Ghostbusters (1984): Film Review
In 1984, I was serving the second of what would eventually be many years in the U.S. Navy. My childhood was fairly subdued. My brother and I grew up largely sheltered from the inappropriate evils of the world such as Saturday Night Live T.V. and Monty Python films. When I went to see the movie (I believe I was in Millington Tennessee at the time) I found Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd extremely entertaining even though I had no idea who they were. For the day and age in which it was made, Ghostbusters included what I thought was fun computer technology and special effects...and I'm a sucker for special effects. Couple the effects with my love of bizarre story lines (the Giant Stay-PuftMarshmallow Man really reeled me in) and I was hooked.
I sat down in front of the T.V. a few nights ago and watched the movie again, per our assignment. I noted how far our computer graphics and special effects have come in just over twenty years. I still enjoyed the movie, although my enjoyment was on a more primitive level. Instead of extolling the virtues of the excellent special effects on the screen, I merely sat back and enjoyed the non-sensical story. And I did enjoy it, I am afraid to say. I'm sure many of you readers will call me nuts.
Why did I enjoy it? Well, Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd by themselves are quite entertaining, not to mention Rick Moranis has a stupid lovable quality about him that I enjoy hating. I had a good time watching the various ghosts as they popped up and seeing how they got sucked up into the 'ghost' trap of a vacuum cleaner. It reminded me of how much I used to go after spiders hanging from the corner of the ceiling in our living room in order to clear them from the house. (Now, I'm usually a bit more humane and escort them out).
And I am a sucker for the slapstick, horror-bizarro story tale. I mean seriously; a giant marshmallow man, a keymaster, a gatekeeper, a refrigerator that holds the palace of Zuul inside and a vacuum cleaner trapper-thing that cleans up ghosts? What is NOT to love about this story?
Oh, yes, I realize it IS a cheezy flick. But the cheese is what made it fun for me.
Would I watch the film again, right now, this minute? Not unless I had to. There are too many movies, theater plays, Broadway shows and T.V. series I've yet to watch and Ghostbusters doesn't rate on my top ten "really wanna see that film again" chart. Still, it was a fun 'blast from the past' and my son enjoyed taking time to watch the movie with me. Family hours well spent with some laughter, some discussions on how my son used to love to make 'slime/goo' in the kitchen and then some firm remonstrations for him to never do it again while he protested that he thought it was the perfect time to create more.
Good times. Good times. Boo!
~Cin
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I love this movie--it's one of my favorites, and I think there's more to the story than a lot of people realize, despite its comical exterior.
ReplyDeleteAs I mentioned in another post, we just saw it in the theater for the first time in October (after 27 years of countless cable/DVD viewings), and despite the age of the special effects, they held up surprisingly well on the big screen.
I don't think anyone would call you nuts for liking this movie. I am also a fan. Sure, it's fairly nonsensical, but you get the sense it takes pride in that - that's basically what it's all about lol. In fact, it wouldn't hold together if it wasn't "cheesy" through and through, if that makes sense.
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