Roger Ebert (1942-2013)

Roger Ebert (1942-2013) salutes his famous thumbs-up

Roger Ebert, notable film critic and first film critic to win the Pulitzer Prize, has died, reported the Chicago Sun-Times. He was 70.

The news comes a day after Ebert announced his leave of absence because of a fractured leg bone that affected his ability to walk was a result of cancer. Ongoing radiation treatments have reduced Ebert's attendance to review movies and the ability to continue writing reviews. This is the second time cancer has affected the film critic; his first bout with thyroid cancer six years ago left him unable to eat, drink or speak.

Ebert has a made a career of watching movies, spending almost 50 years reviewing movies for the Chicago Sun-Times, where he watched more than 500 films a year. It wasn't until 1982 when a pairing with cross-town Chicago Tribune film critic and rival Gene Siskel for the popular television program At the Movies, that audiences became acquainted with his "thumbs up" style of review.

It was this type of review, where the simple twist of the wrist, would determine if a movie would be successful at the theaters. But it was also Ebert's writing about movies: witty, intelligent, and slightly sarcastic - but always truthful and accurate, which made him the premier critic of his generation, and made the career of writing about movies vaguely cool and exciting.

In 1969, Ebert took some time off from writing for the Chicago Sun-Times to write the screenplay to Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, a film which has garnered a considerable cult following since its release. The film was quite controversial upon release, as Ebert described the film as "a satire of Hollywood conventions, genres, situations, dialogue, characters and success formulas, heavily overlaid with such shocking violence that some critics didn't know whether the movie 'knew' it was a comedy." The film originally received an "X" rating for its depictions of violence and nudity, which sparked a lifelong battle with the MPAA and its inadequate rating system. "The MPAA rates this PG-13," said Ebert generally about the rating systems. "It is too vulgar for anyone under 13, and too dumb for anyone over 13."

The news of Ebert's death plays out like a sad ending to one of the most important writers in the evolution of film criticism. Ebert's legacy as a writer and critic is one that is important and vast , and will last as long as their are people interested in learning how viewing films is not just about watching movies and more about the feeling and understanding of how these films fit into our lives.

Personally, I always looked towards Ebert's reviews first before even considering another film critic. It was his unique blend of creativity and newspaper journalism that always made his column and reviews seem  to carry more weight or importance, sometimes even more memorable than the film itself. He was not afraid to pick a side, yet his reviews have some semblance of balance. His list of "Great Films" is required viewing for any student of film, offering a list of the best movies from around the world, and he even gave more attention than deserved to terrible films. "No good film is too long," said Ebert, "and no bad movie is short enough."

He was asked once which movie he thought would be shown on an endless loop in heaven and which snack would be healthy.

"Citizen Kane and vanilla Haagen-Dazs ice cream," Ebert replied. I guess there will always be a place for a film critic to review movies.

Here's a segment from a 1982 episode of At the Movies, where Ebert and his sidekick Gene Siskel discuss the cult classic The Evil Dead.