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Gene Siskel

Also referred to as Siskel, Gene Sisko, Sisko

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Rewatchables episodes featuring Gene Siskel’s films

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Mentioned in discussions

Rollerball The Rewatchables
Rollerball

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:36:50Read transcript
  • Vincent Canby's review is described as dismissing the film as frivolous rather than satire. — Bill Simmons
  • Gene Siskel is reported to have awarded two stars and called the film vapid, pretentious, and arrogant. — Bill Simmons
  • Roger Ebert is reported to have awarded three and a half stars, although the panel could not find his review online. — Bill Simmons
  • James Caan is reported to have rated Rollerball eight out of ten while saying the character gave him little to do. — Bill Simmons
Close Encounters of the Third Kind The Rewatchables
Close Encounters of the Third Kind

What’s Aged the Best?

The direction, practical effects, Dreyfuss, Dillon, child performance, and suburban wonder

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:25Read transcript
  • The film preserves wonder about UFOs while the panel debates whether extraterrestrial visits have occurred.
  • Recurring maps, crossroads, and shots of Roy moving against crowds are praised as visual expressions of his inner life. — Chris Ryan
  • Melinda Dillon's performance and the mission-control worker who solves the coordinate problem are separate Aged Best choices. — Chris Ryan
  • The film's combination of cynicism, wonder, spectacle, and family story is credited with influencing later event filmmakers. — Sean Fennessey
  • Motion-control photography, Douglas Trumbull's effects, Bob Baker's marionette, and Spielberg's limited writing credits receive craft praise. — Sean Fennessey
  • Gene Siskel's description of the film as a fairy tale for adults is praised as its best concise description.
  • Small-town suburban America is praised as a durable setting inherited by later adventure stories. — Sean Fennessey
  • The film's refusal to explain the alien compulsion literally is said to keep it timeless. — Sean Fennessey
  • Roy's half-face sunburn and Barry's performance are praised as memorable character details. — Sean Fennessey
  • Spielberg is reported to have elicited Barry's reactions by slowly opening presents above the camera. — Sean Fennessey
  • The giant globe, Devil's Tower plot, numbered youth shirts, and the family's domestic setting receive further period appreciation. — Bill Simmons
  • The long Spielberg-Michael Kahn editing partnership is reported to have begun on this film. — Bill Simmons
  • Melinda Dillon's 1977 work and her appearances in two famous mashed-potato scenes are praised.
The Silence of the Lambs The Rewatchables
The Silence of the Lambs

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:35:35Read transcript
  • Ebert is reported as giving three and a half stars, praising the palpable evil of Hopkins’s first appearance and the film’s suspense and restraint despite flaws. — Bill Simmons
  • Siskel is reported as disliking the film and preferring to see Clarice on another case. — Chris Ryan
Rocky III The Rewatchables
Rocky III

What’s Aged the Worst?

The beach embrace, lost surprise, racial framing, Pushing, Rocky’s ingratitude, Paulie, the Rocky II recap, Mickey’s sudden Jewish history, and fight realism draw criticism.

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:51:36Read transcript
  • The prolonged beach embrace and close shots are considered inexplicable and comic. — Bill Simmons
  • Knowledge of Mickey’s death, Rocky’s defeat, and Apollo’s arrival has erased the original theatrical surprise. — Gus Ramsey
  • The discussion accepts Gene Siskel’s criticism that another loud Black antagonist could pander to racist viewers. — Bill Simmons
  • Frank Stallone’s song Pushing is judged weak beside the series’ better songs.
  • Rocky’s complaint that Mickey never used Apollo’s methods seems ungrateful while Apollo is trying to save his career. — Bill Simmons
  • Paulie’s racism and the decision to take him into a Black Los Angeles gym age especially poorly.
  • Opening with the end of Rocky II feels redundant on repeated viewing. — Bill Simmons
  • Mickey’s Goldmill surname and Jewish funeral arrive without prior character grounding and surprised the panel. — Bill Simmons
  • The women lifting Thunderlips’s robe and the extreme damage tolerated in the boxing scenes play worse after later combat-sports viewing.
What About Bob? The Rewatchables
What About Bob?

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:33Read transcript
  • The movie is reported to have cost thirty-nine million dollars and earned sixty-four million. — Bill Simmons
  • Roger Ebert is reported to have given the movie three stars. — Bill Simmons
  • Ebert is reported to have called it Bill Murray’s best movie since Ghostbusters. — Bill Simmons
  • Gene Siskel is reported to have disliked the movie because Dreyfuss’s anger felt excessive.
  • The panel understands Siskel’s objection but disagrees because Dreyfuss’s anger powers the comedy and trailer.
The Silence of the Lambs The Rewatchables
The Silence of the Lambs

Half-Assed Internet Research

Hopkins mocked Foster's Southern accent in their first scene; James Gumm combines Ed Gein, Ted Bundy and Gary Hednick (as transcribed); Gene Siskel gave the film a negative review; Brooke Smith gained 25 pounds for Catherine Martin; Goodbye Horses replaced a Bob Seger song and Ted Levine insisted on the dance; Levine and Scott Glenn did extensive research; the story was inspired by Robert Keppel and Ted Bundy; William Goldman got Demme to cut a 12-minute Crawford-Clarice sequence

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:33:36Read transcript
  • According to Jodie Foster, Hopkins improvised mocking her Southern accent during their first meeting, so her horrified reaction is genuine; the hosts love when good actors unsettle their scene partners, and the accent is called not great and one of several problems with her performance.
  • James Gumm ('Jame Gum' variously as transcribed) combines three real killers: Ed Gein, who skinned victims, Ted Bundy, who escaped and killed again, and Gary Hednick (as transcribed), who kept captives in a basement pit.
  • Gene Siskel gave the film a negative review, and one host calls Siskel the movie equivalent of the host's perpetual disagreements with Greenwald.
  • Brooke Smith, who played Catherine Martin, gained 25 pounds for her first major role, and the hosts wonder whether she deserved a supporting actress nomination.
  • The dance song Goodbye Horses by Q Lazarus was originally supposed to be a Bob Seger song, which one host is glad it was not; the hosts joke about how men their age would react if it came on in a bar.
  • Ted Levine insisted the dance scene be in the film, and the screenwriter did not know it would be until he saw it; it was improvised, Levine needed two drinks first, and he researched by visiting trans bars and talking to people.
  • Scott Glenn researched child murder cases and worked with the real-life model for Crawford, with tempestuous political arguments because Glenn opposed capital punishment; a host jokes that Glenn then murdered him.
  • The story was inspired by the relationship between University of Washington criminology professor and profiler Robert Keppel and Ted Bundy, which is how the Green River killer was caught.
  • The second host's research, from a Deadline oral history: after an LA screening, William Goldman told Demme to cut a filmed 12-minute sequence in which the attorney general chews out Crawford and Clarice, kicks her out of the academy and takes him off the case; Demme and the editor resisted, cut it anyway, and the film became a tight hour and 54 minutes.
  • Goldman is also credited with telling the Good Will Hunting writers to drop the second half where Will becomes a spy; the host found the Goldman story the most interesting, the Hackman material having been covered.
Displaying all 7 discussions