Gene Siskel and Robert Ebert
I remember where I was when I first heard that Gene Siskel had died of cancer in February of 1999. I remember Siskel saying before his death that he wanted his young son and his friend Roger Ebert to go see the new “Star Wars” movie together. It was those kind of comments that endeared Siskel and Ebert to their constant viewers and readers.
A total of 14 years have passed and I feel I have only become closer to Roger Ebert as the days have gone by. Make no mistake: I have never meet Roger Ebert and we have certainly never had a conversation, but in a very real way, I feel I have gotten to know him through his work.
I do not remember when I started watching “Siskel and Ebert at the Movies” but I know it was sometime in the seventies when I was just a teenager. I remember when the two got in a fight over Siskel revealing the secret of “The Crying Game.” If you watched that argument as I did, you know it seemed they were going to come to blows.
I also remember that in 1993 they both picked “Schindler’s List” as their choice for Best Picture of the year. (A choice with which I have always agreed.) There were many times that I did not agree with them, mostly when I was younger. As I aged and matured, I found more and more wisdom in the multitude of reviews they wrote or spoke.
These last fourteen years, when it has only been Ebert, I have realized that we agree a lot. I would never read his review until after I saw the movie. If it was a movie I was reviewing for ethicsdaily.com or later The Stanly News & Press, I would wait until I had written my opinions. I did not want his profound thoughts to muddle my inferior ramblings.
But in the end, I was so very often pleased to discover that though he was much more articulate and a vastly superior writer, we had very similar experiences in the darkened theater. We liked certain movies, sometimes for the very same reasons.
Just this past year, Roger Ebert gave three stars (out of four) for a film that got almost no critical endorsements and bombed at the box office. He praised the film and said that it was “made with more care and intelligence than many a more film.” I may be the only other film writer who praised “Chasing Mavericks.”
Then there was “The Odd Life of Timothy Green.” I have praised this film twice in the SNAP, first in my original review and then later when I did my Top Ten List. I still think it was one of the best and most overlooked films of 2012. And like “Mavericks,” it was scorned by many a critic.
After I saw “Odd Life,” I was almost afraid to read what Roger Ebert thought of it because I felt so deeply connected to the story. What joy I felt when I went to his website and discovered that he had given it three and half stars and commented on the film in this way: “a warm and lovely fantasy, is the kind of full-bodied family film being pushed aside in favor of franchises and slam-bang confusion” and “instead of being simpleminded like too many family films, it treats the characters with care and concern.”
Roger Ebert, though we never met, rereading your words reminds me why I am going to miss you so much. You might not be the reason I love movies, but through what I learned from you and your buddy Siskel, I have discovered great films through the years, and my taste has certainly become more discerning.
I want to close this tribute with my all-time favorite Ebert quote. It came from a review he did of a film whose title I can no longer remember. (I actually think I used this quote in a review I wrote previously for the SNAP, but it is worth reading again.) Roger Ebert wrote: “Most people choose movies that provide exactly what they expect, and tell them things they already know. We are put on this planet only once, and to limit ourselves to the familiar is a crime against our minds.”
Amen, Mr. Ebert and thanks for the memories.
Cinema Corner 