Gene Siskel - Legacy

Legacy

At the 1999 Academy Awards ceremony, after its In Memoriam montage of deceased stars and film contributors (which did not include Siskel as he was not an Academy member), host Whoopi Goldberg gave a brief, impromptu tribute to Siskel in which she said: "Gene, honey, wherever you are, here's to you" and then included the traditional "thumbs-up" gesture, to great audience applause.

The Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, which presents world-class independent, international and classic cinema, was renamed The Gene Siskel Film Center in honor of him in 2000.

When asked by a journalist to list his three favorite things about Chicago, Siskel named Michael Jordan, Mayor Daley, and the Film Center. Siskel was a member of the Film Center's Advisory Committee and a strong supporter of the Film Center mission. He wrote hundreds of articles applauding the Film Center's distinctive programming and he lent the power of his position as a well-known film critic to urge public funding and audience support. His favorite movies of all time were Saturday Night Fever (he even bought the famous white disco suit from it at a charity auction) and Dr. Strangelove. Another favorite from childhood was Dumbo, which he often mentioned as the first movie that made a mark on him.

He only walked out on three films during his professional career: the 1971 comedy The Million Dollar Duck starring Dean Jones; the 1980 horror film Maniac; and the 1996 Penelope Spheeris film Black Sheep. Only once during his long association with Ebert did Siskel ever change his vote on a movie. The film Broken Arrow had initially been given a "thumbs up," but after hearing Ebert's criticism, Siskel changed his mind to "thumbs down" to make it unanimous.

Siskel compiled "best of the year" movie lists from 1969 to 1998, which have helped to provide an overview of his critical preferences. His top choices were:

From 1969 until his death in early 1999, Siskel and Ebert were in agreement on nine top selections: Z, The Godfather, Nashville, The Right Stuff, Do the Right Thing, GoodFellas, Schindler's List, Hoop Dreams, and Fargo. There would have been a tenth, except that Ebert declined to rank the documentary Shoah as 1985's best film because he felt it was inappropriate to compare it to the rest of the year's candidates. Seven times, Siskel's #1 choice did not appear on Ebert's top ten list at all: Straight Time, Ragtime, Once Upon a Time in America, The Last Emperor, The Last Temptation of Christ, Hearts of Darkness, and The Ice Storm. Six times, Ebert's top selection did not appear on Siskel's; these films were 3 Women, An Unmarried Woman, Apocalypse Now, Sophie's Choice, Mississippi Burning, and Dark City.

Siskel was also a die-hard Chicago sports fan, especially of the NBA's Bulls, and would cover locker-room celebrations for WBBM-TV news broadcasts following Bulls championships in the 1990s.

Ebert once said of his relationship with Gene Siskel:

"Gene Siskel and I were like tuning forks. Strike one, and the other would pick up the same frequency. When we were in a group together, we were always intensely aware of one another. Sometimes this took the form of camaraderie, sometimes shared opinions, sometimes hostility."

When both men appeared together on The Tonight Show, Johnny Carson conducted a "together and separately" interview with them, which at one point had each man wear Walkman-style headphones, playing loud music, while the other commented on his partner. When asked what he thought was the biggest difference between himself and Ebert, Siskel unhesitatingly replied: "I'm a better reviewer than he is." But a few moments later, he said that anyone who read a Roger Ebert review would read "an extremely well written review."