Siskel & Ebert debate Star Wars with John Simon

[Paul MacLean]

Came across this on Youtube (while searching for something else) -- an interview on ABC's 20/20 from 1983, where Siskel and Ebert debate with critic John Simon about the merits of Return of the Jedi. Not very long or in depth, but interesting...

[AndyDursin]

Aah the good ol days, when movie critics mattered (and appeared on national TV!) and STAR WARS was worth defending.

I miss it!

[KevinEK]

As a fan of the old days of Sneak Previews and a time before Siskel and Ebert were household names, I remember enjoying the reviews of Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. But I also remember that serious movie critics from the 70s and 80s did not. They were greatly offended that their analysis was to be reduced to "Two Thumbs Up!" for a television audience. Serious writers from then and now have mourned the day when a comprehensive review of a major movie or play could be reduced to the metric of "Two Thumbs Up".

I agree that the past 40 years have demonstrated that movie critics don't matter so much these days.

[AndyDursin]

And you wonder what those naysayers would say today, with nobody paying attention to anything but the Tomato Meter number.

The irony is also that their discourse was very enlightening and Ebert was a tremendous writer.