next up, a movie you won't want to miss. "life itself," our cnn film about the extraordinary life of movie critic, roger ebert.

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. ♪

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 day, he entered the hospital.

>> somehow i got a hairline fracture to the femur bone. i didn't fall and have no 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 you didn't get the chair 'til 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! >> i'm carol. i'm roger's assistant for over 20 years. roger and chaz. >> and something is winning all the awards, roger. it won another 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. >> 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 urbana, illinois, as if it existed independently of me. but the news gazette, a lino type operator set my byline in ink. by roger ebert. i was electrified. >> when i went home, you could take a stamp pad and put your biline on everything. my parents finally 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, as 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 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 urbana champaign 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 illini than studying. it was in every sense a real newspaper, published five days a week on an ancient goss rotary press, that made the building tremble. as editor, i was a case study, tackless, egotistical, 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. 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 protest 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. and 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 mcbeth 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 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 gentlemens. it's midnight here in chicago. >> long after midnight, i listened to jack igan, broadcasting live. >> chatting with martin and lewis or rosemary clooney. i'd been accepted as a ph.d candidate in english by the 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, the tribune had mae tine, and that was whoever went to the movie that day, because it spelled out matinee.

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. >> but you wouldn't have the gumption to use it. >> a work of truth and brilliance. it is also pitlessly cruel, filled with sympathy, nauseating, funny, heartbreaking. >> hey, what's your name, anyhow! >> clyde. >> and astonishingly beautiful. >> i'm bonnie. nice to meet you. >> the fact that the story was set 35 years ago, doesn't mean a thing. it had to be set some time. but it was made now, and it's about us. >> roger was the most vassal writer i've ever come across. anybody that has ever seen him work, he could knock out a full, thought-out movie review in 30

minutes. fast and furious. >> there were 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. >> o'rourke's was our stage, and we displayed our persona there nightly. it was a shabby street corner tavern on dicey stretch of north avenue, a block after chicago's old town stopped being a tourist take. when a roomer who lived upstairs died, his body was discovered when maggots started to drop through the ceiling. for years, i drank there more or less every night when i was in town. so did a lot of people. >> we all were in the same place. the newspaper guys there, the surly staff at the 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 in to

o'rourke's 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 psychs. >> yeah, i met roger one time with a woman that looked like a young linda ronstadt. and when she was gone from the table briefly, 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 lamppost at the end of the bar. when he got going, roger was one of the finest story tellers that i have ever come across. >> roger was good at dishing, but he also could take it. >> i'm a fat guy that had to learn how to take fat stuff. roger 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. >> studs wasn't a chicagoan, bella wasn't born here. but there's a certain kind of chicago character that roger really came to believe that he was. >> roger was not just the chief character and star of the movie that was his 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 out that night in front of o'rourke's and almost, you know, 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. and i'm like, are you okay? what's the matter? i'm on a bender, i need a -- will you come have a drink with me? >> he said to me one time, and i don't think he'll regard this as a betrayal, that he would walk home late at night after o'rourke's had closed and he would wish he was dead. >> i found it almost impossible oncesy started to stop after one or two. i paid a price in hangovers. without hangovers, it's possible 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 taken a drink for 31 years. and since my first aa meeting i attended, i've 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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one day in the spring of 1967, i noticed faster pussy cat kill, kill playing at the biograph on western avenue. ♪ if you think you can tame her, just you try ♪ >> the posters displayed improbably buxom woman and i was inside in a flash. that's when it first registered that there was a filmmaker named russ meyer. in 1969, 20th century fox studio

invited miner to the lot for an interview. they offered him the entitle "beyond the valley of the dolls" unattached to any story. he 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. >> ahhh! >> i have no answer. >> what did he love about russ' films, do you think? >> boobs. >> the fact that there were large-breasted women involved probably was a plus. >> you want to make love? then let's make love.

>> here? >> no. in l.a.! where it's at. >> we'd great crushed. >> meyer wanted everything in the screenplay except the 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 expose of the oftentimes nightmarish world of showbiz. >> i had to review for "the chicago sun-times," and i think i gave it three stars. because roger was my friend, and somewhere deep in the piece of, this is a new rating system, ten stars, 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 hawk's film from the '40s, but a wild who gives a shit air that was

perfect for the 1960s. >> you're a groovy boy. i would 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 dwenjoy i. i did like her having sex in the bentley. >> it's my first time in a rolls. >> because of the way he cut to the grill. >> there's nothing like a rolls, not even a bentley! not even a bentley! bentley! rolls! a rolls! a rolls! >> but i did like that editing in the bentley. >> the movie is taking place and they are loading up the medical cart to take us over to our ic. will you send an e-mail 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 a big screen. when he was in the hospital before, we took a semi-not sanctioned trip out of the hospital, bundled him up, and took him to the movies. but i don't know if -- i don't think the doctor will let you out. oops. >> chaz is is a strong woman. i never met anyone like her. she is the love of my life. she saved me from the fate of

living out my life alone, which is where i seem to be heading. >> the first time he actually saw me was at an aa meeting and it was the first time i've ever said it publicly. roger became very public about his. but i felt it was, you know, more private for me. >> it doesn't fit, you must acquit. >> 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 decrepitude. because i am still active, going places 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 of weeks of rehab, he suggested i e-mail him questions in advance of our major interview when he gets back home. >> question one, in my life, i inherented certain things from each of my partners. what did you inherit from yours? >> from my father, i invented my pro-labor, democratic party beliefs. i am politically my father's child and emotionally more my mother's. my mother supported me as if i

was the local sports team, but she was fatalistic. he was permanently scarred by a depression and constantly predicted she would end up in the county poor home. my parents so strongly encouraged my schoolwork, we even took a third paper at home, the chicago "daily news," for me to read. when i stood in the kitchen door and used a sentence with a word in it, they would look up from their coffee and actually applaud me. >> this is the memorable occasion that roger was given the pulitzer prize. >> usually when someone wins a pulitzer prize, they go, who is he to win a pulitzer? you know, i'll go and congratulate him, but -- but for roger, there was real joy. you know, it was our roger. one of us.

>> the only pulitzer prize for years and years ever given to a movie critic. >> roger wrote movie reviews as if he was 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 i think march bergman has made before. it envelopes us in a red member of fear. and it employs taboos and ancient superstitions to make it effect. we slip lower in our seats, experiencing claustrophobia and sexual disquiet. >> i think the way that he write, that sort of clear, plain, midwestern newspaper style, conveys enormous intelligence, encyclopaedic learning, but doesn't condescend, doesn't pander. roger would become the

definitive mainstream film critic in american letters. >> he made it possible for a bigger audience, a wider audience, to appreciate cinema as an art form. because he really loved it. he really, really loved films. and he did not get caught up in certain ideologies about what cinema should be. >> after winning the pulitzer, if he would have mind to go to "the new york times," he could have done that, "the boston globe," the "l.a. times," no problem! >> ben bradley, editor of "the 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. very ebert like. >> it was a huge clash and political difference between the "sun-times" and the tribune. we were a working class paper. and we reached the black

community. the tribune was a very wealthy paper. i mean, 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 of giza. we're thinking, can a guy 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 five 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 a theater near you, two film critics talking about the movies. and this is roger ebert from the "chicago sun-times". >> and over here is gene siskel

from the "chicago tribune" and channel 2 news. >> gene and robert were sitting kind of pinioned in director's chairs, looking into the camera very seriously, talking about the movie. >> "one flew over the cuckoo's nest" just had the audience tearing up the seats with joy. >> and also tearing up a little bit of my enjoyment of the film, they were applauding even during the credits. >> it was stiff and wooden. >> when the foreman backs up and tries to make his big point 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. >> right of freedom by raynor fastbender. >> roger loved the idea of being on public television. he had been on it before, on a show where he introduced films by i thingmar bergman. it was awful.

>> what is real and what is illusion? and who's being fooled by the art? is it the artist or is it audience or both? >> just sitting here, like an open sewer, you know? it's full of filth and scum. >> right through that last scene, i was really loving "taxi driver," because up until that point, the relationship between de niro and cybil shepard had been electric. >> gene was a natural. he was one of these people who could talk to the public. he had a huge handlebar must atta mustache. i 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 medium tv that's all beautifully coifed and beautiful teeth and everything's fine and they dressed 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 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 of his parents, one after another. he was a philosophy major at yale. while roger was one of the good old boy news reporters. gene just was more of a, for lack of a better word, elegant character. he caught the eye of hugh hefner and he was adopted by the clan at the mansion. and he traveled with hefner in the bunny jet. even though roger wrote "beyond the valley of the dolls," i think gene lived the life for a

while. >> the perfect matching of opposites, siskel and ebert, laurel and hardy, oscar and felix, really made previews a sitcom about two guys who lived in the movie theater. >> hi, gene. >> hi, roger. >> in every theater, i have a favorite seat i like to sit in. in the last row, off to the side. >> not just reading or speaking criticisms, but acting out these roles. >> i always choose a seat that's 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 the beginning of the movie. and i want to compare this -- >> oh, no, wait a minute.

now, he's not boring at all. >> fabulously boring. >> fabulously boring? >> there was something almost transgressive and exciting about seeing on tv somebody saying, about a movie, you know, what you might always want to say to your friend or your girlfriend or your mother or your sister, no, you're wrong, it's not a good movie. >> that's the way people do relate to films, is in that argument, the sort of way that if you're right, nobody can tell you that you're wrong. i sat at the desk next to our music people, and i sort of worshiped him. what did you think of the conducting last night and he would say and nod like this and go away, and then come up to me and say, i totally disagree with your review in this morning's paper. >> the success of the show were undeniable except we were not on in two major markets, new york and los angeles. >> here i am at the little popcorn shop half a block from the sitting room. >> their position was, if there's going to be a 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 that might be in los angeles. what do these people have to tell us about movies? >> it influenced how people look at mees and how people read them. >> film was taken seriously, and so were film critics. andrew ceres was promoting the idea of the director as the maker of the film and pauline cale elevating film writing, film criticism as an art, but these were towering figures. clashing, rather like siskel and ebert, but with more intellectual heft. >> uh-oh, gene, this bouser in

the balcony means it's time for dog of the week, where each of us pick the week's worst movie. >> i have just seen my first nudie karate film. >> roger once said, do you think pauline cale would be working with a dog? >> i don't know pauline cale. i never knew pauline cale, but [ bleep ] pauline cale. roger ebert and gene siskel 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. jerry bell the. and i'm jerry bell the third. i'm like a big bear and he's my little cub. this little guy is non-stop. he's always hanging out with his friends. you've got to be prepared to sit at the edge of your seat and be ready to get up. there's no "deep couch sitting." definitely not good for my back. this is the part i really don't like right here. (doorbell) what's that? a package! it's a swiffer wetjet.

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my next guest is regarded as the most popular and most important 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. >> and 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 really recommend "three amigos." it's the picture i like the

least. >> this is the happy hour. >> yes! >> you know, i don't think i would ask you if i thought you were going to say that. >> chevy chase has made a lot of movies and god willing he'll make a lot of more good movies in the future. >> with your help. >> yes, god willing. >> with your help. >> there is a tendency for somebody who is naturally funny. and chevy is, to try to -- by standing there and ad libbing when somebody else is trying to talk. >> that's right! >> the movie studies 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 thumbs up became

everything for a big holiday movie. >> back when movie makers still thought critics' enthusiasm could sell a movie. >> in 1991, richard corliss published a piece in film comment about how the show was ruining and 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 have to do in print. i don't want junk food to be the only cuisine at the banquet. i really did sound angry there, but it seemed to me that 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 with corliss that the siskel and ebert program is not in-depth film criticism. as, indeed, how could it be, given our time constraints. it would be fun to do an open-ended show with a bunch of people sitting around, talking about movies, but we would have to do it for our on amusement, because nobody would play it on television. the program's purpose is to provide exactly what corliss 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. to assume that something is good for everybody or bad for everybody is insulting to everybody. >> the subject of "crash" left me feeling mpt. it 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. >> i think i liked a movie a lot more than you did. i would like to make it clear that most people are going to hate it, be repelled by it, or walk out of it just as they did at the cannes film festival, because it's too tough for them to take. >> the reason roger loved being on television, is that at his heart, he really is a populist. roger believes that everybody ought to be able to get a movie. >> i think they were conscientious about trying to do what they were doing as well as they could and as seriously as they could. but invariably, a show like gene and roger's show becomes a part of that mainstream system. >> this week, siskel and ebert review arnold schwarzenegger in "last action hero." and by and large, the purpose of mainstream reviewing is not just

to valorize films that get multi-million dollar ad campaigns, but to eliminate everything else. >> i think what gene and roger did was the opposite of that. roger went out and he would look for people like michael moore. you know, he would like for people like me. as a film critic, he was somebody who gave life 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 is 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 stations around the country. how are people going to get to see it. >> let's move on to a movie now that i think is one of the most brilliant, weird, and unusual american documentary films that i've seen in a long time. >> and really out of nowhere, those guys started reviewing "gates of heaven." >> i agree with you completely. i think it's a superb film. and >> and then they found it an excuse to review it again. >> they're films we call it buried treasure. >> i don't think anyone who's seen this film could ever forget it. >> i believe that i would not really have a career if it were 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 even know how i got roger's e-mail, but i e-mailed, assuming no one would answer, and he answered. and he said, if your film gets into sundance, tell thme, i wou

watch it there. and it did, and i e-mailed him again, and he said, yes. it was on three times. and he didn't come to the first screening or the second screening. and the last screening was at 8:00 a.m. on the last day of the festival. and i thought, he's probably not even here. and he was one of the first people. and i was there with my actor, and he said, do you mind if i take some pictures with you and your actor just in case i like the film? he said, don't worry, if i don't like it, i'll never use them. >> i was, i think i was maybe 8 or 9 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, screaming, screaming, and he came over. i grew up, i made this film when

i was 34 years old. it was the first film i've ever made. >> you're second generation. joshua tree generation. >> the film was about my aunt. my aunt who took me to the 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 and film as well. you know, i broke down crying

and 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 personhood to a white man whose gaze is usually the exact opposite, and to say, you were 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 someone who was going to take it seriously, 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 a 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 and i said, well, chaz, can i come there? >> merry christmas! >> come on over and say hi!

>> how are you? good to see you. what are you doing in here. chaz is missing you at home. you've got to get out. >> it was nice to see him interacting with his grandkids. >> grandpa roger -- >> i know that he must be in pain physically, but he ends up being the happiest guy around. >> christmas stocking. from santa. >> from santa. >> a lady gaga toothbrush. >> i just want to 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 this film? this movie begins with seven children who are seven and check in on them every seven years of their lives.

>> it was a great conversation and things that he taught me about movies and life and family and books and, you know, all this stuff. i just -- those experiences mean a lot to me. >> there'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 is very worried about cinema. >> can you say it the way he would say it? >> oh, no. >> you must hold your own, 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 deepl 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 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 "lord of dern." dear roger, i want you to know that your generosity and expertise at the sundance tribute meant to world to me. i have 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 strasbourg family, when lee strasbourg passed away. it was marilyn monroe's, who collected puzzles, and it had been given to her by alfred hitchcock. that night at sundance, you inspired me about film and contribution and i wanted to pass along film and connection in some ways. thank you again, love to you and chaz, laurel. and then roger gave me this gift, which i refused. i said, you cannot give me this gift. i cannot accept this gift. and then he said, you're going to accept the gift, because you have to one day give this to somebody else who deserves it. >> what's the jigsaw puzzle of? >> i've always been terrified to make it. i mean, this is the jigsaw

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in the autumn of 1967, i saw a movie called "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. i wrote a review, suggesting in ten years he will become the american -- >> do you think it's going to take that long? i was serious. it's right here. it was the first real, strong encouragement. yes, there are defects in the movie. but he saw something special that had to be nourished. >> as you know, i carried your review around with me when i was in europe in 1968. i kept -- is that really about me, you know? wow. >> so refreshing to find director and an actor working 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'd become addicted to cocaine and told me after an overdose he was pronounced dead in an emergency room and resuscitated. >> during the '80s, it was extremely gone, basically, broke and had gone through some bad periods. third marriage had broken up. i 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 there's this festival in toronto. i said yeah. roger ebert, gene siskel. they want to give you this tribute. i was kind of scared. could i walk down this theater aisle, go up on a stage, knowing who i am.

but i knew that they believed in me, and i had that in my house now, a special place where only i can see it. i pass by it every, maybe five to six minutes. i see it. but that night changed it. and i 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, 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 but cloud your judgment. >> i am 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 worry about someone i know perching on my shoulder saying 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. >> it was real distracting for me the way all those pool balls bounced around. and the scene gets even worse as it goes on. and it's even more disappointing because "the color of money" was directed by martin scorsese. he is one of the two or three best directors around today. >> devastating. >> it doesn't have the drive and

the ambition. it's a standard, predictable narrative. >> that was a way of condemning and helping. in other words, you've done this now once, you may have done it twice, but watch yourself, as opposed to ox 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. >> oh, i think it's very original and very close to being a masterpiece. i have never felt a kill in a movie like that. >> not like apocalypse? not in "deer hunter"? >> not like that. >> in that case, you'll love the

"late show," was they have kills like that every night in black and white starring john wayne. >> they would get into their cross talk and the camera would stop, and they would still be at it. >> i disagree in particular about the part you like. >> they felt it in their soul. they could still show them the error of their ways, the folly of their thinking. >> "benji: the hunted" exhausted me. it was the first time i wanted to tell a dog to slow down and smell the flowers. >> your review is a cynical review i would expect from an adult. >> you're wrapping yourself in the flag of children. >> you're wrapping yourself in the flag of sophisticated film critic. i don't think any child is going to be bored. >> it was not gentlemanly. it was not, oh, well, i see you have a good point. it was, i'm going to crush you. >> this is where you give "benji: the hunted" a positive review and not -- >> that's entirely unfair, because you realize these reviews are relative. "benji: the hunted" is not

one-tenth the film that the keurig film is. you know it, and you should be ashamed of yourself. >> they almost didn't care what anyone else thought about anything as long as they could try to persuade the other. and i'm not just talking about movie reviews. i'm talking about anything in life. the tie you're wearing, what you think of that person, a book, a restaurant. >> when there wasn't a 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 got one movie, who got another movie. >> who would get to sit next to johnny carson on the couch. >> they actually wanted us to change the opening of the show every week so roger would be first one week and gene would be first the next and we said no. >> why is the show siskel and ebert? and by the way, will it ever be

"ebert and siskel"? >> no. >> you've -- >> there's a long story about that. you know, i'm older. i've been a movie critic longer. "ex" comes before "s" in the alphabet i've got the pulitzer prize and yet it's called siskel and ebert. and if you want to know why that is, you can ask siskel. >> look at the card. >> gene siskel was among one of the most competitive people on the face of this planet, but roger could always lord it over gene that he had a pulitzer prize. >> robert was a bit of a braggadocio. he was a great recontour, but quite 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

wanted. gene, on the other hand, would just go in there and pummel you until you agree with him, until you say all right, gene, okay, you're right. 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 date book upside down. as soon as he saw l.a. and the date, he knew what films were coming out. he knew what big star that 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 wascally wabbit. >> roger, who was the picture of equanimity for most of his life, did, all of a sudden, produce a petulance that i hadn't seen before. >> i thought this movie was awful! >> oh, no, roger.

>> dreadful! terrible! stupid! idiotic! unfunny! labored! forced! hateful! bad! >> roger, what happened to your sense of humor? >> i don't think roger was by nature a fighter, but it's like, if you have a brother who likes to bite 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 he's heard over and over again. and he's just annoyed. he writes a little note and gives it to the flight attendant. says will you pass this to mr. ebert. so roger gets the note. and it says, "dear mr. ebert, we in the cockpit have noticed that you are on our flight. frankly, we both agree more with

you than your partner and we would be so honored if you would join us in the cockpit for a bit of the flight." and, i mean, 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 really ready to knock on the door of the cabin, and, you know, the flight attendants are horrified and gene says, dear mr. ebert, we in the cockpit -- gotcha. >> and he finally tells gene siskel, you just don't like me. that relationship was absolutely radioactive. >> two thrillers this week on siskel and ebert. first we'll review pierce brosnan and michael caine. >> and gene hackman and kevin

costner and we have a third thriller, too, if you're interested. >> what do you mean, two thrillers? how about something like this? it's thriller week on siskel and ebert and we've got three big ones. >> okay, ready? >> i guess you're going to do it. >> you have to rewrite it. >> you can't ad lib. gene. >> you read it then. you ad-lib it. i'll do nothing. let him do whatever he wants. is >> it's thriller week on siskel and ebert in the movies and we have three new ones. >> you have to have energy up and the movies out. >> why don't you read both parts? >> i'd like that. >> i know that. >> it's thriller week on "siskel and ebert at the movies" and we have three new ones. >> kevin costner and gene hackman in "no way out." sound a little excited, gene. >> sound less excited, robert. that's why we're redoing it. >> it's thriller week on "siskel

and ebert and the movies." >> it's called "and the movies," not at the movies. >> it's thriller week on siskel and ebert and the movies" and we have three new ones. >> the fourth property call. >> that's this week on siskel and ebert and the movies. and the asshole. >> they were still in their hearts little boys fighting it out on the playground. and both of them expecting to win. >> i've been in here a little more than a month. i came in expecting to repair my walking ability after the

hairline fracture but have discovered that it wasn't that simple. >> three, push up. bigger step with that right foot. bigger step, roger. >> i can no longer take good health for granted. i hate that. >> big step. are you okay? do you want me to stop? okay. >> that was good. that was good. that was good. >> relax. >> i never thought he'd have to be here again.

he's at the best place, but it's 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've zeroed in on my work. when i'm seeing a movie or write a review that 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 troubles to the back of your mind. >> you have this tremendous body of work. he's been writing for half of

the history of featured films. and that's just one slice of the cake. a novel in weekly installments, just like dickens, not quite of that level. 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. >> joe antelo offered them a tremendous amount of money. >> these two were siamese twins joined at the rear end and were

going to make this thing work. >> gene would say, and this was as they became more and more of a team, he's an asshole, but he's my asshole. >> the science fiction adventure, "robo cop." >> 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 asked mcdonald's girl if he can have apple pie with his order before they can ask him. >> and you know what gene asks when he goes into mcdonald's? can i have an apple with that order? you know, they don't get enough shit basically. they run the god damn country, and i'm speaking to everyone eavesdropping right now. come on, band together, people. let's overthrow the country.

>> protestants, people who sort of want a religion. no, the catholics and [ bleep ], we go back a few years together. >> come on, we're real. we get down and get dirty. >> i'll take a baptist. i go back 6,000 years. i want somebody who has some goddamn passion and blood coursing through their veins. >> this week on siskel and ebert. >> you said it a little too fast.

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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 sail things that we do to deal with. he's going to need the show. he'll never leave now. >> chaz 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 pregnant, and roger grabbed the camera in front of me in new york. he's not that kind of guy now. i think gene was so happy that 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 going to let you go. i mean -- ♪ our wedding was like a fairy tale. gene siskel's daughters, kate and callie, were beautiful little flower girls, and roger's idea of a wedding was like "father of the bride" where the father says can't we just have a wedding in the back yard and put some brats on the grill? people who knew me then would be very surprised that i would 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's plan -- >> 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. 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 lifelong quest for love. he found romantic love with chaz. and he loved that family, her kids and her grandkids. he fit right in, perfectly. >> roger. grandpa roger. oh, i forgot what i was going to say. >> there are no strangers in her family. i love and. 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, emil and taylor, where we made our way from budapest to prague, vienna,

hawaii, los angeles, london, paris, venice twice, and stockholm. >> what do you have to say about the trip? >> we are having a wonderful time. and right now we're about to take the garden walk, which is a great tradition of all of our vacations where we go on nature walks. >> emil announced that for him there was no such thing as getting up too early. and 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. >> 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 lily pond had a special serenity. i usually had it to myself. i've chosen it as a perfect location to make a little film featuring my friend bill reciting the last page of the "great gatsby," which he has recited to me several times annually since we first met in the 1960s. >> it's fat as tree, the trees that made way for gatsby's house

had pandered to the greatest human dreams. >> i think this was roger's favorite passage from all of literature. it was really a passage about the american dream. >> you could 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 also for roger about death. death might have obsessed him a bit. his father died fairly young. i knew he adored him. >> question seven. does your father's death hold even greater resonance for you now, given your own medical travails? >> there's an inescapable parallel between us. both my father and i have

cancer. my disease may have been started by childhood radiation treatments for an ear infection. i got those because they loved me. in my case, recently discovered tumors of the spine have metastasized. >> the doctors said it was these tumors that caused the hip fracture. 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 else.

>> so what do the doctors say? >> 6 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 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 place so much attention on mortal sin and dying. found it kind of exciting. i would have infuriated if i missed this because of an accident or sudden death. this is the third act, and it is an experience. [ laughter ] >> so you see. little ebert has always been a macabre sort. most people probably don't know that about him. maybe that's why he's jolly. maybe it's just like, okay. [ laughter ] >> it makes for a better story.

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on april 30, 1998, jay was asked to throw out the first ball at the white sox game, and he had had a headache for some weeks. may 8, he was diagnosed,

terminal brain cancer. and pretty much, you don't live more than a year. but on april 30, 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 him, 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 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 good-bye. >> 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 movie is meet the deetles, and boy, is this an annoying experience, from the point that from now on, for the rest of my life, i may have a negative reaction to hearing the word -- >> deetles? >> 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'd 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. 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 went to the doctor and it turned out to be associated with thyroid cancer. >> 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 jawbone. >> 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 really liked, i wanted to play this song one last time. ♪ if you want to 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

sudden 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 there standing there, 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 ♪ climb inside

♪ or if you want to take me for a ride ♪ ♪ you know you can ♪ i'll 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? >> yes.

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. he was very pleased with what he saw. but just like all the other surgeries, there was infection, and they had to undo 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. kill me.

i said no! no! i told him that was not an option. >> you want to walk? okay. you know, getting over there, over that bump okay. who's going to help him stand to go up to the stairs? he wants the right instructions. do you want the walker, yes or no. no. okay. 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 got tired sometimes. move this chair so it faces

stairs. you know, no, no, it's a few steps. can you get out of the chair and walk up the stairs. that's what you've been practicing every day. you can do this. but i never got so tired that i wanted to give up. >> come on, uncle roger. >> no, he's not going to do that. let me handle it, please. >> i'm going to pull the chair out of the way. >> there are 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. >> you know, it's been a long road. i think it's hard. >> all right. >> 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.

>> oh. [ applause ] >> this woman never lost her love. 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. >> 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. right? and i want you to know who i am and what i'm going through. >> 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. well, i'm glad. i like to make you happy. >> roger has been ahead of the curve. becoming early an adopter of social media. he has almost 800,000 followers on twitter and 100,000 followers on facebook. >> the search widget. >> right now there's an argument about the internet. some people say some criticism is at the end. the art of cinema is at the end. roger sees it in a positive way,

it's a renaissance from film appreciation and criticism. the roving reporters that he uses on his blog for example is giving a critical birth to lots of other points of view. >> the passionate fan culture that exists on the internet, when people get really, really worked up is something that the siskel and ebert show helped to seed. it follows from roger's understanding of criticism which is the mode of conversation at the public square. >> allowing your fans to access this database of 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 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 pour my regrets, desires, and memories. most people choose to write a blog. i needed to. >> racism was ingrained in daily life. it wasn't the overt racism of the south but more like the pervading background against which we lived. we were here -- and i've never held a handgun in my life. the theory is that 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 and the internet and to his movie reviews. and wrote better than he ever had in his life. >> we are now seeing the polymathic genius. that those of us who knew roger always saw. 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. they're 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 pod bay doors. >> people my age can remember walking into a movie palace when the ceiling was far overhead. balconies reached way into the shadows. we remember the sound of 1,000

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. ♪ [ male announcer ] you wouldn't ignore signs of damage in your home.

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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 our e-mail interview with the plan to film him when he return hole again. i asked him about one of his most controversial reviews for "blue velvet." and his moral indignation at director david lynch. >> what he asked isabella rossellini to do in this movie, to be undressed -- >> it seems true that i have an inbred moral code and when it is violated i ask myself if the

violation is justified. the discomfort seem so palpable. drama holds a mirror up to life but needn't reproduce it. >> attempts to film roger in 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. >> one, two. >> the debate -- >> 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, i don't want to fight cancer. he said, i am ready to go. i've had a beautiful life. 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 said no. short of going over and taking him and doing it myself, you know, 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 brubeck

music in the room. i had everyone just settle down. i was sitting next to his bed holding his left hand. and other people held my hand and we formed a circle around and held hands. until the doctor said that he was going to call it 1:40 p.m. as the time of death. i have never seen anything so beautiful and so serene. it became -- it was so peaceful in that room and everything just -- everything just relaxed.

he looked young. he looked happy. and those warm hands and -- you know. ♪ ♪ >> what in the world is a leave of presence? it means i am not going away. 46 years ago i became the film critic for the "chicago sun-times." however you came to know me, i'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 -- 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. >> 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 i know it's his star coming, and i set my gaze straight. i don't look down at the star. i know it's coming. looking straight at the horizon, into the future. >> so on this day of reflection, i say thank you for going on this journey with me. i'll see you at the movies. ♪

stand by. here we go. >> take one. >> the average time spent watching television is five to six hours per day. >> holy residuals. >> there's a reason for calling it the boob tube and the idiot box. >> let's change the channel. >> we want to rap about our scene. >> yeah. >> we must give the american viewer the kind of quality that he deserves. >> let's try it again and see how it comes out