Basically all characters are constantly chain-smoking. Perhaps understandable if it was a 50s thriller but in an 80s kids movie there must have been some point to it or a gag. Was it to do with a smoking ban being discussed in New York at the time?
"We fell in love. I fell in love - she just stood there." / http://twitter.com/Marielind
Remember something; the DARE program Nancy Reagan started was only in its infancy during this time. It wasn't until the 90s and early 2000s that it really took off and made smoking both unpopular, and the whole non-smoking restaurants trend started. These guys would have been the types who grew up in in the 50s, 60s, and 70s when smoking was very common, and just continued the trend into the 80s.
shareThe 80's were different. That's all there is to it.
shareSo I will admit a few things about this topic. First, I am 36 (about to be 37) and this came out the year I was born. With that, I do remember them smoking a lot in the film (though I think they dropped it by GB2, which I also love almost as much as the first and saw more as a kid) and I definitely thought smoking was cool because of that movie. I loved the Ghostbusters and was totally obsessed as a young kid. Somehow I never got into smoking (I've smoked but it never became a habit, thankfully) but I always remembered that it seemed cool because they did it.
shareActually, Ray smoked a pipe in his Occult book store in the 2nd movie. He is also seen sucking on a cigar when he and Winston are sliming the statue of liberty.
shareQuit being such a softball. And it wasn't a kids movie.
shareI remember during the 80s watching them launch rockets in space and a good majorty of the launch control room all smoked
shareNot really a kids movie. Ray gets a BJ from a dream ghost.
shareRay and Winston, but sure. All of them.
shareThey failed to look 30 years into the future to understand what the culture would be finger-wagging about.
share