Gene Siskel

Siskel's first print review, written one month before he became the Tribune's film critic, was for the film Rascal.[8][9] His review of the film was not favorable ("Because of the excessive gimmickry, most kids will miss the tenderness," he wrote).[8][9] Prior to this, he served in the U.S. Army Reserve; he was a military journalist and public affairs officer for the Defense Information School.[10] For a time afterwards, he was acquainted with Playboy magazine publisher Hugh Hefner.[11]

In 1986, the Chicago Tribune announced that Siskel was no longer the paper's film critic, and that his position with the paper had been shifted from that of a full-time film critic to that of a freelance contract writer who was to write about the film industry for the Sunday paper and also provide capsule film reviews for the paper's entertainment sections.[12] The demotion occurred after Siskel and Ebert decided to shift production of their weekly movie-review show, then known as At the Movies (later known as Siskel & Ebert), from Tribune Entertainment to The Walt Disney Company's Buena Vista Television unit. Editor James Squires stated on the move, "He's done a great job for us. It's a question of how much a person can do physically. We think you need to be a newspaper person first, and Gene Siskel always tried to do that. But there comes a point when a career is so big that you can't do that." Siskel declined to comment on the new arrangement, but Ebert publicly criticized Siskel's Tribune bosses for punishing Siskel for taking their television program to a company other than Tribune Entertainment.[13] Siskel remained in that freelance position until his death in 1999. He was replaced as film critic by Dave Kehr.[14]

The last review published by Siskel for the Chicago Tribune was for the film She's All That, published on January 29, 1999, in which he gave a favorable review, giving it three stars out of four and wrote that "Rachael Leigh Cook as Laney, the plain Jane object of the makeover, is forced to demonstrate the biggest emotional range as a character, and she is equal to the assignment. I look forward to seeing her in her next movie."[8][15]

In 1975, Siskel teamed up with Ebert, film reviewer for the Chicago Sun-Times, to host a show on local Chicago PBS station WTTW which eventually became Sneak Previews.[2] Their "thumbs-up, thumbs-down" system soon became an easily recognizable trademark,[2][3][4] popular enough to be parodied on comedy shows such as Second City Television, In Living Color, Bizarre, and in movies such as Hollywood Shuffle and Godzilla.[16] Sneak Previews gained a nationwide audience in 1977 when WTTW offered it as a series to the PBS program system.[2]

Siskel and Ebert left WTTW and PBS in 1982 for syndication.[2] Their new show, At the Movies, was produced and distributed by Tribune Broadcasting, the parent company of the Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV.[2] Sneak Previews continued on PBS for 14 more years with other hosts until its cancellation in 1996.[2] In 1986, Siskel and Ebert left Tribune Broadcasting to have their show produced by the syndication arm of The Walt Disney Company.[2] The new incarnation of the show was originally titled Siskel & Ebert & the Movies, but later shortened to Siskel & Ebert.[2] At the Movies also continued for a few more years with other hosts until its cancellation in 1990.[2]

The last five movies Siskel reviewed with Ebert on the show before his death aired during the weekend of January 23–24, 1999. On the show, they reviewed At First Sight, Another Day in Paradise, The Hi-Lo Country, Playing by Heart, and The Theory of Flight.[17] Siskel gave thumbs up to all of them, except for Playing by Heart.[17]

Following Siskel's death, Ebert continued the series with rotating guest hosts, which included Martin Scorsese,[18] Janet Maslin, Peter Bogdanovich, Todd McCarthy, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Kenneth Turan. Elvis Mitchell, and the eventual replacement for Siskel, Richard Roeper.[19][20]

Siskel and Ebert were known for their many appearances on late-night talk shows, including appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman sixteen times and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson fifteen times. They also appeared together on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Arsenio Hall Show, Howard Stern, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

In 1982, 1983, and 1985, Siskel, along with Ebert, appeared as themselves on Saturday Night Live.[21][22] For their first two appearances, they reviewed sketches from that night's telecast and reviewed sketches from the "SNL Film Festival" for their last appearance.[23]

In 1991, Siskel, along with Ebert, appeared in a segment on the children's television series Sesame Street entitled "Sneak Peak Previews" (a parody of Sneak Previews).[24] In the segment, the critics instruct the hosts Oscar the Grouch and Telly Monster on how their thumbs up/thumbs down rating system works.[24] Oscar asks if there could be a thumbs sideways ratings, and goads the two men into an argument about whether or not that would be acceptable, as Ebert likes the idea, but Siskel does not.[24] The two were also seen that same year in the show's celebrity version of "Monster in the Mirror".[25]

In 1993, Siskel appeared as himself in an episode of The Larry Sanders Show entitled "Off Camera".[26] Entertainment Weekly chose his performance as one of the great scenes in that year's television.[27]

In 1995, Siskel and Ebert guest-starred on an episode of the animated TV series The Critic entitled "Siskel & Ebert & Jay & Alice".[28] In the episode, Siskel and Ebert split and each wants protagonist Jay Sherman, a fellow movie critic, as his new partner.[28] The episode is a parody of the film Sleepless in Seattle.[28]

An early appearance of Siskel, taken from Opening Soon at a Theater Near You, the predecessor to Sneak Previews, is included in the 2009 documentary film, For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism.[29] In the film, he is seen debating with Ebert over the merits of the film version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.[29]

One of Siskel's favorite films was Saturday Night Fever;[38] he even bought the famous white disco suit that John Travolta wore in the film from a charity auction.[39] Another all-time favorite was Dr. Strangelove.[40][41] A favorite from childhood was Dumbo,[42] which he often mentioned as the first film that had an influence on him.[35][43][44]

Siskel compiled "best of the year" film lists from 1969 to 1998, which helped to provide an overview of his critical preferences.[45][46] His top choices were:

From 1969 until his death in February 1999, he and Ebert were in agreement on nine annual top selections: Z, The Godfather, Nashville, The Right Stuff, Do the Right Thing, Goodfellas, Schindler's List, Hoop Dreams, and Fargo. There would have been a tenth, but Ebert declined to rank the 9+1⁄2-hour documentary Shoah as 1985's best film because he felt it was inappropriate to compare it to the rest of the year's candidates.[61] Six times, Siskel's number one choice did not appear on Ebert's top ten list at all: Straight Time, Ragtime, Once Upon a Time in America, The Last Temptation of Christ, Hearts of Darkness, and The Ice Storm. Six times, Ebert's top selection did not appear on Siskel's; these films were 3 Women, An Unmarried Woman, Apocalypse Now, Sophie's Choice, Mississippi Burning, and Dark City.[45]

Siskel was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor on May 8, 1998.[63] He underwent brain surgery three days later.[64][65] For a few weeks after the surgery he did the Siskel & Ebert show on the telephone (from his hospital bed) while Ebert was in the studio.[66][67][68] Siskel eventually returned to the studio after his recovery, but was noted to appear more lethargic and mellow than usual.[69] On February 3, 1999, he announced that he was taking a leave of absence from the show, but that he expected to be back by the fall, stating, "I'm in a hurry to get well because I don't want Roger to get more screen time than I."[7] Siskel died on February 20, 1999, from complications of his brain surgery,[7] and his funeral was held two days later at the North Suburban Synagogue Beth El.[6][41] He is interred at Westlawn Cemetery in Norridge, Illinois.[70][71]