By MIKE TEAL
Over the course of their 24 years together on television, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert became the best-known movie critics in the nation, if not the world. They began as fierce rivals for competing newspapers in Chicago, but rose to fame together, reviewing the latest theatrical films on public television starting in 1975. Their influence grew as they made their way onto network television in the early 80s, thus gaining bigger distribution and audiences.
Their avuncular charm and often spirited sparring over films they disagreed with caused millions to tune in weekly, and their “thumbs up/thumbs down verdict” format often meant the difference between a film succeeding or failing at the box-office. Furthermore, because they had started out on public television, and only gradually worked their way onto network TV, their unique chemistry came from a place that seemed genuine, not prefabricated by studio executives, as was the case with many of the other movie-reviewing shows that failed quickly.
The two-critic format also gave them a big advantage over the traditional lone reviewer format heard on most news programs (when movie reviews were heard at all). Siskel and Ebert’s show provided both monologue and dialogue. As Gail Cooper put it in Entertainment Today, “It wasn’t as much fun to just hear one critic pontificate from on high. It was much more entertaining to hear him forced to defend his views against someone who had a much different opinion.” Ebert wrote in a 2009 blog post. “If we were fighting – get out of the room. But if we were teamed up against a common target, we were fatal.”
Here is their 1993 review of the “It’s All True” documentary, one of several good segments on Orson Welles movies that they did over the years, including the ’92 restoration of “Othello,” the ’98 restoration of “Touch of Evil,” plus special tribute shows like “Hail! Hail Black and White,” (their tribute to black and white cinema), which included several clips from Welles films.
The “It’s All True” review begins at the 1:45 mark.
Siskel & Ebert It’s All True from Mike Teal on Vimeo.