GHOST - DVD review

Writer Bruce Joel Rubin explains in the accompanying documentary that his inspiration for "Ghost" was Shakespeare's "Hamlet." But you knew that. He says he always wanted to write a ghost story from the ghost's point of view, but he could never get a hold on it. Then he remembered the ghost of Hamlet's father and found his handle. It would be a revenge story, and the rest is history.

Director Jerry Zucker had just helped produce "Airplane!," "Top Secret!," and "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!" and apparently wanted a break from films ending in exclamation marks. He was looking for a change of pace and found it in 1990 with "Ghost," a romantic-fantasy-comedy-drama, and the rest is, well, you know.

Starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and Whoopi Goldberg, the film became a smash hit, as well it should have. It's just about everything to everybody. Schizophrenic is more like it, which is also its major failing for people who like their movies to fall into neat little cubbyholes. This one doesn't; as I say, it combines romance with fantasy, humor with drama. It's not an easy trick to make an audience grimace in pain one minute, laugh out loud the next, and cry after that. Rubin's script, Zucker's direction, and the cast's acting manage the job.

Given the material, the film is probably longer at two hours and six minutes than it has to be, but except for a rather prosaic opening sequence establishing the identity of the characters and their relationships with one another, it maintains a high level of interest. Swayze plays Sam Wheat, a Wall Street investment counselor, already a stretch given his rugged appearance and tough-guy movie persona. Moore plays his girlfriend, Molly Jensen, a sculptor. Tony Goldwyn is Sam's best friend, Carl Brunner, a snake. Sam and Molly are deeply in love, a fact we come to understand when they indulge in their famously erotic clay-turning scene, accompanied by the Righteous Brothers singing "Unchained Melody." I mean, any two people willing to get that messy being frisky have got to be in love. Since neither of them appears to make a really substantial income, they live in one of those single-floor New York City lofts about a block wide. Only in the movies.

Anyway, Sam gets murdered one evening after a performance of "Macbeth." I'm surprised it wasn't "Hamlet." But he doesn't go straight on to heaven as most good folks do. Instead, he is allowed to hang around in a sort of netherworld between this one and the next. At first he isn't sure why, but this halfway house for ghosts seems to be inhabited by an assortment of disembodied beings much like himself, the best of whom is a really scary specter on a subway train, a spirit played by Vincent Schiavelli, who eventually teaches Sam how to move objects without making any physical contact with them. It seems Sam is being allowed to find his murderer, or protect Molly from the guy.

So far, it's interesting but not exactly attention grabbing in the manner of a mega hit. Then Ms. Goldberg enters as Oda Mae Brown, a phony spiritualist. She steals the show. Since Sam can see the living but can't communicate with them, he goes to Oda Mae for help. She's not exactly into the real thing so she freaks when he starts talking to her and she can actually hear him! Sam persuades her to help him by threatening to sing "I'm Henry the Eighth I Am" until she gives in. She finally agrees, for Sam's good and Molly's and the good of the plot. Without Whoopi, I'm afraid the whole show might have closed early.

The film relies heavily on Goldberg for laughs, Swayze and Moore for romance, a particularly scabrous ruffian (Rick Aviles) for thrills, and special effects for the in-between times. Most of the special effects were created digitally but before the advent of really high-tech computer graphics. Nonetheless, they come off pretty well, with Sam realistically passing through walls and even through other people. I especially liked the demons that come to take the evil dead away, shades who materialize from the darkest shadows, accompanied by the eerie moans and cries of lost souls. The musical score provided by old hand Maurice Jarre ("Lawrence of Arabia," "Doctor Zhivago," "Ryan's Daughter") helps a lot, too, in conveying the moods of wonder, excitement, terror, and passion.

Video:
The 1.74:1 ratio anamorphic picture is rather dark overall and a little grainy. Perhaps this was Zucker's intention in order to give more atmosphere to the story line. I would have liked more natural flesh tones.

Audio:
The audio choices include a Dolby Digital 5.1 remix of the original stereo surround and a straightforward Pro-Logic Dolby Surround. Opting, of course, for DD 5.1, thankfully the default or I would have played halfway through the film in the more-inferior mode, I found it tightly controlled and well dispersed. The rear channels appear to be receiving only a monaural signal, but it distinctly conveys the sense of one's being encompassed by the music and sound.

Extras:
For bonuses, there is an audio commentary with director Jerry Zucker and writer Bruce Joel Rubin, the former providing the humor and the latter the more prosaic details of the movie's production. A newly made, twenty-two-minute documentary, "Remembering the Magic," lets us hear what the cast and crew have to say about the film from the vantage point of ten years on. Swayze admits he was the last person considered for the role even though Rubin wanted him. Fact is, Harrison Ford and others turned it down, not wanting to spend most of the movie dead. Lastly, there are a meager sixteen scene selections, a widescreen theatrical trailer, English and French spoken languages, and English subtitles for the hearing impaired. Not enough stuff here for a DVDTown Award but a fair sampling of goodies.

Parting Thoughts:
Probably the most affecting scene in the film is one where Sam prevails upon Oda Mae to let him inhabit her body for a few minutes to touch Molly for one last time. It reminds one of the encounter in "Prelude To a Kiss," where a young woman inhabits the body of an old man. In both instances, the poignancy is effectively conveyed of seeing two people in love no matter what the circumstances, although in the case of "Ghost" it might have been better if Zucker had stuck to Whoopi and Moore embracing rather than cutting to a shot of the real Sam holding his lover. Then, the film ends in typically Hollywood fashion, yet we wouldn't want it any other way. In any case, it's a small price to pay for an enjoyable two hours of diverse pleasures.