Ghost (1990)

Unchained Melody was always a great song. But then it was used in 1990 romcom supernatural movie Ghost and became a global phenomenon.

That’s thanks to one scene between Patrick Swayze’s murdered character Sam Wheat and his very-much-alive lover Molly (Demi Moore). You know the one we’re talking about: where Sam and Molly make pottery.

The acting is good, the storyline is pretty cool, and the cast is great (including Whoopi Goldberg as Oda Mae Brown, a psychic who channels Sam). It does everything it says on the box, which is why it made a box office profit of $480 million. It’s sweet and loving and cute and romantic, that a ghost has stayed in the world of the living to protect his soulmate.

The real significance of its message is encapsulated in one specific scene, says iconic critic Roger Ebert: “The single best scene – that does touch the poignancy of the human belief in life after death – comes when Swayze is able to take over Goldberg’s body, to use her physical presence as an instrument for caressing the woman that he loves.”