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Opposable Thumbs

How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever

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Opposable Thumbs

Von: Matt Singer
Gesprochen von: Matt Singer
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Once upon a time, if you wanted to know if a movie was worth seeing, you didn’t check out Rotten Tomatoes or IMDB.

You asked whether Siskel & Ebert had given it “two thumbs up.”

On a cold Saturday afternoon in 1975, two men (who had known each other for eight years before they’d ever exchanged a word) met for lunch in a Chicago pub. Gene Siskel was the film critic for the Chicago Tribune. Roger Ebert had recently won the Pulitzer Prize—the first ever awarded to a film critic—for his work at the Chicago Sun-Times. To say they despised each other was an understatement.

When they reluctantly agreed to collaborate on a new movie review show with PBS, there was at least as much sparring off-camera as on. No decision—from which films to cover to who would read the lead review to how to pronounce foreign titles—was made without conflict, but their often-antagonistic partnership (which later transformed into genuine friendship) made for great television. In the years that followed, their signature “Two thumbs up!” would become the most trusted critical brand in Hollywood.

In Opposable Thumbs, award-winning editor and film critic Matt Singer eavesdrops on their iconic balcony set, detailing their rise from making a few hundred dollars a week on local Chicago PBS to securing multimillion-dollar contracts for a syndicated series (a move that convinced a young local host named Oprah Winfrey to do the same). Their partnership was cut short when Gene Siskel passed away in February of 1999 after a battle with brain cancer that he’d kept secret from everyone outside his immediate family—including Roger Ebert, who never got to say goodbye to his longtime partner.But their influence on in the way we talk about (and think about) movies continues to this day.

Photographer/© ABC/Getty Images. Unterhaltung & Darstellende Künste Unterhaltung & Stars
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It's such an interesting account of the history of the show, but not only that, you really get to learn about the 2 men behind it, Gene and Roger. It's such a fascinating relationship and I like that Matt Singer explores it in detail, especially as, while timing and the specificity of the media landscape of the time certainly played a role, ultimately the show was so powerful because of the unique characters of Gene and Roger.

While I've read and followed Ebert's film criticism in more detail (partly probably because he was still alive and active in the 21st century), the book really opened the door for me to get to know Gene Siskel more. The chapter about his untimely death was extremely moving.

Highly recommend it!

2 Thumbs up 👍 👍

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