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tv   Life Itself  CNN  January 4, 2015 6:00pm-8:01pm PST

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everyone at ac 360 and cnn, i'm tom foreman wishing you all of the best and none of the worst in 2015.
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♪ we all are born with a certain package. we are who we are. where we were born, who we were born as, how we were raised. we're kind of stuck inside that person and the purpose of civilization and growth is to be able to reach out and empathize a little bit with other people. and for me, the movies are like a machine that generates empathy. it lets you understand a little bit more about different hopes, aspirations, dreams, and fears. it helps us to identify with the people who are sharing this journey with us. ♪
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♪ exactly five months before his death, roger and chaz and i met to plan the beginning of an ambitious schedule of filming, including interviews and critic screenings. roger, mentioned in passing that his hip was sore, the very next
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day, he entered the hospital. >> somehow i got a hairline fracture to the femur bone, i didn't fall, and have idea how it happened. it's bloody painful. this is my seventh time at rehab. show steve the new chair. it reclines. >> so, roger, did you not pay your insurance premiums and so
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you didn't get the chair until now? >> steve, i'll do the jokes here. >> although roger had supported my films over the years, this film was the first chance to really get to know him. >> steve, shoot yourself in the mirror. >> there he is. hi carol. >> i'm carol, i'm roger's assistant for over 20 years. roger and chaz. >> and zero, something is winning all the awards, roger, want to know the big award. and the bears lost. my daily -- what? briefing. okay, roger. and then, mayor daley's nephew went to court today. remember for the thing that the sun times really uncovered.
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>> i always worked on newspapers. there was a persistent need, not only to write, but to publish. in grade school, i wrote and published the washington street news. which i solemnly delivered to neighbors in illinois, as if it existed independently of me. but the news gazette, a lineo type operator sent it in lead, but robert ebert, i was electrified. >> and i went home, you could take a stamp pad and put your byline on everything. my parents had to take it away from me. everything was by roger ebert. >> and i went to work full time for the local newspaper when i was 15 versus a sports writer. general assignment, working late, being there with the newspaper men back in the '50s. it was unspeakably romantic. i can write. i just always could. on the other hand, i flunked
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french five times. >> in the spring of 1960, i announced i wanted to go to harvard, like jack kennedy and thomas wolf. boy, there's no money to send you to harvard, daddy said. >> the champagne campus of the university of illinois to provide knowledge for a better tomorrow. >> i would go to my hometown university, i wouldn't be an electrician like my father. during my years at illinois, i spent more time working on the daily alie nigh than studying, it was a real newspaper in every sense, published five days a week on an rotary press that made the building tremble. as editor, i was a case study, tactless, eggtist call, merciless, and a show boat. >> and he was. but it worked because he could back it up. it was intimidating to members of the staff because he was like a mature writer at that time.
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>> now here, when those four children were killed in the church bombing in birmingham, there was a huge protest around the country. >> 400 students gathered to propest the bombing of an alabama sunday school -- >> and roger was the voice of outrage on this campus. he started off his column by quoting dr. martin luther king, who said to george wallace, the blood of these innocent children is on your hands. that ended the quote. then roger began his column by saying, that is not entirely the truth. the blood is on so many hands that history will weep in the telling. and it is not new blood, it is old, very old. and as lady macbeth discovered, it will not ever wash away. that began a column written by a 21-year-old guy, and he said it better than anybody said it all
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week. ♪ >> chicago was the great city over the horizon. we read chicago's newspapers, and listened to its powerful a.m. radio stations. >> good evening ladies and gentlemen, it's midnight here in chicago -- >> long after midnight, i listened to jack broadcasting live. >> world famous. >> chatting with a martin and lewis, rose mare cloon. i was an accepted as a ph.d. in english by a university of chicago, but i needed a job. >> i got a part-time job at the sun times, and then five months later, the film critic retired and they gave me the job. i did not apply for it. newspaper film critics had been interchangeable. some papers had bylines that different people wrote under, for example, may tenay, and that could be whoever went to the movies that day because may really spelled out matinee.
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i was the youngest daily film critic in america, and it was a real good time to be a movie critic. >> armed robbery. >> bonnie and clyde is a milestone in the history of american movies. >> you wouldn't have the gumption to use it. >> it is also pitlessly cruel, filled with sympathy, nauseating, funny, heart breaking. >> hey, what's your name anyhow? >> and astonishingly beautiful. >> pleased to meet you. the fact of the story is set 35 years ago, doesn't mean a thing. it had to be set some time. but it was may now, and it's about us. >> roger was the most
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fascinating writer i ever came across. anybody that's ever seen him work, he could knock out a full, thought out movie review in 30 minutes. fast and furious. >> there was so many reporters that formed easy, quick friendships because they were smart, they were good writers, they were literate, and they could tell a good story in a slope. >> this was our stage, and we displayed our personas there nightly. it was a shady, street corner tavern on a dicey stretch of north avenue, a block after chicago's old town stopped being a tourist haven. when a roomer died, his body was discovered when maggot started to drop through the ceiling. for many years, i drank there more or less every night when i was in town. so did a lot of people. >> we all sat at the same place. newspaper guys here, in the middle, the staff at the very
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end of the bar. roger has always been attracted to weird types, i mean, you should see some of the women that he's hauled into the bar over the years. >> back in the old days, roger had probably the worst taste in women of any man i've ever known. they were either gold diggers, opportunists, or psychos. yeah, i met roger one time with a woman that looked like a young linda ronstadt. when he was gone i said who is that? and he said she's a hired lady. and i said, a hooker? and he said, now you take care of her when i leave. and he left town and anyway -- >> roger, he used to hang from the lamp post at the end of the bar. when he got going, roger was one of the finest story tellers that i have ever come across.
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>> roger was good at dishing, but he could also take it. >> fat guy that has to learn thousand take fat stuff. he could hold his own with all of them. >> everybody kind of says that like deep down, he's a nice guy. >> he is a nice guy, but he's not that nice. he's not that nice. >> i discovered there was nothing like drinking with the crowd to make you a member. i copied the idealism and cynicism of the reporters, i spoke like they did. laughed at the same things. felt that i belonged. >> he wasn't a chicagoian. nelson wasn't born here, but there's a certain kind of chicago character that roger really came to believe that he was. >> bratcher was not just the chief character and star of the
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movie that he was life, he was also the director. and he brought in the cast, and the scenario, and he orchestrated it. >> the last week he was drinking, i even realized that there was a serious problem going on. watching him when he pulled now the front of that night and almost ran into the north avenue bus. >> i remember being in the drugstore that was on the corner there one morning. and roger came in and he looked like absolute hell. i'm like are you okay? what's the matter? i'm a bender, can you come have a drink with me. >> he said to me one time, and i don't think he'll regard this will as a betrayal, that he would walk home late at night after the bar closed, and he would wish he was dead. >> i found it almost impossible once i started to stop after one or two. i paid a price in hangovers. without hangovers it's possible
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that i would still be drinking. i would also be unemployed, unmarried, and probably dead. in august 1979, i took my last drink. it was about 4:00 on a saturday afternoon. the hot sun streaming through the windows, i put a glass of scotch and soda down on the living room table, went to bed, and pulled the blankets over my head. i couldn't take it anymore. >> the next time i saw roger ebert, he was in aa. >> i was drinking very heavily. >> when i decided to out myself as a recovering alcoholic, i hadn't take an drink for 31 years. and since my first aa meeting i've attended, i never wanted to. since surgery in july of 2006, i haven't been able to drink at all or eat or speak. unless i go insane and start pouring booze into my g tube, i believe i'm reasonably safe.
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>> by the time i got home from this shoot, there was an e-mail waiting for me. >> did we get it? the volkswagen golf was just named motor trend's 2015 car of the year.
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so was the 100% electric e-golf, and the 45 highway mpg tdi clean diesel. and last but not least, the high performance gti. looks like we're gonna need a bigger podium. the volkswagen golf family. motor trend's 2015 "cars" of the year.
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♪ one day in the spring of 1967, i noticed faster pussy cat kill kill playing at the biograph on lincoln of a. ♪ >> the posters displayed improbably women, and i was inside in a flash. and that was when it first registered that there was a film maker named russ meyer. in 1969, the 20th century fox
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studio invited meyer for the interview. they own the rights to the title "beyond the valley of the dolls" and offered him the title unattached to any story. meyer offered me the screen writing job, and i fell into a delirious adventure. >> the most impossible question for me to answer is how on earth did roger ebert write beyond the valley of the dolls? ♪ or be interested in writing such a script. or be involved with russ meyer. i have no answer. >> what did he love about russ's films do you think? >> boobs. >> the fact that there were large breasted women involved probably was a plus. >> do you want to make love? then let's make love.
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>> yeah. >> no, in l.a. >> where is that? >> meyer wanted everything in the screen play except a kitchen sink. the movie he explained, would simultaneously be a satire, a serious melodrama, a rock musical, a comedy, a violent exploitation picture, a skin flick, and moralistic nagt marish world -- nightmarish world of show business. >> i had to review for the chicago sun times and i gave it three stars. somewhere deep in the piece that this is a new rating system, so this gets three out of ten. >> this is my happening, and it freaks me out. >> i reviewed the film in national review, and listed it as one of the ten great films of the 1960s. it was funny, it had a pulse that raced past howard from the '40s. but with a wild who gives a
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[ bleep ] heir. >> you're a groovy boy, i'd like to strap you on some time. >> beyond the valley is beyond it. you know, this is a title. because you're going to go beyond it. it went over my head. doesn't mean i didn't enjoy it, i did like her having sex in the bentley. it's my first time in a rolls. >> the way he cut to the grill. >> not even in a bentley. not even a bentley. bentley. oh. roll and roll and roll. >> but i did like the editing in the bentley. >> the move was taking place, and they are loading up the medical cart to take us over to our ic, will you send an e-mail
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for me please? he's excited because he gets to see a movie he wants to see. it should be coming over later today. so he's happy about that. you've been working away, huh? you have a lot of writing to do. i was hoping you could see at least one of them on the big screen. when he was in the hospital before, we took a seminot sanctioned trip out of the hospital, bundled him up and took him to the movies, but i don't know, i don't think the doctor would let you out. oops. >> chaz is a strong woman. i never met anyone like her. she is the love of my life. >> i want to make sure you don't get cold. >> she saved me from the fate of
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living out my life alone, which is where i seemed to be heading. >> the first time he actually saw me was at an aa meeting. and it was the first time i ever said it publicly. roger became very public about his. but i felt it was, you know, more private for me. if it doesn't fit, must have quit. roger weighed 300 pounds when we first started dating. he didn't care that he was fat, he thought he was great, and that was so sexy. i take it this is not yours? >> if my cancer had come and chaz had not been there with me, i could imagine a dissent into lonely decrepen si. i am still active, going places,
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moving, is directly because of her. my instinct was to guard myself. i could never again be on television as i once was. she said yes, but people are interested in what you have to say, not in how you say it. >> with roger now headed for at least a couple weeks of rehab, he suggested i e-mail him questions in advance of the major interview when he gets back home. ♪ question one, in my life i inherited certain things from each of my parents. what did you inherit from yours? >> from my father, i inherited my labor, democratic party believes, i am politically my father's child and emotionally more my mothers. my mother supported me as if i
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was the local sports team. but she was fatalistic, she was permanently scarred by the depression and constantly predicted she would end up in the county court home. my parents so strongly encouraged my school work. we even took a third paper at home, via chicago daily news for me to read. when i stood in the kitchen door and used a sentence with a new word in it, they would look up from their coffee and cigarettes and actually applaud me. >> this is the memorable occasion that roger was given the pultser prize. >> usually when somebody won, who is he to win it? >> i'll congratulate him, but for roger, there was real joy. you know, it was our roger. one of us.
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>> the only prize for years and years ever given to a movie critic. roger wrote his movie reviews as if he were sitting in the 15th row, taking notes with one hand, eating popcorn with the other, but he didn't simplify things. >> cries and whispers is like no movie i've seen before, and like no movie he's made before. it envel lops us in a red membrane of passion and fear. and in some way i do not fully understand, it employs taboos to make its effect. we slid lower in our seats, and sexual disclient. >> i think the way that he writes that sort of clear, plain, midwestern newspaper style conveys enormous intelligence, encyclopedic learning, but doesn't condescend, doesn't pander, roger would become the
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definitive mainstream film critic in american letters. >> he made it possible for a bigger audience, wider audience to appreciate cinema as an art form. because he really loved it. really, really loved films. and he did not get caught up in certain ideologies about what cinema should be. >> after winning the prize, if he had minded to go to the new york times, he could have done that, boston globe, l.a. times, no problem. >> ben bradley, editor for washington post of watergate fame, went after roger hard. offered him the sun and the moon, ebert just kept saying no. and he said, i'm not going to learn new streets. which is very ebert-like. it was a huge class in political difference between the sun times and the tribune. we were a working class paper. and we reached the black
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community. the tribune was a very wealthy paper. look at the tribune tower, this huge gothic structure studded at its base with all the great artworks of the world, you know, here is part of the pyramid, i'm thinking, go out with a chisel and steal this thing? >> from the day the chicago tribune made gene siskel its film critic, we were professional enemies. for the first time years, we knew one another, siskel and i hardly spoke. when gene and i were asked to work together on a tv show, we both said, we'd rather do it with someone else. anyone else. >> the name of our show is opening soon at the theater near you, two film critics talking about the movies, this is ronler
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ebert in the chicago sun times. >> gene and roger were sitting kind of looking very seriously into the cameras. talking about the movie. >> one flew over the coocoo's nest. they were applauding during the credits. >> it was stiff, and wooden. >> when foreman backs up and tries to make his big points about the establishment -- >> but there was something there. it was interesting to hear two people who knew what they were talking about talk about a movie. >> write of freedom, one of the new generation of west german director -- >> roger loved the idea of being on public television. he had been on it before, on a show where he introduced films by bergman, it was awful. >> and in this movie, his name is sbeigl. >> it was a deer caught in the
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headlines. >> what is elusion and who's being fooled by the art? is it the artist or his audience or both? >> this city is like an open sewer. >> right through that last scene, i was loving taxi driver because up until that point, the relationship between de niro has been electric. >> gene was a natural. he was one of the people who could talk to the camera. he had a huge handlebar mustache, and i just said, that is a funny-looking thing on your face, get rid of it. >> i thought these two guys would never be on television. these are unusual, odd-looking characters for the median tv that's all beautifully clothed and beautiful teeth and everything's fine. and they dress like a couple of clowns if they wore these outfits today. you couldn't make siskel and ebert if you were dr. frankenstein. >> we both thought of ourselves as full service, one stop film
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critics, we didn't see why the other one was necessary. alone together in an elevator, we would study the numbers, changing above the door. >> their lifestyles couldn't have been more different. roger was single. he was an only child. gene, in childhood lost both his parents, one after the other. he was a philosophy major at yale, while roger was, you know, one of the good old boy news reporters. gene just was more of a, for lack of a better word, elegant character. caught the eye of hugh hefner, and he was adopted by the clan at the mansion. and he traveled with hefner in the bunny hut. even though roger wrote beyond the valley of the dolls, i think gene lived the life for a while.
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>> the perfect matching of opposites, siskel and ebert, laurel and hardy, oscar and felix, really made sneak previews a sitcom about two guys who live in a movie theater. >> this is the special of the take two programs on sneak preview. hi gene. >> hi roger. i have a favorite seat i like to sit in, last row sort of off to the side. >> not just kind of reading or speaking criticism, but acting out these rows. >> twice as far back from the screen as the screen is wide. >> and because they could get agitated, that raised the temperature of the movies they were discussing. >> tremendously boring, boring from beginning of the movie. and i just to want compare this -- >> no, no, wait a minute.
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he's not boring at all. >> fabulously boring. >> fabulously boring in the beginning -- >> there was something almost transgressive and exciting about seeing on tv somebody say, about a movie, what you might always to want say to your friend or your girlfriend or your mother or sister, no, you're wrong. it's not a good movie. >> that's the way people do relate to films. is in is that argumentative sort of way if you're right, nobody can tell you that you're wrong. i said at the desk next to the news critic, people are worshipful of him. what did you think about the conducting last night, and he will say and nod and turn around and come up to me, and said i total disagree with the review in the morning's paper. >> this success of the show was undenial, except we were not in two major markets, new york and los angeles. >> here i am at the little popcorn shop a half a block from the screening room. >> this is the chicago theater on state street. >> their position was, if
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there's going to be a missouri show, it's not -- movie show, it's not going to be two guys from chicago, we're going to have new york critics or we're hollywood. >> who are these guys? right, this is not the kind of wised up players who might be in los angeles, what do they have to tell us about movies? >> the influence shaped how critics looked at movies and how people read them. >> film was taken seriously and so were film critics. promoting the idea of the director as the maker of a film, and pauline, elevating film writing, but these were towering figures clashing, rather like siskel and ebert, but with more intellectual heft. >> uh-oh, this balcony means
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it's time for the dog of the week. each of us picks the week's worst movie. >> you and spot may not believe this, but i have just seen my first nudie karate film. >> do you think pauline would be working with a dog? >> i never knew about her, but [ bleep ] pauline. roger and gene were the most powerful critics of all time in any realm. >> finally, they had to cave in and run the show in new york and l.a. it was a victory we relished, i have to tell you. yeah, everybody knows that. well, did you know that playing cards with kenny rogers gets old pretty fast? ♪ you got to know when to hold'em. ♪ ♪ know when to fold 'em. ♪ know when to walk away. ♪ know when to run. ♪ you never count your money,
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♪ when you're sitting at the ta...♪ what? you get it? i get the gist, yeah. geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance.
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my next two guests will be guarded as the most popular and regarded film critics in the country. they are the two most influential movie critics in the country. is there anybody more popular? we'll find out and ask them. >> ultimately, i think they were on the johnny carson show more than just about anybody. >> is there something out there that is really so bad? >> roger. i can't recommend three amigos. it's the christmas picture i like the least. >> oh. >> this is the happy hour. >> yes. >> you know, i don't think i'd ask you if i knew you were going to say that. >> god willing, he'll make more good movies in the future. >> with your help. >> yes. >> yes, with your help.
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>> there is a tendency for somebody who is, who is naturally funny, as chevy is to try and get lapsed by standing there and ad libbing when somebody sells trying to talk. >> that's right. >> the movie studios went from helping us to hating us, to fearing us. >> circulations of all of the newspaper critics and all of the magazines could not match the reach of the show at its height. it became quite clear very often that the film companies cared a lot about roger and gene seeing it, but not so much about the rest of us. >> two thumb's up became everything for a big hollywood movie. back when movie makers still thought critics enthusiasm could sell a movie. >> in 1991, rich published a piece in film comment about how the chose was ruining and
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vulgarizing film criticism. >> will anyone read this story? it has too many words and not enough pictures. does anyone read this magazine? every article in it wants to be a meal, not a mcnugget. is anyone reading film criticism? it lacks punch, the clips, the thumbs. i simply don't want people to think that what they have to do on tv is what i am supposed to do in print. i don't want junk food to be the only cuisine at the banquet. et cetera. i really did sound angry there, but it seemed to me the siskel-ebert effect was that a film was either good or bad, and the rest didn't matter so much. >> i am the first to agree that the siskel and ebert program is not in dead film criticism. how could it be given our time
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constraints? it would be fun to do an open ended show with people talking about movies. but no one would do it on television. >> the program ice purpose is to provide exactly what he says it provides, information on what's new at the movies, who's in it and whether the critic thinks it's any good or not. >> if you're talking about film criticism in a serious way, consumer advice is not the same thing as criticism. too to assume that something is good for everybody or bad for everybody is insulting to everybody. >> must be feeling empty, crash has some beautiful bodies on view, but also some ugly ideas. >> the car crash is a fertilizing rather than a destructive event. >> when we have an opinion about a movie, that opinion may light a bulb over the head of an ambitious youth who then understands that people can make up their own minds about the movies.
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>> i think i liked the movie a lot more than you did. i would like to make it clear that most are probably going to hate it, be repelled or walked out just as the festival. it's too tough to take. >> the reason roger loved being on television is that at his heart, he really is a pop e po t list -- populist. >> but unvariably, a show like the show becomes a part of that mainstream system. >> this week siskel and ebert review arnold schwarzenegger in last action hero. >> and by in large, the purpose of mainstream reviewing is not just to value orrize films that get multimillion dollar ad campaigns, but to eliminate everything else. >> i think what gene and roger
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defense the on sit of that. he looked for people like me. as a film critic, he was somebody who gave light to new voices, gave life to new visions that reflected all the diversity of this nation. different classes, points of view, he wanted it all out there. >> sure enough to the pet owner that they will be reunited with their pet. >> my first film, gates of heaven, there was a newspaper strike, and so the movie wasn't reviewed by any of the new york newspapers, which is a disaster. >> i miss that little black kitten so much. >> i just thought that's it, the movie's just going to vanish. >> both of them wanted to review it. i was troubled because the number of theaters in which it was playing was extremely small, and here you have a show that's being shown on 300 some odd public television stations around the country, how are people going to see it? >> let's move on to the one of
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the most brilliant, american documentary films i've seen in a long time. >> and then really out of nowhere, those guys started reviewing gates of heaven. >> i agree with you completely. i think it's a superb film. >> then they found an excuse to review it again. >> films that we called buried treasure. and the third time. >> i don't think anyone who has seen this film can ever forget it. >> i believe that i would not really have a career, if not for those guys. >> i made my first film, i kind of made it alone, i didn't know anyone in the industry. i don't ian know how i got roger's e-mailed, but i e-mailed assuming no one would answer. and he answered, your sun gets to sun dance tell me and i would watch it there. later it did go to sun dance and i e-mailed it again, i said here are the three times. he didn't come to the first screening. he didn't come to the second screening, and the last screening was sunday morning i think, 8:00 a.m. on the last day of the festival.
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i say he's probably not even here. in fact, he was one of the first people there. and i was there with my actor, and he said do you mind if i take pictures with you and your actor just in case i like the film, if i don't, don't worry, i'll never use it. ♪ >> i was, i think i was probably eight or nine or something. and my aunt denise, who was a massive film geek who passed her film geekdom on to me, found out about these rehearsals for the oscars, and one day, he walked through. and i remember saying, thumb's up, thumb's up screaming. and he came over. i grew up, i made this film when i was 34 years old. the first film i ever made. >> your second generation. joshua tree generation. >> the film was about my aunt. my aunt who took me to the
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oscars that day. >> nothing wrong with that. >> and about losing someone that you love. and it was ebert's review that really got to the heart of what i was trying to articulate. and just touched me so much that i sent him the picture from the oscars. his reply was, we were both younger then. the next day a blog post turned up where he wrote, in a very heartfelt way about his own aunt who kind of gave him the gift of art in film as well. you know. i broke down crying. it was a mess. it's dangerous as a black woman to give something that you've made from your point of view, very steeped in your identity and your personhood to a white man whose gaze is the opposite
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and so say you are the carrier of this film to the public. you're the one that's going to dictate whether it has value. and you had a lot less fears around that with roger. because you knew it was someone who was going to take it seriously, and going to come with some historical context, some cultural nuance. >> every time i see him, i walk away with something new, you know. and every time i sit down at the table to do the work, i think about him. because what if something happened and i don't get to see him again. it was just a few days before christmas, i said well chaz, can i come there? >> merry christmas. >> come on over and say hi. >> how are you? what are you doing in here? [ laughter ] good thing you help me, i got to get out. i like the glasses. >> it was nice to see him
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interacting with his grandkids. >> grandpa, do you think -- >> i know he must be in pain physically, but he ends up being the happiest guy around. >> a christmas stocking from santa. >> from santa. >> called lady gaga -- [ laughter ] >> i just remember being so young and watching for the first time so many movies and him sort of explaining to me, you know, what's important about this one, or this is a really great movie. >> ever heard of his film? this movie begins with seven children who are 7 and check in on them every seven years of their lives. >> are they 56 now? really? oh, my gosh. wow. >> all the great conversations and the things he taught me about movies and life and family and books and all this stuff.
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i just -- those experiences mean a lot to me. >> it's another chocolate bar. >> i said i was coming to see you and he sent his regards and he said you have to keep writing because he's very worried about cinema. >> could you say it the way verner would say it? >> oh, god, no. roger, you must get better. you must soldier on, roger. >> he's a soldier of cinema. he's a wounded comrade who cannot even speak anymore, and he plows on. and that touches my heart very deeply. >> i never dedicate films to anyone. i dedicated a film to him where i ventured out to the last corner of this planet, to
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antarctica, to the ice. and from there, i bow my head in his direction. he reinforces my courage. >> one time i went to see roger. he was kind of eager and bouncing to give me something. he gave me this letter actually from laura dern. i want you to know that your generosity and expertise at the sundance tribute meant the world to me. i've tried to come up with an appropriate way to thank you. this box and its contents, a jigsaw puzzle, i have treasured for some time. it was given to me by the strasburg family when lee strasburg passed away. it was marilyn monroe's, who collected puzzles, and it had been given to her by alfred
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hitchcock. that night at sundance, you inspired me about film and contribution and i wanted to pass along film and connection in some way. thank you again, love to you and chaz. and then he gave me this gift, which i refused. i said i cannot accept this gift. and then he said you're going to accept this gift because you have to one day give this to somebody else who deserves it. >> what's it a jigsaw puzzle of? >> i've always been terrified to make it. i mean, this is the jigsaw puzzle that alfred hitchcock gave marilyn monroe.
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♪ ♪ >> in the autumn of 1967, i saw a movie named "i call first" later to be retitled "who's that knocking at my door." the energy of the cutting grabbed me. it was the work of a natural director. a wrote a review suggesting in ten years he would become the american felleeny. >> i didn't think it would take that long. i'm like, it's over here. what are you talking about? it was the first real strong encouragement. yes, there are defects in the movie, but he saw something special and that had to be nourished. >> as you know, i carried your review around with me in europe in 1968. i kept reading, is that really about me? wow. >> so refreshing to find a director and an actor working
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right at the top of their form. i think "raging bull" is one of the great american pictures of the year -- >> his greatest film is an act of self-redemption. in the period before it, he had become addicted to cocaine and told me that after an overdose he was pronounced dead in an emergency room and resuscitated. >> during the '80s he was extremely gone. broke and had gone through some bad periods. third marriage had broken up. was basically alone. the only thing that saved me or made me want to continue just like living in a way was my agent called and said, you know there's this festival up in toronto. i said yeah, roger ebert, gene siskel, they want to give you this tribute. and i was kind of scared. could i walk down this theater
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aisle and go up on a stage knowing who i am. but i knew that they believed in me. and i have that in my house in a special place where only i can see it. and i pass by it every maybe five to six minutes i see it. but that night changed it. and it started my life again, you know. it was -- i didn't feel inhibited with roger. he was that close. >> roger has, unlike just about any of the rest of us, arrived at this point where he is kind of the peer of the people -- of some of the people that he writes about. it's very complicated, i think, when you have personal relationships and friendships with these people, because it cannot cloud your judgment.
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>> i'm infinitely corruptible. i do not want to get to know these people as people. i want to think of them as fictional characters. my obligation is to write what i think about a movie and not to worry about someone i know perching on my shoulder saying, no, i wouldn't say that. >> when you look at the 19th century and the great critics in music, they hung together -- critics and artists. they were in the same circles. and that helped the critics and it helped the composers. roger brought back that concept and he was criticized for it. >> that was real distracting for me the way all those pool balls bounced around like that. and the scene gets worse as it goes on. it's more sding because "the color of money" was directed by martin scorsese, one of the best two or three movie directors around. >> devastating. >> doesn't have the energy and
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the drive of most scorsese films. >> the script isn't good. >> it's just a narrative. >> that was a way of condemning and helping. you've done this now once. you've done it twice, but watch yourself. as opposed to toxic, poisonous, unkind, ungenerous, lack of charity on so many others. >> i think he was a tougher critic when he was younger. he could be really cutting and relentless and ruthless and sarcastic. [ gunfire ] >> not a bad movie, but it's not original and it's not a masterpiece. >> i think it's very original and very close to being a masterpiece. >> i have never felt a kill in a movie quite like that. >> not in apocalypse now, not in
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"the deer hunter." >> not like that. >> they would get into their cross talk. the camera would stop. they'd still be at it. >> i disagree particularly about the part that you liked. >> they truly felt in their soul. they could still show them the error of their ways. the folly of their thinking. >> "the hunt"ed exhausted me. it's the first time i wanted to tell a dog to slow down and stop and smell the flowers. >> your review is a blase, sophisticated review i would expect from an adult. >> you're wrapping yourself in the flag of children. >> no, boredom. >> i don't think any child is going to be bored -- >> it was not oh, well, i see you have a good point. it's, i'm going to crush you. >> this is where you give it a positive review. >> that's totally unfair, because you realize benji the hunted is not one-tenth the film
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that the kubrick film is. you know it and you should be ashamed of yourself. >> no, i'm not. >> they almost didn't care what anyone else thought about anything, as long as they could try to persuade the other. i'm not just talking about movie reviews. i'm talking about the tie you're wearing, what you think of that person, a book, a restaurant. when there wasn't disagreement, the coin of the realm was the quarter. >> it's hard to think of anything that wasn't decided by a coin toss. >> were we going to get tuna fish sandwiches for lunch? >> who would get one movie, who would get another movie. >> who got to sit next to johnny carson on the couch. >> they actually wanted us to change the opening of the show every week so that roger would be first one week and gene would be the first the next week and we said no. >> why is the show siskel & ebert and it will ever be ebert
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& siskel? >> no. there's a long story about that. i'm older. i've been a movie critic longer. e comes before s in the alphabet. i've got the pulitzer prize. >> gene siskel was among the most competitive people on the face of this planet. but roger always could laud over gene that he had a pulitzer prize. >> roger was a bit of a brag dosio. he was a great rock hunter, but frankly, he was full of himself. >> roger was a bit of a control freak. he could not direct gene siskel. he was a rogue planet in roger's solar system. gene was a source of madness in roger's life. >> roger is an only child. he was used to getting his way, absolutely. and he could be a real big baby when he didn't get what he
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wanted. gene, on the other hand, would just go in there and pummel you until you agree with him, until you just say, all right, gene, okay, you're right, you got it. >> it wasn't a game with him. he saw something, he wanted it to happen. he made it happen. >> gene was very good at reading roger's day book upside down. soon as he saw l.a. and the date, he knew what films were coming out. he knew what big star roger would be going out to interview. and that's all it took for him to make sure that he got the interview before roger got it. fumes, you could almost see coming out of roger's head. gene had done him in again. that waskaly wabit. >> roger was the picture of ek wa nimity for most of his life. did produce a pestilence i hadn't seen before.
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>> i thought this movie was awful, dreadful, terrible, idiotic, unfunny, labored, forced, hateful. >> roger? what happened to your sense of humor? >> i don't think roger was by nature a fighter. but if you have a brother who likes to fight all the time, so then you learn how to fight. >> and gene had his number. gene knew the buttons to push and everything else. >> they're in a first-class cabin. gene's in one of the front rows. roger's behind him. and gene hears the same old stories over and over again. he writes a little note and he gives it to the flight attendant, said, would you pass this to mr. ebert. so roger gets the note, and it says dear mr. ebert, we in the
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cockpit have noticed you are on our flight, frankly, we both agree with you more than your partner, and we would be so honored if you would join us in the cockpit for a bit of the flight. gene knows that roger was really excited. he gets into the aisle and roger was a big guy then, he just kind of bounds down the aisle and gets ready to knock on the door of the cabin and you know, the flight attendants and people are horrified, and gene says, dear mr. ebert, we in the cockpit -- gotcha. >> and he finally tells gene siskel, you just hate me, you just don't like me. i mean, that relationship was absolutely radioactive. >> two thrillers this week. first we'll review michael caine and pierce brosnan in the fourth protocol. and then gene hackman and kevin
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costner star in no way out and we have a third thriller if you're interested. >> what do you mean two thrillers? >> how about something like this, it's thriller week on siskel & ebert and we've got three big ones. okay? ready? >> i guess you're going to rewrite it. >> you can't ad-lib gene. can't we do it next week? >> no, every week counts. >> you read it then. i'll al-lib it. >> it's thriller week on siskel & ebert. >> why don't you read both parts? >> please get rid of the gum. >> it's thriller week on siskel & ebert and we have three new ones. >> dennis quaid and the big easy. michael caine and the fourth protocol in kevin costner and gene hackman in no way out. >> sound a little excited. >> sound less excited, roger. that's why we're redoing it because of what you did. >> it's thriller week on --
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>> it's called and the movies not at the movies. that's why we're doing it this time. >> it's thriller week on siskel & eabert and we've got three bi ones. >> that's this week on siskel & ebert and the movies. and the ass hole. >> they were still in their hearts little boys fighting it out on the playground. and both of them expecting to win. >> i came in expecting to repair
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my walking ability after the hairline fracture, but have discovered that it wasn't that simple. >> bigger step with that right foot. bigger step, roger. >> i can no longer take good health for granted. i hate that. >> he's saying -- >> are you okay? do you want me to stop? >> that was good. that was good. that was good. >> i never thought he'd have to be here again. he's at the best place, but it's
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just overwhelming to think that he's been here five times. if he gave up, then it would be very difficult. >> how have you kept your spirits up? >> i have zeroed in on my work. when i'm seeing a movie or writing a review, it makes me feel good. you know how they talk about being in the zone? when you're doing something you're good at, you get in the zone. it sort of pushes your trouble to the back of your mind. >> you have this tremendous body
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of work. he's been writing for half the history of feature films. and that's just one slice of the cake. a novel in weekly installments, just like dickens. not quite of that level. i wrote a book about how to keep your computer bug-free, strolls through london. a book about the cannes film festival. >> roger had everything he needed. gene was just afraid that at some point roger would go it alone and quit. >> and this literally haunted gene. when the next contract would come up, would roger not be there? >> joann tello just sat down and did the math. in syndication, we can put commercials around it. so he offered gene and roger a tremendous amount of money. >> these guys were siamese twins
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joined at the rear end. and they were going to make this thing work. >> gene would say, and this is as they became more and more of a team, he's an ass hole. but he's my ass hole. >> this week on siskel & e bert at the movies, the science fiction adventure robocop. >> do that again. >> do you know that for gene speech is a second language? >> roger's first language is yes, i'll have apple pie with my order. he asks the mcdonald's girls if he can have it with his order before they ask him. >> you know what gene says when he goes into mcdonald's. can i have an apple with the order? [ laughter ] >> you know, they don't get enough shit. they don't. >> they run the god damn country. -- you're dropping.
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come on, ban together, let's overthrow the country. >> protestants, people who sort of want a religion. >> we're real. we get down and get dirty. >> i was here when you were only a gleam in your mother's eye. >> i go back 6,000 years. somebody that has some god damn passion coursing through their veins. >> clase closed. >> anything. >> right. >> steve martin's new comedy roxanne. >> this week on siskel & ebert at the movies. >> you said it a little too fast. the holiday season is here, which means it's time for the volkswagen sign-then-drive event. for practically just your signature, you could drive home for the holidays in a german engineered volkswagen. like the sporty, advanced new jetta
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♪ ♪ >> the greatest day for gene was when roger came in to say that he was going to get married. i remember gene saying to me, can you believe this is happening? he's going to have a mortgage. he's going to have to buy furniture. he's going to have all the same things that we do to have to deal with. he's going to need the show. he'll never leave now. >> shaz was probably more life altering for him than his tv show. she really, really liked him for what he was and not who he was. >> she changed his life immeasurably. she changed his personality. hey, i was eight months pregnant and roger grabbed a cab in front of me in new york. he's not that kind of guy now. i think gene was so happy that
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roger found his mate. >> he was 50 years old when we got married. he used to tell me, i waited just about all my life to find you, and i'm glad i did. and i'm never gonna let you go. i mean -- ♪ >> our wedding was like a fairy tale. gene siskel's daughters, kate and cali, they were beautiful little flower girls. and roger's idea of a wedding was like father of the bride where the father says, can't you just have the wedding in the backyard and put some brauts on the grill? people who knew me then would be very surprised wouthat i would
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marry a white man. because i felt that african american men had gotten such a raw deal in this society. in college, i was the head of the black student union. i marched with martin luther king. i talked to my mother about it. mom, what do you think people would say? and she said, doesn't matter. doesn't matter. what do you say? what does your heart say? >> you have come together, according to god -- >> and as sophisticated as roger was, he didn't know how his family would take this. he used to say, you know, maybe my uncle bill or my aunt mary, you know, because you're not catholic. i said, roger, come on, if we're going to have this relationship, we have to be serious.
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not catholic or not white? he said yeah, probably some of that too. after a while, though, his family accepted me with open arms. >> he was on a life-long quest for love. he found romantic love with chaz. >> hey, i'm just about to -- >> and he loved that family. her kids and her grandkids. he fit right in perfectly. >> camp on roger. oh, i forgot what i was going to say. >> there were no strangers in her family. >> howdy cowboy. >> i love and am loved. and as a member of another race, i have without exception been accepted and embraced. the greatest pleasure came from annual trips we made with our grandchildren, raven, emile and taylor, and their parents sonya
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and mark, we made our way from budapest to prague, vienna, hawaii, los angeles, london, paris, venice twice, and stock holm. >> what do you have to say about the trip? >> we are having a wonderful time. right now we're about to take the garden walk which say great tradition of all of our vacations when we go on nature walks. >> emile announced that for him there was no such thing as getting up too early. every morning the two of us would meet in the hotel lobby and go out for long walks together. one morning in budapest, he asked me to take a photo of two people walking ahead of us and holding hands. why? because they look happy. ♪ >> those times seem more precious now that they're in the past. i don't walk easily anymore.
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♪ >> nice job, roger. beautiful. one more step. ♪ >> i walked every day in the years before my troubles. aiming for 10,000 steps with a pedometer. the caldwell lilly pond had a special serenity. i usually had it to myself. i chose it as the perfect location to make a little film featuring my friend reciting the last page of "the great gatsby," which he has recited to me several times annually since we
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first met in the 1960s. >> the trees that had made way for gatsby's house -- >> i think this was roger's favorite passage from all of literature. it was really a passage about the american dream. you can be anything you want. you know, roger had went from this small town kid in urbana, to this huge, national celebrity. his father was an electrician, his mother was a housewife. but i think "the great gatsby" was all for roger about death. death might have obsessed him a bit. you know, his father died fairly young. i knew he adored him. >> question 7. does your father's death hold even greater resonance for you now given your own medical trev ails. >> there's an escapable parallel
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between us. both my father and i have cancer. my disease may have been stopped by childhood radiation treatment for an ear infection. i got those because they love me. in my case, recently discovered tumors of the spine have metastasized. >> roger e-mailed me that sharing the news of the cancer's return could anger chaz. >> we don't know -- we haven't really fully discussed this. it's so new that we really don't know and i'm uncomfortable talking about it. just sort of taking it a day at a time, like i do everything
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else. >> so what do the doctors say? >> six to 16 months, it is likely i will have passed when the film is ready. >> we'll see. the radiation could do its job so well that he's around a lot longer. so we'll have the radiation and we'll hope for the best. i mean, here he is in 2013 and in 2006, there were times when they said he wouldn't be here the next day. so -- >> i have no fear of death. we all die. i consider my remaining days to be like money in the bank. when it is all gone, i will be
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repossessed. when the pain gets to be unbearable, i may not be so jolly. my senior english teacher asked me, ebert, why are you always writing about death? i think it began catholic grade school where they placed so much attention on mortal sin and dying. found it kind of exciting. i would have been infuriated if i missed this because of an accident or sudden death. this is the third act and it is an experience. >> so you see, little ebert has always been a macabre sort. most people don't know that about him. maybe that's why he's jolly. maybe it's just like, okay. >> it makes for a better story.
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>> on april 30th, 1998, gene was asked to throw out the first ball of the season at the white sox game. and he had had a headache for some weeks.
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may 8th, he was diagnosed terminal brain cancer. and pretty much you don't live more than a year. but on april 30th, he threw out a damn good pitch. >> he didn't really want the folks at disney to know how sick he was. he was afraid that if they heard the words brain tumor, they would put in a substitute for and that would be the end. >> our mothers knew, and gene's siblings and my two sisters knew. that's it. >> and roger didn't know. and that really wounded roger. i don't think that it's that he didn't trust roger personally. nonetheless, when something like that happens, you take it
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personally. how else is there to take it? >> even though he may have been a few years older than gene, gene was like the older brother he never had. and i was so sad for roger for not -- really for not being able to tell his brother goodbye. >> gene didn't want to be seen as a victim, but more importantly, he didn't want to watch the effect of his dying on his children. and my children celebrated many things that year and had a happy year, instead of watching the clock which they would have done. he wanted to do just what he was doing. he wanted to be with his family and go back to work. >> the next one is meet the deals. and boy is this an annoying experience. to the point that from now on, for the rest of my life, i may have a negative physical reaction to hearing the word -- well, it's the title word in the
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film. >> deedels? >> roger, don't. >> toward the end, i said, we should go see him. and we were going to go and visit him that monday, but he passed away that saturday. >> it was a friendship that he cherished. and it was a horrible pain for him. >> this year on gene's birthday, roger tweeted every hour on the hour with links to memories high and low. i was really touched and i wrote him a thank you, and he sent me this response. dear marlene, i'm sick and old and find myself thinking about gene more than ever. my stupid ego and maybe his, complicated the fact that i have never met a smarter or funnier man. we fought like cats and dogs,
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but there were times often unobserved, like after a long hotel dinner we had once in boston, when i've never felt closer to a man. i think their relationship evolved. they grew to respect each other. and i do believe they did love each other. >> after gene's funeral, roger vowed that he was never going to keep any secrets about his health. >> he said, if anything like this ever happens to me, i don't want to hide it. especially from the people who mean something to us. >> i've been coming to this conference for 35 years, and this morning i confess that i am a sick person. about two and a half or three years ago, i felt a lump under my chin and i went to the doctor and it turned out to be associated with thyroid cancer.
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>> he was in the hospital maybe two days at the most, ready to get out, went back to the show. >> a few years later, i went in for a routine scan to check for any new problems. the news was not good. cancer had been seen in my right lower jaw bone. >> again, he had surgery. we were going home. >> we were all packed up and ready to go home, just like today. chaz and i had a song we both really liked called "on your man." it's sort of long and i wanted to play it one last time. ♪ if you want a lover ♪ i'll do anything you ask me to ♪ ♪ and if you want another kind of love ♪ ♪ i'll wear a mask for you >> as it was playing, i had a
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sub hemorrhage of an artery. the doctors rushed me into the operating room. >> the whole thing had burst. his neck, it was just gushing blood. there was about 15 doctors grabbing towels, squeezing to get the blood stopped. >> if he hadn't been playing that song, we would have been out of the hospital already. >> if that song had been shorter and i had left, i would be dead. ♪ if you want a boxer ♪ i will step into the ring for you ♪ ♪ and if you want a doctor ♪ i'll examine every inch of you ♪ ♪ if you want a driver
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♪ climb inside ♪ or if you want to take me for a ride ♪ ♪ you know you can ♪ i'm your man >> we are told the next surgery will not be life-threatening. the perfect ending would be that i regain the ability to speak well, even drink. but i would settle for drinking coffee and having milk shakes. >> there were a series of surgeries, and his plan was to return to the show, to return to broadcasting. >> it is a major surgery. >> yes, it is. >> is it worth it?
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>> he's very brave about it, but i'm not. i think it's going to be successful and everything's going to turn out fine. >> and the first day or two, he looked in the mirror and he was very pleased with what he saw. but just like all the other surgeries, there was an infection, and they had to undo everythi everything. that left him more debilitated than ever. and he just decided, no more surgeries. no more. roger's not one to look back and say, oh, could have, would have, should have. but there were times when he wrote a note that said, kill me. i mean, i have that note.
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kill me. i said, no! no! i told him that was not an option. >> you want to walk until there? or you want to -- okay. >> getting over there, over that bump. okay, who is going to help him stand to go up the stairs? he wants the right instructions. do you want the walker, yes or no? do you want the walker? no. okay, then let's get -- yeah, but we have to get up and get going. people would say, oh, don't you get tired? >> you have to trust us. you have to trust that we know what we're doing. >> yeah, i get tired sometimes.
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>> move this chair so it faces stairs. you know what, no. guess what, it's a few steps. you can get out of the chair and you can walk up the stairs. that's what you've been practicing every day. you can do this. >> but i never got so tired i wanted to give up. >> come on, uncle roger. >> no, he's not going to do that. let me handle it, please. i've got to pull the chair out of the way. >> there's so many people out there taking care of people who are sick or disabled. we all go through the whole gamut of emotions. >> two, three. okay, now hold. >> i know it's been a long road. i think it's hard. it's always been hard. but it's even harder now. he calls her my angel, and he means it. >> valentine's day wreath i got for you.
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aaaww. >> this woman never lost her love. >> now do you want to go upstairs? >> she was always there, believing i could do it. and her love was like a wind pushing me back from the grave. >> and i told him, if you promise me, that you will give it your all, i promise you that i will try to make life as interesting for you as possible so that every day you have something to look forward to. >> we have a saying in the latino community, make your heart your face. >> oh, now -- >> more than anybody i have ever known, his heart is his face. that photograph that was on the cover of esquire says it all. this is me. and i want you to know who i am and what i'm going through.
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>> i may have things to be depressed about, but i'm not depressed. my life seems full again. >> here we are full screen as we start to bring the screen size down, eventually getting towards iphone size, it's going to drop, it's going to break. and now look at this -- >> my attention is focused on my new website, which will provide a home for my life's work and has an enduring life of its own. >> josh, this is beyond my wildest dreams. i'm glad. i like to make you happy. >> roger's been ahead of the curve, becoming an early massive adopter of social media. he has almost 800,000 followers on twitters and 100,000 on facebook. >> right now, there's an argument about the internet. some people say film criticism is at the end. the art of cinema is at the end.
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roger sees it in a much more positive way. it's a renaissance. it's a renaissance in film appreciation and film criticism. the roving reporters that he uses like on his blog, for example, and giving a critical birth to lots of other points of view. >> the passionate fan culture, or movie geek culture that exists on the internet, when people get really, really worked up, is something that the "siskel & ebert" show helped to seed. it follows from roger's understanding of criticism, which is a mode of conversation. it's the public square. >> again, it's allowing the fans to access the database of your reviews going back to 1967 that has never been available in this form before. >> when i am writing, i am the same person i always was. >> in april, 2008, i wrote my first blog entry and began this current and probably final stage
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of my life. my blog became my voice, my outlet, my social media, in a way i couldn't have dreamed of. into it i poured my regrets, desires, and memories. most people choose to write a blog. i needed to. racism was engrained in daily life. it wasn't the overt racism with the staff, but more like the pervading background against which we lived. we were here, i've never held a handgun in my life. the theory is gun ownership makes us safer. that doesn't seem to be working out for us. the body count rises. >> he took all of that energy he put into television and he transferred it to his blog on the internet and to his movie reviews and wrote better than he ever had in his life. >> we are now seeing the polymetric genius that those of us who knew roger always saw.
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his voice was stilled. but of course he's talking more than ever. >> in the past 25 years, i have probably seen 10,000 movies and reviewed 6,000 of them. i have forgotten most of them, i hope. but i remember those worth remembering. and they are on the same shelf in my mind. look at a movie that a lot of people love and you'll find something profound. no matter how silly the film may seem. ♪ >> what i miss, though, is the wonder. >> open the doors, hal. >> people my age can remember walking into a movie palace when the ceiling was far overhead.
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the balconies reached way into the shadows. we remember the sound of a thousand people laughing all at once and screens the size of bill boards so every seat in the house was a good seat. i lost it at the movies, and we all knew just what she meant. you ain't lyin'. let quicken loans help you save your money.
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so if you have any packages you want to return you should just give them to us i mean, we're going to be there anyway why don't you just leave it for us to pick up? or you could always get in your car and take it back yourself yeah, us picking it up is probably your easiest option it's kind of a no brainer ok, well, good talk
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♪ >> only two days after he'd returned home, roger was readmitted to the hospital with pneumonia. chaz thought this was a brief, if frustrating, setback. so roger and i resumed or e-mail interview with the plan to film him as soon as he returned home again. i asked him about one of his most controversial reviews, for "blue velvet." >> when he asked isabella ros leany in this movie to be undressed and humilinated on the screen -- >> it seems true that i have an embedded moral code, and when it's violated, i asked myself if it's justified. drama holds a mirror up to life but needn't reproduce it. >> attempts to film roger in
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rehab were rebuffed by doctors. then suddenly one day his e-mail output slowed to a trickle. i know your energy is limited, i'm trying to figure out what questions would engage you most. how determined are you to keep working, keep going? >> fearing the worst, i called chaz. she dissolved into tears. roger seemed determined to give up. >> he said he was beginning to feel trapped inside. and he said, you know, i don't want to fight this time. i don't want to fight cancer. he said, i am ready to go. i've had a beautiful life.
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and death is a part of life. and i'm ready to go. and you must let me go. you must let me go. he had signed a dnr, a do not resuscitate order. he signed it when i wasn't there one day. and usually we make those kind of decisions together, but i think he knew that that wouldn't have been my choice. and so when we realized that he was leaving, i wanted them to use the defibrillator and they
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said no. and short of going over and taking it and doing it myself -- and i could have screamed and made a fuss and forced them to do it. but you know what, something came over me. roger calls it a wind of peace. just kind of flowed over me, and i knew it was time to accept it. and accept that he was leaving. and so i put on dave brubek music in the room. i had everyone just settle down. ♪ i was sitting next to his bed,
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holding his left hand. and other people held my hand and formed a circle around and held hands. until the doctor said that he was going to call it, 1:40 p.m. is the time of death. i had never seen anything so beautiful and so serene. it became -- it was so peaceful in that room and everything just relaxed. he looked young. he looked happy. and those warm hands and, you know.
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♪ ♪ >> what in the world say leave of presence? it means i'm not going away. 46 years ago, i became the film critic for the "chicago-sun times." however, y you came to know me,m glad you did and thank you for being the best readers any film critic could ask for. >> he had a heart big enough to accept and love all. i have to keep it. he loved this hat. that's why i wore it today. >> i felt that as long as roger was alive, a little bit of gene was too.
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because the first person i met actually walked out of the television. >> famous people have died before in chicago. famous writers have died. but what i thought marked the stories about roger was a genuine affection. i mean, thousands of people came out and thousands more wrote tributes on the internet, which are still continuing. ♪ ♪ >> i'd like to walk down on hollywood boulevard because now it's his star coming and i set my gaze straight. i don't look down at the star. i know it's coming.
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looking straight at the horizon into the future. >> so on this day, reflection, i say thank you for going on this journey with me. i'll see you at the movies. ♪ ♪ i'll see you at the movies. ♪ ♪
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♪ ♪

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