“At the Movies” — End of an Era

The announcement that Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper are finally cutting ties with “At the Movies,” evoked a nostalgic wave. The show has aired since 1986, then named Siskel & Ebert at the Movies, and become a pop cultural mainstay. The two original critics (Gene Siskel died of a brain tumor in ’99) icon-ized the simple “thumbs up.” But their influence went much deeper.

Shortly after becoming a Christian in 1980, love of the arts blossomed in me. Suddenly, movies were more than just vapid Saturday afternoon time killers or liberal propaganda. They were vehicles for ideas, a cultural pulse that I, as a believer, needed to listen to. So I started watching the show, to the derision of my friends. All that highbrow discussion about acts and actors and art direction, just didn’t sit well with my Neanderthal compadres. But the simplicity of Siskel and Ebert’s show — two critics seated side-by-side in a theater balcony intelligently discussing movies — won me over. Isn’t that what happens every time two people watch the same film? There’s a vision seen through different lenses, an ensuing dialog, and a thumbs up or thumbs down. It’s the essence of art criticism.

Because of Siskel and Ebert, I watched my first-ever foreign film, Bergman’s, The Seventh Seal. After that, it was Herzog’s Aguirre, The Wrath of God. But by then, I was hooked. I purchased one of Ebert’s Movie Home Companion series and began exploring documentaries, indie fare and other lesser known titles. I learned about the classics (up to that point, I’d never heard of Citizen Kane), and how to think critically about film, not just from the angle of entertainment, but as art. Sure, you could call it snobbery. But it opened up a world of cinema — and a way of thinking — that has shaped and informed my life.

So, yeah, it’s an end of an era. In some ways, At the Movies has been a mile marker of film history for me. Watching Gene Siskel die, and Roger Ebert himself struggle with cancer, reminds me both of the transitory nature of life and the enduring quality of the medium they loved. Thanks, Roger! And, yes, I still watch foreign films…