OPPOSABLE THUMBS
Once upon a time, if you wanted to know if a movie was worth seeing, you didn’t check out Rotten Tomatoes or IMDB.
You asked whether Siskel & Ebert had given it “two thumbs up.”
Matt Singer is the editor and film critic of ScreenCrush.com and a member of the New York Film Critics Circle. He won a Webby Award for his work on the Independent Film Channel’s website, IFC.com, and is the author of Marvel’s Spider-Man: From Amazing to Spectacular. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two daughters.
Gene Siskel (January 26, 1946 - February 20, 1999) and Roger Ebert (June 18, 1942 - April 4, 2013), collectively known as Siskel & Ebert, were American film critics known for their partnership on television lasting from 1975 to Siskel's death in 1999.
At the time two of the most well-known film critics writing for Chicago newspapers (Siskel for the Tribune, Ebert for the rival Sun-Times), the two were first paired up as the hosts of a monthly show called Opening Soon at a Theatre Near You, airing locally on PBS member station WTTW.[2] In 1978, the show - renamed Sneak Previews - was expanded to weekly episodes and aired on PBS affiliates all around the United States.[2] In 1982, the pair left Sneak Previews to create the syndicated show At the Movies.[2] Following a contract dispute with Tribune Media in 1986, Siskel and Ebert signed with Buena Vista Television, creating Siskel & Ebert & the Movies (later renamed Siskel & Ebert, and renamed again several times after Siskel's death).
Known for their sharp and biting wit, intense professional rivalry, heated arguments, and their binary "Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down" summations, the duo became a sensation in American popular culture.[3][4] Siskel and Ebert remained partners and in the public eye right up until Siskel's death from a brain tumor in 1999.
Early careers
Siskel started writing for the Chicago Tribune in 1969, becoming its film critic soon after. Ebert joined the Chicago Sun-Times in 1966, and started writing about film for the paper in 1967. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize for criticism.
Ebert continued with the series with rotating guest hosts which included Martin Scorsese, Janet Maslin, Peter Bogdanovich, Todd McCarthy, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Kenneth Turan, Elvis Mitchell, and the eventual replacement for Siskel, Richard Roeper.
Review style and trademarks
Siskel and Ebert's reviewing style has been described as a form of midwestern populist criticism rather than the one formed through essays which other critics including Pauline Kael felt undermined and undervalued the profession of film criticism. They were criticized for their ability to sensationalize film criticism in an easygoing, relatable way. Together they are credited with forming modern day film criticism. The New York Times described Ebert's reviews as a “critic for the common man"
The pair were also known for their intense debate, often drawing sharp criticisms at each other. Ebert reminisced about the experience saying:
Siskel and Ebert's rivalry and dislike for each other was noted in Matt Singer's book "Opposable Thumbs." According to a Tribune editor quoted in the book, when Siskel would scoop his rival in print, he’d exult: “Take that, Tubby, I got him again.”
In 1983, the critics defended Star Wars films against critic John Simon in an episode of ABC News Nightline. The film Return of the Jedi (1983) had hit theaters that summer and Simon was criticizing the film for "making children dumber than they need to be". Ebert responded saying:
I don’t know what he did as a child, but I spent a lot of my Saturday matinees watching science fiction movies and serials and having a great time and being stimulated and having my imagination stimulated and having all sorts of visions take place in my mind that would help me to become an adult and to still stay young at heart. I wouldn’t say that I am childlike, but that [Simon] is old at heart.
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Intro and exit music used with permission from Chan Redfield. Tough as Nails by Chan Redfield used with permission from Chan Redfield directly.
10 сен 2024
