Ghosts in the Movies at the Park film festival

Yesterday serves as a bright spot for the hot season, and with good timing, for the Movies in the Park conveniently set in the Grand Opera House square. The first film, surprisingly enough, is the much beloved old supernatural comedy "Ghostbusters" which turned out to be one of the biggest box office hits to scare its way into the movie screen.

It is one of the most light hearted slapsticks created by the teamwork of Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis along with the main headliner Bill Murray who is actually a pretty nice guy in real life. The film itself made a pretty big chunk of money in 1984 which could only be explained that most like to have a good sense of humor.

It's nice to see that the film still manages a pretty good turnout as people enjoy a little Nerf football to a little summer reading before the outdoors showing of Ghostbusters. It gets shown at dusk in a way it gets played in a theater as the lights dim.

It was introduced in the soothing radio broadcast voice by marketing manager Jeff Potts who let us know that there will be another Movies in the Park every two weeks during the July and August months. That's good. Lots of people. Plenty of laughs. A vendor under the outdoors tent selling hot dogs or other commodities. There should be more things like this in Oshkosh.

I'm glad to see that people still enjoy this film that is considered a long-adage classic that now makes me feel pretty old. But watching this film is no problem. It makes me feel like the tender twelve year old who first came across this film to enjoy seeing spooks central. I feel like a kid again seeing this.

From the first scenes of the lion chiseled in stone in the New York City Public Library, letting it be known this is going to be a suburban comedy well stocked in creepy crawlies, we see the poor old librarian frightened by some ghost who probably just wants to spend a little time reading there. Or perhaps the ghost had an unpaid overdue fine.

Whatever the source may be, or the reason, it becomes the first real haunting that brings the attention of three out of the way parapsychologists who try to get their first concrete proof that there are really ghosts living in shadows. And they're somehow breaking through some strange psychic barrier. The more ghosts get into New York City, the more crowded it gets.

The central characters Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler are beautifully played by their counterparts who try to stir an ongoing business busting ghosts... which doesn't start off too terribly well when a hotel manager calls them up about a certain ugly green spud haunting the building. It gets pretty crazy. Their first capture costs five grand.

And the rest of their business blooms.

So does their popularity.

So happens to be that Venkman has a bigger interest in the Lady in the Red named Dana Barrett played by the always dependable Sigourney Weaver who, curiously enough, had another big hit on her hands in the form of “Aliens”. Otherwise, Venkman could give two spits about his ghosting business. His mind is usually in the gutter about how many women he could get his hands on.

There are some real nice moments in the film, always funny, which makes this a cultural departure film that offers great locations in the New York beat. If you look closely, you'll be able to see a lot of of New York Times Square and other legitimate scene stealers such as the Rockerfeller statue over the large ice rink. And the film managed to soak itself into popular culture with their much song-sing line repeated, “Who are you going to call?”

Other great moments? You can see the ghostbusters getting slimed for the first time in the hotel, the main characters climbing up forty stories with large nuclear accelerators on their backs in an apartment building, the first time Eddie Zeddmore gets hired as a fourth ghostbuster, a great conversational piece between the ghostbusters and the mayor and the dastardly villain Mr. Peck(er) from the EPA, and of course the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

What makes this film very well done is their sturdy, jerky villain that is much needed for the successful formula of the show and Mr. Peck does well in the guy you just want to hate as he persecute the three misfit scientists just looking to make a business just like anyone else is in New York City. It just happens that theirs involves ghosts.

There are also some nice guest spots with Larry King on his live show and Casey Kasem who gets an off-screen voice appearance with his very familiar top 40s hits countdown.

If you haven't seen this film, you should. There aren't a lot of supernatural comedies that work very well on this level. And it's not bad considering that it inspired a pretty good sequel, two cartoon series, a few video games and a third film that is now in the works under the tender hands of Aykroyd and Ramis once again.

That's good. Because the film shown in the outdoors theater brought a lot of folks together. People of all ages, young and old. Older viewers who might be taking a nostalgic trip. And they are bringing not only themselves, but also their kids to share their love for the film. Who could blame them? The film is chock full of fun humor and plenty of fun scenes. It's good entertainment that you don't get very much these days. A lot of people love it. For good reasons.

There are a lot of renowned actors who bring their sense of family (and comedy) style from the old Saturday Night Live days and you can see that they are having a lot of fun in this film. And so should you have fun watching this delightful ghosting romp that still puts a smile on my face after all these years.