I never met Roger Ebert, although one time he responded to a question I posed to him in his "Movie Answer Man" column. I discovered contradictory reviews of the movie "Home Fries", which were published in two different books he wrote. One review gave it one and a half stars, the other gave it three. I asked Roger which review most reflected his feelings about the movie. He wrote back that when he first saw the film, he didn't care for it and he submitted the review for his book "I HATED HATED HATED This Movie". He then saw the film a second time and liked it more. He submitted that review for his annual movie yearbook. He replied, "Good catch."
Like many people, I became aware of Roger Ebert during the early 1980's. His PBS show "Sneak Previews", which he co-hosted with fellow movie critic Gene Siskel, became popular. There was nothing like it on TV before. Two guys who love movies talking about movies. "Sneak Previews" evolved into "At The Movies", then "Siskel & Ebert & The Movies", and then just "Siskel and Ebert". The "Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down" style of reviewing became part of the American lexicon. Siskel and Ebert became as famous as the movies they reviewed. Gene Siskel died in 1999 and Ebert kept the show going by working with guest critics before hiring fellow Chicago Sun-Times columnist Richard Roeper as the new permanent co-host. I watched the show often until Ebert left the show in 2006 due to one of many battles with cancer.
What allowed me to discover Roger Ebert's greatness was when I picked up "Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook". This was around 1993 and I was sucked in by Ebert's honest and entertaining style. His reviews were different and stood out. This was because he not only reviewed the movie, but he discussed the experience of seeing the movie and sometimes even his experience in writing the review. He believed a film review should reflect the overall moviegoing experience. He was a student of film. Even if he disliked a movie, he never stopped loving the movies as art. In the film-reveiwing world, you take the good with the bad.
He is the first critic I read who would comment on audience reactions to the films he saw. To him, watching a movie impacted not just him, but others and he didn't pretend that he was watching a film in a vacuum. He understood that films were made for an audience and being part of that audience, while reporting what he saw, was a privilege. He believed that a reader should understand what made him tick and exactly how personal watching films should be. He felt writing anything less would be shortchanging his readers.
I certainly didn't always agree with his assessments. There were movies I hated that he liked and I would wonder what movie he was watching. There were movied I loved and he hated and I would wonder what movie he was watching. I read his reviews of these films and, even if I disagreed with them, I would understand his point of view. He made it very clear why he liked or disliked a film. Film review by its nature is subjective, but I was entertained by his work regardless. That was the common thread.
In recent years, Roger Ebert began blogging about issues and events other than movies. Just like his film reviews, he was honest and on-the-mark. I found myself agreeing with him often. He also frankly discussed his ongoing health issues. Cancer caused his jaw to be removed in 2006. He could no longer eat or drink by mouth and had to be fed intravenously or a tube. His recounts of these experiences were the epitome of the effects a positive attitude has on your health. He continued to do what he loved and was excited about the future. His loving relationship with his wife, Chaz, was a focal point of his writings as well. She was his partner, friend, lover, and confidante. They were truly in love, in sickness and in health.
Ebert also was unable to speak as the result of his jaw surgery in 2006. He communicated via a keyboard and voice synthesizer which "spoke" the words he was typing. He also communicated through his reviews and blogs. He never hid from the public. He acknowledged his issues (even past ones like his fight with alcoholism) and moved ever forward. Even as he took "a leave of presence" from his newspaper column on April 2, 2013 (just two days before his death), he wrote of his hope for the future while admitting he can't handle the workload like he used to.
I'm usually not one to write tributes to celebrities who died, but Roger Ebert is someone who was an inspiration to me. I write this blog and I love doing it. I don't make a dime from it (although I did try and monetize this blog recently). I love movies and I want to share my love of the movies with others. So did Roger Ebert. He was passionate about film, as I am, and he could express that passion in a way I know I never could. I try and emulate him. I try anyway, since his work will never be able to be duplicated.
To Roger Ebert- thank you for your contributions to the movies, writing, and the arts. Thank you for influencing me and many like me. I will miss you, even though we never met. In terms of film critics, there is Roger Ebert and then there is everyone else. In fact, I wouldn't even say he was a critic. He was a film reporter. Movies were his dream beat.
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