For years I thought my earliest theatrical experience belonged to Duck Tales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990). Even in my hazy, 6-year-old memory, I recall the dark theater, the huge screen and the smell of the popcorn as Scrooge traversed the desert Indiana-Jones-style… and how much fun it was.
Of course, I remembered snippets of other films as well from around that time. Movies I always assumed came later on. Some were fun, others exciting and, one in particular, was scary. In that one I remember bulbous ghosts and an evil painting and even a strange, red eyed man carrying an infant away on a flying bicycle, like some sort of evil E.T.
Just the visage of Rick Moranis climbing into a bus being captained by the green, demented creature known as Slimer in Ghostbusters II (1989) was enough to give me nightmares.
Still, I loved The Real Ghostbusters cartoon show and, despite my disdain for scary movies, considered myself a fan of the films (even if my preferred versions at the time were the edited-for-TV, tamer sort). And yet something about Ghostbusters II always unnerved me somewhere deep in the pit of my stomach. It wasn’t until recently that I put two and two together and noticed the release date of what I thought had been my very first theatrical experience.
Ghostbusters II had come out before Duck Tales the Movie. It was the former that had been my young self’s introduction to the silver screen. Yes, it was true, the release dates were irrefutable: the initial images to pass giant before my five-year-old eyes were ones of ghosts, slime and Vigo the Carpathian.
The movie is a somewhat controversial one, backed by a rushed production, heavy studio interference and a fatigued sense of creativity and drive as a result. Still, in my young mind, none of that mattered. The movie was powerful and therefore remains so for me to this day. It’s infused with the same sense of offbeat humor and appropriately contrasting narrative darkness as the first. While it may certainly not be as innovative, it works as an iconic, spooky 80s action-comedy that hits all the sweet spots for us horror-leaning folk.
The film is sprinkled top to bottom with impressive visual effects and any one of them could stand as representation for what makes the movie so special. But, again, my bias is personal and derives from the imprinted brain of a five-year-old. So, to me, the sequence that has always stood out the most is the one in which the infamous Scoleri brothers’ return to the courtroom where they were sentenced to death.
It’s a scene steeped in the series’ trademark wry sense of humor and outlandishness, also showcasing the magic of practical and visual effects when combined together. It’s one that stayed with me for many years after the film, playing over and over again in my mind like some otherworldly picture show, drawing me ever closer toward a love for all things macabre. From the descriptive, more plot pointed words on the page, to the larger-than-life, comedically leaning, far more characterized realization on the screen, the scene stands as a great summation as to why Ghostbusters II meant so much to an entire generation of terrified kids.
THE SCENE
The Scoleri Brothers erupt into the courtroom. The Judge dives away, hiding with the Ghostbusters and explaining that he had tried the men for murder and given them the chair. The ghosts wreak havoc and chase the Judge and the Ghostbusters out of the room. Louis, the Ghostbusters’ lawyer, convinces the Judge to dismiss the case against his clients, allowing them to once more don their ghost-fighting equipment. After years of dormancy, they heat up their blasters amidst wry banter. They wait in the empty courtroom. Chairs begin to fly upward. The Scoleri Brothers emerge and the men all fire their beams at once. Eventually the Ghostbusters wrangle the ghosts and move them over the trap. They capture the ghosts and moments later announce their brand’s reinstatement to the press and the city.
THE SCRIPT
THE SCREEN
The scene opens amidst a transition, moving from courtroom drama to full-fledged disaster action. The break begins in a wide shot, placing the entirety of the court and its occupants on full display as two huge ghosts burst from the jar of slime on the evidence table.
Then suddenly all Hell breaks loose as TWO FULL-TORSO APPARITIONS explode out of the specimen jar.
The specters tower over the room, confined to electric chairs and wearing wide, unsettling grins as their eyes glow with bright, yellow light. The script deviates from the normal flow of action description, placing character descriptions in text blocks akin to what would normally be read in a screenplay as dialogue. The method also provides a bit of inadvertent direction, often leading the reader to a more direct shot progression than general description might otherwise suggest.
For example, when the Scoleri Brothers are first described:
JUDGE (CONT’D)
(in horror)
Oh, my God! The Scoleri Brothers!
SCOLERI BROTHERS
Big in life, even bigger in death, the ghostly Scoleri brothers seem ten feet tall. They are strapped into electric chairs and on their heads are metal electrocution caps with live, sparking electrical wires still attached.
Not dialogue, but description lies under the SCOLERI BROTHERS header and such is how the screenplay at large is written. Action description is also present, but seems reserved for wider scope explanation and story points. Furthermore, the character headed descriptors offer more detail than would normally be found in standard action description, the Scoleri Brothers initial paragraph even going so far as to tell the reader how much electricity is pumping through them (25,000 volts, to be exact).
In the film, the Brothers escape the confines of their electric chairs rather quickly, almost as though the initial appearance itself was more for show than an actual restraint to be broken. In the script, their release takes a moment, allowing for the Judge and the Ghostbusters to have their initial exchange.
The conversation is different too. In the script, the dialogue is incredibly direct, offering explicit exposition and little else: JUDGE: You’ve got to do something! VENKMAN: Who are they?” JUDGE: They’re the Scoleri Brothers. I tried them for murder.
In the film, once the Judge has made his way over to the bench the Ghostbusters are hiding under, he does indeed exclaim, “It’s the Scoleri brothers!” But instead of, Who are they?, Venkman asks, “Friends of yours?” There’s a distinctly clever and comedic touch to many of the changes that occur in the dialogue similar to this one, showing a willingness to embrace the personality of the actors as the script transitioned to the screen. These alterations serve the event in question and the movie at large incredibly well.
In the script, the Scoleri Brothers are said to break loose from the electric chairs, then turn toward the defense table and BLAST it with HIGH-VOLTAGE FINGER-LIGHTNING. While the two ghosts are coursing with electricity, their ability to shoot finger lightning is dropped in the film as they disappear into the Judge’s bench in an explosion of red flame. Instead of staying behind in the room, the Ghostbusters, the Judge and Louis all escape to what is presumably the Judge’s quarters. While the finger-lightning does appear several more times in the draft, it admittedly feels a tad out of place and unnecessary due to the amount of power and ability the ghosts already wield without it.
Allowing the characters some privacy to regain their control over the situation helps to break up the scene a bit and lend the appropriate weight to the Ghostbusters’ fast approaching comeback. The Judge grabs Ray in a close-up, begging for help and Ray directs him to his lawyer. In the script, Louis provides an intelligent and lucid argument as to why the Judge should side in favor of the boys:
“Violating a judicial restraining order could expose my clients to serious criminal penalties. As their attorney I’d have to advise them against it.”
In the film, once Ray mentions talking to his lawyer, the screen cuts to a close up of Louis who exclaims, “That’s me!” He then goes on to explain that the Ghostbusters can’t help because of a “mujidicial restraining order” or “that blue thing I got from her”. He tells the judge that “they could be exposing themselves” prompting Venkman to chime in, “And you do not want us exposing ourselves!”
The Judge rescinds the order in the script out of fear given the Scoleri brothers’ relentless march toward him, said to be punching through the jury box to get to him. In the film, this whole exchange is handled with more wit, focusing on the Judge’s hesitance to side with people that couldn’t be further from what he considered decent folk. Louis’ inability to perform as their lawyer continues to add much needed levity to the proceedings and allows the Judge’s final agonizing cry before giving in to be truly hysterical.
With that, the Ghostbusters leap over the rail of the jury box and dash across the courtroom to the exhibit table where their proton packs were being displayed as evidence. They strap them on hastily as the Brothers continue tearing up the seats looking for the Judge.
The script keeps all of the action in the same space, barely providing the characters a second to breathe. In the film, the ghosts have stopped wreaking havoc altogether, so that when the Ghostbusters finally reclaim their tools, there is time for the characters and the audience to absorb the impact of the moment.
Aside from a comment about how heavy the packs are, there is no character commentary in the script, simply a propulsion toward the scene’s action set piece. As it appears onscreen there is humor and wry wit abound, culminating in one of the more quoted bits in either movie (i.e. “Do… Ray… Egon!”). Allowing the actors to be themselves and bring in personality to moments like this allows the storytelling to feel more intimate in what might be an otherwise cold display of grandiose visuals and concepts.
While the script has the boys switch on their throwers and turn to face the raging phantasms, the film puts them in a quiet moment of fear before unleashing the main event. In a wide shot of the courtroom, the chairs begin to flip over, steadily moving toward the three Ghostbusters near the Judge’s bench. At the last moment, a medium shot holds on the men as they open fire. Then, the frame cuts to a close up of the Scoleri Brothers, providing the viewer a good look at their distended, wrinkled, monstrous faces with open mouths showing jagged, grotesque teeth and bright, glowing eyes.
The script wraps up the battle fairly quickly: Working as a team, they gradually confine the Scoleri Brothers with the streams, forcing them closer and closer to the traps Ray has set out on the floor. In the film, the ghosts disappear and the lasers die off, the only sound coming from Venkman who is still shouting. He stops and after a moment begins to laugh. They all laugh. Unnecessary to the plot? Certainly. Integral to making the Ghostbusters crew charming and human? Absolutely.
At this point the film mirrors the script, the Ghostbusters working as a team to wrangle both of the Brothers and move them over the trap. Although the script doesn’t specify, each member performs a pivotal role, Stantz and Venkman holding a Brother apiece while Spengler sets and opens the trap. The only other element added to the film that does not appear on the page is the four part line, “Two in the box / ready to go / we be fast / and they be slow!” The line closes the moment with an endearing sense of fun and whimsy, in keeping with the other additions.
The script offers a small moment afterward in the courtroom where the spectators and media stand up from where they were hiding, suggesting they were present the whole time. In the film, all of these people have logically fled so the Ghostbusters exit the building. They come face to face with an expectant crowd complete with cameras and reporters holding microphones.
In the script, Venkman concludes with the line, “Case closed, boys. We’re back in business” to cheers and applause. In the film Venkman also sends the scene off, but with far more flourish and personality:
“We’re the best, we’re the beautiful, we’re the only… Ghostbusters.”
The crowd roars and the music picks up as Ray shouts excitedly, “We’re back!”
The Ghostbusters have regained their status, their freedom and their power as a brand, and the film embraces the charisma of the actors and their characters to accomplish that. More importantly, it feels like the movie is having fun, reveling in the characters’ successes as opposed to simply moving the narrative along. It’s a combination of the best of the page, the best of the actors’ abilities and the best of the visuals the series has to offer and the perfect way to bring the Ghostbusters back into relevance.
THE BLOODY CONCLUSION
“Okay I’ve got this great screenplay,” director Ivan Reitman said on the feature Time is But a Window: Ghostbusters II and Beyond found on the blu-ray disc release (Available here), “and then on top of that I’ve got these brilliant writers who happen to be actors in this movie.”
Sometimes the best way to bring the page to life onscreen is to allow the creatives carrying it there to infuse their own brand of personality and enthusiasm into their performances. The Ghostbusters movies work as an amalgam of the story, the actors and the visual effects onscreen, becoming a new, unique whole that wouldn’t be possible without any one of those parts.
In a video posted to YouTube by Forsche Design on November 5, 2009 (Found here), they revealed how Tim Lawrence, Creature and Makeup Design Supervisor, was dressed in a heavy suit in his portrayal of Nunzio Scoleri. He was hooked to an elaborate rig and fitted with an enormous, animatronic head, allowing for mouth and facial movement. This painstaking creation led to footage shot against green screen which was then paired with the live action work and visual effects done by Industrial Light & Magic.
Servo mechanisms and pneumatic cylinders aside, according to the Ghostbusters Wiki all of the images had to eventually be “rephotographed on a rear projection screen and reflected onto mylar that was manipulated with motion controlled rods.” All fo this made it possible for the Scoleri Brothers to “move around curves, stretch at certain points, and bulge in the final version.”
I grew up loving the Ghostbusters. I watched the cartoon show religiously. I collected the toys. I even managed to talk my Dad into buying me the official Ghostbusters’ Fire House out of pity when I had to get stitches on my chin. The first movie I ever saw in the theater was a Ghostbusters movie and while it scared me… it didn’t scare me away.
I doubt I’ll ever forget the experience of watching Ghostbusters II in the theater or some of those stand out scenes that are etched in my consciousness. And despite my years of insisting Scrooge McDuck’s worldly travels in search of a magic lamp was my first foray into entertainment on the big screen, it’s the Scoleri Brothers that have emerged as my earliest, most vivid memory of being in a large dark room with a crowd of people staring at giant images projected before us.
And it’s the Scoleri Brothers scene that, to me, best represents the experience. Not only that, the evolution from idea to finished film, incorporating the sort of collaboration, visualization and wonderment present in the best of genre cinema. But best of all? It’s fun.
If I’m going to remember anything about the movies from that young, impressionable age, it’s that. Funny, exciting… or even scary, the movies can be so much fun.
Ghostbusters II (1989):Written by Harold Ramis & Dan Aykroyd & Directed by Ivan Reitman
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