Siskel & Ebert Classics - 11/10/89 - The Little Mermaid, Steel Magnolias 

Steel Magnolias was my sister's favorite movie, may she RIP. And Ouiser was her favorite character.

I love the old commercials! 😁

I'm kind of glad that Gene's audio got cut off when he was talking about "Steel Magnolias"

REST IN PEACE: HARLEM NIGHTS: Della Reese, Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor, Danny Aiello, Thomas Mikal Ford, Charlie Murphy, Robin Harris, Mark Lipsky, George Bowers THE LITTLE MERMAID: Kenneth Mars, Samuel E. Wright, Buddy Hackett, Paddy Edwards, Ben Wright, Will Ryan, René Auberjonois, Howard Ashman STEEL MAGNOLIAS: Olympia Dukakis, Sam Shepard, Bill McCutcheon, Ann Wedgeworth, Bibi Besch, Herbert Ross, Ray Stark, Georges Delerue, John A. Alonzo VALMONT: Milos Forman, Christopher Palmer, Miroslav Ondříček

In hindsight Roger really nailed it in regards to Eddie Murphy's career trajectory. By the late 80's Murphy had earned an insane amount of goodwill and creative power. That credibility ensured his survival through a few bad movies but one bad decision after another eventually caught up with him. I think Murphy fell into the trap of believing his own legend. The guy was huge because he was both funny and appealing to audiences. Like the scene in Trading Places when Murphy subtly breaks the fourth wall after Ralph Bellamy's character explains to him that bacon can be found in a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. THAT is the Eddie Murphy who endeared himself to audiences. But after a while, he stopped winking at the audience. What followed were basically ill conceived vanity projects to showcase a type of talent he simply didn't possess. That's not to say funny people can't move into dramatic roles with great success. Adam Sandler gave a wonderful performance in Punch Drunk Love. But he also had Paul Thomas Anderson in the director's chair. Eddie Murphy was ultimately calling the shots by the time Harlem Nights came out. If Murphy had humbled himself and allowed a talented filmmaker like PTA to lead the way, things might have been different.

Now i remember what the "tracking button" on VCRs are for.

6:17 first commercial break 7:51 start of the little mermaid segment 14:25 star of the Steel Magnolias segment 25:15 recap (they rant about how much they love Little Mermaid)

Harlem Nights had such potential. There aren't a lot of period movies about the Harlem Renaissance era. And to add in some noir-style elements, with Murphy and Prior's humor, it should have been awesome. But sometimes an idea sounds good on paper but just doesn't execute.

Bro they thought Sebastian was gonna become as iconic as Jimminy cricket 😭😭😭

Under the Sea is a great moment. I prefer Les Poissons and Kiss the Girl. They were right though, this was a great return for Disney to animation

The advertisements are absolutely adorable or my goodness. I haven't seen a lot of commerical from the 80's!

Little Mermaid 👍🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 Valmont 👍🌟🌟🌟 Steel Magnolias 👍🌟🌟🌟 Harlem Nights 👎🌟

RIP Samuel E Wright and Pat Carroll

I like The Little Mermaid and Steel Magnolias.

Gene was not only right about the resurgence of animated films in the 90s but animation in TV is about to take off as well.

Harlem Nights 👎 (two thumbs down) Little Mermaid (two thumbs up, way way up; timeless classic) 👍👍 Steel Magnolias (two thumbs up) 👍 Valmont (two thumbs up) 👍

I totally agree with them on their assessment of Eddie Murphy's movie. Around this time RAW, Eddie's last stand up movie, came out and it was raunchy too. And don't get me started on the hatred of women dynamic in these bodies of work. Given what we've heard about him over the years, it gives context as to why he writes what he does imo 🤔

Steel Magnolias wasn't a bad movie but Julia Roberts character grated on my nerves. The Little Mermaid will always be a great cartoon!

26:00 Right here Gene mentioned his mistake

It’s a borderline crime that Harlem Nights wasn’t good despite the absolute murderers row of comedic stars in it

I know Harlem nights was a real big disappointment back in 1989 (35 years ago), but in my opinion, it's a guilty pleasure of mine in my opinion.

It's not reggae, guys. It's calypso. Two totally different genres.

I like Harlem Nights as a guilty pleasure, don't care what anybody says and I don't give a shit about The Little Mermaid.

Harlem nights made 95 million against a 30 million dollar budget

I think I'd rather eat that old woman's lumpy gravy than watch any of these movies.

These guys don't feel creepy siting in a theatre watching a film aimed at pre-teen girls?

It just occurred to me that everything Gene and Roger are saying about The animated Little Mermaid, I'm saying the same thing about the new Live-Action Little Mermaid! Word For Word!