Selected by the Marketing and Public Relations Branch.

The surprise blockbuster smash of the summer of 1990 was a romantic fantasy thriller about Sam (Patrick Swayze) and Molly (Demi Moore), a young couple whose blissful relationship does not end once Sam is murdered in an apparent mugging as his spirit returns to solve the mystery of his death. The film, which helped make the Righteous Brothers’ 1965 rendition of “Unchained Melody” a hit all over again, earned five Oscar nominations including Best Picture, and won for Bruce Joel Rubin’s original screenplay and Whoopi Goldberg’s touching yet hilarious supporting performance as the psychic Oda Mae Brown. 

Academy Museum film programming is generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation.