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Screen Time
‘Ghostbusters’: The Good, The Bad and the Bill Murray
Craig S. Semon
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Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
“Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together … mass hysteria!” — Dr. Peter Venkman, “Ghostbusters” (1984)
“Ghostbusters” was a big deal when it came out in the summer of 1984, while “Ghostbusters II,” which came out five years later, not so much because it was awful.
The original — which I saw at Showcase Cinema in downtown Worcester numerous times during its first run — was clever, whimsical and funny.
It had a great original concept (shortly after three parapsychologist friends start a ghost-catching business in New York City, business starts booming to biblical proportions), a lot of quotable lines (“He slimed me” for instance), a memorable bureaucratic villain (EPA inspector Walter Peck played by William Atherton, four years before he played an even slimier TV reporter, Richard Thornburg, in “Die Hard”), a catchy theme song (Ray Parker Jr.’s rip-off of Huey Lewis and the News’ “I Want A New Drug”) and one of the best sight gags to come out of a movie (a 100-foot-tall Stay Puft Marshmallow Man making mincemeat out of New York City).
Top this off with the beloved team of Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman, Dan Aykroyd as Ray Stantz and Harold Ramis (Murray’s buddy in “Stripes”) as Egon Spengler at their comedic best and you have an instant classic.
The jury isn’t out yet for “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” which has two of the three principal “Ghostbusters” returning (Murray and Aykroyd; Ramis died in 2014), plus Ernie Hudson, Sigourney Weaver and Annie Potts reprising their roles from the original films.
What, no Rick Moranis, the nerdy accountant who becomes possessed by the ancient “Keymaster” or the aforementioned Atherton?
“Ghostbusters: Afterlife” looks like a well-intended flick but I am afraid it’s going to be too heavy on nostalgia (and not laughs), too many new characters that we don’t care about and a tear-jerker backstory for Paul Rudd (aka People magazine's 2021 Sexiest Man Alive”) and a bunch of fresh-faced whippersnappers.
Also, it seems likely that the appearances of Murray and Aykroyd (both of whom I met) are going to be nothing more than glorified cameo roles. I hope I’m wrong. And I hope their appearances in the new film are as memorable as when I met them.
Quick question: what does downtown Worcester look like on a typical Sunday?
Answer: A ghost town.
So if you are Bill Murray walking on the city streets on a Sunday and you’re trying to blend in, you’re going to stick out like a sore thumb, which was the case on the evening of April 22, 2018.
The “Ghostbusters” star was in town for “Bill Murray, Jan Vogler and Friends: New Worlds,” an evening of music, poetry and prose at The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts.
After I parked my car at the old Worcester Center garage around 6:30 p.m., I noticed this tall, lanky old guy walk past me. And, I immediately realized it was Bill Murray.
How did I know it was Bill Murray?
Nobody walks in downtown Worcester. Nothing is open. There’s nowhere to go. There’s nothing to do. It’s a ghost town.
Also, he wasn’t talking to himself nor did he smell of urine.
Furthermore, he didn’t approach us (I was attending the
From left, the original “Ghostbusters” cast members Harold Ramis, Bill Murray and
Dan Aykroyd. COLUMBIA PICTURES
show with my brother) and beg for money.
And then there was the way Murray was dressed. He was wearing a chartreuse knit hat on his head, a flashy dress
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Bill Murray, left, with Craig S. Semon COURTESY CRAIG S. SEMON
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