I was really saddened by his death. I knew that he recently had brain surgery, and that after a month or so of work, he decided to take some time off. About a week later, he died. I suspect that he knew that he was gonna die soon and he wanted to spend his last few days with his family. It's so heartbreaking to think about that. I mean, forget that he was a movie critic. First and foremost, he was a husband and a father. Can you imagine what his wife and children are going through? As far as I know, they thought that he came off of a successful surgery.
Obviously, I never knew Gene Siskel personally. All I knew about him was from what I saw on TV talk shows and, of course, "Siskel & Ebert." After his death, the articles described him as a great family man who loved movies. No one seemed to have a bad thing to say about him as a person (though the same can't be said about him as a critic), and surprisingly, his funeral had a lot of celebrity attendees. As for Roger Ebert, he served as one of the pallbearers.
Many have wondered what Siskel and Ebert's relationship was like off-camera. From what I've read, there was none. Though that does seem to be true, Roger Ebert wrote a wonderful piece about his former partner after his death. Together, they were, without question, the most powerful voices in film criticism. To get "two thumbs up" (or especially "two enthusiastic thumbs up" or "two thumbs up, way up") was considered a big deal, and it would be emblazoned all over the ad, sometimes in bigger letters than the movie's title! Back when I had more time and their show was on a more consistent schedule (their show is syndicated, and in Miami, it's shuffled around all over the place), I watched it every single week. Though I tended to agree with Roger Ebert, Gene Siskel was a very good critic who loved movies, and he would vigorously support a movie that he felt deserved it just as much as he'd trash a movie that he felt wasted two hours of his life.
"Siskel & Ebert" is a major reason that I am who I am today. If not for the special episode where they discussed their favorite movie scenes of all-time, I may not have ever seen Charlie Chaplin's "City Lights," a masterpiece which is probably one of my five favorite movies of all-time. If it wasn't for their show, I never would have seen "Exotica," an excellent, intelligent movie that was marketed as simply a cheesy erotic thriller. They raved about it, so I took a chance, and that's become another one of my all-time favorites. I never would have seen "Babe," a movie I love, if they didn't talk about it as much as they did. Also, half of the foreign and independent films I've enjoyed so much would have probably gone unnoticed by me if they hadn't introduced their viewers to it. I've loved movies all my life, but "Siskel & Ebert" is a major reason that I love movies as much as I do.
But it's over. It was reported that Roger Ebert will have revolving guest hosts until the producers can figure out what to do. As far I'm concerned, they should forget about it. Perhaps give Ebert his own show to do alone, but that's it. The chemistry that Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert had could never be duplicated.... and I don't mean because I'll miss their bickering. What I enjoyed most about their show was when they agreed, when both of their faces glowed because they were talking about how much they loved the movie they saw.
Gene Siskel was very opinionated, and he had an incredible sense of humor. When Siskel and Ebert did talk shows together, poor Ebert couldn't keep up. My heart goes out to his wife, three children, and the rest of his family. We'll all miss him, but obviously, they'll miss him a lot more than anyone else. I just hope that they realize how big a role he's played in the lives of people like me. Good-bye, Gene.