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justtheendoftheday · 5 years

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Ghost (1990)

“It seems like whenever anything good in my life happens, I’m just afraid I’m going to lose it.” “I love you. I really love you.” “Ditto.”

After his death a banker finds himself stuck as a ghost when his attachments to life prevent him from crossing over. But when he learns that his death was no accident he teams up with a scam-artist psychic to bring justice to those responsible and bring closure to his loss.

Fright: 1.5 / 5 - Affluent White Ghosts

The film is rarely trying to frighten you (although their depiction of getting dragged to hell—while slightly dated—is still a bit creepy). However, it does a great job at is making you scared for the characters. I mean, the film kills off the main character at the start, so there’s no telling who else is gonna join him, right?

Gore: 1.5 / 5 - Painstaking Revenges

You definitely see some people die. While they never show a lot of gore, some gore is certainly implied. And since they treat death with realism and seriousness it carries more weight than it normally does in spooky movies.

Jump Scares: Almost none

They are a couple of potential startles, but it’s really not the kind of movie that’s tries to jump scare people.

Review:

While a bit dated (and a bit out of touch) in some regards, Whoopi Goldberg’s performance is still superb and her role as Oda Mae Brown makes Ghost a very enjoyable movie with a little something for everyone: a few steamy scenes and a romantic heart, spooky fun throughout, quality laughs, and a mystery/thriller undercurrent.

Thoughts:

When you think about Ghost it’s hard to not first think about the romance...okay, let’s be honest here, we’re mostly just remembering that one steamy scene at the pottery wheel. But this isn’t Truly, Madly, Deeply and the Sam (Patrick Swayze) / Molly (Demi Moore) relationship actually isn’t the primary focus of the movie, just the emotional core. And strangely enough this is exactly what saves this movie from being forgettable and irrelevant all these decades later.

Don’t get me wrong, as far as romances go Swayze and Moore do a good job, but their roles really aren’t anything too unique. I’m pretty sure you could do a remake of this and recast those roles without breaking a sweat. However, the x-factor that launches this movie into new territory is Whoopi Goldberg.

When it comes to spooky movies there’s nothing that really compares to Whoopi Goldberg as Oda Mae Brown. She even won an Oscar for her performance here! She single-handedly sets the tone for the whole movie: fun and humorous but with emotional depth.

Oda Mae is far and away the most interesting character in the film. In an ideal world she would be the main character instead of Sam. Here’s this black woman who gets stuck with some self-important rich white dude who won’t leave her alone. And let me tell you, watching her put him in his place is a delight. She is tough as nails and absolutely refuses to put up with any of disrespect from him.

Which actually leads us to one of Ghost’s main problems: it is essentially a movie focused around affluent white people—two of whom are hot shot bankers (barf)—and both the main protagonist and antagonist use people of color to do their dirty work for them. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the only people of color in the movie are a family of scam artists and a sleazy criminal. I think the film wants you to relate to Sam, but I was struck by just how entitled and selfish Sam is. He doesn’t really care about the ramifications of throwing Oda Mae into his shitstorm and then he has the gall to be annoyed when she doesn’t want to drop everything and go out of her way to help him in his dangerous quest without there being anything in it for her.

And don’t think I didn’t notice the whole subtle early-90s misogyny thing at work throughout. You aren’t getting away with that one either, Ghost. I mean, come on, Sam, you can’t even say “I love you”? Or how about the scene where Sam tells Molly that the only person whose opinion of her art that matters is his? Get over yourself.

Luckily these problematic elements are generally more flashes of ingrained 90’s ignorance than anything else, and aren’t bad enough to tank the film as a whole. Honestly there’s a lot of quality content in this one. Swayze and Goldberg work great together and their buddy dynamic is super entertaining, it handles danger incredibly well and really makes you scared about what could happen to the characters, and when it does go for an emotional moment, gosh darnit, it delivers.

Ghost is certainly a product of it’s time and while it really isn’t a movie that’ll knock your socks off, it’s still quite fun to watch. It also does a rather interesting job of exploring the ideas of grief and loss. And If nothing else, Whoopi Goldberg and Patrick Swayze’s performances are a real treat.

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Directed by: Jerry Zucker

Writer: Bruce Joel Rubin

Country of Origin: USA

Language: English

Setting: New York City, New York, USA

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Content Warnings: There’s a violent mugging, there’s also a rather creepy home invasion scene that strongly implies that the criminal was intending to force himself on the woman who lives there, but ultimately he is scared away before he can try.

After-credits Scene?: None

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“Can I help you?” “Yeah. Put your hands up here. Get them wet. Now just let the clay slide between your fingers.”

#Ghost #1990 #1990s #Jerry Zucker #bruce joel rubin #Spooky Romance

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