Harold Ramis Dies At 69

samzenpus writes "Writer and comedian Harold Ramis has passed away at 69. Ramis had a hand in many classic comedies but is especially loved for playing the ghost-hunting Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters. 'His creativity, compassion, intelligence, humor and spirit will be missed by all who knew and loved him,' said his family in a statement."

Comments

See you on the other side, Egon

[Anonymous Coward]

:(

Egon the scientist left an impression on me as an 11 year old kid.

While his character was supposed to be a little dorky I suppose, he was just pure awesome to me. He was the only Ghostbuster to be totally on top of things, and knew what he was doing. He inspired me to be the techie I am today.

RIP Harold Ramis.

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[o_ferguson]

I concur. An inspirational nerd.

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[Oscaro]

Same here. When I was a kid, I wanted to be like Egon.

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[Piata]

Egon was secretly everyone's favourite.

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[jdavidb]

I'd have to agree with that. In particular, I always remember him for the line "Print is dead." It certainly wasn't in 1984, and saying so made a person sound like a lunatic. But look at print today!

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[Anonymous Coward]

"This reminds me of the time you tried to drill a hole through your head, remember that?"

"That would've worked if you hadn't stopped me."

Awesome, but scary.

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[cayenne8]

I also very much loved him as Russell Ziskey in Stripes.

"I've always been kind of a pacifist. When I was a kid, my father told me, "Never hit anyone in anger, unless you're absolutely sure you can get away with it."

I don't know what kind of soldier I'm gonna make, but I want you guys to know that if we ever get into real heavy combat... I'll be right behind you guys. Every step of the way."

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[Anonymous Coward]

This sucks. I hope Bill Murray is feeling like shit for not wanting to film Ghostbusters III.

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[ackthpt]

:(

Egon the scientist left an impression on me as an 11 year old kid.

While his character was supposed to be a little dorky I suppose, he was just pure awesome to me. He was the only Ghostbuster to be totally on top of things, and knew what he was doing. He inspired me to be the techie I am today.

RIP Harold Ramis.

He left an impression on me, too. Nerds could be cool.

Thanks for the memories, Harold/Egon.

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[MightyMartian]

Bill Murray is a big famous actor now, since he got his (admittedly deserved) Oscar nomination for Lost in Translation.

It's a damned pity, but I don't see how a third movie could go ahead without Egon.

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[grcumb]

I concur. An inspirational nerd.

I sympathise, but as an old Canadian geezer, I always felt that by the time the US audience finally heard about them, the SCTV alumni had already done their best work. That troupe - and their cheezy, low-budget show - formed my sense of humour more than anything else. Dave Thomas, Harold Ramis, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Catherine O'Hara... all of them went on to make memorable comedy in the US. I think Joe Flaherty was the only one who didn't make a big splash. (Which is America's loss, not his.)

But there was a time when all of them were callow, reckless youths with nothing to lose by making asses of themselves week after week on a second-rate Toronto-based network that was so small (it had only 13 stations at the start) it too had nothing to lose.

Back in junior high school, my week was centred around that blessed moment when the Indian-head test pattern would appear and the announcer would say, 'Don't touch that dial. Don't touch that one either. And stop touching yourself.' I still remember the intonation....

(... I never did stop touching myself, but that's another story.)

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[o_ferguson]

As a younger Canadian, I first saw Ramis as Egon. Never could get into SCTV in repeats. Maybe because so much of their stuff had been stolen by other acts at that point that it didn't feel fresh. I had a similar weekly Canadian Comedy inspiration, but it was The Kids in the Hall.

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[dohnut]

"Print is dead."
- Egon, 1984

"Egon is dead."
- Print, 2014

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[SternisheFan]

Give this Bill Murray/ Howard Stern 2013 interview a listen. Jump to 20:00 for Ghostbuster3 info...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[Anonymous Coward]

Can't just bring it back as a continuing story now. Ramis dead. Murray refusing to have anything to do with it.

Time to bring in Abrams for a Ghostbusters reboot.

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[ChrisMaple]

Bill Murray has been a "big famous actor" since 1977 when he replaced Chevy Chase in Saturday Night Live. Ghostbusters is a young man's movie, and Murray looks older than Gene Hackman on a bad day. They'd have to apply makeup with a trowel.

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[SeaFox]

I always heard it as:

"God is dead."
- Friedrich Nietzsche, 1882

"Nietzsche is dead."
- God, 1900

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[Anonymous Coward]

lol, bill murray has been a "big famous actor" for decades and lost in translation was a shit film.

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[OurDailyFred]

A third movie could easily go ahead, as it would begin with Egon's funeral, clips of their reminiscences of Egon at a gathering of the remaining Ghostbusters when some plot device causes them to go back into action with Egon's replacement, his lab assistant, his son, Younger brother, etc. or some other reason to hold the plot together. Pepper the dialogue with references to Egon, keep the special effects within reason and you have a modestly priced film, give the original Ghostbusters a piece of the action to keep the costs down and voila - fans come to pay their respects to Egon.

Hey, movies have made money on a lot less of a plot.

F.

Re:See you on the other side, Egon

[jdavidb]

I have yet to actually see Ramis's death described in print. Just on my screen, here.

Egon Gone

[Freshly Exhumed]

He crossed the beams!

Re:Egon Gone

[EmagGeek]

STREAMS! He crossed the STREAMS!

Re:Egon Gone

[Steeltalon]

Dude! It's "crossed the *STREAMS*!
I blame today's educational system for failing us.

SMH

Re:Egon Gone

[RivenAleem]

Thanks Obama!

Re:Egon Gone

[Sponge Bath]

Dude, that's like saying the internet is a bunch of tubes.

Re:Egon Gone

[jxander]

wait ... are you saying that it ISN'T?

my whole life is a lie

Re:Egon Gone

[mcgrew]

Ghostbusters? Pshaw! How about the National Lampoon radio Hour, which was SNL without pictures? Harold Ramis, Bill Murray, Dan Ankroyd, John Belushi, Gilda Radner... and, er, wasn't Ramis with them on SNL, too? I taped a couple of thise NLRO shows, have them digitized now. Some hilarious stuff!

Of course, most of you folks weren't even born then. Hey, would one of you kids mow my lawn?

Re:Egon Gone

[Freshly Exhumed]

I blame the mistranslation of the Russian subtitles on that Italian-dubbed rip I got in an alley in Seoul! (hee hee, with a little bit of disinformation my plan to NOT look like a complete asshat fool on /. is working perfectly!)

Re:Egon Gone

[Anonymous Coward]

STREAMS! He crossed the STREAMS!

This is one of the best examples I use to explain airgapped networks to non-technical folks. Bad stuff can happen when you cross the streams.

Ziskey rates death

[NotDrWho]

It's a pussy.

My favorite was "Stripes"

[FoolishBluntman]

He will be missed.

Re:My favorite was "Stripes"

[aztracker1]

I was going to comment the same... as much as I liked Ghost Busters... Stripes is classic.

Re:My favorite was "Stripes"

[wcrowe]

My favorite too.

Re:My favorite was "Stripes"

[Freshly Exhumed]

Anyone who has ever paraded in uniform for tinpot martinets and sadistic drill instructors completely splits a gut over that hilarious parade square scene! Boom shukka lukka lukka boom shukka lukka lukka!

Thank you

[MetricT]

For making us laugh, making us think, and making the world a little happier. You did good.

Re:Thank you

[grcumb]

Helping us understand, even from beyond the grave: Moe Green: So you're dead; now what?

The guy had so much class, he could even use a semicolon and still be funny.

RIP Harold Ramis

[decipher_saint]

From SCTV to Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day and so many guilty pleasures from the 80s

You will be missed

Re:RIP Harold Ramis

[cayenne8]

Don't forget where it all really started with him in a big way....

Animal House....

Re:RIP Harold Ramis

[hguorbray]

SCTV is the closest this country (well, canada, to be fair) ever came to classic english-style absurdist humor a la Goon show, Python, Not the 9 o'clock news, etc

It was consistently funny in the first incarnation and was still decent the 2nd time around, although the 'guest band' part of the format trapped them more into the TV Variety show format -but it was about a fictional TV network, so....

Kids in the Hall, Strangers with Candy and many other American sketch comedy shows definitely owe something to SCTV

-I'm just sayin'

Re:RIP Harold Ramis

[MightyMartian]

I've even heard that Matt Groening modeled Springfield on Mellonville. He wanted to create a similar town with recurring characters that he could use as a sort of ironic and satirical skewer of various aspects of American society.

Not all the later SCTV episodes were all that bad. Some were incredibly ambitious, now that they had a larger budget. The problem in later years was that Bob and Doug Mackenzie and Ed Grimley began to tower over the rest of the characters, and gave Dave Thomas, Rick Moranis and Martin Short a good deal more exposure which they used every opportunity to milk. They wanted to join John Candy in Hollywood and make a good deal of money, and I can't say I blame them for that, but still SCTV was always greater than the sum of its parts.

All in all, it was and remains one of the great comedy sketch shows in TV history, and used the whole concept of being a community TV station brilliantly. My favorite all time episode is when the Soviets seize SCTV's satellite, and you get incredible shows like "What Fits Into Mother Russia" (which may stand as Dave Thomas's finest moment; "Lone Star State looks like a tiny star set against the vast colossal sky of Mother Russia!!!!!") and Nikita Kruschev being reincarnated as a tractor, not to mention cautionary commercials on being wary of Uzbeks..

Who you gonna call ?

[Anonymous Coward]

911

Re:Who you gonna call ?

[Zephyn]

HE-MAN!!!!

Sincerely,

The Ungrateful Yuppie Larva of the world.

Man, that sucks

[EmagGeek]

I grew up on his 80's flicks.

Way too young in this day and age.

RIP in Peace

[Anonymous Coward]

If there's something strange in your neighborhood, who ya gonna call? Not Harold Ramis. Time to collect spores, molds, and fungi in peace.

Re:RIP in Peace

[Anonymous Coward]

Rest in Peace in Peace?

Re:RIP in Peace

[Anonymous Coward]

At least it isn't as bad as Automated ATM Machine, on which I enter my Personal PIN Number.

Re:RIP in Peace

[RackinFrackin]

Am I the only one who's been waiting for years to nail someone who "corrects" me for saying "pdf file"?

And so ends all hope of Ghostbusters 3

[Anonymous Coward]

Tis a sad day.

Re:And so ends all hope of Ghostbusters 3

[NotDrWho]

Hate to say it, but it's probably for the best. The second one was pretty bad. And Ackroyd was the only one who even wanted to make a third.

Re:And so ends all hope of Ghostbusters 3

[Anonymous Coward]

Hate to say it, but it's probably for the best. The second one was pretty bad. And Ackroyd was the only one who even wanted to make another

turd?

Re:And so ends all hope of Ghostbusters 3

[Areyoukiddingme]

Bill Murray did say he'd be willing to do a third, as long as it didn't suck. He had a pretty high bar for not sucking though, which is why it never happened.

Re:And so ends all hope of Ghostbusters 3

[Anonymous Coward]

Bill Murray also said he refused to do sequels after Ghostbusters 2. He must have forgotten about Garfield 2...

Re:And so ends all hope of Ghostbusters 3

[lkernan]

He must have forgotten about Garfield 2...

To be fair, we all try to forget about Garfield 2.

Re:And so ends all hope of Ghostbusters 3

[SternisheFan]

In "Zombieland", after Bill Murray, dressed as a zombie, is blasted by shotgun and sits dying, the girl asks him, "So, do you have any regrets?"

Bill Murray, "Umph, ..., Garfield, maybe..."

Re:And so ends all hope of Ghostbusters 3

[SternisheFan]

According to this 2013 interview, Murray says that the agents were ''foaming'' at the thought of Ghostbusters3. (20:00) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Re:And so ends all hope of Ghostbusters 3

[Anonymous Coward]

Bill Murray got a script to read Garfield fromthe Joel Cohen which he read as being from one of the Coen brothers who he always wanted to work with.

Sample

[Cow Jones]

I'd like a sample of his brain tissue.

Signs you may be dead:

[o_ferguson]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

I sense a new plotline for the next Ghostbusters!

[Anonymous Coward]

Egon as a ghost.

Sad

[Hamsterdan]

I really liked him in the Ghostbusters movies

So...do you have any hobbies?

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

"Now I really collect spores, molds, and fungi."

Oh come on, he would laugh!

Re:So...do you have any hobbies?

[JustOK]

No he wouldn't. He's dead.

Re:So...do you have any hobbies?

[geekoid]

Hilarious, and yes, yes he would laugh.

Re:So...do you have any hobbies?

[Anonymous Coward]

His ghost would still laugh (at least until busted).

Re:So...do you have any hobbies?

[Anonymous Coward]

"He would laugh" is a counterfactual conditional with the antecedent omitted. The assertion is that he would laugh if he were able (but he can't because he's dead). The word "would" should have been a clue.

Re:So...do you have any hobbies?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, he won't laugh. But he would. Are you really too stupid to understand subjunctive tense?

Re:So...do you have any hobbies?

[JustOK]

If he was alive, we WOULD not have any reason to make the joke.

Re:So...do you have any hobbies?

[Anonymous Coward]

Technically, the subjunctive should be used here.

If he WERE alive, we WOULD not have any reason to make the joke.

One word:

[Guy From V]

Caddyshack. RIP

R.I.P. Will not be forgotten.

[John Pfeiffer]

This news makes me really sad. Ghostbusters shaped an incalculably large portion of my childhood. :(

Ghostbusters and Groundhog Day are two of my all-time favorite comedies (My top-top probably being Grosse Pointe Blank) in fact I just watched Ghostbusters the other night on my new bigass TV, and was considering watching Groundhog Day... (And now, definitely will tonight.)

One of my favorite moments in Ghostbusters is when Egonâ" in a complete deviation from his usual demeanor, and out of all the people present â"ends up being the one who jumps Peck shouting "YOUR MOTHER!" when he accuses them of being responsible for the explosion at the firehouse. It's something that always stuck out in my mind as being particularly funny.

Re:R.I.P. Will not be forgotten.

[John Pfeiffer]

Oh OF COURSE you don't render the goddamn emdashes correctly, the ONE TIME I don't click 'preview'.

Re:R.I.P. Will not be forgotten.

[freeze128]

Venkman: "Egon? Any ideas?"

Egon pulls out a calculator and is about to type on it when Venkman slaps it out of his hands.

Re:R.I.P. Will not be forgotten.

[geekoid]

Was it Blu-Ray and how did it look? The Blu Ray version I have seems to be a pretty shitty mastering. much to my disappointment.

Re:R.I.P. Will not be forgotten.

[Zontar The Mindless]

Use ——and you'll be golden.

John Candy

[Anonymous Coward]

Ramis.

Who's next?

The Mckenzie bros?

I WARNED HIM!

[Anonymous Coward]

xx oo

Jack

And yet

[geekoid]

Dan Akroyd lives on. TANJ

Re:And yet

[GodfatherofSoul]

Dan Akroyd is the all-time winner of the Landing a Woman Way Out of your Class geek Olympics. I in good faith cannot criticize him or anything he has ever done.

Re:And yet

[Anonymous Coward]

There's more to a man's worth than what sort of woman he lands..

Re:And yet

[MightyMartian]

Yes, far more notable is his brilliant but all too brief career as part of the Belushi-Akroyd team. I even love them in their semi-flop Neighbors.

Akroyd's talent largely went to waste after Ghostbusters, or maybe he just stopped having interesting ideas any more. I think John Belushi was his muse, and when Belushi died, Akroyd lost it a bit. But still, even he is a bit of a nut, he's a funny guy.

Re:And yet

[DNS-and-BIND]

High status has a hell of a lot to do with that. Wealth, too, but status is king. Why else do dirt-poor garage bands tour the nation getting laid like rockstars everywhere they go?

So the Dali Llama says to me . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

"Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness."

So, he's got that goin' for him, which is nice.

Re:So the Dali Llama says to me . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

That would make total sense if it was Bill Murray that died. But since it wasn't - bzzzzzt!

Re:So the Dali Llama says to me . . .

[YesIAmAScript]

Harold Ramis wrote and directed Caddyshack.

And that movie is from Caddyshack.

So now you look a bit stupid.

Earl Camenbert

[crmanriq]

I still remember sitting in my living room when I was a kid watching Second City TV and hearing Floyd Robertson (Joe Flaherty) and Earl Camenbert (Harold Ramis) muddle their way through the "local" news. That was my first exposure to Harold Ramis, and every time I have seen him since has brought back that memory.

I'm sad that he won't be making new ones for me.

Re:Earl Camenbert

[crmanriq]

And I'm an idiot. That was Eugene Levy.

Crap.

Now I'll go feel sad. And stupid.

Re:Earl Camenbert

[Anonymous Coward]

Well I had never seen those skits. Now I plan on watching them later. So some good has come from your post. Cheer up.

Re:Earl Camenbert

[MightyMartian]

The "New Delhi" news report by Earl Camembert is a classic.

Another brilliant Eugene Levy character was his take on Alex Trebeck's turn as host of the Canadian gameshow Reach For The Top.

Re:Earl Camenbert

[Anonymous Coward]

But Harold's Moe Green was equal to those characters

You mean like flaming?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, we're not homosexual, but we are *willing to learn*.
Yeah, would they send us someplace special?
I'll just put that as a "no"

Egon's sexuality

[SuperBanana]

While his character was supposed to be a little dorky I suppose, he was just pure awesome to me.

One of the things I enjoyed about his character in the movies as I got to be older was his relationship to Jeanine was a bit complicated. She clearly puts the moves on him...but unlike nearly every male movie character I can think of (who isn't implied to be gay) - he's ambivalent, tolerates, or rebuffs her. The stereotypical reaction from male movie characters is "Yeah, let's get it on!", especially in action movies.

However, there's a scene - I can't remember which - where he says something, she responds with "OH EGON, I just blah blah blah" and he responds with a look that's half "Yeah, baby. You know you like it" and half "siiiigh, ok, I'll console you, fine..."

Now...if only Winston's character hadn't been so racist. That's the part I hate the most about Ghostbusters; Winston Zedmore is pretty much just there to bounce jokes off of or be the 'dumb black clown' character. I feel like the cartoon actually gave him character development and whatnot more on par with the others (although did they ever show any of his family, for example?) The series definitely played up the "the most normal and people-skills-equipped of the group" elements.

Re:Egon's sexuality

[cayenne8]

"That's a big twinkie..."

C'mon, Winston got one of the funniest lines in the movie...

There's no reason to pull out the racist card any time a black man isn't portrayed as the ultimate hero and intellect in a movie. All the characters in this COMEDY were slightly strange and comedic characters...

As was said in another movie Ramis did.."Lighten up Francis".

Re:Egon's sexuality

[epyT-R]

Ugh.. One of the great things about ghostbusters was that it came out at a time when accepted humor wasn't limited by this kind of PC garbage. The social(ist) reconstructionists didn't get to video entertainment en-masse in this country until the end of the 80s. If that's not what you want, go watch one of those effeminate vampire movies.

You know, it's ok to tell a story without bolting PC narratives onto the side, or worse, squeezing all of them within those limitations ("I've seen shit that'll turn you white!"). Frankly, movies and tv are inundated with it now, to the point of absurdity. It's almost like the script writers and directors are screaming "I CARE MORE ABOUT NONWHITES, WOMEN, AND GAYS THAN YOU!" at each other and their audience with their stories. By the early 90s, it was already cliche (the "empowered 90s woman"), and by the end of the decade, it was boring and predictable. Today, it's cranked up to 11 and downright condescending. Enough already.

Re:Egon's sexuality

[Anonymous Coward]

The feminists are not here to dig you out of your parents basemen and make you love everyone

You are not oppressed because you are an overweight antisocial white male that thinks he's entitled to benefits of 1950's social order.

Take off the trench coat. Put down the fedora.

Everything you hear on talk radio is wrong.

Re:Egon's sexuality

[cptnapalm]

If there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say.

Ray, when someone asks if you are a god, you say YES!

I fucking loved Winston when I was a kid.

Re:Egon's sexuality

[MightyMartian]

Winston was pretty essential to the film, because he was the everyman. Without Winston, you had two crazy ass scientists (Egon and Ray) and a conman (Venkman). As with any movie filled with nutsos and and miscreants as protagonists, you need a straight man who can sort of stand a bit outside the action and act as a sort of proxy for the audience. The character of Winston reminds me a lot of Murray Slaughter off of the Mary Tyler Moore show; both weren't necessarily part of any given action, but rather served to underline the absurdity of what was going on.

Re:Egon's sexuality

[Anonymous Coward]

It generates positive publicity. Positive publicity generates money. The consumer was always the king, and they liked it. And they still are, and they want the girls to kiss. The stories are completely predictable, though, and watching the punchlines closing from 10 seconds away can be painful.

Re:Egon's sexuality

[SternisheFan]

Ernie Hudson played a character in Ghostbusters, one of many films he acted in. Read his Wiki entry linked below to know the man from the character).From Wiki....

In the original script for Ghostbusters, Winston Zeddemore was intended to be the smartest and most capable of the Ghostbusters, a former Marine with multiple degrees and a Ph.D., making him more suited for the job than the founding three Ghostbusters. However, in the final screenplay none of these qualifications were mentioned. The changes are discussed in detail in the commentary on the DVD of Ghostbusters, the explanation being Winston allowed the technobabble to be put into layman's terms.

However, the novelization of Ghostbusters mentions Zeddemore's service with the Marines prior to joining the Ghostbusters. Further, in Ghostbusters: The Video Game, while the Ghostbusters are on a mission in the New York History Museum, Zeddemore reminisces about the time he spent studying for his doctorate in the museum's Egyptology wing. (In context, it's unclear if Zeddemore studied for the doctorate prior to joining the Ghostbusters, or sometime between the events of the movies and the game's setting in 1991.)

Zeddemore is a religious man to some extent, saying in a discussion in Ghostbusters that he believes in God and "loves Jesus' style". While driving the Ecto-1 with Ray he voices his thoughts that the sudden spike in ghosts appearances might be a sign of the apocalypse, pointing out that while they have come to treat capturing ghosts as routine pest control, in a very real sense the dead are literally "rising from the grave".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W...

Ernie Hudson Wiki... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E...

Ernie Hudson interview on YouTube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Re:Egon's sexuality

[Anonymous Coward]

There are a lot of non-PC movies and shows being made, for a recent one, how about "The Dictator"? Or how about "Anchorman"? For me, I'm really fucking annoyed at useless old white men like (presumably) you who incessantly complain about how nobody automatically considers them the only demographic of interest any more (and I say that as a useless old white man). Besides the fact that your post is moderated +5, exhibit A is Fox News trotting out their ridiculous "War on Christmas" every year. Enough already, just suck it up and realize that there are other people in society and that you're no longer in charge just because you were born white and male.

Re:Egon's sexuality

[sandbagger]

The thing is, the film needed a character like Winston to be a straight man. He's the stand in for the audience to whom things are explained since he doesn't have the knowledge of the other characters who were the scientists. Watson served that function in Sherlock Holmes.

Re:Egon's sexuality

[Xyrus]

If there's a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say.

The person who wrote that line was either a certifiable genius or an authentic wacko. ;)

More seriously, this line/scene pretty much summarized the recession years of the 80's and is a pretty good summary of society in general.

Re:Egon's sexuality

[TheLink]

Winston Zeddemore: Ray. When someone asks you if you're a god, you say, "YES!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Who's the dumb clown in that clip... The one who got them zapped with his spiel? Or the one that provided the punchline?

Re:Egon's sexuality

[Anonymous Coward]

The thing is, the film needed a character like Winston to be a straight man. He's the stand in for the audience to whom things are explained since he doesn't have the knowledge of the other characters who were the scientists. Watson served that function in Sherlock Holmes.

**THIS** You get it. Jim and Pam served the same purpose on The Office. SuperBanana is too busy trying to grind an axe to understand how the character was used. Winston could have been any race, or sex even. Hell, it is the role that the "Rookie" played in the Ghostbusters game. By that point in time (for those that played the game), Winston had been around the others enough to be more "Ghostbuster" than average Joe, and as such, to create a bridge to the audience, a character was needed so that the other actors in the game could explain things so that the audience would understand.

Quick! Get a trap!

[Chas]

I was MASSIVELY bummed out when I read it this morning.

Gonna miss his deadpan affect. It just made all the insane things going on around him (or happening to him) even funnier.

look at his lines

[SuperBanana]

There's no reason to pull out the racist card any time a black man isn't portrayed as the ultimate hero and intellect in a movie. All the characters in this COMEDY were slightly strange and comedic characters...

Yes, except virtually the only lines his character gets are to crack jokes.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmw...

Re:look at his lines

[Rakarra]

I dunno, he had a number of moments of lucidity, like when he and Ray were talking in the car about the increase in spiritual activity, and he's the one who points out that maybe what they've been seeing is what was written of the last days in the Book of Revelations. It's a pretty sobering moment, one of the few moments that the movie doesn't try to play for laughs.

He was supposed to be the straight man amongst the zaniness; he was more of an urban everyman rather than the university staff steeped in academia that made up the other three's background.

I'm not sure I buy the Uncle Tom Foolery angle, especially since he gets about the same serious/comedy mixture that Murray's Venkman got.

Re:look at his lines

[MightyMartian]

That's largely because he and Bill Murray were the only strictly sane people in the entire movie. He was just an average joe looking for a job, and Murray was a con artist. Everyone else was, to be blunt, to one degree or another out of their minds.

This is the first time I've ever be introduced to the notion that Winston was merely the obligatory black character.

Re:look at his lines

[jxander]

Except when he was the only sane person in the room, and had to convince the mayor to let the guys go be heroes

Or when he and Ray had a candid conversation about Revelations and the end times.

He certainly wasn't as ... odd ... as the rest of the crew, but I hardly consider that a BAD thing, or in any way racist.

Re:look at his lines

[o_ferguson]

Smartest guy in the movie: Winston Zeddemore: No offense, guys, but I've gotta get my own lawyer.

claims of "political correctness"

[SuperBanana]

"One of the great things about ghostbusters was that it came out at a time when accepted humor wasn't limited by this kind of PC garbage."

http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/...

Start reading. Accusing people of being "politically correct" is a standard white, male, racist, asshole tactic for dismissing.

The problem isn't necessarily that Winston Zedmore's character sucked and was just a wall to bounce jokes off of. The problem is that is how this was the standard way virtually any black character was constructed by Hollywood. Winston's character got the least character development, his main screentime was him being all "WHOA", and most of his speaking lines were side jokes and comic relief.

Re:claims of "political correctness"

[MightyMartian]

That's because he was the outsider, not because he was black. The Ghostbusters needed another guy with a proton pack, Winston signed up because it was a job. He wasn't a conman like Venkman, and not a semi-insane scientist like Egon or Ray.

You might as well complain about how Weaver's character spent most of the time in both movies being the vulnerable incapable female.

Re:claims of "political correctness"

[Sponge Bath]

The problem is that is how this was the standard way virtually any black character was constructed by Hollywood

At least he wasn't wearing a red shirt as part of the away team. While not claiming it was intended, the movie The Edge seemed to go down that path. Anthony Hopkins, Alec Baldwin and a black guy (Harold Perrineau) are stranded by a plane crash in the northern wilderness. Then there was a bear. Then there was no black guy.

Re:claims of "political correctness"

[DNS-and-BIND]

Political correctness is real, and it is routinely used by feminists and other radical left-wingers to dismiss any speech that disagrees with them. How is it "accusing" leftists of being politically correct, when in fact they are?

Funny how you prove his point by all but demanding a story be told by bolting PC narratives on the side and derailing the entire flow by screaming "I CARE MORE ABOUT NONWHITES, WOMEN, AND GAYS THAN YOU!" at each other and their audience.

Re:claims of "political correctness"

[ChrisMaple]

And grouping "white, male, racist, asshole" together is a standard leftist lie.

Re:claims of "political correctness"

[T.E.D.]

The really important part of his character was that, unlike the irreverent scientists who founded the company, he was religious (but needed the paycheck). It was not a "black" role. There was nothing about him that meant the character HAD to be black, but no reason he couldn't be either. Some people, for sad cultural/historical reasons, got caught up in his skin color and never saw the character. That's a shame.

Re:claims of "political correctness"

[Anonymous Coward]

Let me guess, you're a nigger.

Re:claims of "political correctness"

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd tend to a agree with you, except that Fox News and talk radio actually exist.

Go turn on your radio or TV and see for yourself.

Re:claims of "political correctness"

[NoImNotNineVolt]

leftists

I hope one day slashdotists will rise above the level of Youtubists in their discourse.

It will start with abandonment of noun-ism.

Re:claims of "political correctness"

[Anonymous Coward]

"One of the great things about ghostbusters was that it came out at a time when accepted humor wasn't limited by this kind of PC garbage."

http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/...

Start reading. Accusing people of being "politically correct" is a standard white, male, racist, asshole tactic for dismissing.

The problem isn't necessarily that Winston Zedmore's character sucked and was just a wall to bounce jokes off of. The problem is that is how this was the standard way virtually any black character was constructed by Hollywood. Winston's character got the least character development, his main screentime was him being all "WHOA", and most of his speaking lines were side jokes and comic relief.

Are you sure you watched the same Ghostbusters that most of us watched? Winston was the everyman outsider that grounded the otherwise "out there" other characters - Ray was the heart, Peter the conman, and Egon the brain. He was the bridge for the average man just looking to make a living and as such he was able to ground those characters to the general public. As a child, I identified with aspects found in all of the characters. Finally, Winston was the character that established just how real the danger was that none of the scientists had even considered. In the second movie, he saved Ray's life. You may need to rewatch the movies.

It is like The Office -- without Jim or Pam there (average people) the rest of the characters would appear to be a collection of "out there" personalities.

Caddyshack documentary

[queequeg1]

Not acting per se, but he was excellent in the Caddyshack documentary. Some of the insights into how that movie got made were awesome. Especially his observations about the direction a movie can take when you decide to make an animatronic gopher one the lead characters.

Beyond Ghostbusters

[Anonymous Coward]

Farewell Mr. Ramis. Your gifts for helping to create wonderful comedy have amazed my generation and your work will be passed on to my kids as examples of what genuinely fun comedies can be.

Just to remind others, some of Mr. Ramis' other significant works (as writer or director) include:

- Caddyshack
- Groundhog Day
- National Lampoon's Animal House
- Back to School
- Analyze This

From where I sit, his top 4 (Ghostbusters, Animal House, Caddyshack and Groundhog Day) are a set that I can't think of rival to from his era.

God Speed Egon!

Re:Beyond Ghostbusters

[MightyMartian]

He would deserve the highest praise for Groundhog Day alone, a film that has only grown in popularity and appreciation since its release. The fact that he was involved in one capacity or another in a number of highly esteemed projects over the years shows just how good he really was.

Best Quote

[Virtucon]

"I collect spores, mold and fungus." - Egon "Ghostbusters"

Well no Ghostbusters 3 now unless Egon's a Ghost

[Anonymous Coward]

Topic says it all.

I'm actually surprised really. 69 years old isn't a terrible age to die at but it's barely past retirement.

And PC too

[Anonymous Coward]

Personally, I thought Winston was the most real character in the whole zoo; a necessary character to ground all the others. And I loved his "I've seen shit that'll turn you white!" line--and I'm black.

Here's an interview with Reitman on CBC Radio

[sandbagger]

http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/...

Another Sample

[Patent Lover]

Egon: Venkman, get a stool sample. Peter Venkman: Business, or personal?

Re:Another Sample

[freeze128]

"Let's see what happens when we take the puppy away."

Good by Mr. Ramis

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"Doe.... Ray.... Egon!" *smirk*

The developmental years of my life would have been very different if not for his specific influence on them. Fare well Mr. Ramis, and thank you.

What if we are nonwhites, women or gays?

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not any of those, but you know what, fuck you.

hello, "angry feminist mob" fallacy

[SuperBanana]

Funny how you prove his point by all but demanding a story be told by bolting PC narratives on the side and derailing the entire flow by screaming "I CARE MORE ABOUT NONWHITES, WOMEN, AND GAYS THAN YOU!" at each other and their audience. http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/... Start reading, asshole. I never did anything you claim I did.

Re:hello, "angry feminist mob" fallacy

[Anonymous Coward]

Asshole?
Now who's angry, lol.

Re:hello, "angry feminist mob" fallacy

[DNS-and-BIND]

I think the issue is that feminists are so wrapped up in their radicalism that they don't really perceive how unpleasant and mean they come across as to normal people. How can they be so non-self-aware?

Goddamnit...

[kainewynd2]

I'm breaking my long silence for this...

The world is worse off for having lost Harold Ramis. May Dan Akroyd make up for his loss.

Obligatory SCTV Clip

[SoVi3t]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NYC... RIP :(

family law after death

[Anonymous Coward]

wanna learn about the family laws after death? visit www.Mkroyanlaw.com