4/4/13

Siskel and Ebert as insult comics

This Roger Ebert obit includes this fun exchange:

Their disagreements were more entertaining than their agreements, complete with knitted brows, are-you-serious head-shaking and gentle (or not) barbs. Mr. Siskel once taunted Mr. Ebert about his weight: “Has your application for a ZIP code come through yet?” Mr. Ebert came back with a dart about Mr. Siskel’s receding hairline: “The only things the astronauts saw from outer space were Three Mile Island and your forehead.”


The article also mentions his credo in judging a film’s value: “Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions never lie to you.”

A while back, I published an article here based on things he'd written: "Roger Ebert on the pathos of Rodney Dangerfield, W.C. Fields, and Groucho Marx." It was a huge thrill when Ebert thanked me for it on Twitter.


I always thought he was a standup guy, in the real sense of the word. No bullshit. Equally able to appreciate a Godard film and something with a lot of explosions. He got that both high and low can be beautiful. Whenever I see an interesting movie, I go and read his review afterward for some perspective on it. I'm gonna miss doing that in the future.

1 comment:

Koopah said...

Well said. I also checked his reviews AFTER I saw a film.

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