10 Best Ghostbusters Moments
2. Rooftop Battle
An ethereal temple has appeared. Gozer – looking remarkably like David Bowie – is ready to take over the world. This is the climax. It’s now or never. It’s time to save Manhattan.
The particle throwers are charged, and the team are reluctantly pumped.
Ghostbusters was the first comedy to employ special effects to this level. Richard Edlund had previously worked on the Star Wars trilogy, Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Poltergeist (1982), films known for their visual effects. He has been nominated for Oscars multiple times, and his work on Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Star Wars (1977) won him Academy Awards.
And they are even more impressive considering the tight turnaround of the project. Edlund and his team only ended up with ten months to create some of the most iconic moments in movie history.
Of course, audiences had seen Alien (1979), E.T. (1982), and Blade Runner (1982) by this point, but they’d never seen a film marketed as a comedy with Oscar-worthy visual effects. And the rooftop battle scene is the pinnacle of the visual effects team’s dedication and hard work.
1. The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man
The Ghostbusters believe they’ve conquered Gozer, but it all seemed a little easy. It was. There’s more to come. An ethereal voice challenges them to choose the form their destruction comes in. All the Ghostbusters have to do is keep their minds blank. But Ray (Dan Aykroyd) can’t get the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man out of his head.
The friendly, cuddly logo comes to life, over 100 feet high and full of malice. In true Ghostbusters style, a moment of true peril is made ridiculous and unforgettable.
The marshmallow man has become the long-lasting image of the Ghostbusters franchise to the point where the made up American icon (conceived entirely by Dan Aykroyd) has become a legitimate one. That is the true power of Ghostbusters. It resonated so well with audiences that almost every joke, setting or creature became pop culture overnight.
This particular joke worked so well that they more or less copied it for the sequel – taking an American icon, making it massive, and parading it through the streets of Manhattan to a groovy tune of the decade.
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Ghostbusters is an iconic movie with fans from all over the world. What are the best moments in your opinion? Tell everyone in the comments below, and be sure to follow @thefilmagazine on Facebook and X (Twitter) for more insightful movie lists.
