I was watching the AMC channel the other day and they were running a Bill Murray marathon! I never realized how clever Bill Murray was until I recently watched Ghost Buster’s again (I had not watched it since I was like 10 years old), although I have always loved him in Groundhog’s Day. While the marathon was going on, right before they would put the movie back on, there were little tid bits of information from other actors, directors and producers that had worked with Bill Murray. Every single person who had talked about Bill Murray said he was a genius. What he did with the minimal amount of direction the directors gave, or the way he popped into his character or the way he interacted with others on screen was just amazing. One director actually said he was pushing borderline crazy. You know you have made it when they run movie marathons just on movies you were in.
A few movies that I saw that they were playing on this Bill Murray movie marathon were Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II, Caddy Shack, and Stripes. A few that I would have loved to watch were Groundhogs Day, Scrooged, What About Bob, and Meatballs (just to name a few). I watched pieces of Ghostbusters II and laughed my ass off; I had not seen that movie since I was maybe 12. Watching Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II when I was little made me really scared of those films, but watching them now as an adult, they are more of the comedy genre than horror. My favorite quotes from Ghostbusters from Bill Murray: “We’ve been going about this all wrong, this Mr. Stay Puft’s okay, he’s a sailor, he’s in New York, we get this guy laid we won’t have any problems.” And when Stanz says, “Everything was fine, until dickless here cut off the power grid?” Mayor “Is that true?”, Venkman (Murray) “Yes, your Honor, this man has no dick.” HILARIOUS! Bill Murray is genius!
I love that Bill Murray adds a touch of craziness to every film and I think that is why he is so adored by the public. If people are not seeing his comedy genius, I would assume it is because they have not seen his movies in the last few years. My favorite thing about Bill Murray is that he says everything with a straight face. Looking at him you would not think he is a comedian, but I think he is one of the funniest guys out there, he totally beats out Jim Carey any day! If you do not agree watch a few Bill Murray movies and really listen to what he says.
My all time favorite movie of Bill Murray’s is Groundhogs Day. It is so cleverly written, great plot idea and it is Bill Murray straight for almost two hours and yet I never get bored with it, he is so damn amusing. A few of my favorite quotes from Groundhogs Day, “Come on, all the long distance lines are down? What about satellite? Is it snowing in space? Don’t you keep open a line for emergencies or for celebrities? I’m both! I’m a celebrity in an emergency.” And “I was in the Virgin Islands once. Met a girl. We ate lobster and drank pina-coladas. At sunset we made love like Sea Otters. That was a pretty good day. Why couldn’t I get that day over and over and over?”
I think the next Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement should go to Bill Murray. He deserves it, he is a comedy genius!