Siskel & Ebert (TV Series)

Absolute Power/That Darn Cat/Fools Rush In/Johns (1997)

Gene Siskel: Self - Host

Quotes 

• Roger Ebert - Host : [reviewing "That Darn Cat"]  There are countless shots in this movie where D.C. the Cat and his friends are allegedly participating in the plot, and in every one of them, I sensed the presence of cat food just outside the edge of the frame. Even then, D.C. looked annoyed and impatient most of the time, and since I had to watch the movie, I could identify with that.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Oh, ridiculous. The cat, basically, what's the, the...

  Roger Ebert - Host : He runs around.

  Gene Siskel - Host : He runs across a ledge.

  Roger Ebert - Host : Yeah.

  Gene Siskel - Host : That's it, because they couldn't get a performance out of it. And then, did you notice the cat is always...

  Roger Ebert - Host : She always, she always has to lug him around. The cat will sit there, and she'll pick him up and walk around while describing thoughts to the cat, while the cat looks like it wants to be put down.

  Gene Siskel - Host : And Doug E. Doug: Let's get into why a little of him goes a long way. Because he's doing a bug-eyed performance that's sixty years old when it comes from an African-American today, right?

  Roger Ebert - Host : Well, I- I'm not...

  Gene Siskel - Host : Ohhhh.

  Roger Ebert - Host : ...We could talk about that, because I think he has the right to do any comedy performance that he wants to...

  Gene Siskel - Host : He has the right to do any comedy, and we have the right to say, "Hey, you're sending off echoes of unhappy stuff." Right, didn't he?

  Roger Ebert - Host : There, you could think of it that way.

  Gene Siskel - Host : I did.

  Roger Ebert - Host : One of the things I didn't like was the last thirty or forty minutes of the movie. I swear, maybe it was the last hour of the movie, I don't know, which consisted of an ENDLESS chase scene, which, as far as I could tell, was pointless.

  Gene Siskel - Host : We've spent too much time on "That Darn Cat".

• Gene Siskel - Host : [after Roger gives a marginal recommendation to "Fools Rush In"]  This is where, I think, we differ, sometimes, and I get frustrated with you, as you were frustrated with me a little while ago, and that is, I think you're too easy on this picture. You know what I'm talking about, "Jerry Maguire", obviously one of the best films of the year, written smart...

  Roger Ebert - Host : There's a, there's a continuum here. "Jerry Maguire" is here

  [holds right hand at head level] 

  Roger Ebert - Host : , "Fools Rush In" is here

  [moves hand to chest level] 

  Roger Ebert - Host : , it's still good enough to see.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Oh, I wouldn't recommend it.

  Roger Ebert - Host : [moves hand slightly lower]  "Darn Cat" is here. Here we go.

  Gene Siskel - Host : "Darn Cat" is subterranean. When we come back, David Arquette and Lukas Haas star in "Johns". And we have a new system of reviewing movies. In addition to thumbs, you've seen it invented today by Roger:

  [imitating Roger's hand movements] 

  Gene Siskel - Host : Here, here, and here!

• Gene Siskel - Host : [discussing "Fargo" nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards]  I've raved about "Fargo" since it opened eleven months ago, and William H. Macy's understated, imploding performance as Jerry Lundegard is critical to the film's success.

  Roger Ebert - Host : Boy, it sure is, and y'know, I looked at the movie not long ago again on video. I just hope that the Academy voters, before they just cave in and go with something respectable like "English Patient"...

  Gene Siskel - Host : Or "Shine".

  Roger Ebert - Host : Or something sentimental like "Shine", just look at "Fargo" on tape and see that this is an exciting, original, dynamic, alive work, and give it a chance. Give a good movie a chance.

  Gene Siskel - Host : The performances, and the visual look of it. I've already seen a TV commercial that rips off the overhead shot of the snow-filled parking lot. This is a brilliant piece of artistic work. Let's make it WIN.

  [Roger laughs] 

  Gene Siskel - Host : What else can I say?

  Roger Ebert - Host : Now let's get out the pom-pomps.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Yeah!

• Gene Siskel - Host : [reviewing "Absolute Power"]  I would've liked to see Clint Eastwood's character appear in a better, more credible story. It's a good character; I think he's wasted in "Absolute Power".

  Roger Ebert - Host : This is one of the best movies Clint Eastwood's made, and it's a fabulous thriller. It works from beginning to end, and one of the best things about it is that the characters work as human beings. The relationship between the father and the daughter, that really works.

  Gene Siskel - Host : I said so, too.

  Roger Ebert - Host : The way the cop has a relationship with a daughter. The way the Secret Service man, you called murderous, actually has twinges of conscience and cannot go through with this entire program. The way the Chief of Staff...

  Gene Siskel - Host : Somebody dies. Somebody's murdered.

  Roger Ebert - Host : Somebody IS murdered, but I'm talking about the pay-off.

  Gene Siskel - Host : That was a description of murderous.

  Roger Ebert - Host : Well, but... you say he's murderous at that point, he's not murderous at that point.

  Gene Siskel - Host : No no no...

  Roger Ebert - Host : This is a thriller about a bad, mean drunk who does bad, mean things and has to pay the consequences for it.

  Gene Siskel - Host : And I'm telling you, that when you...

  Roger Ebert - Host : What do you want? More good taste in our thrillers?

  Gene Siskel - Host : Uh... not gross. Not so gross that I don't even accept it. Gene Hackman has a quality of excellence in him. He's one of our two or three finest actors in the last quarter century.

  Roger Ebert - Host : And he's wonderful in this film.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Roger, this is a role that dozens of people could've done, lesser people could've done. And I really, did you really buy this plot? Y'know, somebody has des...

  Roger Ebert - Host : Yes.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Oh, you bought this as all credible? You think this could happen?

  Roger Ebert - Host : Gene...

  Gene Siskel - Host : You just said yes.

  Roger Ebert - Host : First of all, yes, I mean, if you look at, uh, Oliver North, and if you look at some of these other things, of course something like this COULD happen. Yes.

  Gene Siskel - Host : And I've seen another critic describe this film as a comedy because it's so preposterous.

  Roger Ebert - Host : I've seen a lot of critics describe it as one of Eastwood's best work. Why don't we just compare our notes?

  Gene Siskel - Host : Okay.

  Roger Ebert - Host : If that's what you wanna do.