Beetlejuice
This is Michael Keaton's favorite film of his own.,Otho's shoes when he is spray-painting the walls in the house change from fire-engine red elf-looking shoes to white trainers as he walks through the bathroom and then they change back to the red elf shoes as he enters the next room.,Adam: What are your qualifications?
Beetlejuice: Ah. Well... I attended Juilliard... I'm a graduate of the Harvard business school. I travel quite extensively. I lived through the Black Plague and had a pretty good time during that. I've seen the EXORCIST ABOUT A HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN TIMES, AND IT KEEPS GETTING FUNNIER EVERY SINGLE TIME I SEE IT... NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT YOU'RE TALKING TO A DEAD GUY... NOW WHAT DO YOU THINK? You think I'm qualified?,The Geffen Company logo is accompanied by a ghoulish version of the Banana Boat song (sung by the film's composer Danny Elfman).,A workprint of the film surfaced with some added/alternate scenes. This version of the film runs around 2 minutes shorter than the theater release, has a few extra scenes and is missing some others, is in black and white, and has a time-code on the bottom. This version has 4 major differences: Alternate scene: The scene were Adam attempts to leave the house after him and his wife die is different. Instead of a desert he sees empty darkness filled with rolling cogs. Extra Scenes: There is an added scene were Lydia is developing the pictures she took of Adam and Barbra. Then after her mother yells at her and blames her for cutting holes in her sheets Lydia runs upstairs and tries to convince her dad the pictures are real. There is more to the scene where the adults search the attic for the ghosts were we see the desert monster trying to eat Adam and Barbra as they hang from the attic window. Finally there is an extra 2 minute scene at the end were we see Lydia riding her bike home from school and her parents talking to Jane on the phone telling her they do not want to sell the house. Lydia's dancing scene is shorter in this version, and there is no scene with Beetlejuice in the waiting room. The film ends with a final exterior shot of the house.,Edited into Terror Toons (2002),Day-O
Traditional, lyrics by William A. Attaway and Irving Burgie
[Incorrectly credited as written by William A. Attaway & Irving Burgie (as Lord Burgess)]
Performed by Harry Belafonte
Courtesy of RCA Records,It may take two or three viewings to warm up to "Beetlejuice". It has a kooky, cockeyed sensibility and a rhythm that is by turns easy, lazy and frenetic. A charming couple in New England die and come back to their beloved home as ghosts, determined to rid the place of the horrendous new tenants. Possibly the most benign and engaging performance ever by Alec Baldwin; Geena Davis, Winona Ryder and Sylvia Sidney are also very appealing. The new couple from New York who take over the house (Jeffrey Jones and Catherine O'Hara) aren't as well written or thought-out as the other characters and some of their bemused, dry-ice comic lines take a few seconds to reach you. Of course, there's Michael Keaton, wildly comic as Betelgeuse. I recall hearing comments back in 1988 that Keaton wasn't around enough to make the picture worthwhile, but that's only if you watch the film for the fast quips and sight-gags. Keaton is truly wonderful, but he's also bombastic, and I felt there was just enough of him to satisfy--it's really not his story anyway, it belongs to Baldwin and Davis; Betelgeuse is used as a horny, vulgar punchline. Director Tim Burton is very careful not to overload the movie with raunch; he is surprisingly careful in setting up this story, and he works magic within a dubious scenario: a comic fantasy about dead folks which ultimately celebrates life. ***1/2 from ****,