Metrograph

A sleeper phenom that would become the top-grossing film of 1990, Zucker’s irresistible, poignant supernatural romance has Patrick Swayze as the titular spirit, a Manhattan banker slain in what appeared to be a random stick-up who enlists the aid of Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg), a charlatan psychic startled to discover she’s actually the real thing, in order to inform his bereaved girlfriend, ceramic artist Molly (Demi Moore), that his killer is now out looking for her. Swayze and Moore have enough crackling chemistry to elevate potential schmaltz to the level of the sublime, aided considerably by Maurice Jarre’s swooning score (and a little help from The Righteous Brothers) as well as Goldberg’s Academy Award-winning performance, a rare custom fit for her unclassifiable comic talents. (Walter Murch, as editor, scooped a nomination of his own.)

Distributor: Paramount