# Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2004, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594 "2004-06-04T08:18:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594/1 "2004-06-04T08:18:48Z")
I saw this for the first time in ages on TV last night and had pretty much forgotten what an utterly brilliant movie it is. The concept of the afterlife as bureaucratic and hidebound is hilarious, Michael Keaton is awe-inspiring, Geena Davis is cute as a button (though I would have preferred _Earth Girls Are Easy_-style bikinis over the Laura Ashley look 😃 ), Jeffrey Jones is his usual amusing self, Winona Ryder looks great in black crepe, and Alec Baldwin manages not to be very irritating 😛 . Great special effects, of course, for which it won an Oscar. Top job, Tim Burton. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594/2 "2004-06-04T10:56:55Z")
Have to agree. If I hadn’t seen it a hundred-bajillion times when I was younger it would certainly be in my collection already. ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594/3 "2004-06-04T13:08:46Z")
Day-O! Day-ay-ay-ay-O! I’ll never think of that song the same way again. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594/4 "2004-06-04T13:20:54Z")
The Day-O scene at dinner had me nearly rolling, the first time I saw it. I still love the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594/5 "2004-06-04T13:25:12Z")
This is absolutely one of my all-time favorites. I love the waiting room. I can relate. ---
**Author:** ![malden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@malden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malden)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594/6 "2004-06-04T13:47:39Z")
Look! There’s Elvis! _Yo! King!_ I still use that line when there’s a lull in the conversation. Some get it, some don’t. ---
**Author:** ![manx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@manx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manx)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594/7 "2004-06-04T13:56:30Z")
I watched this film over and over as a kid. When I caught it on TV a while ago, I was kinda surprised to see that I still pretty much remembered every word. Oh, and ‘she’s just mad because somebody dropped a house on her sister’ is one of my favourite things to say. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594/8 "2004-06-04T14:08:22Z")
One of the movies that contributed to my becoming a moviegeek. Also one of the greatest scores ever. I heard the score before I saw the movie, bought it, and played it for a friend who played cello for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, without telling her what it was. She “didn’t recognize it,” but thought it sounded Russian. Got me listening to Russian music, which sent me on a 4- or 5-year classical music tear, which was of course a GREAT education. An aside: my theory has always been that Keaton’s performance is an homage to Jack Nicholson; this is confirmed for me every time I see this movie. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594/9 "2004-06-04T14:54:25Z")
If this movie taught me anything, it’s that you should choose your daily outfits carefully. Choose something you like and feel comfortable in, because if you die you’ll have to wear it for all eternity! Unless you actually take the time to read your _Handbook for the Recently Deceased_. Perhaps it says something in there that allows you to magically change outfits. One of my favorite lines is from Dick Cavitt: “Delia, you are a flake. You have always been a flake and if you insist on frightning people—do it with your sculptures.” Or Lydia to Delia, “I told them you were too mean to be afraid.” ---
**Author:** ![saramamalana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/74df32/32.png) [@saramamalana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saramamalana)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594/10 "2004-06-04T17:04:25Z")
If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t have had my little accident. I am…utterly…alone. Otho, you can’t even change a tire. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594/11 "2004-06-04T19:01:30Z")
_Beetlejuice_ is an incorrect answer in Trivial Pursit: The '80s Edition. The question is something like “What was Michael Keaton’s top grossing move during the decade?” I suspect it was written prior to _Batman_, either that or they meant “grossest” and not “top grossing”. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594/12 "2004-06-04T19:05:13Z")
Alec (reading): “Handbook for the Recently Diseased” (ominous chord) Geena: “That’s ‘Deceased’” Alec: “Handbook for the Recently Deceased” (repeat ominous chord) ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594/13 "2004-06-04T19:13:26Z")
Otho: "I was one of New York’s leading paranormal reasearchers … (aside) until the bottom dropped out in '72. " I love the part where Beetlejuice zaps him into a powder-blue leisure suit. Delia: “I will live with you in this hellhole, but I must express myself. If you don’t let me gut out this house and make it my own, I will go insane and I will take you with me!” ---
**Author:** ![Winnie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e480ec/32.png) [@Winnie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnie)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594/14 "2004-06-04T20:05:09Z")
> [@Rabid Child](#): > > Or Lydia to Delia, “I told them you were too mean to be afraid.” Delia, “Don’t you dare speak about me to others!” ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594/15 "2004-06-04T22:51:31Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Alec (reading): “Handbook for the Recently Diseased” (ominous chord) > Geena: “That’s ‘Deceased’” > Alec: “Handbook for the Recently Deceased” (repeat ominous chord) One of my favorite things about that movie is that they made him a little dense, but not overly, and made her just matter-of-factly smarter than him. It was subtle, with bits like that one, and when he mispronounces “Betelgeuse” and she doesn’t correct him until later when she needs to use it. They were just supposed to be bland caricatures of a boring, happy, married couple, and that added a neat bit of character without being too sit-com-like. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594/16 "2004-06-05T01:18:22Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Alec (reading): “Handbook for the Recently Diseased” (ominous chord) > Geena: “That’s ‘Deceased’” > Alec: “Handbook for the Recently Deceased” (repeat ominous chord) Alec: This book reads like stereo instructions. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594/17 "2004-06-05T01:57:21Z")
In the commentary of _Shakespeare in love_, in the first scene, the camera circles around the theater, and then suddenly approaches the torture scene of the theater owner. The director made the comment that: “That was our Betelgeuse shot!”, showing how influential one of my favorite movies was. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@Mr\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beetlejuice-beetlejuice-beetlejuice/248594/18 "2004-06-05T02:54:30Z")
One of those flicks I can watch over and over again. Anyone else a fan of the cartoon series too? Damn I wish that would come out on dvd, it was hilarious.