Dead Eskimo kisses!

I could begin this post by saying that I didn’t enjoy the schmaltzy, over-the-top romance that drips from every corner of the movie “Ghost”…but I recently posted on Twitter that I cried at “Toy Story 3” so what’s the point in even trying to fabricate that lie? It seems sort of fitting to talk about a movie like “Ghost” that offered a glimpse of supernatural romance the same week that the newest mythical romance movie hits the cinemas. I’m referring of course to “Mormon Monster Movie #3” (also known as “Twilight: Eclipse”). Both movies offer stories of love and loss set against a world with a sci-fi rule set a bit more expanded than ours. Also, both movies saved money by eliminating their shirt budgets for key scenes. Looking back, the summer of 1990 was really the summer of Swayze. He was at the height of his power…and all because of some clay and a penny.

A Brief Synopsis of “Ghost”: “Ghost” follows the life and death of Sam Wheat (played by a well coiffed Patrick Swayze), a mid-level banker in a Manhattan who’s just moved in with his girlfriend, artist Molly (played by a very weepy Demi Moore). They’re deeply in ditto with each other and are remaking their spacious NYC loft into a living space/pottery barn for Molly’s work. Sam works with shifty eyed Carl (played actor turned director Tony Goldwyn) who’s been laundering drug money through the bank. By a random twist of math, Sam sorta uncovers the money laundering after giving his secret bank decoder passcode to Carl and discovering that there’s an extra $4 million dollars in a random account. After declaring that he’s never been happier and that he’s worried that something might burst that bubble (foreshadowing!), Molly can’t sleep and decides to do a little sculpting. What follows is probably one of the most famous movie scenes from the last 25 years. Sam comes up behind Molly just as she’s throwing a new vase on her pottery wheel and The Righteous Brothers “Unchained Melody” swells on the juke box. It’s a scene that’s better described as sensual than sexy. There’s a lot of inferred gettin’ it on but the only thing that’s really off is Swayze’s shirt. More about this little ditty later. Next,  Sam decides to take Molly to see MacBeth and on the way home from the theater, he’s basically killed Batman’s parents style. It’s at that moment that things begin to go from Rom-Com to Sci-Fi. Sam watches as Molly yells for help and cradles his bleeding body. He’s dead, but in death has basically just moved three feet to the left. Sam spends the next few weeks watching Molly grieve his loss…and watching Carl move in on his lady/apartment/cat. Slowly but surely, Sam pieces together the facts of his death and realizes that Carl’s behind it all. His hired gun, Willy Lopez, sneaks into Molly’s apartment and both spies on Molly while she’s changing and tries to get all stabby on her. Luckily, Sam realizes that even though he’s dead he can still commune with his cat who he weaponizes to scare Willy away. He runs home to a generic run down NY neighborhood with Sam on his heels. It’s in this dilapidated neighborhood that Sam finds Oda Mae Brown (an Oscar-winning performance from Whoopi Goldberg)  a local  “psychic” who helps people “communicate with ghosts”. Although she’s been faking it for years, she finally makes it when Sam realizes that she can hear him. Using his newfound translator, Sam tries to warn Molly that she’s in trouble. Molly, of course, doubts the whole thing even though Oda Mae knows things that only Sam could know. In spite of Molly’s doubts, Sam devises a plan to screw over Carl. Oda Mae and Sam head to the bank and drain the $4 million dollars from the account. After a bit of convincing (and with a bit of foreshadowing for Whoopi’s future choices), Oda Mae hands the check over to a bunch of nuns…who proceed to pass out. Unfortunately, this makes Carl angry and when Molly accidentally reveals that she saw Oda Mae at the bank using the name of the fake account, Carl goes off the deep end and tells Sam that he’ll kill Molly if he doesn’t get his laundered drug money back. Willy and Carl go after Oda Mae and Sam manages to fight them off with Willy eventually being sandwiched between an affordable sedan…and a mac truck. Instead of seeing the light of heaven that we’ve seen all movie long as people have passed on, Willy is dragged into the shadows and straight to hell by the cast of Night on Bald Mountain from Fantasia. Sam drags Oda Mae back to Molly’s apartment and uses a penny to convince her that she’s for real. Then things get weird…Sam jumps into Oda Mae’s body (with her permission) and he and Molly have a bit of a snuggle as “Unchained Melody” swells again. The director chose to have Swayze step in during this scene, but in reality it’s Oda Mae and Molly sensually hugging and touching in the middle of their apartment. Seriously. Think about it. Anyways, entering Oda Mae has wiped Sam out completely (ewww…) and of course that’s the moment that Carl shows up to kill Molly. The ladies run as a cracked out Carl crashes in with a gun ready to get some revenge. Sam can’t help and the fight moves from apartment to fire escape to abandoned apartment with inexplicable set pieces until Carl finally catches up and puts a gun to Molly’s throat. In all the hubbub, everyone seems to have forgotten about Sam…and it’s at that moment that the gun flies out of Carl’s hand (as if moved by a GHOST) and Molly is able to wriggle free. Sam pushes a scaffolding down on Carl who, in a fit of panic, tries to escape out the nearest window…which promptly shatters and basically cuts him in half. The shadow ghoulies show up and, after some final disapproving words from Sam, drag Carl straight to H-E-double hockey sticks. Sam’s saved the day and is rewarded with the chance to be seen one last time by Molly (who you’ve gotta think is going to get married and be happy with someone else before she dies thus crushing their eternal love) and a one way ticket to heaven (which looks a whole lot like the experiment from “Quantum Leap”). After a verbal high five for Oda Mae and one last kiss for Molly, Sam’s off to join the other early 90’s computer generated graphics in heaven.

Why is it a PCBS? Let’s get the numbers out of the way first. “Ghost” was the #2 grossing movie of 1990, a year which saw a slew of great movies released. Finishing second only to “Home Alone”, “Ghost” outperformed “Dances With Wolves”, “Dick Tracy”, “Total Recall”, “Die Hard 2”, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, “The Hunt for Red October” and “Pretty Woman.” That’s a hell of a financial pedigree. It’s still #72 on the top 100 grossing films of all time. It’s made more money than “Aladdin”, “Toy Story 2”, “Saving Private Ryan” and “Return of the Jedi.” Basically, the take away is that “Ghost” was a gigantic f’ing movie. Whoopi Goldberg won an Oscar for her performance and the movie thrust “Unchained Melody” back into the national zeitgeist. Because of “Ghost” two different versions of the song charted in the top 20 in 1990 with the song spending two weeks at #1 that year. It was a huge win for Swayze (who wasn’t even originally considered for the part) and helped him land his next iconic role as Bodhi in “Point Break.” “Ghost” is one of those movies that was basically the result of all the stars lining up at once and shining down on one little movie. One last big number: “Ghost” cost $22 million dollars to make…it made $217 million dollars at the box office. Then there’s that scene. The shot of Sam sitting behind Molly at the pottery wheel has become iconic. It’s a touchstone for sensuality and because of it’s inherent ridiculousness (they’re basically stroking the clay, I mean c’mon) it’s still the object of parody today. It’s been referenced or parodied over 100 times since it’s debut and even popped up on “The Simpsons” again in 2010. The fact that I haven’t seen a movie that was this big, that slipped into the national consciousness this deeply is the purest example of a Pop Culture Blind Spot yet.

How does it look in the rear view mirror? Honestly, despite it’s incredibly outdated effects and pottery wheel inferred sex scenes, the movie stands up even after all these years and I believe there are a couple of reasons why:

1. Three solid performances: “Ghost” is the perfect example of performances rising about the source material. Swayze, Demi and Whoopi all brought their A game to “Ghost” and it shows in almost every scene. Throughout the movie, even in scenes where two of the three actors appear, at least one of them is working hard to ignore the other. There are countless scenes where Swayze’s brooding over the fact that Molly can’t hear him even though their together in the room or where Molly is talking to Sam not knowing that he’s actually there and hearing her. Whoopi, who was honored for her performance by the academy, spends most of the movie playing off someone that she’s not even able to see. It’s a study in focus from all three actors in a movie that could very easily have been completely unbelievable in the hands of a lesser cast.
2. It’s classic Sci-Fi: In my mind, great Sci-Fi creates a world, establishes the rules for that world and then twists and bends those rules to make a great story. From the moment that Sam dies in “Ghost” the movie begins to establish some basic rules. Rules like: No one can see or hear Sam except for other ghosts, he can’t really interact with the world and the basic good vs. evil idea of being ushered into heaven or dragged into hell. Then we spend the rest of the movie bending and breaking those rules. No one can see Sam…except for his cat. No one can hear Sam…except for Oda Mae. Sam can’t interact with the world…unless he really focuses as he’s taught by another ghost on the subway. And it’s not until Willy’s death in the 3rd reel that we see the consequences of leading a bad life and being dragged to hell (a fate that only he and Carl endure in the movie). Sam, much like other classic Sci-Fi heroes, is working against the odds to get back to the woman he loves, if only for one last kiss. Classic Sci-Fi storytelling leads to an enduring good movie.

Final Thoughts: Before seeing “Ghost”, Patrick Swayze was attached to two memories in my head. The first, as it is for most people, is Swayze telling Jerry Orbach that “Nobody puts Baby in a corner” in “Dirty Dancing.” The other might be a bit odder. In October of 1990, the fall after “Ghost” became a gigantic success, Swayze hosted “Saturday Night Live.” During that show, he did a sketch with Chris Farley where the two of them were the last two competitors for a single job at Chippendale’s. He and Farley both throw out their best moves for the judges and strip down to the classic tight pants, bow tie and random cuffs. The two of them show each other nothing but respect and seem unaware of the fact that Farley’s just grossly overweight for the job. Swayze comes across as genuine, caring and downright earnest (a stage direction I recently tried to impart to an actor). I now realize that the only reason that hilarious sketch made it to air is because of this supernatural romance movie the summer before. Without “Ghost”, Swayze never hosts SNL and he and Farley never have that dance-off. That right there is reason enough to love this movie. But there’s more to love about the story of boy meets girl, boy dies defending girl, dead boy protects girl and ends up in heaven. It’s a romantic story of longing and loss that thoroughly trounces the pseudo-romance of the “Twilight” series. These characters truly love each other and are torn apart in the worst of ways. The movie brings you into this relationship, makes you care about those involved and then tears the lovers apart only to bring them back together in the final moments of the film in a moment that both bittersweet and strangely cathartic. “Ghost” makes you ask yourself how far you’d go for the ones you love. It also brought the Righteous Brothers to every dance I went to in middle school. That’s the power of pop culture from beyond the grave.