The world became a much less amusing place Monday with the passing of Harold Ramis.
He was a triple threat in Hollywood: Writer. Director. Actor.
Of the 3, he was probably most famous, and will be remembered for his acting role(s), most notably as Dr. Egon Spengler from Ghostbusters.
However, it was likely his writing that won over most of us as fans in the first place.
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| Animal House, 1978 |
"Ladies and gentlemen, I'll be brief. The issue here is not whether we
broke a few rules, or took a few liberties with our female party guests -
we did.
But you can't hold a whole fraternity responsible for the behavior of a
few, sick twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn't we blame
the whole fraternity system?
And if the whole fraternity system is
guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our educational institutions in
general?
I put it to you, Greg - isn't this an indictment of our entire
American society?
Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're
not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of
America.
Gentlemen!"
Harold Ramis' first writing assignment for the big screen:
Animal House.
If he had done nothing further with his writing career, that would be pretty impressive.
But Ramis wasn't done yet...
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| Meatballs, 1979 |
"And even if we win, if we win, HAH! Even if we win! Even if we play
so far above our heads that our noses bleed for a week to ten days; even
if God in Heaven above comes down and points his hand at our side of
the field; even if every man woman and child held hands together and
prayed for us to win, it just wouldn't matter because all the really
good looking girls would still go out with the guys from Mohawk because
they've got all the money! It just doesn't matter if we win or we lose.
IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER"
In 1979,
Meatballs was released. Again, Ramis was one of the writers, and he worked with Bill Murray and director Ivan Reitman for the first time.
This is an underrated classic in my opinion, and I watched this movie countless times on tv growing up.
However, sandwiched between
Animal House and his next film,
Meatballs often gets overlooked.
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| Caddyshack, 1980 |
"License to kill gophers by the government of the United Nations. Man,
free to kill gophers at will. To kill, you must know your enemy, and in
this case my enemy is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit - ever.
They're like the Viet Cong - Varmint Cong. So you have to fall back on
superior intelligence and superior firepower. And that's all she wrote."
Once again, a film written by Harold Ramis, but also for the first time, he sits behind the director's chair.
How did he do?
It's in the hole!
This is the undeniable sports classic when it comes to golf,
Caddyshack will live forever.
It was 1981 when I became aware of Harold Ramis, the actor...
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| Stripes, 1981 |
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"Army Training, Sir!"
10 years old, and I went to the movies with my parents and we saw Stripes.
Yes, I have awesome parents.
While much of the movie may have soared over my head at the time, the premise of the story was straightforward enough, and the acting and writing were, and still are, hilarious.
This was the 2nd time that Ramis, Murray and Reitman worked together.
Even more successful than their first outing, but nothing would prepare them for what came next when they all worked together.
However, it was time for Ramis to direct his 2nd feature film before that happened...
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| National Lampoon's Vacation, 1983 |
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No Bill Murray this time, but he did call upon a
Caddyshack alumni to lead as Clark Griswold. This movie still holds up well after all these years, and is only overshadowed by
Christmas Vacation thanks to the annual replayability during the holidays.
Then, the phenomenon happened, and thanks to the title song, lives to this day thanks to 80s radio airplay...
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| Ghostbusters, 1984 |
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"We're ready to believe you!"
Once again, Ramis writes for Murray and directed by Reitman.
Easily the biggest hit of their careers, and a movie that is still great, 30 years later.
Sadly, the much rumored Part 3 won't happen now.
Fast forward to 1993, and Ramis and Murray teamed together one last time, and created a masterpiece...
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| Groundhog Day, 1993 |
"This is pitiful. A thousand people freezing their butts off waiting to
worship a rat. What a hype. Groundhog Day used to mean something in this
town. They used to pull the hog out, and they used to eat it. You're
hypocrites, all of you!"
Written and directed by Ramis, and starring Bill Murray, this was their last collaboration together.
The movie is cinematic genius, partly due to Murray's delivery, but Ramis' direction is effortless and his writing is as crisp and sharp as it ever was.
I will cap off Ramis' career with one last film (even though it had a sequel...)
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| Analyze This, 1999 |
"I wasn't really gonna whack you."
"Paul..."
"Okay, I was gonna whack you. But I was real conflicted about it."
Harold Ramis wrote and directed
Analyze This starring Billy Crystal and Robert DeNiro.
It's brave enough to write a comedy and have it star Billy Crystal, who is already hilarious.
But they took DeNiro and gave him a sense of humor.
And it worked!
The low points to Harold Ramis' career are really inconsequential.
He left us with a legacy of work that, at least for me, makes him one of unquestioned great cinematic comic minds of the late 20th Century.
I will miss his further contributions to film.
I will cherish those memories he gave us.
R.I.P.
