Ghost (1990) • From the Vault • Contains Spoilers

Directed by Jerry Zucker and starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg, Ghost is the 1990 supernatural romance that became one of the biggest box office hits of its era and has remained a firm audience favourite for more than three decades.

In this review, Darryl shares why Jerry Zucker's leap from Airplane! to Ghost is one of the more remarkable turns in Hollywood directing, why Whoopi Goldberg's Oscar-winning performance as Oda Mae Brown still holds up scene for scene, and why the pottery wheel scene remains, for him, one of cinema's truly unforgettable moments more than thirty years on.

This review contains spoilers.

🎬 COMING UP NEXT

Next Review: Alice & Steve, Season One

Fraser takes on Alice & Steve, Season One, the Disney+ comedy-drama starring Nicola Walker and Jemaine Clement as lifelong best friends whose bond implodes when Steve starts dating Alice's daughter Izzy. Does this messy, awkward premise actually earn its emotional moments, or does the whole thing collapse under its own ick factor?

Thanks for listening to Frame 70 Reviews. New reviews every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, along with classics revisited in From the Vault. Every review in full at frame70.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:10

Hi podcasters, thanks for joining me today. I'm Darrell, and today we're taking a look at Ghost, the 1990 film directed by Jerry Zucker and starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and Whoopi Goldberg. This review contains spoilers. Let's get into it. Ghost is one of those films that seems to get better every time I watch it. Released in 1990, it became one of the biggest box office hits of that entire era, and it has stayed with audiences for more than 30 years. Watching it again recently reminded me exactly why that is. Now before I get into the film itself, I want to say something about Jerry Zucker because I think it's one of the more remarkable stories in Hollywood directing. This is the same man who gave us Airplane. In 1980, one of the funniest, most relentlessly silly films ever made. Before that, he'd done Police Squad on television and Top Secret not long after. Then First Night in 1995. The man has never once repeated himself, but Ghost in 1990, sitting right in the middle of all of that. That's the one that surprised me most. When I first heard Zucker was directing it, I genuinely wasn't sure what to expect. What he delivered was one of the most emotionally affecting romantic films of its decade, and I think that says everything about the kind of filmmaker he is. He understood tone. He knew when to let the humor breathe and when to step back and let the emotion take over entirely. The story follows Sam Wheat, played by Patrick Swayze, a young banker whose life is cut short during what appears to be a random street robbery. After his death, Sam discovers he's caught between the world he knew and whatever lies beyond it. Watching over his girlfriend Molly Jensen, played by Demi Moore, he slowly realizes that his murder was no accident. Someone he trusted set him up, and now Molly is in danger. Desperate to reach her, Sam seeks out Oda May Brown, a street level psychic played by Whoopi Goldberg, who is every bit as startled as Sam to discover that she can actually hear him. What makes Ghost work is the way it holds together things that really shouldn't fit. It's a love story, it's a supernatural thriller, it's a mystery, and at times it's very funny. Zucker finds the balance across all of it and never lets any one element tip the whole thing over. At the heart of the film is the relationship between Sam and Molly. Swayze and Moore create something warm and believable, and by the time the tragedy strikes, you already care about both of them deeply. Swayze brings a real sincerity to Sam, quiet, understated, and genuinely felt. And Whoopi Goldberg is simply wonderful as Oda Mae Brown. She's funny, she's sharp, she's unpredictable, and in the middle of all the laughs she finds moments of real tenderness. The Academy Award she won for Best Supporting Actress was completely deserved. And then there's the pottery scene. If you've never seen Ghost, you almost certainly still know the pottery scene. It's become one of those moments that the culture just absorbed permanently. Demi Moore at the wheel, Unchained Melody on the soundtrack, the whole thing. I remember watching it at the cinema in 1990 and thinking that this was the kind of scene you don't easily forget. Sitting here more than thirty years later, I still feel exactly the same way. That's the frame 70 moment for this film, without any doubt. Is Ghost a perfect film? No, probably not. Some of the visual effects have dated, particularly towards the end, and a few lines of dialogue in the first act do the work a little too plainly, telling you what to feel before you've had the chance to feel it yourself. The thriller elements, while perfectly serviceable, are never particularly surprising. But none of that really diminishes the experience. Because Ghost is ultimately about something universal, about losing someone and holding on to the hope that love doesn't simply end with them. The film earns its emotional moments. It doesn't just reach for them. I've now watched Ghost three times since its original release, and I've come away satisfied every time. Some films lose their charm with repeated viewings. This one doesn't. It still makes me laugh. It still holds my attention and it still lands its emotional punches exactly where it intends to. The Frame 70 verdict for Ghost. Ghost is a genuine cultural landmark, a film that takes romance, suspense, comedy, and the supernatural and makes them all serve the same story. The performances are excellent. The emotional core holds firm across more than three decades, and Jerry Zucker proves himself one of the most surprising and versatile directors of his generation. The man made airplane. And then he made this. That still impresses me. If you haven't seen it, it's well worth your time. And if it's been a while, I'd say it's overdue for another look.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

Thanks for listening to Frame 70 Movie and TV Reviews. If you enjoyed today's review, you can follow Frame 70 wherever you get your podcasts. And find us at frame70.com. And before we go, let's remember something that sits right at the heart of this show. Movies are subjective. The way a film impacts me might be completely different to the way it impacts you. A movie I connect with might leave someone else completely cold. A film that doesn't work for me might become one of your all-time favorites. And that's okay. That's part of what makes movies worth talking about in the first place. There are no right or wrong opinions here, only different experiences. So watch widely, stay curious, and remember, movies are subjective. Until next time, I'm Fraser, and this has been Frame Seventy.