the train running in that scene was the J (New York City Subway service), which is the same train that ran in Ode Mae and the hit man's neighborhood.
See also
References
External links
