At one point, Weaver, possessed by the subdemon Zuul, invites Murray over to finally get laid ,and Murray, no dope, realizes something is up and manages to talk the demon down to the point where he can get help. Weaver, playing a woman being haunted by a relentless creature and also something that isn’t Murray, is a happily single cellist, and while she and Murray are obviously going to get together and have the chemistry to make that work, it also feels like the movie would never push back on the idea that Murray shouldn’t get what he wants. The romantic choices echo the supernatural ones. But the whirlwind of the explicitly fantastical is there to provide the eye of normality at the center, to re-emphasize the specific choices about our heroes as good old American boys. The movie makes this work by barely stopping to explain it all. Aykroyd’s concept involves ghost blowjobs, giant devil dogs, a kaiju-sized marshmallow man and demonic architecture out of a Fritz Lieber novel. They tear shit up and get things done, and while they’re cocky, for the most part, they aren’t assholes (again, it is impossible to overstate the necessity of Atherton as counterweight to all this). This man has no dick” - but the team is balanced by Aykroyd’s nerdy enthusiasm and Ramis’ brusque bookishness if he can be a bit rude, it’s because he actually knows how things work, as opposed to Atherton having authority and using it like a prick. The Ghostbusters are led by Murray and his effortless cool, the kind of a guy who in the most serious situation of his life will use the opportunity to drop the perfect zinger - “It’s true. It’s a movie with a lot going on and one that can be rewatched over and over. It’s a right-wing fantasy.Īnd it is a damn effective fantasy, full of great lines and cool sets and action that, if Reitman doesn’t film it on Hill’s level, he integrates very well as effects interacting with real people. None of this is hard to parse, and it’s especially clear coming in the middle of the Reagan Administration. There are laughs from Moranis, romantic overtones from Sigourney Weaver, and special effects that still look pretty damn good today.Īnd does anyone not know the conservative/libertarian read of the movie at this point either? A bunch of entrepreneurs blow off stuffy academics and set up an unregulated business to fight an Evil Empire, an overzealous federal government (in the form of the sublimely uptight William Atherton) only makes matters worse, and our private-enterprise heroes save the day using nuclear power. (They are eventually assisted by Ernie Hudson, who signed on after seeing his character have a lot to do in an earlier script and was disappointed to find out a lot of his lines were given to Murray, relegating him to the rare Muscle/Useless Chick combination). A snazzy logo would also be good.ĭoes anyone not know the plot of Ghostbusters at this point? Murray, Harold Ramis and Aykroyd, in a classic Looks/Brains/Wild Card dynamic, run around New York City catching ghosts and eventually foil a demon’s plan to destroy the world. If nothing else, the concept would need to be punchier. Hill would co-write and direct a movie full of things he thought were “great and which I still have great affection for: custom cars, kissing in the rain, neon, trains in the night, high-speed pursuit, rumbles, rock stars, motorcycles, jokes in tough situations, leather jackets and questions of honor.” Reitman, for his part, would develop a fairly insane treatment by Saturday Night Live vet Dan Aykroyd about dimension-hopping supernatural pest control workers from the future. So they were able to get the OK for some weirder projects. in 1982, which launched Eddie Murphy’s career and redefined the action comedy. It was the best of times for both Walter Hill and Ivan Reitman, directors who had been steadily rising over the past decade and were coming off big hits - Reitman’s Stripes in 1981, his second Bill Murray-starring laugher, and Hill’s 48 Hrs. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The urban fantasies of 1984 had a surprising number of things in common. Inexplicably fucking up the soundtrack that for fuck’s sake should have been nailed down months ago, what the hell you idiots. Reluctant heroes battling implacable villains. Wiring Diagrams Click Here for Sizing Specs for Lace Pickup installationĬlick on a desired diagram to open its corresponding PDF file.Cities existing on the edge of reality and unreality, grunge and gloss side by side.
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