Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #469 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-12-03
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Swedish, Turkish
• Dubbed in: German
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 120 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The biggest hit of 1990, Ghost is part comedy, part romance, part supernatural thriller. Patrick Swayze, previously best known for Dirty Dancing, stars as Sam, the banker who is killed following a mugging. Caught in a limbo between here and the afterlife, he uses Whoopi Goldberg's fake psychic as an intermediary to warn wife Molly (Demi Moore) that his death was no accident but a murder and that she is in danger too.

Ghost's original popularity and notoriety originally arose not from its dealings with the supernatural but the scene involving Moore fondly astride her potter's wheel fashioning a somewhat phallic-shaped vase, with Swayze fondly astride her. So infamous did this scene become that it's now more likely to raise a chuckle than a sultry sigh. As for the rest of the movie, it still somehow manages to engage despite the awkward juxtaposition of lachrymose melodrama and zaniness. Demi Moore, whose massive Hollywood success was always a mystery to some, is a little flat as the tomboy-coiffed Molly, her tears occasionally seeming onion-induced. Swayze, however, delivers as Sam while Whoopi Goldberg turns in the best performance of her career, delivering the requisite zip and sass to what otherwise might have been a morose movie.

On the DVD: Though well restored, DVD enhancement has only served to emphasise the slightly quaint feel of the special effects here--Ghost was made just prior to the digital era. Otherwise, this is a good package and an essential purchase for fans. There's a 22-minute featurette, "Remembering the Magic", in which scriptwriter Bruce Joel Rubin explains that the film was inspired by the scene in Hamlet in which the Prince meets his Father, and how initially appalled he was that his masterpiece of the supernatural was to be directed by Jerry Zucker, previously responsible for Airplane!. They also reveal that Tina Turner was originally cast for the Goldberg role. Zucker and Rubin team up for a funny commentary track. --David Stubbs

Video Description
DVD Special Features:
"Remembering The Magic" featurette.
Commentary by Jerry Zucker and writer Bruce Joel Rubin.
Theatrical trailer.

Synopsis
After renovating their expensive loft in the TriBeCa section of Manhattan, Molly and Sam, a young successful yuppie couple, are walking home one evening when Sam is tragically gunned down by a street mugger. Molly goes into a deep depression, but, unknown to her, Sam has come back as a ghost in order to protect her from danger--although he isn't yet aware who or what means her harm, and he has a lot of learning to do in order to make himself known to her. He teams up with an unwilling psychic, and together they try to convince a very skeptical Molly that Sam was actually murdered and has returned spectrally to complete some unfinished business. Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore are excellent as the couple, and Whoopi Goldberg won an Oscar for her portrayal of the wild and wacky psychic. GHOST is considered by many to be one of the most romantic films of the 1990s.

Customer Reviews

a real 'weepy'
Ghost is a film that essentially covers the theme of life after death and is about Sam (Patrick Swayze), his girlfriend Molly (Demi Moore) and their lives after Sam is murdered. Sam's spirit tries to contact Molly and reassure her he is all right but Molly has no belief in the afterlife. As far as she is concerned Sam is dead. When Sam realises who is behind his death his concern for Molly grows and he becomes desperate to get through to her. By chance he comes across Oda Mae, a charlatan medium who is as shocked as Sam is when she realises in fact she can hear him and she does have psychic abilities.
Whoopie Goldberg is the real scene-stealer as the reluctant medium trying to convince a sceptical Molly that Sam is still 'alive'. She manages to inject real humour into the role, which stops the film becoming too morose. Her reaction when she realises she is really psychic and is not just a fake conning bereaved people is hilarious.
This is a real tearjerker of a film, a box of tissues to hand is a must, but it is a film that is well worth watching.

Some of the best acting I've ever seen!
I watched this film on TV recently, having never seen it before, I decided to watch it and see if it was as sad as people said. I too have NEVER cried at a film in my life, seriously, and I didn't think this would be any different. God was I wrong! The acting from both Moore and Swayze is absolutely amazing, and I began to completely feel Sam's frustrations when Molly can't hear him, and Molly's pain throughout the film. I think without good actors this film could have been quite bad, but with these two I honestly began to feel that the whole thing was real. At the end of the film there were tears in my eyes, something I didn't think would happen! If you havn't seen this film already I would seriously recommend it as it is one of the most touching films ever made.

clever concept not done justice
This is a true tear-jerker, and even I who normally refuse to cry during stylised Hollywood movies, couldn't help but sob into my cushion at the end. Swayze and Goldberg were, as usual, very entertaining and I'm sure this was the best performance of Moore's career.

I deducted a star for the lack of comedy. For a film which was supposed to be funny, this was remarkably melancholy.

The small black ghost-like creatures were very creepy and you couldn't help but wish evil on the man who had inadvertently organised his friend's death for the sake of money.

Not as good as I'd hoped it would be, but nevertheless a good afternoon's viewing.