Концерт «Hedonism Sunset Live. Postman»
35/36
The ghosts of a deceased couple are harassed by an insufferable family who have moved into their house and hired a malevolent spirit to drive them out. This is Michael Keaton’s favorite film. Othos When he spray paints the walls in the house, his shoes change from fire-engine red elf shoes to white sneakers when he walks through the bathroom, and then back to the red elf shoes when he enters the next room. Adam: What are your qualifications? Beetlejuice: Ah. Well… I’m a Harvard Business School graduate.
I lived through the Black Plague and had a pretty good time doing it. I’ve seen The Exorcist about one hundred and sixty-seven times and it gets funnier every time I see it… not to mention the fact that you’re talking to a dead guy… now what do you THINK? Do you think I’m qualified? The Geffen Company logo is accompanied by a creepy version of the Banana Boat song (sung by film composer Danny Elfman). A workprint of the film with some additional/alternate scenes has surfaced.
This version of the film runs about 2 minutes shorter than the theatrical cut, has a few additional scenes and several others missing, is in black and white, and has a timecode at the bottom. This version has four major differences: Alternate Scene: The scene where Adam tries to leave the house after he and his wife die is different. Additional Scenes: There is an additional scene where Lydia develops the pictures she took of Adam and Barbra. Then, after her mother yells at her and accuses her of cutting holes in her sheets, Lydia runs upstairs and tries to convince her father that the pictures are real. There’s more in the scene where the adults search the attic for the ghosts: we see the desert monster trying to eat Adam and Barbra hanging from the attic window. Finally, there’s an additional two-minute scene at the end where we see Lydia riding her bike home from school and her parents talking on the phone to Jane, telling her they don’t want to sell the house. Lydia’s dance scene is shorter in this version, and there is no scene with Beetlejuice in the waiting room.
The film ends with one final exterior shot of the house. Day-OTTraditional, lyrics by William A. Attaway and Irving Burgie [Incorrectly credited as written by William A. Attaway & Irving Burgie (as Lord Burgess)]Performed by Harry BelafonteCourtesy of RCA Records. Watching this again on TV yesterday reminded me of the first time I saw it in the theater all those years ago, when Tim Burton was just the guy who directed that funny Pee-wee Herman movie. Walking into “Beetlejuice” then, not knowing anything about it, was an amazing experience. Along with “Blade Runner,” “Blue Velvet,” “Videodrome,” “Brazil,” “Paris, Texas,” “The Terminator” and “Repo Man,” it was one of the most amazing and memorable films of the 1980s, an era dominated by Hollywood dreck like “Flashdance,” “Top Gun” and “Footloose.” The whole Bruckheimer/Simpson/Spielberg/Hughes zeitgeist that dumbed down popular films like never before.
Films like “Beetlejuice” were a glimmer of hope in a truly awful time. The big question is: how does it stand today? The answer is better than ever! In fact, I would argue that Beetlejuice is Tim Burton’s most successful and least compromised film. A great cast led by the very attractive and likable Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis as the recently deceased Maitlands, a starring turn from Michael Keaton as the gonzo “bio-exorcist” title character, and strong support from Jeffrey Jones, Catherine O’Hara, and especially Winona Ryder (a performance that really put her on the map) as the new residents of the Maitlands home.
