Entertainment: Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters is a 1984 sci-fi comedy film about three eccentric New York City parapsychologists. After they are fired from Columbia University, they start their own business investigating and capturing ghosts.

It was followed by a sequel, Ghostbusters II (1989), and two animated television series, The Real Ghostbusters (later Slimer! And the Real Ghostbusters) and Extreme Ghostbusters.

Ghostbusters was released in the United States on June 8, 1984, starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts and Ernie Hudson, and grossed approximately $240 million in the U.S. and over $50 million abroad during its theatrical run, more than the second "Indiana Jones" installment, making it easily the most successful film of that year, and the most successful comedy of the 1980s.

In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted Ghostbusters the 44th greatest comedy film of all time. The American Film Institute ranked it 28th in its list of the top 100 comedies of all time (in their "AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs" list). In 2005, IGN voted Ghostbusters the greatest comedy ever.

This film is number 76 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".

Plot
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Three unemployed parapsychology professors (recently kicked out of Columbia University in New York) start a business called Ghostbusters, a spectral investigation and removal service armed with technology of their own design that can track down and capture supernatural entities with unprecedented ease.

At first, their clients are few and far between, and the Ghostbusters have to depend on their individual talents to keep the business alive: Dr. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) is a scientific genius, Dr. Raymond "Ray" Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) is an expert on paranormal history and metallurgy, and Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), although in some ways a charlatan, has charm and is business savvy. Although he initially comes off as a bit of a goof and sleaze, Venkman eventually finds a (subtly) heroic side to himself when he learns that Gozer and his minions are haunting the apartment of Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver), a client who has become the object of his lustful (and possibly deeper) intentions.

The business eventually teeters on the verge of bankruptcy until one night, Janine Melnitz (Annie Potts), the guys' personal secretary, answers a desperate call from the Sedgewick Hotel (from a manager later named Morris P. Grout in the Slimer cartoon) about a ghost that needs to be removed quickly and quietly. Although the Ghostbusters have no practical experience and their equipment is barely tested, they successfully catch the ghost (known as "Onionhead" to the crew but dubbed "Slimer" by audiences; the name "Slimer" was then used for the same ghost on the cartoon followup, The Real Ghostbusters), after a destructively clumsy hunt.

Soon, business picks up dramatically and the company becomes a household name, due not only to the Ghostbusters building a reputation for themselves, but also due to an initially unexplained increase in supernatural activity. The Ghostbusters add a fourth member to their team, the blue-collar Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) to deal with the rapidly increasing workload. The company captures so many ghosts that the scientists become concerned about the capacity of their custom-built containment grid. Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent to the Ghostbusters that the spike in paranormal events means they are headed toward a climactic confrontation with Gozer, whose presence is hinted at throughout the film.

Walter Peck (William Atherton), an overzealous EPA inspector, orders the grid deactivated, against the protests of the Ghostbusters and a ConEd electrician. The main result of the containment grid being shut down is the escape of all the captured ghosts inside. There is a widespread haunting that immediately sparks chaos throughout the city. Peck then accuses the Ghostbusters of causing an explosion and orders them arrested, even though it is obvious with multiple witnesses that this is not what really happened.

Eventually the Mayor of New York summons the Ghostbusters from jail (it is here that Reginald VelJohnson can be spotted in a tiny role as a jail guard), and they are brought to City Hall. Peck is there and makes a series of baseless accusations that the Ghostbusters are con artists staging a massive illusion using hypnotic gasses and putting on a "light show." However none of the department heads at the meeting are able to support any of Peck's claims, and with Venkman coming into his own as a skilled persuader, the Ghostbusters convince the Mayor to let them deal with the crisis.

The Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man wreaks havoc on New York City.The Ghostbusters leave to confront Gozer as it emerges from the portal on top of Shandor's building, in the form of a haunting young woman. After an initial skirmish, Gozer demands that the Ghostbusters choose the next form the Destructor takes. It will then use that form to destroy them. Ray Stantz reflexively chooses an innocuous corporate mascot, the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. The result is the bizarre sight of a giant marshmallow man in a sailor suit with an insane smile stomping through New York toward the building.

The Ghostbusters eventually stop the god when Egon realizes that "the door swings both ways" and suggests that the Ghostbusters cross their Proton Pack streams as they fire at the portal - although Egon himself had warned them early in the film that crossing the proton streams "would be bad", he does assure them that there is a very slim chance in this case that they could survive. The plan succeeds in causing "total protonic reversal," destroying the gate. The explosion generated by the event incinerates the Stay Puft man, raining molten marshmallow down onto the street below and covering Walter Peck.

As the city settles moments after the explosion, the Ghostbusters pull themselves from the wreckage. Peter is notably quiet with the likely implication that Dana was killed during the explosion. However, this fear is put to rest when the team sees signs of life and frees both Dana and Louis from the petrified shells of what were once the terror dogs. The Ghostbusters and ex-possessed apartment dwellers exit the building to massive applause from the crowd, who cheer them on as Peter shares a passionate kiss with Dana. The team loads their equipment up into Ecto-1 (their ghost-busting vehicle) and everyone, excluding Louis, departs in the car, followed closely by a running and cheering crowd. The scene fades on a newly released Onionhead screaming as it approaches the camera.

Spoilers end here.

Cast
Bill Murray - Dr. Peter Venkman
Dan Aykroyd - Dr. Raymond Stantz
Sigourney Weaver - Dana Barrett
Harold Ramis - Dr. Egon Spengler
Ernie Hudson - Winston Zeddemore
Rick Moranis - Louis Tully
Annie Potts - Janine Melnitz
William Atherton - Walter J. Peck
Slavitza Jovan - Gozer

History
The Ghostbusters in action. From left to right: Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman and Winston Zeddemore.The concept was inspired by Aykroyd's own fascination with the paranormal, and it was conceived by Aykroyd as a vehicle for himself and friend and fellow Saturday Night Live alum John Belushi. The original story as written by Aykroyd was much more ambitious—and unfocused—than what would be eventually filmed; in Aykroyd's original vision, a group of Ghostbusters would travel through time, space and other dimensions taking on huge ghosts (of which the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man was just one of many). Also the Ghostbusters wore S.W.A.T.-like outfits and used wands instead of Proton Packs to fight the ghosts. Aykroyd's original inspiration for the story was based on his fascination with a covert scientific organization named The Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.), who were under a different name at the time, and their high-tech explorations into the paranormal.

Aykroyd pitched his story to director / producer Ivan Reitman, who liked the basic idea but immediately saw the budgetary impossibilities demanded by Aykroyd's first draft. At Reitman's suggestion, the story was given a major overhaul, eventually evolving into the final screenplay which Aykroyd and Ramis hammered out over the course of a few months in a Martha's Vineyard bomb shelter [verification needed]. Aykroyd and Ramis initially wrote the script with roles written especially for Belushi, Eddie Murphy and John Candy. However Belushi died due to a drug overdose during the writing of the screenplay, and neither Murphy nor Candy could commit to the movie due to prior conflicts, so Aykroyd and Ramis shifted some of these changes around and polished a basic, yet sci-fi oriented screenplay for their final draft. In addition to Aykroyd's high-concept basic premise and Ramis' skill at grounding the fantastic elements with a realistic setting, the film benefits from Bill Murray's semi-improvisational performance as Peter Venkman, the character initially intended for Belushi. The extent of Murray's improvisation while delivering his lines varies wildly with every re-telling of the making of the film; some say he never even read the script, and improvised so much he deserves a writing credit, while others insist that he only improvised a few lines, and used his deadpan comic delivery to make scripted lines seem spontaneous.

A problem arose during filming when it was discovered that a show was produced in 1975 by Filmation for CBS called The Ghost Busters, starring Larry Storch and Forrest Tucker (This show was itself based on a 1970's movie titled Ghost Busters (It should be noted that this is written as two words instead of one word like the 1984 movie).) Columbia Pictures prepared a list of alternative names just in case the rights could not be secured. But during the filming of the crowd for the final battle, the extras were all chanting "Ghostbusters," which reportedly inspired the producers to insist that the studio buy the rights to the name.

The film also spawned a theme park special effects show at Universal Studios Florida. (The show closed some time in 2000 to make way for Twister: Ride it Out!.) The Ghostbusters were also featured in a lip-synching dance show featuring Beetlejuice on the steps of the New York Public Library facade at the park after the attraction closed. The GBs were all new and "extreme" versions in the show, save for the Zeddemore character. Their Ecto-1 automobile was used to drive them around the park, and was often used in the park's annual "Macy's Holiday Parade". The show, Ecto-1, and all other Ghostbuster trademarks were discontinued in 2005 when Universal failed to renew the rights for theme park use. Currently, the Ghostbuster Firehouse can still be seen near Twister, without its GB logo and "Engine 988" ribbon. A "paranormal investigator" etching on a nearby doorway hints at the old show.

Aykroyd and Ramis struggled for years to get started on a third Ghostbusters film, but they were unable to come up with a script with which they were satisfied. The possibility of a third film grew even more complicated as Murray's interest in reprising his role waned over the years, and Aykroyd finally admitted that a third film would probably never happen. At one stage Aykroyd had a working script, and Murray agreed to reprise a bit part, but Columbia would not get on board due to the cost. In a November 2005 interview with In Focus magazine, Ramis talks about the un-produced Ghostbusters 3 script.

With the recent 80s nostalgia craze, Ghostbusters has made a quiet return. In 2004, 88MPH Studios began releasing their "Legion" limited series, which retconned the Ghostbusters' world to six months after the first movie and pushed the timeline up twenty years to present time. The owner and operator of 88MPH, Sebastien Clavet, still has plans to release an ongoing series, but difficult public opinion following delays in the initial comic series and a currently ongoing delay of the hardcover Legion collection mean it is unknown if he will be able to carry on his dream. Neca released a series of action figures based on the first movie. Their first and so far only series included Gozer, Slimer (or Onionhead), the Terror Dogs Vinz Clortho and Zuul and a massive Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man, contrasting the diminutive figure that was in the original figure line. Ertl released a die-cast 1/25 scale Ectomobile, also known as Ecto-1, the Ghostbusters' main transportation. iBooks published the novel Ghostbusters: The Return by Sholly Fisch. And Rubies' Costumes has produced a Ghostbusters Halloween costume, consisting of a one-piece jumpsuit with logos and an inflatable Proton Pack.

Since 1989, rumours have resurfaced of a third Ghostbusters movie, each new set with a shifting character / actor selection and a changing plot. None at present have come to pass as anything official and chances seem less likely after Dan Aykroyd was interviewed on Canadian television denouncing the recent rumours that surround co-author Harold Ramis and actor Ben Stiller.

Background of Gozer
Gozer the Gozerian, also known as Gozer the Destructor, Volguus Zildrohar, and The Traveler is a fictional Sumerian shapeshifting god who is the major supernatural enemy in Ghostbusters. (In the actual Sumerian religion a somewhat similar deity is known as Tiamat.) According to other sources, the name "Gozer" is from a documented haunting that came to the attention of Dan Aykroyd, but this is unsubstantiated.

Gozer has two dog-like minions (like beings would later be referred to in the cartoon show as "Terror-Dogs") called Zuul ("The Gatekeeper") and Vinz Clortho ("The Keymaster"). Gozer the Traveler appears in one of its pre-chosen forms. Speaking through Louis Tully (played by Rick Moranis), Vinz Clortho claimed that:

During the rectification of the Vuldronaii the Traveler came as a large, moving Torb. Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the Meketrex supplicants they chose a new form for him—that of a giant Sloar. Many Shubs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Sloar that day, I can tell you.

After World War I, an insane surgeon named Ivo Shandor, leader of a secret apocalyptic cult, designed a ziggurat disguised as a massive apartment building in New York City (550 Central Park West) for the specific purpose of gathering psychokinetic energy (PKE) that would power a portal that would allow Gozer and its minions to enter the world and destroy it.

By 1984, the building had gathered enough energy to pull Zuul and Vinz Clortho through: the two planned to possess suitable humans to open the portal on top of the building to let Gozer through. Because of this (according to Dr. Spengler's reading), the PKE in the surrounding area in 1984 was a few thousand times greater than normal. As a by-product, numerous ghosts were 'revived' and became active throughout the city as they waited to join their new master.

Catchphrases and popular music video
The first film sparked the catchphrases "Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!" or sometimes just "Who you gonna call?" and "I ain't 'fraid of no ghost(s)." Both came from the hit theme song written and performed by Ray Parker, Jr.

Parker wrote the song as a commercial jingle for the fictional company. The song was a huge hit and reached #1 for three weeks on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, and was #1 for two weeks on its Black Singles chart.

The music video produced for the song is considered one of the key productions in the early music video era, and was a hit for MTV. Directed by Ivan Reitman (who directed the feature film), the video contains many snippets of the film which flowed well with the lyrics, along with cameo appearances of various celebrities answering "Ghostbusters!" to the oft-repeated "Who you gonna call?"

These cameos include: Chevy Chase, Irene Cara, John Candy, Nickolas Ashford, Melissa Gilbert, Jeffrey Tambor, George Wendt, Al Franken, Danny DeVito, Carly Simon, Peter Falk and Teri Garr.

The video ends with special footage of the four Ghostbusters, in costume and character, dancing in Times Square behind Parker, joining in the singing.

The song won Parker an Academy Awards nomination for "Best Song," losing to Stevie Wonder's I Just Called to Say I Love You for The Woman In Red.

Huey Lewis sued Ray Parker, Jr. for plagiarism, citing that Parker stole the melody from "I Want a New Drug." Ironically, Lewis was approached to compose the main theme song for the movie, but he had to decline due to his work on the soundtrack for Back to the Future. It was later reported in 2001 that Lewis allegedly breached an agreement not to mention the original suit, doing so on VH1's Behind the Music (Spook Central - The Huey Lewis Lawsuit).

Lindsey Buckingham was also approached to do the theme song based on his success with "Holiday Road" for the National Lampoon's Vacation films. He declined, reasoning that he had already done a successful soundtrack theme and did not want to be "known" as just a soundtrack artist. These comments were made on the promotional CD Lindsey Buckingham: In His Own Words.

John Belushi was the original choice to play Dr. Peter Venkman. The part was rewritten for Bill Murray after Belushi died. Dan Aykroyd sometimes referred to Slimer as "the Ghost of John Belushi" as certain aspects of Slimer reminded him of Belushi.[citation needed]
With the first DVD release of the film on the 15th anniversary of the original theatrical release, many original concepts of the film were revealed, based on the storyboard artwork: Louis Tully was originally to be a conservative man in a business suit played by comedian John Candy, but Candy was unable to grasp the role and chose to drop the part. The role was taken by Rick Moranis, portraying Louis as an über geek. Gozer was originally going to appear in the form of a man in a suit, wearing a necktie, mistaken by the protagonists for Ivo Shandor and played by Paul Reubens. The Proton Pack's Particle Thrower were originally portrayed as wands worn on each arm. Winston Zeddemore was going to be hired much earlier in the film where he would accompany the trio on their hunt for Slimer at the Hotel and be slimed in place of Peter Venkman. It was decided he be brought in later to indicate how the Ghostbusters were struggling to keep up with the outbreak of spooks. The first DVD release also included in the 'Spook Central' Special Features section. One of the deleted scenes featured the Ghostbusters at a loading dock at New York City Hall (however, in reality it was a loading dock at the New York Municipal Building, a block away from City Hall) shortly before leaving to fight with Gozer. During the preparations, Janine Melnitz is shown giving a coin to Egon Spengler, citing that it is her lucky coin which she got from the World's Fair in Flushing Meadows. Egon replies that he may not be coming back, to which Janine replies that he should keep it as she has another at home. This small plot point, while deleted from the movie explains why Janine was at 550 Central Park West and was able to meet with Egon after they'd beaten Gozer.

Gozer's temple was the biggest and most expensive set ever to be constructed at that time.[citation needed] In order to properly light it and create the physical effects for the set, other stages needed to be shut down and all their power diverted over to the set. The hallway sets for the Sedgewick Hotel were originally built for the movie Rich and Famous in 1981 and patterned after the Algonquin Hotel in New York City, where Reitman originally wanted to do the hotel bust. The Biltmore Hotel was chosen because the large lobby allowed for a tracking shot of the Ghostbusters in complete gear for the first time. Dana Barrett and Louis Tully's apartments were constructed across two stages and were actually on the other side of their doors in the hallway, an unusual move in filmmaking.

A scarier version of the "Librarian Ghost" puppet was created, but it was rejected for being too scary. (The film has a PG rating for language and scary moments that are unsuitable for children under age 8, according to director Ivan Reitman and actor / writer Harold Ramis.) Luckily, it was recycled and reused for the 1985 horror / comedy hit, Fright Night, also released by Columbia Pictures. Richard Edlund and his team did the special effects for both films back to back.
For the test screening of Ghostbusters, half of the ghost effects were missing because the production team ran out of time. The audience still liked it, and the ghost elements were completed for the official theatrical release shortly thereafter.
In 1984, Harvey Comics, the copyright holders of Casper the Friendly Ghost, launched a lawsuit against Columbia Pictures for $52 million in damages on the grounds that the movie's logo was copied from their character. The case was dismissed in 1986. "There are only very limited ways to draw the figure of a cartoon ghost," said Judge Peter Leisure. (Time, November 10, 1986)
The soldiers seen towards the end of the movie belong to the 42nd Infantry (Rainbow) Division, as evidenced by their rainbow shoulder sleeve insignia. Since the end of World War II, the 42nd Infantry Division has been the largest element of the New York Army National Guard.
In the establishing scenes of the interior of Dana Barrett's apartment, one of the items she places on the counter before the incident with the eggs is a bag of 'Stay Puft Marshmallows', complete with a cartoon of the mascot itself. One of the two appearances that foreshadow the later form of the destructor.

Taglines
They're Here To Save The World.
Coming To Save The World This Summer.
We're Ready To Believe You.
Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters!
The supernatural spectacular.
They ain't afraid of no ghost.
The world's most successful comedy.

At the Oscar ceremony following the September 11, 2001 attacks, clips were screened from various films that were associated with New York City. Ghostbusters was featured in the montage.