Ghost

Ghost (1990) was the highest grossing film of its year, and it managed that by running three genres at once: love story, murder thriller and comedy. Sam is stabbed to death on the street one night. His spirit leaves his body but does not go anywhere. He realises Molly is in danger too and looks for a way to reach her. The only route he finds is a fraudulent psychic, Oda Mae Brown, who has spent her life conning people and is now hearing a voice for the first time. That is what saves the film. Without Whoopi Goldberg's Oda Mae this would be a heavy melodrama. The studio did not want her; Patrick Swayze pushed for her and that is how she got the part. She won the Supporting Actress Oscar for it. Director Jerry Zucker had until then made Airplane! and The Naked Gun, which is to say pure comedy. That is why the comic scenes in Ghost land as well as they do. The pottery scene and Unchained Melody are now cultural memory independent of the film. The song dates from 1965 and re entered the charts because of it. It runs 127 minutes. Good for: nineties romance, supernatural love stories, and classics. Less good for: there is a murder and several hard scenes, the effects have dated, and the sentiment runs high.