It’s the 50th anniversary of “Siskel & Ebert.” The two Chicago film critics’ groundbreaking TV show influenced generations of movie makers, Hollywood powerbrokers and fans.
After Gene’s death in 1999, critic and author Richard Roeper became Roger’s partner in the balcony. He shared memories with ABC7 about the phenomenon of two guys just talking about the movies.
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Roeper joined ABC7 at the Lake Street screening room where Ebert and Siskel watched hundreds of films.
“Roger always sat in his seat over there and Gene sat on the other side, because they had this thing like, don’t talk about it unless it’s on the air when it came to movies,” Roeper said. “The magic was their two personalities because you couldn’t manufacture that they were off the air just like they were on the air. Gene was at the Tribune and Roger’s at the Sun Times. They were both really, really smart, but Gene had that kind of ivy League, he could be really cutting with his wit. And Roger was brilliant but he had that small town Champaign-Urbana in him, so a little bit more of, let’s put it this way, the practical joker was Gene, and Roger was the one who’d get dumped every time… I remember walking out of the screening room with those two, they’d get into a big debate about where they were going for lunch. That place, that sandwich is overrated. You’re out of your mind – you know, that was them.”
Roeper spoke about why it mattered that they were two Chicago guys.
“They didn’t want to do the show for Hollywood. They didn’t want to do it for actors,” Roeper said. “That Chicago-ness of the show, you know, even some of the famous opening credits sequences where you’d seem them literally on the street of Chicago and you’d recognize the landmarks – all of that I think made it authentic. When the show went national and it was on in Los Angeles, Harry Dean Stanton, the great character actor called Jack Nicholson. He goes, ‘You gotta turn on Channel 7 – there’s two guys who look like us talking about movies… The first time I was in that balcony, that was like taking a seat at the bar at Cheers. What am I doing here? I’m on the other side of the looking glass, but I was never nervous because I had Roger… Gene Siskel told me a million years ago that you need two things to be a movie critic – one you have to have strong opinions – two, you have to find someone who will pay you for those opinions. They had a clout in the eighties and nineties that I don’t think any critics will ever have again.”
The City of Chicago is celebrating the “Siskel & Ebert” 50th anniversary with a month of special screenings each Wednesday of movies both loved.
Wednesday night’s film is “Breaking Away,” and all the features are shown at the Chicago Cultural Center.
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