Bill Murray Week: Ghostbusters

Welcome back to the double feature day of Bill Murray Week.  As was previously mentioned, this is to make up for yesterday’s lack of movie review.  As this was the sixth film under the wing of director Ivan Reitman (Foxy Lady, Cannibal Girls, Meatballs, Heavy Metal, Legal Eagles, Twins and Kindergarten Cop) Three parapsychology professors Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) and Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) have had their grants pulled, their tenure not renewed and they have been forcefully removed off campus of ESU.  Broke and destitute what will they do?  Go into business for themselves of course.  So grab your proton pack, set your trap and DO NOT shut off the main grid.  This is Ghostbusters.

I like the cut of your gib, sir.

Dr. Ray Stantz: Symmeterical book stacking. Just like the Philadelphia mass turbulence of 1947.

Dr. Peter Venkman: You’re right, no human spoiler would stack books like this.

After being tossed out on their collective ears from Eastern State University, our paranormal professors invest in developing technology that can trap, transport and contain spooks, ghosts and specters for a nominal fee.  After this usual eyeball rolling and skeptical standings their business starts booming and they are the talk of the town and country.  A reluctant client Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver of Alien The Year of Living Dangerously, Aliens, Copycat, Galaxy Quest and Avatar) claims that her apartment is haunted and Venkman is more than willing to check her out in her apartment…I mean head over to her apartment and check things out. 

Nerves of steel our scientists.

Stantz and Spengler start investigating the building itself and notice that its architecture draw ups are focused on natural ley lines that could draw enough psychokinetic energy to open a portal to a different realm of existence.  That alone should cause for worry but the other aspect is they are lacking in manpower to handle the massive load of undead plaguing New York and hire on Winston Zeddmore (Ernie Hudson of Dolemite II: The Human Tornado, Highcliffe Manor, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone, The Substitute, The Crow and The Adventures of Mickey Matson and the Copperhead Treasure)   To make matters worse a member of the EPA Walter Peck feels the power grid requirements of the Ghostbusters is a dangerous threat to the city and state.  My theory is he wasn’t hugged enough as a child.  Their power grid is shut off and the containment unit overloads releasing all the nasties they spent months capturing.   They all journey towards Dana’s building converging to bring out an awesome entity the likes humanity had not seen in thousands of years.   With the mayor receiving threats, pleas and demands on what will be done he allows the Ghostbusters a crack at the problem in order to save all of New York.

I had just a few comments and notes to mention about the movie at this time.  Prior to his unfortunate death, John Belushi was slated to play Peter Venkman.  Think on that for a second.   Aykroyd used to joke that “Slimer” was the ghost of John Belushi.  The electric shock treatment in the beginning of the movie was a parody on the 1930’s Rhine Experiments testing subjects for ESP.   To this day, this is one of the most highly quotable movies in existence.  According to the DVD commentary, Ivan Reitman got a call from William Atherton who played Walter Peck that is was such a hated ass they wanted him dead and actually he got in more than a few fist fights in bars over this character and somehow that was all Ivan’s fault.   Hmm, maybe Atherton just plays jerk a little too well.

This...could be a problem.