Remembering Gene Siskel

Tomorrow will be the 10th anniversary of film critic Gene Siskel's death. Roger Ebert has posted a brilliant remembrance at his journal called Remembering Gene

Here is Gene and Roger's review of The Godfather.



It doesn't get any better than that. Miss you Gene.

You can check out my movie blog at NotRogerEbert.blogspot.com

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"Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others."- Groucho Marx

Oh god... the beginning of old age... I saw this and was like "Gene Siskel's dead?" Then I realized he's been dead for a long time now... good thing you made the thread.

One of my favorite Gene moments was a scripted one on "The Larry Sanders Show" where, playing themselves, Siskel and John Ritter get into a backstage confrontation. This YouTube clip is the entire first part of the show, but Gene's bits are at the 5:23 mark to 6:25 and then from 7:15 to 8:01.




My favorite ever isn't on the interweb apparently, but it happened on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show" where Gene and Roger got into it on the air with Chevy Chase, who was on the show before them and further down the couch. It makes the fictionalized version with Ritter seem like a lovefest.

A couple of their great appearances with Letterman, first on CBS' "The Late Show", including Gene's Springsteen story and some Free Willy fat jokes at Roger, and then from NBC's "Late Night" with Gene's story about Oprah Winfrey's hat size...

[APPARENTLY THESE CLIPS DON'T ALLOW EMBEDDING SO CLICK ON THE LINKS]







And Roger & Gene on "Sesame Street"...

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And I posted this not too long ago in another thread, but here is a famous underground clip of Gene and Roger arguing during the taping of a promo, including "the whole fu*kin' menu" from McDonalds...

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

At school, I can't see the YouTube; otherwise I would have +1'ed these earlier. I grew up with "Sneak Previews" and all the Gene & Rog incarnations. Great first post, ucon! "Thumbs Sideways!" All the jokes I've seen because I saw both the Letterman 1991 and 1993 "Summer Blockbuster" episodes. Of course, Holds' final post is the best post to ever watch from the Dynamic Duo. "I already shot my wad on the Protestants." I'm still hoping that Holds and I can do a variation of these guys here. What's going on with your PC, Holds? We still have time to do an Oscar Prediction Bit.

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My home computer was thankfully repaired back at the end of January. However, this coincided just about exactly with the beginning of the Portland International Film Festival screenings, which has rather monopolized my time the past month (with still a few days to go!).

If memory serves, the Chevy Chase vs. Gene & Roger on the "Tonight Show" was when Chevy was promoting ¡Three Amigos!, which they brazenly panned right in front of him, so it would have been late 1986. I should research it fully, see if I can figure out the exact broadcast date, and the next time I'm in NYC look it up at the Museum of Television & Radio. I haven't seen the clip in years, but it's an all-time classic.

Ironically enough, on a 1982 episode of "SNL" that Chevy returned to host, Siskel & Ebert played themselves in a sketch where they parodied their syndicated a show and included Chevy in their "Dog of the Week" segment. After a successful premiere as movie star in Foul Play and then relative successes with Seems Like Old Times and the instant crude classic Caddyshack Chase's film career had already quickly become a joke with the infamous bombs Oh! Heavenly Dog, Under the Rainbow and Modern Problems. I guess judging by the '82 "SNL" bit Chevy was in on the joke then, and by 1986 he was done with it. Not that they automatically savaged Chase throughout his career, as Gene gave thumbs up to Fletch and National Lampoon's Vacation, while both of them absolutely loved Funny Farm.

Those outtakes are both hilarious and embarrassing. Ebert seems like an a-hole...

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gene is illin. Nothing beats the first Godfather, yet i've never seen gene and siskel

In addition to a series of fantastic bickering appearances on Carson's "The Tonight Show" and Letterman's NBC and CBS programs, Gene and Roger also had a blast on Howard Stern's radio show for years. Those aren't on YouTube of course, but below is a clip of Siskel & Ebert on Howard's Channel 9 television show from the early 1990s.



And HERE is Roger and Gene's on-air two thumbs up review of Stern's movie Private Parts (1997).

Only 10 years! Gawd, it seems much longer. Siskel and Ebert were a great team. I've missed them.

Without having known Gene Siskel personally at all, I understand and have read that he was a wonderful movie buff and movie critic/reviewer. I'm sorry to hear that he died, especially at such a young age.

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"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men." -- Samuel Adams (1722-1803)