Bronze Age Babies: Discuss: Ghostbusters

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Discuss: Ghostbusters

10 comments:

david_b said...: Ah, another Ramis blockbuster.. A very slick, very '80s cheesy comedy, with the tried/true talents of Ramis, Aykroyd, and Murray. Much like Animal House, Stipes and Blues Brothers before it, most of it remains very timeless and always enjoyable for all ages.

The only lingering sadness I had was that one of the parts was written especially for John Belushi, the original trio being him, Eddie Murphy, and John Candy. As the team dynamics turned out though, throughout the movie Danny and Harold's characters really only serve to set up Murray's patent character.

On another front, as a sci-fi movie 'franchise' it became one of the top 80s movies to merchandise, much more than 'ET' or perhaps a 'Dark Crystal' type film, carving out not only lots of toy-store space, but leading to both animated adventures and a sequel (with another in the works, nearly 30yrs later).

The 1989 sequel tried to set up some new comic territory, but suffered from an annoying villain, a baby, and the 'too-nice-and-gooey-let's-hug' ending.

To think the original movie was Box Office Number 1 for several weeks until 'Purple Rain' came out. Geez, that really dates the original, doesn't it.; July 26, 2012 at 7:18 AM
Edo Bosnar said...: I liked the movie well enough when it came out, but it hasn't aged well for me: I watched it again about 2 years ago and most of it just didn't seem as funny, except for a few smart-alec quips by Murray and the scenes featuring Rick Moranis.
I think they should have based a movie on the characters from that short-lived Saturday morning live-action show: Kong, Spencer and Tracy - the latter in particular would have been awesome on the big screen. How can you not love a gorilla wearing a beanie (who's also the brains of the outfit)?; July 26, 2012 at 8:12 AM
HannibalCat said...: Watched it again a couple of weeks ago. It is one of my DVDs that I keep returning to and still enjoy. The sequel was rubbish and they should leave the franchise as it stands, a new film is a bad idea. None of them will look that good again.
It is entirely a product of its time as far as sfx go, but it still looks good and the gags still work. My favourite is the "Listen! Do you smell that?" line. And it's one of Bill Murray's few 'likeable' performances, this and Stripes.
Ghostbusters remains a classic, I think, rewatchable and timeless. Apart from Zuul's haircut.; July 26, 2012 at 11:08 AM
J.A. Morris said...: I'm fan, saw it opening week. It still holds up pretty well after 28 years.

The sequel was crap, but I did enjoy the site of Lady Liberty walking around New York.; July 26, 2012 at 12:07 PM
Garett said...: I watched it a couple months ago for the first time in years, and it was just OK. Rick Moranis was the best in his small part.

For '80s movies, I recently watched 48 Hours and The Thing, and thought they both rocked!; July 26, 2012 at 12:44 PM
david_b said...: 48 Hours..? LOVED Nolte and Murphy in that. It was a bit raw (no pun..) yet fresh.

Trading Places was a wonderful treat as well. Ah, Jamie Lee Curtis.; July 26, 2012 at 3:14 PM
Anonymous said...: I thought Ghostbusters was fun back in the day. It's still pretty entertaining, better than a lot of the garbage that shows up on screen now (Old Fogey shining through....sorry). I don't remember anything about the sequel.

I loved 48 Hours and Trading Places. What happened to Eddie Murphy? Sigh.

Darpy; July 26, 2012 at 5:11 PM
humanbelly said...: Like Edo, my first assumption was that it would be a big-screen adaptation of that live-action Saturday morning kids's show (which I too rather enjoyed in its ultra-low-budget/loosely scripted and shot/doin' it for a couple of dollars & the fun of it. . . glory-! Forrest Tucker and Larry Storch, long after their F-Troop hey-dey, still maintained a chemistry and comfort level that could make a phonebook reading entertaining.). I couldn't imagine how in the world it rated being a film, but I was still a touch disappointed when it was a completely different premise w/ stars I wasn't entirely familiar with. Ultimately, though, the trailers made it look like a movie that I would TOTALLY love, and the hype was just enormous, IIRC. So, when the movie itself proved to be. . . okay. . . pretty good, even. . . it registered more as a disappointment. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it had lesser expectations.

Bill Murray's standard comic personna has never worked well for me at all, I'm afraid. The whole laconic, superior, playing-his-own-audience, underachieving wiseguy schtick rubs me the wrong way at a very basic level, and it seems like that's his default setting. Mind you, I also wanted to grab Ferris Bueller and shake some sense and responsibility into him. . . so I may be the problem here. I know I saw the sequel and have no memory of it whatsoever. I never finished the video game, either (very non-intuitive controller config for the Wii). I mean, it's ultimately a one-joke concept, and everything else is simply derivative of that initial joke, y'know?

HB

PS--Also REALLY enjoyed Bob Denver & Chuck McCann in Far Out Space Nuts. . .!; July 26, 2012 at 8:16 PM
Doug said...: I've enjoyed the wide variety of tastes in comedies/comic material as we've gone on the past couple of weeks. It's a sociology lesson in and of itself!

Thanks as always to all those who leave comments on our posts,

Doug; July 26, 2012 at 9:38 PM
Edo Bosnar said...: HB - ha! I'm so glad someone else remembers that show. I think it only had one season, and the last time I watched it was back then, when I was about 7-8 years old. But I recall thinking it was pretty funny - much funnier than most other Saturday morning 'live-action' fare. One thing I remember is they all had that "this message will self-destruct in five seconds" line a la Mission Impossible, except the tape always exploded right away, usually in the gorilla's hands. Too funny.; July 27, 2012 at 5:29 AM

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