Gene Siskel

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Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the Chicago Tribune who co-hosted a movie review television series alongside colleague Roger Ebert.<ref name="Go On">Template:Cite web</ref>

Siskel started writing for the Chicago Tribune in 1969, becoming its film critic soon after. In 1975, he was paired with Roger Ebert to co-host a monthly show called Opening Soon at a Theater Near You airing locally on PBS member station WTTW.<ref name="mbc">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1978, the show, renamed Sneak Previews, was expanded to weekly episodes and aired on PBS affiliates across the United States.<ref name="mbc" /> In 1982, Siskel and Ebert left Sneak Previews to create the syndicated show At the Movies.<ref name="mbc" /> Following a contract dispute with Tribune Entertainment in 1986, Siskel and Ebert signed with Buena Vista Television, creating Siskel & Ebert & the Movies (renamed Siskel & Ebert in 1987, and renamed again several times after Siskel's death).<ref name="mbc" />

Known for their biting wit, intense professional rivalry, heated arguments, and trademark "Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down" movie ratings system, Siskel and Ebert became celebrated in American pop culture.<ref name="Thumbs Up">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="No Longer">Template:Cite news</ref> Siskel was diagnosed with brain cancer in May 1998 but remained in the public eye as Ebert's professional partner until his death the following year.<ref name="Go On" />

Early life

Siskel was born in Chicago on January 26, 1946, the youngest of three children born to Ida (Template:Née) and Nathan William Siskel, who were Russian Jewish immigrants.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn His father died when he was four and his mother died when he was nine; thereafter, he was raised by his aunt and uncle.<ref name="Private Side">Template:Cite news</ref>

Siskel attended DeWitt Clinton Elementary School in Chicago and nearby was the Nortown Theater where he often frequented to watch movies. This sparked his interest in films.

Siskel also attended Culver Academies, where he experienced anti-Semitism firsthand when a schoolmate gave him a piece of toast on which jam was spread in the shape of a swastika.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Siskel graduated from Yale University with a degree in philosophy in 1967. While at Yale, Siskel was classmates with poet Paul Monette and future New York Governor George Pataki.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Siskel studied writing under Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Hersey, whose reference would later help Siskel get a job at the Chicago Tribune in 1969.<ref name="nytimes.com">Template:Cite news</ref>

Career

Writing

Siskel's first print review, written one month before he became the TribuneTemplate:'s film critic, was for the film Rascal.<ref name="List">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Rascal">Template:Cite news</ref> His review of the film was not favorable ("Because of the excessive gimmickry, most kids will miss the tenderness," he wrote).<ref name="List" /><ref name="Rascal" /> 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> For a time afterwards, he was acquainted with Playboy magazine publisher Hugh Hefner.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref> Ebert privately suggested that Siskel join him at the Chicago Sun-Times, but Siskel remained a freelancer for the Tribune until his death in 1999.Template:Sfn He was replaced as film critic by Dave Kehr.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>

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."<ref name="List" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Siskel & Ebert

Template:Main 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.<ref name="mbc"/> Their "thumbs-up, thumbs-down" system soon became an easily recognizable trademark,<ref name="mbc" /><ref name="Thumbs Up" /><ref name="No Longer" /> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Sneak Previews gained a nationwide audience in 1977 when WTTW offered it as a series to the PBS program system.<ref name="mbc" />

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

The last five movies Siskel reviewed with Ebert on the show before his death aired during the weekend of January 23–24, 1999.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On the show, they reviewed At First Sight, Another Day in Paradise, The Hi-Lo Country, Playing by Heart, and The Theory of Flight.<ref name="S&E 1999">Template:Cite web</ref> Siskel gave thumbs up to all of them, except for Playing by Heart.<ref name="S&E 1999" />

Following Siskel's death, Ebert continued the series with rotating guest hosts, which included Martin Scorsese,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Janet Maslin, Peter Bogdanovich, Todd McCarthy, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Kenneth Turan, Elvis Mitchell, and the eventual replacement for Siskel, Richard Roeper.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn

Film and TV appearances

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.<ref>Template:Cite episode</ref><ref>Template:Cite episode</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1991, Siskel, along with Ebert, appeared in a segment on the children's television series Sesame Street entitled "Sneak Peek Previews" (a parody of Sneak Previews).<ref name="Sesame Street">Sesame Street – "Sneak Peek Previews" with SISKEL & EBERT</ref> In the segment, the critics instruct the hosts Oscar the Grouch and Telly Monster on how their thumbs up/thumbs down rating system works.<ref name="Sesame Street" /> 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.<ref name="Sesame Street" /> The two were also seen that same year in the show's celebrity version of "Monster in the Mirror".<ref>Sesame Street – Monster in the Mirror (celebrity version)</ref>

In 1993, Siskel appeared as himself in an episode of The Larry Sanders Show entitled "Off Camera".<ref>Template:Cite episode</ref> Entertainment Weekly chose his performance as one of the great scenes in that year's television.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

In 1995, Siskel and Ebert guest-starred on an episode of the animated TV series The Critic entitled "Siskel & Ebert & Jay & Alice".<ref name="The Critic">Template:Cite web</ref> In the episode, Siskel and Ebert split and each wants protagonist Jay Sherman, a fellow movie critic, as his new partner.<ref name="The Critic" /> The episode is a parody of the film Sleepless in Seattle.<ref name="The Critic" />

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.<ref name="For the Love">Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> In the film, he is seen debating with Ebert over the merits of the film version of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.<ref name="For the Love" />

Critical style

Gene Siskel had an abrasive review style, and claimed his film criticism was an individual exercise that should not be swayed by public taste. In an interview for the Academy of Television and Radio, his TV co-host said of him, "I think Gene felt that he had to like the whole picture to give it a thumbs up."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In particular, he often gave negative reviews to films that became box office champs and went on to be considered mainstream classics: Poltergeist,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Scarface,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Beverly Hills Cop,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Terminator, Aliens,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Predator, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Thelma & Louise, and Independence Day. This even extended to several films that went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture: The Silence of the Lambs<ref name="List" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Unforgiven.

Yet, Ebert also noted in a memoriam episode of Siskel and Ebert that when Siskel found a movie that he truly treasured, he embraced it as something special. Directly addressing his late colleague, Ebert said: "I know for sure that seeing a truly great movie made you so happy that you'd tell me a week later your spirits were still high."<ref name="Gene Siskel Tribute">Template:Cite web</ref> Some of Siskel's most treasured movies included My Dinner with Andre (1981),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Shoah (1985), Fargo (1996), and the documentary Hoop Dreams (1994).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Preferences

Favorites

One of Siskel's favorite films was Saturday Night Fever;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> he even bought the famous white disco suit that John Travolta wore in the film from a charity auction.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Another all-time favorite was Dr. Strangelove.<ref name="10 Stupid Questions">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="Funeral plans">Template:Cite news</ref> A favorite from childhood was Dumbo,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> which he often mentioned as the first film that had an influence on him.<ref name="Gene Siskel Tribute" /><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Best films of the year

Siskel compiled "best of the year" film lists from 1969 to 1998, which helped to provide an overview of his critical preferences.<ref name="innermind.com">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His top choices were: Template:Col-begin Template:Col-break

Template:Col-break

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Template:Col-end 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 Template:Frac-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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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. Seven 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, Eve's Bayou and Dark City.<ref name="innermind.com" />

Personal life

In 1980, Siskel married Marlene Iglitzen, who was then a producer for CBS in New York. They had two daughters, Kate (a marketing and communications executive at Convergent Energy and Power in New York City) and Callie (a poet and writer), and a son, Will (a coordinator of major league operations for the Atlanta Braves baseball team).<ref>Template:Cite podcast</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Their daughters graduated from Siskel's alma mater, Yale University.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He is the uncle of Ed Siskel, a lawyer and former White House Counsel under U.S. President Joe Biden,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Jon Siskel, a co-founder of the documentary and film-production based company Siskel/Jacobs Productions,<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref> and Charlie Siskel, a documentary film producer.

Illness and death

Siskel was diagnosed with a malignant terminal brain tumor on May 8, 1998.<ref>Life Itself. Dir. Steve James. Part. Roger Ebert and Chaz Ebert. Magnolia, 2014.</ref>Template:Sfn He underwent brain surgery three days later.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> For a few weeks during his recovery, he participated on Siskel & Ebert by telephone, calling in from his hospital bed while Ebert appeared in the studio.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Siskel did not disclose the severity of his illness to anyone outside of his family; publicly, he said that the surgery removed an unspecified "growth" on his brain, and that he was recovering well.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He eventually returned to the studio, but was noted to appear more lethargic and mellow than usual.Template:Sfn 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."<ref name="nytimes.com" />

Siskel died at a hospital in Evanston, Illinois, on February 20, 1999, nine months after his diagnosis and surgery; he was 53 years old.<ref name="nytimes.com" />Template:Sfn His funeral was held two days later at the North Suburban Synagogue Beth El.<ref name="Private Side" /><ref name="Funeral plans" /> He is interred at Westlawn Cemetery in Norridge, Illinois.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Legacy

Siskel was a Chicago sports fan, especially of his hometown basketball team, the Chicago Bulls, and he would cover locker-room celebrations for WBBM-TV news broadcasts following Bulls championships in the 1990s.<ref name="Gene Siskel Tribute" />

Image of a building on a Chicago street. Text on a sign reads "Gene Siskel Film Center".
The Gene Siskel Film Center at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois

Siskel was also a member of the advisory committee of the Film Center at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a strong supporter of the Film Center mission.<ref name="Film Center">School of the Art Institute of Chicago: Gene Siskel Film Center</ref> He wrote hundreds of articles applauding the Film Center's distinctive programming and lent the power of his position as a well-known film critic to urge public funding and audience support.<ref name="Film Center" /> In June 2000, the Film Center was renamed The Gene Siskel Film Center in his honor.<ref name="Film Center" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Only once during his long association with Ebert did Siskel ever change his vote on a movie during the review. He initially gave the film Broken Arrow a "thumbs up", but after hearing Ebert's criticism, Siskel changed his mind to "thumbs down". He then tried to get Ebert to give the 1993 film Cop and a Half a thumbs down but Ebert declined.<ref name="S&E 1996">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, he had changed his opinions on films years after his initial reviews, as with Tremors, to which he gave a negative review in 1990<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> but later gave a glowing positive evaluation in 1994, stating, "I wasn't sure what I missed the first time around, but it just didn't click."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Siskel said that he walked out on three films during his professional career: the 1971 comedy The Million Dollar Duck starring Dean Jones, the 1980 horror film Maniac, and the 1996 Penelope Spheeris film Black Sheep.<ref name="10 Stupid Questions" /><ref>Template:Cite web Template:Better source needed</ref> When he mentioned walking out on Black Sheep in 1996, he said it was the first time he walked out on a movie he was reviewing since Million Dollar Duck in 1971; he later explained that he did not include Maniac because he did not review Maniac as an assignment for his newspaper or part of his and Ebert's weekly TV reviews but only as a "Dog of the Week", a feature of the TV show in which each critic would single out the very worst movie they had seen that week.<ref name="S&E 1996" />

Both critics had specific sensitivities and feelings that would often vary in extremes regarding certain kinds of bad films.<ref name="mbc" /><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Ebert was very sensitive to films about race and ethnicity; Siskel was sensitive to films about families and family relationships and had a special hatred for films like House Arrest (1996) and Like Father Like Son (1987), both of which were about parents and their children.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Following Siskel's death in 1999, Ebert wrote: Template:Blockquote

Ebert once said of his relationship with Siskel: Template:Blockquote

When both men appeared together on The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, Joan Rivers conducted a "together and separately" interview with them, which at one point had each of them wear Walkman-style headphones, playing loud music, while the other commented on his partner.<ref name="The Late Show">Template:Cite episode</ref> When asked what he thought was the biggest difference between himself and Ebert, Siskel unhesitatingly replied: "I'm a better reviewer than he is", but a few moments later, he said that anyone who read an Ebert review would read "an extremely well-written review".<ref name="The Late Show" />

At the 1999 Academy Awards ceremony, after its in memoriam montage of deceased stars and film contributors (which did not include Siskel), host Whoopi Goldberg gave a brief impromptu tribute to Siskel:

Template:Blockquote

She included the iconic "thumbs-up" gesture; it received a great round of audience applause.<ref name=articles.chicagotribune.com />

In November 2025, the Chicago Cultural Center scheduled a series of events to mark the 50th anniversary of the "Siskel & Ebert" show.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Work

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1975-1982 Sneak Previews Host 148 episodes
1982-1985 Saturday Night Live Himself 3 episodes
1982-1986 At the Movies Host 156 episodes
1982-1993 Late Night with David Letterman Guest 15 episodes
1983-1995 Nightline Himself 3 episodes
1985-1992 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Guest 15 episodes
1986 The Late Show Himself 1 episode
Nightlife 1 episode
Hour Magazine 1 episode
1986-1999 At the Movies Host 597 episodes
1987 Rated K: For Kids by Kids Guest Episode: "Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert"
1987-1993 Siskel & Ebert Holiday Gift Guide Host 7 episodes
1988 48 Hours Film Critic Episode: "In Hollywood"
1988-1996 The Oprah Winfrey Show Movie Critic 3 episodes
1989 The Siskel & Ebert 500th Anniversary Special Host
1989-1993 The Arsenio Hall Show Himself 3 episodes
1990 Siskel & Ebert: The Future of the Movies Host
Moving Pictures Himself 1 episode
1991 Big Bird's Birthday or Let Me Eat Cake
Sesame Street: Monster in the Mirror
The Howard Stern Show Episode: "Siskel & Ebert"
The Best of Disney: 50 Years of Magic
Siskel & Ebert: Actors on Acting
A Comedy Salute to Michael Jordan
1992 Sesame Street Episode: "An African Lullaby by Lillian"
Diamonds on the Silver Screen
Hoffa: Siskel and Ebert
1992-1998 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Guest 11 episodes
1993 Bob Hope: The First 90 Years Himself
Sesame Street Jam: A Musical Celebration
The Larry Sanders Show Episode: "Off Camera"
1994 Bill Nye the Science Guy Episode: "Eyeballs"
Investigative Reports Media Critic Episode: "Prime Time Violence"
The 31st Annual Publicist Guild of America Awards Himself
The 10th TV Academy Hall of Fame
1995 The Critic Episode: "Siskel & Ebert & Jay & Alice"
1995-1997 Howard Stern 3 episodes
1996 Biography Episode: "Arnold Schwarzenegger: Flex Appeal"
60 Minutes Movie Critic Episode: "Easy Money in Hard Times/The Mormons/Spike Lee"
The Siskel & Ebert Interviews Interviewee
1997 Late Night with Conan O'Brien Guest Episode: "Gene Siskel & Roger Ebert/Jeffrey Ross"
1998 The Sport Jerks Himself
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies: America's Greatest Movies
Chicago Filmmakers on the Chicago River
Chicago Tonight Guest Episode: "Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert"
1999 Television: The First Fifty Years Interviewee

Bibliography

See also

References

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Further reading

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