| “Unchained Melody” | |
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| Song by Todd Duncan | |
| Released | January 19, 1955 |
| Composer(s) | Alex North |
| Lyricist(s) | Hy Zaret |
“Unchained Melody” is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. North wrote the music as a theme for the little-known prison film Unchained (January 1955), hence the song title. Todd Duncan sang the vocals for the film soundtrack. It has since become a standard and one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, most notably by the Righteous Brothers in 1965. According to the song’s publishing administrator, over 1,500 recordings of “Unchained Melody” have been made by more than 670 artists, in multiple languages.
In 1955, three versions of the song (by Les Baxter, Al Hibbler, and Roy Hamilton) charted in the Billboard top 10 in the United States, and four versions (by Al Hibbler, Les Baxter, Jimmy Young, and Liberace) appeared in the top 20 in the United Kingdom simultaneously, a record for any song. The song continued to chart in the 21st century, and it was the only song to reach number one with four different recordings in the UK until it was joined by Band Aid 30‘s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in 2014.
Of the hundreds of recordings made, the Righteous Brothers’ version, with a solo by Bobby Hatfield, became the jukebox standard after its release. Hatfield changed the melody in the final verse and many subsequent covers of the song are based on his version. The Righteous Brothers recording achieved a second round of great popularity when featured in the film Ghost in 1990. In 2004, it was number 27 on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.
Origin of song
In 1954, Alex North was contracted to compose the score for the prison film Unchained (released in 1955). North had a melody he had written in the 1930s and composed and recorded the score when was asked to write a song based upon the movie’s theme. North asked Hy Zaret to write the lyrics. After first refusing, Zaret and North together wrote “Unchained Melody.” Zaret refused the producer’s request to include the word “unchained” in his lyrics. The song eventually became known as the “Unchained Melody” even though the song does not actually include the word “unchained”. Instead, Zaret chose to focus on someone who pines for a lover he has not seen in a “long, lonely time”. The film centered on a man who contemplates either escaping from prison to live life on the run or completing his sentence and returning to his wife and family. The song has an unusual harmonic device as the bridge ends on the tonic chord rather than the more usual dominant chord.
Todd Duncan sang the vocals for the film soundtrack and performs an abbreviated version in the film. Playing one of the prisoners, he sings it, accompanied by another prisoner on guitar, while other prisoners listen sadly. With Duncan singing the vocals, the song was nominated for 1955’s Oscars, but the Best Song award went to the hit song “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing“.
William Stirrat, an electrical engineer, claimed to have written the lyrics as a teenager in 1936 under the pen name “Hy Zaret” only to have North use the uncredited words in the 1955 original. Although the case went to court, the dispute was resolved completely in favor of Zaret (the songwriter born Hyman Zaritsky, not William Stirrat) who continued to receive all royalties.
Early versions
Following the movie, there were several charting covers that were released in 1955. Bandleader Les Baxter released a choral version (Capitol Records catalog number 3055) which reached number 1 on the US charts and number 10 in the UK. The words “unchain me” are sung repeatedly at the beginning and the lyrics are sung by a choir. Billboard ranked this version as the No. 5 song of 1955.
Al Hibbler followed close behind with a vocal version (Decca Records catalog number 29441), that reached number 3 on the Billboard charts and number 2 in the UK chart listings.
Jimmy Young‘s release (on Decca Records UK catalog number F10502) stayed at number 1 on the British charts for 3 weeks and remained on the UK charts for 19 weeks. Young re-recorded the song in early 1964 and it hit number 43 in the UK. Two weeks after Young’s version entered the top 10 of the British charts in June 1955,
Liberace scored a number 20 hit (Philips PB 430).
Roy Hamilton‘s version (Epic Records catalog number 9102) reached number 1 on the R&B Best Sellers list and number 6 on the pop chart.
June Valli recorded the song on March 15, 1955 (RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20-6078) with the flip side “Tomorrow”, and took it to number 29 on the Top Pop Records list.
Harry Belafonte recorded the song, and sang his version at the 1956 Academy Awards after it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song of 1955.
While the sheet music business was losing its prominence to sound recordings, a sheet music release of the song peaked at number 1 on its tenth week on the Billboard Best Selling Sheet Music chart on the week ending June 18, 1955. It stayed at its peak position for nine weeks until it dropped to number 4 on its twentieth week on the week ending August 27.
Charts
Les Baxter
Roy Hamilton
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Jimmy Young
Al Hibbler
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The Righteous Brothers versions
| “Unchained Melody” | ||||
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B-side label of the original US vinyl single “Hung on You”
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| Single by The Righteous Brothers | ||||
| from the album Just Once in My Life | ||||
| A-side | “Hung on You” (original 1965 release) | |||
| B-side | “You’re My Soul and Inspiration” (1990 European reissue) | |||
| Released |
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| Recorded | March 2, 1965 | |||
| Studio | Radio Recorders (Hollywood) | |||
| Genre | Blue-eyed soul | |||
| Length | 3:36 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Composer(s) | Alex North | |||
| Lyricist(s) | Hy Zaret | |||
| Producer(s) |
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| The Righteous Brothers singles chronology | ||||
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| Alternative release | ||||
1990 UK vinyl re-release of the original 1965 recording
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The best-known version of “Unchained Melody” was recorded by the duo The Righteous Brothers for Philles Records in 1965. The lead vocal was performed solo by Bobby Hatfield, who later recorded other versions of the song credited solely to him. According to his singing partner Bill Medley, they had agreed to do one solo piece each per album. Both wanted to sing “Unchained Melody” for their fourth album, but Hatfield won the coin toss.
“Unchained Melody” was originally released as the “B” side of the single “Hung On You” as the follow-up single to “Just Once in My Life“. However, “Hung On You” failed to interest radio DJs who instead chose to play the ‘B’ side “Unchained Melody”. According to Medley, producer Phil Spector, who would deliberately place a throwaway song that was not meant to be played on the B side, was so incensed by DJs choosing to play the B side that he started to call their radio stations to get them to stop playing “Unchained Melody”. However, he failed, and the song reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 14 in the UK in 1965. “Unchained Melody” is written in the key of C major.
Recording
As Spector was not especially interested in producing b-sides or album tracks he left the production to Bill Medley, who had produced the duo before they signed with Spector and Philles. He brought in a similar ‘wall of sound’ instrumental track. Medley said: “Phil came to me and asked me to produce the Righteous Brothers albums because he would have taken too long and it would have cost too much money.” By Medley’s account, Spector only claimed production credit after it supplanted “Hung On You” as the hit. Early copies of the single did not credit a producer for “Unchained Melody” and only credited Spector as producer of the original single “Hung On You”. Later pressings of the single credited Spector as the producer, as do album liner notes in the Spector box set Back to Mono (1958–1969).
Hatfield made a change to the song during the recording sessions. The first two takes of the song he performed it in the same style as the Roy Hamilton. For a third take, he decided to change the melody for the “I need your love” line in the final verse, and sang it much higher instead.
After this recording, Hatfield said he could do another take better, to which Medley replied: “No, you can’t.” Medley played the Wurlitzer piano on the song and he noted that “if I knew that it was gonna be a hit I certainly would have brought in a better piano player.”
Re-recording and re-release
“Unchained Melody” reappeared on the US Billboard charts in 1990 after The Righteous Brothers’ recording was used in the box office blockbuster film Ghost.
Two versions charted in the US that year – the original and a new recording. According to Medley, he was interested in having the original recording released due to the renewed interest in the song, but was told that there were licensing issues. Although Hatfield’s voice was no longer as good as when he first recorded the song, they decided to re-record it for Curb Records. The re-recorded version was released as both a cassette single and a CD single. It received minimal airplay but sold well, peaking at number 19. The re-recorded version was certified Platinum by the RIAA on January 10, 1991, and received a Grammy Award nomination.
The 1965 original Righteous Brothers recording was reissued in 1990 by oldies-reissue label Verve Forecast under licensing from Polygram Records (which had acquired the rights years earlier). The original version received a lot of airplay, and topped the U.S. adult contemporary chart for two weeks in 1990. However, sales for this version were minimal in the US since it was only available as a 45 RPM single and the song peaked at No. 13 based largely on airplay. For eight weeks, both versions were on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously and the Righteous Brothers became the first act to have two versions of the same song in the Top 20 at the same time. This re-released song reached number 1 in the UK where it stayed for four weeks, becoming the UK’s top selling single of 1990. As of 2017, it has sold 1.17 million copies in the UK. The 1990 reissue also reached number 1 in Australia, Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
Due to the success of their re-recording, The Righteous Brothers also re-recorded other songs and released them as part of a budget-priced CD compilation by Curb Records. For the original recordings, Polydor had licensed the CD rights to Rhino Records for a premium-priced 1989 compilation of Righteous Brothers hits from various labels; later in 1990, it issued its own regular-priced Righteous Brothers greatest hits CD that included the recording.
Reception
The Righteous Brothers’ cover of “Unchained Melody” is now widely considered the definitive version of the song. Hatfield’s vocal in the original recording in particular is highly praised; it has been described as “powerful, full of romantic hunger, yet ethereal,” and a “vocal tour de force”, although his later re-recording was noted as “fudging only a bit on the highest notes”. The production of their original recording has been described as “epic”, and that with “Hatfield’s emotion-packed tenor soaring to stratospheric heights, it’s a record designed to reduce anyone separated from the one they loved to a “pile of mush”.
Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA) | Platinum | 70,000^ |
| Austria (IFPI Austria) | Gold | 25,000* |
| Japan (RIAJ) | Platinum | 100,000^ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ) | Gold | 5,000* |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE) | Gold | 25,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI) | Platinum | 1,167,000 |
| United States (RIAA) | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
| * Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
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Robson & Jerome version
| “Unchained Melody” | ||||
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| Single by Robson & Jerome | ||||
| from the album Robson & Jerome | ||||
| Released | May 8, 1995 | |||
| Recorded | 1995 | |||
| Length | 3:17 | |||
| Label | BMG Records | |||
| Composer(s) | Alex North | |||
| Lyricist(s) | Hy Zaret | |||
| Producer(s) | Mike Stock, Matt Aitken | |||
| Robson & Jerome singles chronology | ||||
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The version by Robson & Jerome is notable as the best-selling single of 1995 in the UK. It also launched the singing career of Robson & Jerome, and became the biggest hit in the UK for Simon Cowell, marking his beginning as a significant figure in the music industry.
In November 1994, in an episode of the UK television drama series Soldier Soldier, characters Dave Tucker and Paddy Garvey, portrayed by actors Robson Green and Jerome Flynn respectively, performed “Unchained Melody” as an impromptu duo, The Unrighteous Brothers, after the entertainment failed to appear for a friend’s wedding. Their performance triggered a strong response from the audience who attempted to find a recording of the song that was then unavailable. Simon Cowell was alerted to the interest shown by the public, and pursued the two reluctant actors for the next four months to record the song, to the extent that Robson Green threatened legal action to stop Cowell harassing them. The actors were eventually persuaded to sign a recording contract with Cowell and record a Righteous Brothers-type version of the song as a duo. The recording was produced by Mike Stock and Matt Aitken. It was later revealed by Stock that the vocals were “assisted” and parts of the song were sung by other session singers. It was released as a double A-sided single with “White Cliffs of Dover“, a popular song during World War II, included in recognition of the 50th anniversary of VE day, the date of the single release. The video released for “Unchained Melody” also incorporated clips from the 1945 film Brief Encounter.
Their recording immediately reached number 1 in the UK, selling 314,000 copies in its first week, at that time the fastest-selling debut single in UK chart history. It stayed at the top of the chart for seven weeks. It became the best selling single of 1995, and one of the country’s all-time biggest-selling singles (No. 9 in November 2012), with 1.87 million copies sold. The self-titled album they released later in the year also became the best-selling album of 1995. Although the duo decided to quit the following year, they would eventually sell 7 million copies of albums and 5 million copies of the 3 singles released. Simon Cowell, who before this was known largely as a creator of novelty records with television characters such as the puppets Zig and Zag and action characters Power Rangers, then came to the attention of the media for his ability to create hit records.
Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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| United Kingdom (BPI) | 2× Platinum | 1,872,000 |
Gareth Gates version
| “Unchained Melody” | ||||
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| Single by Gareth Gates | ||||
| from the album What My Heart Wants to Say | ||||
| Released | March 18, 2002 | |||
| Recorded | 2002 | |||
| Studio | A-side (Stockholm, Sweden) | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 3:54 | |||
| Label | RCA, 19, S | |||
| Composer(s) | Alex North | |||
| Lyricist(s) | Hy Zaret | |||
| Producer(s) | Steve Mac | |||
| Gareth Gates singles chronology | ||||
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English singer-songwriter Gareth Gates first performed “Unchained Melody” as a contestant in the quarter-final of the first series of the UK singing competition television show Pop Idol, which included Simon Cowell as one of the judges. Gates reprised the song in the final as his personal choice, but the competition was won by Will Young. Gates was signed by Cowell, and as the runner-up, Gates released the song as his first single three weeks after the winner had released his single, the double A-sided “Anything Is Possible” / “Evergreen“. Gates’ cover of “Unchained Melody” was released together with his versions of the same two songs released by Young, which Gates had also performed in the final.
Gates’ version of “Unchained Melody” became one of the fastest-selling singles in the UK, selling around 328,000 copies in the first day of release. It reached number one on the UK Singles Chart in its first week of release with sales of 850,000 copies, and stayed at the top of the chart for four weeks. It became the second best-selling song in the UK in 2002, as well as that of the decade of 2000s, after the single by the winner Will Young. It has sold 1.35 million copies in the UK as of 2017.
Charts
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
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Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
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| Australia (ARIA) | Gold | 35,000^ |
| Belgium (BEA) | Gold | 25,000* |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[ | 2× Platinum | 1,348,000 |
| * Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
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Release history
| Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
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| United Kingdom | March 18, 2002 |
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| Australia | July 21, 2003 | CD |
Elvis Presley version
| “Unchained Melody” | ||||
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| Song by Elvis Presley | ||||
| B-side | “Softly, As I Leave You“ | |||
| Released | March 1978 | |||
| Recorded | June 21, 1977 | |||
| Venue | Rushmore Civic Center in Rapid City, South Dakota | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Label | RCA | |||
| Composer(s) | Alex North | |||
| Lyricist(s) | Hy Zaret | |||
| Producer(s) | Felton Jarvis | |||
| Elvis Presley singles chronology | ||||
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On June 21, 1977, Elvis Presley performed the song at a show in Rapid City, South Dakota. The performance, described as “the last great moment of his career”, was recorded for his last television special two months before his death in August 1977. A single, based on this recording, was released in March 1978 by RCA Records with “Softly, As I Leave You” as the b-side. The song reached No. 6 in the country charts of both the US and Canada, and was certified Gold by Music Canada on July 10, 1986.
Another live version recorded earlier on April 24, 1977, at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was included in his last album Moody Blue. Both versions had studio overdubs with additional instruments added before they were released.
Charts
| Chart (1977) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada Country Tracks (RPM) | 6 |
| US Hot Country Songs (Billboard) | 6 |
Certifications
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada) | Gold | 50,000^ |
| * Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
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Other notable versions
- Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers of The Goons recorded a parody of the song, produced by George Martin, on June 29, 1955. It would have been the first single by the Goons, however, EMI refused to release it, fearing a lawsuit from its music publisher. It prompted Spike Milligan to move to Decca Records which released other works from the Goons. The Goons later released an album titled Unchained Melodies with Decca, but without the actual song. The single was later released in 1990, and the song was then included in the 2007 compilation album titled Unchained Melodies – The Complete Recordings 1955-1978.
- In 1956 Franco and the “G.5” recorded a personal version of the piece for the Italian market (Columbia – SEDQ 624), a piece included in the album Qui Franco and the G.5 of the same year (Columbia – QS 6078).
- In 1963, an uptempo doo-wop version by Vito & the Salutations peaked at number 66 on the Billboard Hot 100; this version was used in the soundtrack for Goodfellas in 1990.
- David Garrick released a version which reached No. 14 in the Netherlands in 1968.
- In 1979, George Benson recorded a version for the Warner Bros. Records album Livin’ Inside Your Love. The single peaked at number 27 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary (chart).
- In 1981, a live version performed by the band Heart, with lead vocals by Ann Wilson, peaked at number 83 on the Billboard Hot 100.
- In 1986, Leo Sayer released a version of the song with a contemporary reworking of the “wall of sound” production technique that included an unusual electric guitar solo near the climax. The single charted in the UK at No. 54.
- U2 covered the song as a B-side to their 1989 single, “All I Want Is You“, and included in their compilation album The Best of 1980–1990. They have performed the song live many times, including one captured on their 1993 concert film Zoo TV: Live from Sydney. Bono and The Edge also performed the song together with “One” for the charity 46664 Concert in tribute to Nelson Mandela held in Cape Town in 2003.
- Cyndi Lauper was nominated for a 2005 Grammy award for “Best Instrumental Composition Accompanying a Vocal” for her interpretation of the song, which appears on her 2003 studio album At Last.
- In 2006, singer Barry Manilow covered the song on his album The Greatest Songs of the Fifties and was released as a single. The song reached number 20 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
- In 2020, country singers Orville Peck and Paul Cauthen released a cover of the song under the name “The Unrighteous Brothers” along with a cover of “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’“.
- Ricky Nelson
- Dave Monk
- The Platters
Country charts
Different versions of the song have made the US Hot Country Songs charts.
- Joe Stampley (number 41, 1975)
- Ronnie McDowell (number 26, 1991)
- LeAnn Rimes (number 3, 1997) LeAnn Rimes’ cover was originally released in September 1996 as a B-side track to One Way Ticket (Because I Can) and again in November 1996 on a promotional single “Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart” that was only available at Target stores on the purchase of her first album Blue. It was also released as a single to radio on December 24, 1996, and included in the compilation album Unchained Melody: The Early Years in 1997. The song reached No. 3 on the Hot Country Songs chart in the US, and No. 3 in the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada. It was ranked No. 64 on the 1997 Year End Country Songs chart in the US, and No. 49 in Canada’s Year End Country Tracks chart.
Ray Conniff – Unchained Melody
Impact
Popularity
“Unchained Melody” was the only song to have reached No. 1 in the UK in four different recordings on the official chart until it was joined by the charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in its fourth re-recording in 2014. It is the only song to have sold over a million by three separate acts in the UK – Robson and Jerome (1.87 million), Gareth Gates (1.35 million), the Righteous Brothers (1.17 million). The song has been number 1 on lists of love songs featured on the United Kingdom’s Channel 4 and Five.
The song has been covered by many artists; according to the song’s publishing administrator, over 1,500 recordings of “Unchained Melody” have been made by more than 670 artists in multiple languages. Its popularity also meant that the song is one of the highest grossing songs for its copyright holders, estimated in 2012 to be the fifth biggest earners of royalties according to the BBC’s list of The Richest Songs in the World at £18 million.
Accolades
The song was nominated in 1956 for 1955’s Oscar for best original song from the film Unchained. The re-recorded version by The Righteous Brothers was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1991 in the best pop performance by a duo or group category, and their original version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000. The use of the Righteous Brothers’ cover of “Unchained Melody” in the film Ghost resurrected the song’s popularity as it was recognized as the “most played” song of 1992 by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). ASCAP also announced it to be one of the 25 most-performed songs and musical works of the 20th century in 1999, and the most-performed love song of the 1950s in 2003.
In 2001, the song was ranked at No. 138 in the list of Songs of the Century released by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2004, Rolling Stone placed the Righteous Brothers version of the song at number 365 on their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was placed first in Magic 1278‘s 500 greatest songs of all time. It was also listed in 2004 at No. 27 in the list of the 100 top movie songs of all time in American Film institute’s centenary AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs survey of songs in American cinema. In 2007, the Songwriters Hall of Fame honored “Unchained Melody” with a Towering Song award that is presented to creators of a song “that has influenced the culture in a unique way over many years.”
| Ghost | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Jerry Zucker |
| Produced by | Lisa Weinstein |
| Written by | Bruce Joel Rubin |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Maurice Jarre |
| Cinematography | Adam Greenberg |
| Edited by | Walter Murch |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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128 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $22 million |
| Box office | $505.7 million |
Ghost is a 1990 American romantic fantasy film directed by Jerry Zucker from a screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin, and starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn, Vincent Schiavelli and Rick Aviles. The plot centers on Sam Wheat (Swayze), a murdered banker, whose ghost sets out to save his girlfriend, Molly Jensen (Moore), from the person who killed him – through the help of the psychic Oda Mae Brown (Goldberg).
Ghost was theatrically released on July 13, 1990, to commercial success, grossing $505 million against a budget of $22–23 million and emerging as the highest-grossing film of 1990 and at the time of its release, was the third-highest-grossing film of all time. The film received positive reviews from critics, with particular praise going towards the score and performances of the cast. Ghost earned five nominations at the 63rd Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, and winning Best Supporting Actress for Goldberg and Best Original Screenplay for Rubin.
Plot
Sam Wheat, a banker, and his girlfriend Molly Jensen, an artist, renovate and move into an apartment in Manhattan with the help of Sam’s friend and co-worker Carl Bruner. One afternoon, Sam confides in Carl about his discovery of unusually high balances in obscure bank accounts. He decides to investigate the matter himself, declining Carl’s offer of assistance. That night, Sam and Molly are attacked by a mugger who shoots and kills Sam in a scuffle before stealing his wallet. Sam sees Molly crying over his body and discovers he is now a ghost, invisible and seemingly unable to interact with the mortal world.
Molly is distraught in the days after Sam’s death, as Sam remains close to her. Carl comes over and suggests she take a walk with him; Sam, unable to follow through the locked door, stays behind. Moments later, the mugger enters the apartment in search of something. When Molly returns, Sam scares their cat into attacking the thug, who flees. He follows the mugger to his Brooklyn apartment, learning that the man, Willie Lopez, was sent by an unknown party.
After leaving Willie’s residence, Sam happens upon the parlor of psychic Oda Mae Brown, a charlatan pretending to commune with spirits of the dead who is shocked to discover her true psychic gift when she can hear Sam speaking. Sam persuades her to warn Molly that she is in danger. To allay Molly’s skepticism, Oda Mae relays information that only Sam could know. Molly later gives Willie’s address to Carl, who volunteers to investigate. She then goes to the police, who have no file for Willie but they show her Oda Mae’s lengthy one as a forger and con artist.
Meanwhile, Sam follows Carl and is devastated to learn he and Willie are working together. Carl is laundering money for drug dealers and had Willie rob Sam to obtain his book of passwords. After getting the book himself from the apartment, Carl transfers the money into a single account under the fictitious name “Rita Miller”.
Determined to protect Molly, Sam learns from a violent poltergeist haunting the subway system how to channel emotion in order to move solid objects. He then enlists Oda Mae to help him thwart Carl by impersonating Rita Miller and withdrawing the laundered money totaling $4 million, which she later reluctantly donates to some nuns on Sam’s insistence. As Carl desperately searches for the money, Sam reveals his presence by typing his name on the computer keyboard. Carl goes to Molly, who reveals she spotted Oda Mae closing an account at the bank.
Carl and Willie go to Oda Mae’s but Sam warns her and her sisters to take shelter. When Willie arrives, Sam spooks him as revenge, causing him to flee into the street in a fit of panic before being struck and killed by an oncoming car. Shadowy demons emerge from the darkness to drag Willie’s ghost down to Hell.
Sam and Oda Mae return to the apartment and, by levitating a penny into Molly’s hand, he convinces Molly that Oda Mae is telling the truth about him. Oda Mae allows Sam to possess her body so he and Molly can share a slow dance. Carl breaks into the apartment but Sam is too exhausted from the possession to fight Carl. The women take the fire escape to a loft under construction, but Carl catches Oda Mae and holds her at gunpoint, demanding the check.
Sam recovers and pushes Carl off her, prompting Carl to take Molly hostage and plead with Sam for the check. Sam disarms him, attacking him again. Carl tries to escape through a window and tosses a suspended hook at Sam, but the hook swings back, shattering the window and causing it to slide down, fatally impaling Carl with a glass shard. The shadowy demons who came for Willie return to claim Carl’s ghost, dragging him to Hell.
Sam asks if the women are all right. Molly is now able to hear him and a heavenly light shines in the room, illuminating Sam’s presence. Realizing that his task is now completed and it is time for him to go, he and Molly share a tearful goodbye and one last kiss, finally having proper closure between them. Sam thanks Oda Mae for her help and then walks into the light and onward to Heaven.
Cast
- Patrick Swayze as Sam Wheat
- Demi Moore as Molly Jensen
- Whoopi Goldberg as Oda Mae Brown
- Tony Goldwyn as Carl Bruner
- Rick Aviles as Willie Lopez
- Vincent Schiavelli as Subway Ghost
- Gail Boggs as Oda Mae’s Sister, Louise
- Armelia McQueen as Oda Mae’s Sister, Clara
- Phil Leeds as Emergency Room Ghost
- Augie Blunt as Orlando
- Stephen Root as Police Sgt
- Bruce Jarchow as Lyle Ferguson
Production
Background and filming
Ghost was the first film Jerry Zucker directed on his own. He had previously been part of the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker directing team, known for their screwball comedies. Zucker stated that his decision to direct Ghost was not made to distance himself from comedies or to mark a new chapter in his career, but was merely “just looking for a good film to direct.”
Harrison Ford, Michael J. Fox, Paul Hogan, Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Kevin Kline, Alec Baldwin and Tom Cruise were considered for the role of Sam Wheat. Bruce Willis turned down the role of Sam Wheat as he did not understand the script and later called himself a “knucklehead” for turning it down. Michelle Pfeiffer, Molly Ringwald, Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman were considered for the role of Molly Jensen. Tina Turner and Oprah Winfrey auditioned for the role of Oda Mae Brown.
Zucker credited arguments from radio host Dennis Prager with deciding to “lighten” Rubin’s original script with a moral message.
Rubin noted that he “wanted to tell a ghost story from the ghost’s perspective”: “One day, I was watching a production of Hamlet, which begins with the ghost of Hamlet’s father saying, ‘Revenge my death,’” he recalled. “I thought, ‘Wow, let’s transpose that into the 20th century; it’d be an interesting story.’ And the idea hit me.”
Filming for Ghost began shooting in July 1989. Most of the interior scenes were shot at Paramount in Los Angeles while the exterior scenes were shot in New York City, particularly in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Soho, and Wall Street, for about five weeks. The film features about 100 special effects shots. Demi Moore’s famous ‘boy cut’ in the movie was designed by Manhattan hair stylist John Sahag.
Music
The music for Ghost was written by veteran French composer Maurice Jarre, whose work was nominated for the 1990 Academy Award for Best Original Score (won by John Barry for Dances with Wolves). The soundtrack also featured the 1955 song “Unchained Melody“, composed by Alex North with lyrics by Hy Zaret. This was originally written for the film Unchained – a very different, low-budget movie about prison life. In Ghost, the song appears both in instrumental and vocal form, the latter being the version recorded by Bobby Hatfield of The Righteous Brothers in 1965.
The soundtrack album was issued worldwide on Milan Records, but licensed to Varèse Sarabande in North America. It was reissued with two extra tracks in 1995, and later as part of Milan’s Silver Screen Edition series with the extra tracks and an interview with Maurice Jarre.
Release
Releases and sales
The film became an unexpected box-office success, grossing $505.7 million on a budget of between $22–23 million. It was the highest-grossing film of 1990. Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 51.46 million tickets in the US. It spent eight consecutive weeks at number one at the UK box office and became the highest-grossing film of all-time in the UK surpassing E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial with a gross of £23.3 million. That record would last for three years before getting surpassed by Jurassic Park in 1993. It also spent six consecutive weeks atop the Australian box office. It was also the highest-grossing film in Indonesia at the time with a gross of $3.6 million and the highest-grossing foreign film in the Philippines.
The film was released on video and LaserDisc in the United States on March 21, 1991 and sold a record 646,000 videos for rental, breaking the record set by Die Hard 2, and a record 66,040 LaserDiscs. The rentals generated a gross of $40 million for Paramount. The video went on sale in the fall and generated sales of $25 million.
Critical response
Ghost has an approval rating of 75% based on 75 professional reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 6.9/10. Its critical consensus reads, “Ghost offers viewers a poignant romance while blending elements of comedy, horror, and mystery, all adding up to one of the more enduringly watchable hits of its era.” Metacritic (which uses a weighted average) assigned Ghost a score of 52 out of 100 based on 17 critics, indicating “mixed or average reviews”. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A” on an A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert gave Ghost two-and-a-half out of four stars in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times, regarding the film as “no worse an offender than most ghost movies, I suppose. It assumes that even after death we devote most of our attention to unfinished business here on Earth, and that danger to a loved one is more important to a ghost than the infinity it now inhabits.” He was also critical of the film’s “obligatory action climax”, the “ridiculous visitation from the demons of hell”, the “slow study” of the Molly character, and the “single best scene” in which Sam overtakes Oda Mae’s body to caress Molly: “In strict logic, this should involve us seeing Goldberg kissing Moore, but of course the movie compromises and shows us Swayze holding her – too bad, because the logical version would actually have been more spiritual and moving.”
David Ansen of Newsweek, despite finding the ending too sentimental, praised the film as “a zippy pastiche that somehow manages to seem fresh even though it’s built entirely out of borrowed parts.” Variety magazine called the film “an odd creation – at times nearly smothering in arty somberness, at others veering into good, wacky fun.” Goldberg received considerable praise for her performance. In a review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin comments “Ms. Goldberg plays the character’s amazement, irritation and great gift for back talk to the hilt. This is one of those rare occasions on which the uncategorizable Ms. Goldberg has found a film role that really suits her, and she makes the most of it.” Even some writers who gave negative reviews of Ghost extended praise to Goldberg’s work in the film.
Accolades
Legacy
The film inspired a musical stage version, Ghost: The Musical. The show had its world premiere in Manchester, UK, in March 2011 before transferring to London from June 2011 and having its premiere on July 19, 2011. On November 13, 2010, Paramount and Shochiku released a Japanese remake of Ghost, titled Ghost: In Your Arms Again (ゴースト もういちど抱きしめたい, Gōsuto Mouichido Dakishimetai). The remake stars Nanako Matsushima, South Korean actor Song Seung-heon, and veteran actress Kirin Kiki. In this film, the ghost is a woman, played by Matsushima.
The famous pottery scene was referenced in South Korean girl group TWICE’s music video for their song “What is Love?“. Jeongyeon and Sana are seen as Molly and Sam.
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