Favourites, least favourites and quotes of Gene
Siskel
I have
two different all-time top 10 lists of Gene's. One, for which I don't have
a date, goes like this:
"Citizen Kane" (1941)
"Dr. Strangelove" (1964)
"The Godfather" (1972)
"The Godfather Part II" (1974)
"The General" (1927)
"Pinnochio" (1940)
"Shoah" (1986)
"Singin' in the Rain" (1952)
"Tokyo Story" (1953)
"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968)
Another, from 1985:
"Annie Hall" (1977)
"Casablanca" (1942)
"Citizen Kane" (1941)
"City Lights" (1931)
"Pinocchio" (1940)
"Red River" (1948)
"Singing in the Rain" (1952)
"Taxi Driver" (1976)
"Tokyo Story" (1953)
"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968)
Also from 1985, ten movies he never wanted to
see again:
"Friday the 13th" (1980)
"Friday the 13th, Part 2" (1981)
"Friday the 13th, Part 3" (1982)
"Friday the 13th - The Final Chapter" (1984)
"Friday the 13th Part V: A New Beginning" (1985)
"The Cannonball Run" (1981)
"Cannonball Run II" (1984)
"Porky's" (1981)
"Porky's II" (1983"
"Porky's Revenge" (1985)
Excerpts from some of his four-star
reviews:
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER
... My fever for 'Fever' goes beyond its music, even beyond its
spectacular dancing sequences. I have come to love the film's characters
-- all of them. And the only explanation that comes close to describing my
visceral attachment to the film is that it is a 119-minute compression of
most everyone's teenage years. It's all there: the clothes, dancing, cars,
booze, fellowship, sexual thrills, sexual frustration, parental affection,
parental hatred, unrequited love, the first job, doubting religion, and seeing
oneself slowly becoming an adult.
Feb. 19, 1978
MY DINNER WITH ANDRE
With its colorful language, 'My Dinner With Andre' is to overproduced
Hollywood films what radio is to television. Our minds supply the pictures.
'My Dinner With Andre' was financed outside of the Hollywood main-stream,
with many small investors buying $500 shares in the film. The result is a
picture that represents so much of what I want and rarely get from a movie
-- a couple of hours filled with characters who are as exciting as the people
I know in real life.
Dec. 11, 1981
DO THE RIGHT THING
'Do the Right Thing' clearly has been made by someone who enjoys using
film to tell more than just a story. This is a sumptuous work, from its
unconventional title sequence of a woman dancing hard in the streets to its
provocative ending with conflicting quotes from Malcolm X and Martin Luther
King Jr.
June 30, 1989
SCHINDLER'S LIST
I'm not surprised that Spielberg was able to capture the heroism of
Schindler; so many of his movies are about the better part of mankind. What
is surprising is how well Spielberg captures the horror, moving his camera
with the fury of a combat photographer on the run.
Dec. 17, 1993
HOOP DREAMS
Best family film of '94 is both for and about families. It may be the
best film ever about lower-income America. And, certainly, is the only peek
into the lives of black house-holds you're going to see in a movie theater
for a while.
... That three white men created and so many
white audience members have embraced this picture offers hope at a time when
racial fear and loathing seem ascendant.
Dec. 25, 1994
Gene Siskel
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