Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetle-…Wait a second! Before you finish thinking the rest of that name and accidentally summon everybody’s favorite bio-exorcist, let’s take a minute to appreciate the true star of this classic movie: Harry Belafonte!
Why him you ask? First off, let me introduce this Jamaican-American legend. Harry Belafonte rose to fame in the 50’s as a musical artist introducing mainstream audiences to the delights of calypso music, earning the title the “King of Calypso”. He’s also appeared in many films as early as 1957’s ground-breaking “Island in the Sun” and as recent as Spike Lee’s 2018 acclaimed film “BlacKkKlansman”. Aside from his music and acting accomplishments, Harry Belafonte is an incredible humanitarian and activist. He is a celebrated modern hero.
By now, you’ve probably thought of the word “juice” again, so it’s as good a time as any to recap the plot. Directed by Tim Burton in 1988, “Beetlejuice” tells the story of Barbara and Adam Maitland, a happy but doomed New England couple. They are on a short getaway fixing up their country home when they accidentally drive into the local river, causing their deaths. As the Maitlands navigate the afterlife, they learn that not only are they trapped in their home, but posh New Yorkers Delia and Charles Deetz, along with their melancholic, goth daughter Lydia, have moved in. Delia, a dramatic sculptural artist, transforms the house into a hideous modern architectural nightmare, and the Maitlands decide they need to spook the Deetz’s out of their house. Though they eventually befriend Lydia, they enlist the services of bio-exorcist Betelguise (aka Beetlejuice) who inadvertently turns out to be more dangerous and out of control than the Maitlands can manage. There will be tons of spoilers from here on out so reader beware!
“Beetlejuice” is one of Tim Burton’s most cherished films. Burton is known for his whimsically dark films such as “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, “Edward Scissorhands”, and even a couple of Batman movies. One of the key ingredients to the aesthetics of his films is the exuberant, playful and mischievous film scores crafted by acclaimed film composer, Danny Elfman. This winning combo had created a lot of magic together (16 films as of today)!
There are two main musical muses in “Beetlejuice”: Danny Elfman’s score and Harry Belafonte’s music. Elfman scored the characters and movement of the story, while Belafonte’s calypso music added a special juxtaposition of the absurd. In this incredibly detailed analysis and history of this movie by Zach Schonfield from Pitchfork, he describes the process in which the writing, production, and direction of the film ultimately lead to Belafonte’s work being chosen as the only popular music placed in this film. As per a suggestion to use calypso music by actor Catherine O’Hara (Delia Deetz), the movie eventually settled on only other Belafonte songs such as ‘Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)’ and ‘Man Smart (Woman Smarter)’.
The most memorable scene in “Beetlejuice” utilizes one of Belafonte’s greatest recognized hits, his rendition of ‘Banana Boat Song (Day O)’. During this scene, Delia is throwing a dinner party for a group of New York socialites when the conversation turns to discussing the supernatural. Lydia declares she’s befriended ghosts, and Delia steers the conversation away saying it’s a joke, when all of a sudden she bursts out singing “Day O!”. As she begins dancing, clearly not in control, the rest of the party succumb to the same ghostly possession. It’s the Maitlands giving them all a little scare in their own wholesome way. Lydia watches from the sidelines as all the adults try their hardest to resist the dancing, singing, and rocking of their bums. At the end of the sequence, each of their plates of shrimp cocktail turn into giant hands, grabbing each guest by the face and throwing everyone to the ground.
Watch the scene here!
The addition of Belafonte’s music created a special quirkiness to the movie that couldn’t really be replicated with anything else. As reported by Schonfield, the movie’s writers went through a few phases musically, including one idea where the dinner possession scene used the song “If I Didn’t Care” by the Ink Spots. It’s a wonderful song, but is it half as fun as anything calypso? Not really!
“Beetlejuice” took some risks for the time. Most horror movies in direct competition were focused on scaring audiences, whereas this film just wanted to highlight the horror of having awful house guests. The film balances the use of dark and light: contrasting wholesome New England architecture vs cold modern-art aesthetics, mischievous music contrasted with light, relaxed calypso, and the obvious divide between life and the after-life.
This movie also cemented Tim Burton’s aesthetic appeal, especially since this was his second full length feature. Interestingly enough, his ability to keep a tight budget during the production of “Beetlejuice” is what influenced Warner Bros to take Burton on for his first big budget film, 1989’s “Batman”. In fact, getting the licenses for Belafonte’s music was one of those cost-saving measures. And boy did it pay off.
Though Elfman’s score brilliantly glued the entire film together, Belafonte’s music proved to be the magic ingredient. “Beetlejuice” blew up at the box office and won several awards. It spawned a TV-show, a few video games, and a Broadway musical. And with the soundtrack’s release alongside the movie in 1988, “Day O” found its way back on the radio waves to enter the collective consciousness of a whole new generation.
For these reasons and more, I believe Harry Belafonte is this film’s MVP. Now that it’s October, treat yourself to this spooky classic. You’ll have yourself thinking in no time “Belafonte, Belafonte, Belafonte…”
