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Ghost
Year - 1990
Studio - Paramount
Stars - Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn
Director - Jerry Zucker
Writing Credits - Bruce Joel Rubin (screenplay)
Music - Maurice Jarre
Synopsis
Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze), a young bank executive lives with his girl friend, Molly Jensen (Demi Moore) in a New York City loft they renovated together, with help from Carl Bruner (Tony Goldwyn), Sam's best friend and business associate.
After attending a play, they are mugged on the street, and Sam is fatally shot. His ghost rises and tries to comprehend the sight of his lifeless body being held by the sobbing Molly. Sam follows Molly everywhere, including his own funeral, but is incapable of being seen or heard, or moving physical matter. Her cat, however, seems to sense his presence. When he is alone in the loft, the mugger (Rick Aviles) breaks in and appears to be searching for something, but he runs off when Molly returns. Sam follows him to run down apartment and learns his identity, Willlie Lopez. On the subway train, Sam encounters another ghost (Vincent Schiavelli), who angrily demands that Sam leave "his train," and, to Sam's amazement, is able to smash a window with his fists.
Sam sees a storefront psychic business and, on a whim, decides to observe. As the psychic, Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) conducts her session with a client, Sam finds that, while she is clearly a charlatan as a seance medium, she is able to hear his voice. He begs Oda Mae to be his voice to Molly, but she refuses. Sam does not give up and stays with her and sings constantly until Oda Mae can't take it any more. They go to Molly, and Sam has Oda Mae tell her facts that only the two of them could possibly know. At first unbelieving, Molly is eventually convinced that Sam is speaking through her.
The incredulous police listen to Molly's story, but find that Willie Lopez has no criminal record, and that Oda Mae has an extensive file for fraud related cases. Frustrated, Molly tells Carl Bruner about the events who, while disbelieving, promises to check out Willie Lopez. Sam follows Carl to Willie's apartment only to discover that the two of them were in on his mugging together. Willie was only supposed to get Sam's wallet containing his office computer passwords, so that Carl could embezzle money to pay off debts he owed to the mob.
Sam searches for the subway ghost he had previously encountered and, finding him, demands that he teach him how to move objects. He learns that the act requires intense emotional concentration, and he is soon able to interact with small physical items.
He returns to Oda Mae and again compels her to help him, this time to go to his bank under an assumed name, and close a four million dollar account - the same account that Carl is attempting to steal from. Oda Mae's new found wealth is short lived, when Sam makes her endorse the cashier's check over to two nuns soliciting donations on the street.
Sam and Oda Mae return to Molly who now is firmly convinced of Sam's existence as a ghost when he makes a penny rise from the floor to her hands. Oda Mae allows Sam to enter her body so that he and Molly may embrace as if it were him.
But Carl has discovered what has happened to the money, and he arrives at the loft, furiously demanding its return from Oda Mae. She and Molly run from him to an area of the building under construction, and he pursues them with a gun. Sam follows and is able to summon enough emotional energy to physically defend the women, and, as Carl crashes through a window, a falling shard of glass kills him. His ghost rises, but is immediately surrounded by shadowy figures that have emerged from below, and he is dragged away screaming.
A heavenly light from above appears, signaling that Sam is now ready to move on. Molly is now able to both hear and see him and they embrace before Sam walks away into the brightness.