I miss Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel
I miss Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel
I love movies and I really miss two men who were my (film) friends. Although I never met them, I grew up with them. A long time ago, before there was access to anything on the Internet, before DVDs and instant gratification for anything, there were these two rather modest men on public television; who sat in a row in a movie theater, showed small clips of new movie releases, and then gave their opinion on them. They were: Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, and I miss them so much. They were both wonderfully articulate men who obviously loved movies and loved to talk about it. They were nerds and they had no problem with it. The movies touched them like a great poem, book or piece of music and they understood that this art form they were criticizing was important. He made you feel or experience something new, or he could evoke in you a past or present moment of life. They were our first mass conduit for movie criticism in this country and their show just got bigger and bigger. They switched from local to national TV stations, and I followed them everywhere. The movie clips you were dying to see were rare on TV, and I ate them all. I was so happy to see them every week on TV.
Gene was the gentle soul, who tended to be a little goofier, but he was an incredibly smart man who was easily liked. He was more likely to appeal to the general audience for reviews of him than Roger. Roger was more of an intellectual, whose command of the language in his reviews was succinct and easy to understand. He knew how to convey what he felt in his writing. Sometimes it seemed like he knew more than Gene did on the show, but I always got the feeling that it was more like a sibling rivalry than anything else. At least a conversation was taking place, and the two of them could (fight) get by.
You see, when you’re asked to perform a task of any kind, and people, one way or another, rely on your professional opinion or observation to form what they think of something, there’s certainly a sense of importance that comes with that duty. . to be sure. It is inevitable and a human trait. You are now an expert; someone we hold in some regard in that particular field. They were not experts; they were two men who loved movies and wanted to share their passion with us. I bought all of Ebert’s guides from the previous years, the best and the worst, and reread them many times.
Siskel and Ebert became popular because they were good at what they did and people enjoyed watching everyone talk about movies. It was a great idea and forum, and the timing was perfect. (Siskel & Ebert At The Movies) was the new syndicated show they launched when their little PBS hit the big time. Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down: Your signature to see this movie or not, became part of American culture. Hollywood started paying a lot of attention and hoped they would give their new movie the nod to boost the box office. If you love movies, the most wonderful thing they did for movies was to promote the smaller movies with limited distribution. Great movies like (One False Move) wouldn’t have been recognized as well and probably would have disappeared if they hadn’t sung its praises. They were the champions of hundreds of creative and diverse films, directors and actors, whose success was aided by these two men who loved movies and wanted you to too. They didn’t give a damn about the box office; they cared about quality movies that we could all enjoy.
I was very saddened to learn of the passing of Gene Siskel in 1999. Read his biography and you will see that he was a loving man, husband and father who was passionate and honest to a fault. He was 53 years old.
Roger Ebert had been ill for some time and had to have his lower jaw removed, which left him speechless. With the help of a vocal device that sounded strangely like him, he made limited appearances and continued to do what he loved; movie review. He died this year in April; he was 70 years old. Roger won the Pulitzer Prize for Film Critics in 1975.
I miss these guys so much.
