YMMV / Ghost (1990)

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Did Willy intend all along to kill Sam during the robbery? On the surface, it looks like a situation that escalated: he shoved Sam, Molly rushed to intervene, he hit Molly, Sam grabbed Willy's gun, and in the course of their struggle Willy shot Sam. Perhaps if Sam hadn't tried to fight Willy, he would have survived. Or perhaps not; it's possible one of his reasons for fighting back was that he sensed Willy wasn't going to let them live even if they cooperated. When Willy later justifies the killing to Carl, he says "I did you a favor." That could be a rationalization after the fact, or it could be an admission that the killing was a calculated choice.
  • For that matter, Carl's motivations and level of remorse are open to interpretation. Although he didn't order Willy to kill Sam and chastises him for doing so, he doesn't seem too broken up about it (he's mostly scared of how the murder puts himself in greater danger). His secret attraction to Molly suggests he always saw Sam as a rival, and he knew Sam was starting to notice suspicious activity in the bank that could have led him to discover Carl's crimes. Willy may be correct in suggesting that killing Sam was (from Carl's standpoint) doing Carl a favor.
• And You Thought It Would Fail: Bruce Willis turned down the role of Sam because he thought the film would flop. He freely admitted that wasn't the smartest move of his career. His then-wife Demi Moore had no such fears. At least he got to do his own very successful ghost movie later.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: The pottery scene is very steamy and sensual, and it's also the film's most remembered (and most parodied) scene. Even Patrick Swayze considered it to be the sexiest scene he ever filmed. Pretty impressive for a scene that has no nudity other than Swayze being Shirtless. Demi also at one point when Willy is spying on her.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The "double-dream" Sam experiences upon his death. It just comes and goes with nothing to indicate that it bore any significance on the circumstances at hand. Or, for that matter, if it was meant to.
• Catharsis Factor: Sure, the "fight" scenes with Sam against Willy and Carl are not exactly fair, but considering what they did to him, they sure are satisfying.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: The Subway Ghost, no small part due to Vincent Schiavelli's performance, acting as Sam's mentor on how to move solid objects, and his pitiful side to himself when the circumstances of how he died comes to light.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: When Oda Mae Brown exclaims, "I know you don't think I'm giving this $4 million to a bunch of nuns!"
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • The Subway Ghost. He's bitter, overwhelmingly protective of "his train", and largely uninterested in helping anyone else. Still, he died and is remembered under unpleasant circumstances (everyone thinks he was suicidal, and if he was, he clearly regrets it now—when it's too late), plus being unable to interact with anyone save other ghosts. He also appears to suffer from eternal addiction to nicotine while being unable to satisfy it. It becomes much sadder when you realize that, since he wasn't Dragged Off to Hell upon death, he probably wasn't even a bad person in life.
  • Willy and, to a lesser extent, Carl in their final moments. Word of God said that the scenes where they are taken to Hell were included to effectively give their characters two deaths.
• Mandela Effect: Willy Lopez's name is often misremembered as Willie Lopez. This may be because the end credits and subtitles spell his name that way, and because his name is only shown once in the movie.
• Narm:
  • When Carl tells Molly "you're not the one who died", she gives him an incredibly weak slap.
  • The Subway Ghost breaking the glass on the tobacco machine and crying "Oh, oh.... I'd give anything for a drag. Just one drag."
• One-Scene Wonder: Technically two scenes, but the subway ghost.
• Paranoia Fuel: When Willy and Carl die, the shadows themselves rise off the ground and take the shape of demons, and after the bad guys are whisked to hell, the shadows return to their original positions. In other words, the demons could be lying in wait anywhere!
• Questionable Casting: More like "Questionable Director of Choice", but one of the directors of Airplane! directing a gut-wrenchingly emotional romantic murder drama? Surely, you can't be serious? Even Bruce Joel Rubin, the screenwriter, says he was horrified when he first found out who was set to direct, but he went on to be highly satisfied with Zucker and pleased with how the movie turned out.^note And don't call us Shirley.
• Realism-Induced Horror: The film has situations that can be scary because they can actually happen.
  • Sam Wheat tries to play hero for Molly and ends up getting shot in a vital area and dying physically.
  • Carl Bruner got himself tangled up in mobster money laundering and gets terrified when the money he owes disappears due to Sam's machinations.
  • The subway ghost was Driven to Suicide — due unknown circumstances where he got overwhelmed with a series of misfortunes in his life — which has happened around train and subway tracks. We get consolation that the subway ghost has the opportunity to eventually find peace and move on, so it's heartwarming in that regard.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • In the scene where Molly goes to the police station and gets info on Oda Mae, Stephen Root appears as one of the detectives assisting her.
  • Tony Goldwyn (Carl) would go on to voice Tarzan.
• Signature Scene: The pottery scene, one of the most oft-parodied movie scenes of the late 20th century.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • The scenes with the dark figures... the green-screen technique has not aged well. Although, one could argue that it makes the figures seem even more creepy and unearthly.
  • Two involving Tony Goldwyn at the end of the movie after Carl's Sanity Slippage: when he's waving a butcher knife around while threatening Molly to Sam, the knife wobbles like crazy, indicating it's a rubber prop, and when Carl is impaled, Goldwyn's gigantic blood pack is pretty blatant judging by the pillowy bulge under his dress shirt.
  • When Sam is scaring Willy at Oda Mae's apartment, he causes a wall painting to fall on top of Willy. For a brief moment, you can see some sort of rod popping out of the wall that caused the painting to fall.

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