Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever

I remember watching the movie review shows in the 1980s. It was interesting to watch clips and criticism of movies - even ones that I never intended to watch. While I typically read the Tribune newspaper, I most actively followed Ebert's reviews. I've read many reviews of movies that I have not seen. The quality of the prose made it worth reading even outside the actual movie. I also loved to see what he thought of the movies that I did enjoy.

The book focuses primarily on the Siskel and Ebert show (through its various. names.) There is enough biography and historical background to create a coherent story, but the focus is the show and it's legacy. It started out as a low-key PBS show that somehow took off. It later went into syndication via a local Chicago station and then was owned by Disney. The show continued after Siskel died, but it was fading significantly. The new show didn't have the conflict of the early show. It was also easy to see clips and details about movies. (When they show started in the 1970s, there was no YouTube. They would manually extract clips from the source film.) 

The legacy of Siskel and Ebert is vast. The "two opposing heads" has become the common format of many political shows. Movies criticism is respected and common in pop culture. rogerebert.com is still going strong. Two Thumbs Up has also entered the lexicon. (Somewhat ironically, this was only a later incantation of the ranking scheme.) Ebert and Siskel were hugely competitive. They took a long time to build up their respect for each other. They had vastly different values in what makes a quality movie and argue vehemently. Even if they both liked a movie, they would argue about why they liked it. Art is subjective and they made it clear that no two people would appreciate something for the same reason.