American film critic
Interred at Westlawn Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Purchased the white disco suit from Saturday Night Fever at a charity auction.
Once told David Letterman that if he were trapped on a deserted island with only one film to watch, that film would be 2001: A Space Odyssey .
The last five movies he reviewed on "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies" before his death (for the week ending 23 January 1999) were At First Sight , Another Day in Paradise , The Hi-Lo Country , Playing by Heart and The Theory of Flight . He gave a thumbs up to all of them, except for Playing by Heart .
Considered the film Cannonball Run II to be the worst movie he had ever seen.
One of his proudest moments was when viewing the Chris Farley -David Spade vehicle Black Sheep , he walked out right before the end for the first time in years. "It was a real high." Later on the show, Roger remarked he wished he had done the same.
Hated nothing worse than trying to watch a movie while a baby in the theatre is crying. Hates any mother who would bring an infant to a movie theatre and is willing to pay $10 to any usher who would chuck the baby out of the theatre along with its negligent mother.
Agreed with long-time colleague Roger Ebert on the best film of 1990 ( Goodfellas ) and the worst films of 1980 ( Day of the Woman ) and 1994 ( North ).
Was one of the few critics to give the Oscar-winning classic masterpiece The Silence of the Lambs a negative review.
The last review he ever wrote was for the Freddie Prinze Jr. /Rachael Leigh Cook vehicle Shes All That . He gave it three stars and a positive review (Roger was against it), and the last line was about Cooks breakthrough performance: "I look forward to seeing her in her next movie".
Grew up in the Chicago North Shore town of Glencoe, Illinois. Graduated from Culver Military Academy (Battery A) in 1963.
Of the three At The Movies hosts (Siskel/Ebert/Roeper), he was the only one that wasnt employed by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Was a huge fan of the Chicago Bulls and often covered sports and interviews for local television.
While at Yale, he often dressed as Batman and paid people surprise visits. He was able to keep his identity secret for a week.
Majored in Philosophy at Yale.
His favorite movie of all-time was Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb .
In his review for Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi , he said he could hardly wait for the next Star Wars movie. He died just three months before the release of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace .
Just over a year before his death, the special edition 15th Anniversary DVD of The Thing has star Kurt Russell and director John Carpenter use his famous line in the commentary, at the end. "See you at the movies!".
His favorite movie villain was the "Hal 9000" computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey .
Says he has only ever walked out of three movies in his career as a film critic. The movies were The Million Dollar Duck , Maniac , and Black Sheep .
When he and Roger Ebert were screening Fargo in 1996, he got up from his seat in the middle and tiptoed over to Roger and whispered in his ear: "This is why I go to the movies".
Is referenced, along with Roger Ebert , in Bloodhound Gang s song The Bad Touch.
His parents were Russian Jewish immigrants.
He and Roger Ebert had the same choices for best film of the year nine times.
He was considerably taller than his co-host, Roger Ebert.
He was widely known to be a very private man.
While praising the film School Ties on his show with Roger Ebert , he recalled experiencing anti-Semitic prejudice during his time at prep school. The example he gave was that one time someone handed him a piece of toast with the jam in the shape of a swastika. He gave thumbs up to movie but said that it was a tough experience watching it.
Had a brother William and a sister Arlene.
Selected The Last Temptation of Christ and Who Framed Roger Rabbit as the two best films of 1988, despite not awarding either film a perfect four stars. But movies lower on his list did get a perfect score by him.
Awarding a film a perfect four star score was a somewhat rarity for Gene.
One months after being hired as the Chicago Tribunes film critic, he wrote a negative review for the popular Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid . His boss came by his desk and noticed the review and and asked Gene: "How could you give a Paul Newman movie a negative review." He distinctly remembered that day.
Gave the theatrical version of Once Upon a Time In America 1.5 stars out of 4. But the rerelease some months later with different construction topped his lists of the "Best Films of 1984" and "Best Films of the Decade.".
Eight films Gene called "best of the year" did not make Roger Eberts annual list.
On Daylight (1996) : As a measure of my boredom, about halfway,through this picture I became distracted by a man down the aisle from,from me who was eating some candy, and I tried to guess the candy he,was eating by the sounds he was making. Those sounds were more,interesting to me than anything going on on the screen in,Daylight (1996) .
There is a point when a personal opinion shades off into an error of,fact. When you say The Valachi Papers (1972) is a better film,than The Godfather (1972) , you are wrong.
You think you know it, but you always find out new stuff.
There is a point when a personal opinion shades off into an error of fact.
