Discuss all things Ghostbusters here, unless they would be better suited in one of the few forums below.
#4974771
One of the things we don’t talk about enough is how much badassery exists in the first two GB movies. There are a few sequences in these movies that just have this perfect concoction of music, editing, visuals & line delivery and the result is chills up our spines and alllll the hype.

So. What scene/sequence gets you pumped up the most? For me personally it’s one of two scenes and I can’t decide which is the better one . The first, from GB1, hits the millisecond after the Mayor asks “So whaddya need from me?” And then we get it. The drums, That bass line. The grunts & screams of army men & police. Bill Murray with pitch perfect delivery “Come on let’s run some red lights” and just the music mixed with the visuals creates, for lack of a better word, Magic. I always default to this sequence when thinking about how “pumped up” these movies can make you feel, because I can still remember how it made me feel as a kid. If I didn’t have my blue plastic Real Ghostbusters proton pack with me, I’d pause the movie, run up to my room, strap it on, and continue. Those were the days.

The other is from GB2 and it’s when Lady Liberty whacks the museum cupola window. We get Bill Murray again(he’s usually the common ingredient here) “We love it when you rough house!” Which…isn’t even a line that makes a ton of sense but the way he says it mixed with the music and the visuals, oh boy! I love it! “Happy new year!”. Chills. Everytime.

Some other candidates? “Alright this chick is toast”. This one always gets me pumped up. The western style show down. This is where Ivan Reitman really shines. He knows when to go for the laugh and when go to for the momentum & drama. Look at the way he frames the GB’s here. It’s a Wild West showdown at sunset. These guys are the Magnificent Seven(well, Magnificent 4, but you get the idea). The tension that builds? Gozer kinda lowers herself into position as she anticipates what’s coming. The noises she makes? That terrific backflip and how she lands perfectly in those heels, on that smooth surface? It’s great stuff. That backflip holds up really well. As an effect of the 1980s? It’s almost reminds me of something we’d see in an anime for like Dragonball Z.

Another moment is a similar one in GB2 that has the build up but not the release of the previous example. So this is GB2 when the boys first approach the museum and blast it but to no effect.

So which gets you the most pumped up? Any scenes I didn’t mention that give you chills?
#4974772
I am SO glad someone asked this question.

For me, it's the moment the boys crawl out of the hole after the Earthquake. Hearing the extra yell "there they are!" and listening as the assembled crowd begins chanting. Ray's expressions are priceless, he looks ready to kill someone. Peter working the crowd up more and the GBs putting there hands in...man. That's it for me. It feels to me like, in universe, this is the moment they went from being a group of dudes in jumpsuits to being almost superheroes. Nothing gets me going more than the energy of them charging into the building. "WANNA PLAY ROUGH?" The coolest scene in the movie.

To this day, when I'm going in for an interview or turning in a script to a superior, I will listen to the edit of Savin The Day from this scene to pump myself up.
#4974774
I always get pumped when they defeat the Scoleri Brothers. It's such a visceral bust, and you really feel the stakes of that scene. It's their first time back in action in five years, and when they finally trap the Scoleri Brothers with that badass rhyme ("Two in the box!"); exit the courtroom with Venkman's badass line ("We're the fast, we're the beautiful, we're the only . . . Ghostbusters."); and it transitions to that killer montage -- it's like ghosthead catnip.
#4974775
For me, it's the scene in Ghostbusters II is when The Ghostbusters use mood slime on Statue Of Liberty and Ray uses the Nintendo controller XD but gives positive energy to the New Yorkers just before they go to battle Vigo The Carpathian (or was it Vigo the Butch?!)
#4974781
Dr.D wrote: November 30th, 2022, 3:20 pm I am SO glad someone asked this question.

For me, it's the moment the boys crawl out of the hole after the Earthquake. Hearing the extra yell "there they are!" and listening as the assembled crowd begins chanting. Ray's expressions are priceless, he looks ready to kill someone. Peter working the crowd up more and the GBs putting there hands in...man. That's it for me. It feels to me like, in universe, this is the moment they went from being a group of dudes in jumpsuits to being almost superheroes. Nothing gets me going more than the energy of them charging into the building. "WANNA PLAY ROUGH?" The coolest scene in the movie.

To this day, when I'm going in for an interview or turning in a script to a superior, I will listen to the edit of Savin The Day from this scene to pump myself up.
I guess I technically considered that part of the entire “Saving the Day” sequence but, yeah, it’s really a separate thing, isn’t it? Yeah. When they come out of there with the crowd chanting “Ghostbusters!”

And then, in unison, we get the best “LETS DO IT” in film history as they put their hands together. “They wanna play rough? It’s ok we can take it”. See in my mind I included everything in the “run some red lights” to “LETS DO IT” as the “Savin the day” sequence but if I have to consider them separately? Damn. That’s a hard one. I’d guess I’d go with you & agree them coming out is the most pumped up I felt. Especially after getting my blue proton pack as a kid lol.

Then we get one of my favourite laughs in the movie. This big scene of everyone pumped up, pure hype and epic ness. The crowd, the music and then we CUT TO

The GB’s slowly, laboriously, climbing stairs. It’s a perfect cut. And it’s rarely ever mentioned in the pantheon of “great movie cuts” along with 2001 or Lawrence of Arabia. But it should be in there somewhere representing comedic hard cuts.

Good call.
Dr.D, Dr.D liked this
#4974782
Kieron W wrote: November 30th, 2022, 5:35 pm For me, it's the scene in Ghostbusters II is when The Ghostbusters use mood slime on Statue Of Liberty and Ray uses the Nintendo controller XD but gives positive energy to the New Yorkers just before they go to battle Vigo The Carpathian (or was it Vigo the Butch?!)
I don’t care what anyone says. The way Dan Aykroyd says “Beautiful” with a stogie in his mouth? That’s the epitome of Ghostbusters and Ray Stanz in that one image. The delivery of that line just stays with me and it’s something I often repeat in my head at random times. “Beautiful”. Lol. It kills me.


These are all great choices that everyone has mentioned. Man. Ivan Reitman really wasn’t respected enough in his time on this earth. He knew EXACTLY what Ghostbusters was. It’s such a specific, yet hard to define thing. The fantastic & the mundane but also super exciting, funny, mysterious, scary & a little romantic.
#4974784
For me, easily Janine's "We Got One!"

Off the top of my head: Ray shooting at Slimer for the first time, Peter screaming as Slimer charges, all the montages in any movie, Egon's "Your mother!", Peter's "You'll have saved the lives of millions of registered voters..." and Mike nodding to Lenny, Crossing the streams, the lead up to the Scoleri Brothers appearing/Wexler's tirade, the Scoleri Brothers bust, "Suck in the guts", Ray and Egon trapped in the photo lab, the torch of the Statue of Liberty lighting up, Ray possessed and the lead up to Vigo being defeated.
Kieron W liked this
#4974790
mrmichaelt wrote: November 30th, 2022, 10:33 pm For me, easily Janine's "We Got One!"
Oh that’s another good one! The Bus Boys song fits in sooo well during that sequence. It gives it this massively energy lift. Somewhere in another dimension Ivan Reitman decided to keep the Elmer Bernstein GB Funk/Disco theme rather than the Bus Boys & the movie suffered for it. Thank god we live in the dimension where he replaced it.

I always secretly wanted to work at a fire department just so I could eat some Chinese food when a call came in, hit play on some Bus Boys, & slide down the pole & suit up. It’s on the bucket list.

Oh here’s a question for you related to that sequence! What does Ray shout after he slides down the pole? I’ve never been able to make it out.
Kieron W liked this
#4975043
Generally from the first film it's the "This chick is toast". From the second I would say when Ray says "Hold it right there deadhead!" The third film is where Egon takes the wand to help Phoebe and then you seethe other guys throw em.
#4975044
Another big one for me, especially as a kid, was the opening of GB2 (right after Oscar takes a joyride in his psychomagnetherically-charged baby carriage and almost gets mashed into street pizza), when the Ghostbusters theme music fades in with that beautifully animated GB2 logo, and it cuts to the old Ectomobile cruising down the city street in a haze of dust and exhaust fumes. That sudden emotional gear-shift from dread and anxiety (for Oscar's situation) to relief and excitement gets my adrenaline pumping every time.
#4975071
For me, it would have to be in GB2 when they charge up the Statue of Liberty with that fantastic Howard Huntsberry cover of 'Higher and Higher', and proceeding to see them parading down the street with the police entourage while everyone cheers.
Just the way it's presented brings so much unbridled joy, almost as if a dose of positively charged mood slime somehow crept through my TV.

Not only does it pump me up, but it's definitely one of my favorite ''feel good'' moments in film.
#4975088
RealGhostbusterJay wrote: December 11th, 2022, 6:18 am Generally from the first film it's the "This chick is toast". From the second I would say when Ray says "Hold it right there deadhead!" The third film is where Egon takes the wand to help Phoebe and then you seethe other guys throw em.
“Hold it right there deadhead” is a good one. It’s so badass. I love Dan Aykroyd’s delivery in that sequence.

I can’t say this enough. This is what makes Ghostbusters so awesome. It’s what the reboot was missing. Yes it’s a comedy but there’s this weird tonal superhero quality, like a western but with Ghosts and nuclear power packs. It’s the way the GB’s are framed and lit and how they say their dialogue mixed with the music. Like that moment with Vigo is played dead serious. And it works because they aren’t cracking jokes. They, the GB’s, are taking the threat seriously. This could be a scene in a Ridley Scott movie or James Cameron movie. But it just happens to be Ghostbusters. Tapping into that is so hard. When to play the comedy and when it play it serious. Christ, in less than 1 minute of screen time Venkman will be cracking jokes at Vigo but it doesn’t undermine the tension or the moment. Because when Vigo does his magic breath thing, the GB’s writhed in legit pain. They are suffering.

I can’t think of any other movie that has the tone of Ghostbusters. It’s such a specific but hard to get right thing. I guess Men in Black kind of got it, the first one. But that wasnt as much as “comedy” as Ghostbusters. The only other movie that I can think of is Dr Strangelove. It’s got that weird vibe to it.
#4975132
Savin the Day scene the way it is shot in really gives the dramatic effect. Them pulling away that crane shot of them heading to the scene the smoke coming from the top of the building. And the great shot of them coming towards the camera and where the final showdown will happen. It just shot excellent cinematography and sets up the movie's last act.
DancingToaster liked this
#4975769
For me unquestionably it's the beginning of the GBII montage, as soon as Peter starts saying "we're the best, we're the beautiful...". The Run DMC song just hits hard for me, and then the over-the-top 1A just really does it for me.
#4975779
jonogunn wrote: December 26th, 2022, 9:20 pm Oh man so many choices. Basically everything every one already mentioned is up there.

I would also like to add “come on let’s run some red lights!”
Yep.

How many of us here as kids looked at the GBs as like Superheroes ala Batman or Superman? I know I did. As a kid the movie played completely straight. It wasn’t a comedy. The guys weren’t schlubby firemen. They are heroes! That’s the secret to Ghostbusters success.

That’s why I’ve always loved the big hero theme in GB2. It shouldn’t work. But it’s so awesome. When Louis gets suited up? Man.
#4976011
RichardLess wrote: November 30th, 2022, 2:36 pmSome other candidates? “Alright this chick is toast”. This one always gets me pumped up. The western style show down. This is where Ivan Reitman really shines. He knows when to go for the laugh and when go to for the momentum & drama.
I never noticed until recently that after Venkman says that line, he looks like he starts making drum sounds as motivation. This whole part is really great.
ghoulishfright wrote:I always get pumped when they defeat the Scoleri Brothers. It's such a visceral bust, and you really feel the stakes of that scene. It's their first time back in action in five years, and when they finally trap the Scoleri Brothers with that badass rhyme ("Two in the box!"); exit the courtroom with Venkman's badass line ("We're the fast, we're the beautiful, we're the only . . . Ghostbusters."); and it transitions to that killer montage -- it's like ghosthead catnip.
This was one of the first things I thought of. The courtroom sequence is definitely one of the strongest parts of the movie!
mrmichaelt liked this

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