How do you know?

@@sha11235 it was in Ebert's column afterwards

Would need a title to an article or something because I cannot verify it.

Ya didn't always agree with 'em...but, MAN! They found a way to keep things interesting!

Exactly. That was the best thing about them! 🙂@@ronaldshank7589

Also they both came in thinking they were going to be a little testy, competitive, argumentative. That was okay. Partly shtick, but they also followed through

I never cared about their opinions I just watched the show to see what new movies were coming out.

Absolutely! Now critics are shills. You’ll almost never see a big budget movie get bad reviews anymore.

To be fair, Ebert stated that he had not had an opportunity to view the film yet at the time this episode aired. And he also stated that he was somewhat intrigued by the film clip that Siskel showed. This was, of course, Tim Burton’s first major directorial effort and a presage of the brilliance to come.

I liked it when Pee Wee knocked on the door of Francis' mansion in a nutty way.

It ended up being on the guilty pleasures list from 1987

Yes! Tons of little Easter eggs, also the biking through the park scene, is just pure childhood enjoyment. One has to watch from the mindset of a kid to get it. If you try to apply adult logic, it crumbles. Dont ask why just watch the show.

Probably the only movie I saw Morgan Fairchild in, considering Jon Lovitz's liar character on SNL claimed she's his wife. _Pee-wee's Big Adventure_ was worth seeing a couple times.

It’s what me love movies

When they differed, I was generally on Siskel's side, but not in this case.

Same here, roger gave Godfather 3 a big thumbs up, it made my top ten of all times worst list. I liked pee wee,s movie.

Gene was definitely wrong here

@@kevinrhea7332 Rare W for Ebert

It was one of 6 movies worth seeing more than once. I didn't see any of the 7 movies they feature on their Best of 1985 show, though they had 3 popular ones when you listen to both of their top 10s: _Beyond Thunderdome, Back to the Future,_ and _Witness._

Facts

Critics today are paid for by the studios

there was a pretty boring movie based on journey to the center of the earth. It featured a very prominent duck

What the cluck?

It's a great movie. Despite his being a creep and all.

@@johnryan6456 Well the dude was wacking off in a porn theatre, which is kinda what people did in porn theaters. Not a Michael Jackson.

I agree w Ebert: the bicycle clip is hilarious.

They missed the boat on that movie it’s a classic

@@Charon58 His "art collection" was a little questionable.

Academy members aren't going to vote for a movie they don't like. But I think Academy Members who were into special effects (and allowed to vote in the category) wanted to give it honorable mention.

Which goes onto appear in their worst of 86 list lol

One of the worst of all time.

Ebert ended up loving Pee Wee's Big Adventure when he saw it. I agreed with that. It was a brilliant movie.

Omg revolution was such a bore and I've sat through 2001 multiple times and loved it.

@@apocalypsepow It's not bad and I like that Pacino still sounds like Tony Montana.

Awww, nooo. I didn't know that. 😔

1985 If only S&E were clairvoyant, predicting the worst, recycled into the best of 2023.

Films are better when filmmakers' socio-political agendas aren't so obvious. The art of subtlety was lost in the 2000s.

Decent film, good comedy, but no where close one of the greatest

For a 5 year old. From a story and production point of view it's a jumbled mess. St elmos fire was a much better movie.

@@johnnemeth971 Get a load of this guy! ⬆️ Comparing St. Elmos Fire to Pee Wee’s Big Adventure?!?. Lol. What? You good bro?

It was very average or slightly below average. Didn't deserve to be called out to be the worst that year, but then again, the "worst of the year" shows were more about greatest disappointments than worst.

@@pound7816 mkkl

You weird.

Same here.

You are a lesbian.

The song was the only good part of the movie.

Fairuza Balk carried the movie with a good performance, however flawed the script was and doomed because it wasn't a musical. What was she in that you liked?

@@sandal_thong8631 probably The Craft

Quotable lines doesn’t make it that great of a movie. And ground-breaking? The plot is pretty basic.

"Don't forget to tell them that large Marge sent you!"

Large Marge was the only thing that I laughed at in that movie.

and Benicio’s beginning

@@RocStarr913 Plot wise? No, but it is one of the most solid 90s minute movies ever made and a template for how to craft a comedy. Comedy and visual wise? There's some pretty weird, artsy stuff going one within that movie that really hadn't been done before that on a mainstream level. It's definitely a milestone in alternative comedy and it gave us Tim Burton's golden age.

Roger was intriguied by the clip. Only Siskel was bashing it

More like you guys don't understand Siskel & Ebert

I legit laughed just now watching that clip again. And wow, what an insightful comparison to Harold Lloyd; dead-on really!!

He loved Valeria ❤

A popular and entertaining movie doesn’t always make it a “classic.”

I think if you watch any of Siskel and Ebert's "Worst Movies" episodes, you're bound to find 3 or 4 movies that are generation defining.

@@RocStarr913 There never is a classic. Let's just say an cult following from now on.

@ It became a hit because of its cast. It was a showcase for the up and coming brat pack actors. Three of the actors had been in the Breakfast Club, which came out just a few months earlier. The Breakfast Club was a pretty good movie, so I think people were hoping that St. Elmo's Fire would be like a continuation of that. The difference is that while the Breakfast Club was about troubled teens, St. Elmo's Fire was about adults who still acted like troubled teens.

@@unadin4583 Couldn't have said it better myself! They should've called this movie St. Elmo's Whiners.

@@unadin4583 Plus the theme song was played 100 times a day on the radio.

@@ReverendBenzo Yes, that was another thing that distinguished St. Elmo's Fire from the Breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club served to promote "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds, a great song that you still hear on the radio today. By contrast, John Parr's "Man in Motion" was a bland piece of garbage that has thankfully been forgotten. At least it was for me until you brought it up.

Amen

Destoroyah stands up from the stands screaming "IT WAS ME! I THE ONE THAT DID IT! I CAN'T HIDE IT ANY LONGER!"

@@ernestolombardo5811 yep!

It’s a good thing Mason is a criminal attorney because this film is a crime!

😂😂😂😂

Godzilla represents himself and nobody questions him. They know what he’ll do to them if they do.

I can't believe Gene hated it so much especially being a fan of Pee-Wee. I was 11 when it came out and I like it as much now as I did then. Danny Elfman's score alone should be worth 1 star.

Just two years after this, Siskel and Ebert did a special episode on guilty pleasures, and Gene said he liked this film. He ranked it as one of his all time favorite guilty pleasures.

Do you mean Roger had it as one of his his guilty pleasures?

@@babybird871 No I'm pretty sure it was Gene. The episode came out in 1987, although I can't find it on youtube. I remember the episode also featured Infra-Man.

@@babybird871 I stand corrected.

When I heard this again years later, I wondered about it myself. I said something about it on the website this is on. I have a feeling Roger didn't remember it.

Roger probably opted out, just because such a bad movie already had enough human time.

Return to Oz is in no way shape or form, a classic

@@kd17Burger Exactly. The film was a soulless, technical exercise.

"Cult Classics."

I KNOW RIGHT!?

That’s because of cult bias.

I don't think I ever saw the whole movie. Just saw bits and pieces. I was just about the target audience -- 4 years old when it came out. I watched his Saturday Morning TV Show faithfully though. I should go watch it now. I never saw enough to have nostalgic attachment.

RIP Pee Wee

Exactly! I really enjoy Return to Oz.

@@samuelstephens6163 Nope I'm buying it.

No just no.

I don't think anything about Return to Oz was weird. It really just an assembly of special effects.

*By Gene

We need an Inigo Montoya meme, because I don't think "objectively" means what you think it means. In fact, I know it doesn't. And all Pee Wee's Big Adventure did was help infantilize the moviegoing public.

A few minutes later he borrows some platform shows and does a memorable dance on the bar. "Tequila!" Excellent.

@@Hexon66 Oh please. Pee Wee's Big Adventure was true genius. Had it been filmed in black and white you would be praising it as avant-garde absurdist theatre. Also, don't start a sentence with 'and.'

Not classic- overrated.

An entertaining and popular movie doesn’t always make it a “classic.”

It was a good movie that year, worth seeing twice, and might have been a classic if not for his scandal.

Ebert hadn't seen the movie so he couldn't review it. But Ebert later on put it on his guilty pleasures list.

It’s strange how when Pee-Wee Herman started out he was supposed to appeal to adults. He ended up appealing to kids more and thus preserving his legacy from his more beloved movies and tv show ‘Pee Wee’s Playhouse.’

His comment saying he'd seen Pee-wee before makes me want to watch those appearances.

Reubens I think cited Harry Langdon as an inspiration.

I kind of agree that Sean Connery is the true alpha male for 007. Shame he didn't live long enough to see Daniel Craig as 007.

@@seanvogt221 Sean Connery is still alive.

Roger Moore was too old by then to be James Bond. They kept trying to find his successor throughout the early 1980’s. But Moore was the least of A View To A Kill’s problems. It simply was formulaic.

Because it isn't about the Bride, but about the monster and circus guy.

so they dont like it because they feel its mistitled? its about the monster wanting to no be alone, so a bride is created for him. the Doctor feels his new creation is too good for this beast and they fight causing the monster to flee. the doctor attempts to turn the bride into his picture of the perfect women, who then scorns his advances as she comes to understand that underneath he is actually a monster and wants to make her simply a submissive a possession. meanwhile the monster has to learn to make his way in a world foreign to him, finding a friend and finding a happy life and learning that he to is a man and not a monster. when again the cruelty of a man takes away the one person he had and forces him to flee again. where him and the bride meet once more this time both more worldly and realizing they share a special bond no one else can understand, and set off together to see the world and all the things it has to offer. the film was about all of them.

I'm right there with you. I thought it was a terrific film with a fabulous cast. But I do have to add that it was the relationship between the monster and Rinaldo that really stayed with me.

I love it, too.

?

The little girl who played Dorthey was a bad choice.

@@ricogomez4020 I didn't enjoy Return to Oz but I think Fairuza Balk's casting is one of the very few things the film got right.

electric shock treatment in a kid`s movie?

They crammed two Oz books together and added in the shock treatment, which was a dumb choice! Still makes a good cult/ stoner movie! Siskel's wrong about Tik Tok, the wind up man being a Star Wars knock off, he's barely changed from the original Oz book illustrations.

I LMAO when he said that.

You're about the only one who did. Easily the worst movie in the Bond franchise.

@@davidl570 There are six worse. The only worse one made before 1990 was Moonraker.

@@ShamrockParticle Eh, Moonraker by far wasn't the BEST Bond movie but I still have a soft spot for it. I liked how they brought Jaws back, if nothing else. For me, Moonraker > A View To a Kill. But to each their own. (Really good sdtrk. too!).

@@davidl570 I would say it's down there with Quantum of Solace, Spectre, Die Another Day, The World is Not Enough

@@ShamrockParticle lay off Moonraker m8

I was 6, its still magical to me.

Gene Siskel must have seen the movie on a bad day. Maybe he was jealous Roger was on vacation?

I know, he missed the boat on that one

That movie rocked!!

And ironically Gene would go on to praise virtually all of Tim Burton's movies.

seems like he went into it expecting an adults movie and didn’t realize it was a kids movie

Man don't talk like that

Yeah he was on it being his last, but RM was the best 007. He was harder than the dude that does it now.

he was horrible...

@@iluvmylovebirdandmybudgiet7729 THE MOORE FILMS WERE JUST TOO GADGETY WHERE CONNERY JUST NEEDED HIS GUN

Something that has a cult following is not always indicative of its actual quality.

Great movies come out every year. If you can't find them, you're not looking very hard.

@@gblatt8472 THANK YOU.

hoibsh Hardly. Loren Greenblatt's comment is right.

Ignore Target, watch Targets instead with Boris Karloff.

@@hoibsh21 But which "Target" film are we talking about? Can you explain that to me so I can have an much clearer understanding about this, okay?

Weird Science is so funny. Still.

It is terrible but I enjoy Weird Science 😅

@@sahej6939 nah. It’s amazing. The dialog remains amazing.

I read your comment and at first was like “uhhh... you’re mistaken, dude..” I can’t believe I never knew that was her.

@@michaelmcdonald8452 you are like the 10th person who didnt believe me and at least this time I didnt have to link IMDB to prove it. Before IMDB existed I had to go to Blockbuster, rent it, and play it for people.

Perhaps her appearance is a tribute to her work with an alter-ego character, like his? I think we learned around the time of the movie _Ed Wood_ that she "stole" Elvira from Maila Nurmi's Vampira although the latter lost her lawsuit. Perhaps Elvira's hair is different enough, and the latter looks more like the character Morticia Adams?

Yes, it would only be 14 short years until Gene would die a premature death at the young age of 53.

@@gwenwachsman3739 Did Roger stand above Gene's grave and say those words?

@@ricogomez4020 I don't think he remembered this. Too bad I didn't get to ask him upon seeing this clip but he was dead by then as well.

That’s because comedy movies are made for a broader target audience and most people are not terribly bright.

@@RocStarr913 Well, it's kind of the same with action films. Sometimes people go to the movies just to laugh or forget their cares for a few hours. They aren't always going for character development and insights into the human condition like with serious drama films.

@@RocStarr913 Agree when it comes to certain types of comedies. The Apatow films reliably did well critically, I think they've aged rather poorly but still. Wes Anderson films are essentially comedies. Annie Hall one of the most iconic comedies ever made.

@@ericfelds6291 I agree with that. What you mentioned are indeed exceptions.

An entertaining and popular movie is not necessarily a “classic.”

Two classic bond movies

Dalton simply had the misfortune of being ahead of his time. Audiences didn't want to see an intense, haunted Bond.

Moore was an awesome James Bond. They were right he was too old in A View to a Kill. But other than that, he was a great James Bond. I know I am biased because of the time I grew up. Connery was before my time, but he comes across as a misogynistic thug.

Yep, Roger Moore was a great bond ... The Spy who Loved me, and For your Eyes Only are two of my favorite Bond movies. Connery was good too ... just didn't grow up with him. Bond movies need lots of 'misogyny' ... they're better that way.

@@ricardocantoral7672 Hmm........................didn't think of it that way! Agree that he WAS an intense and haunted Bond. I actually liked what he did with the Bond character..........................too bad I was in the minority.

I know ZERO people who dislike the movie. Plus, I live in San Antonio; we regularly joke about the basement in the Alamo 😂

Danny Elfman was the composer of "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure," this was a series of projects that he closely with filmmaker Tim Burton. Along with Lennie Niehaus as arranger/conductor and Shirley Walker as orchestrator. That movie is a classic. It put everyone on the map as world class filmmakers.

You saw one more movie at the theater than I did back in that year.

Neither of them apparently read the actual Oz books. Tik-Tok predated Star Wars by decades. Yes, the movie took liberties (show me a movie that hasn't). The Princess with the heads maybe creepy as heck but existed in one of the Oz books.

@@RudesMom "Tik Tok predated Star Wars by decades"What is Tik Tok(assuming you're not talking about THAT Tik Tok.........

@@alexflenner3778 Baum's Tik-Tok was introduced in 1907 in Ozma of Oz. I hope Baum is haunting a certain tech company.

worst one in this show actually

Yeah. Can't believe he died.

@@Xayjohns I was shocked to hear about his death, too.

I respect the director but detest that movie. They're a bunch of stuck up crybabies in that movie

@@andrewhoyle1521 I agree.

@@andrewhoyle1521 I just wanted to smack the shit out of the entire cast!

@Samuel Gray ha I still watch it when it comes on sometimes. Because of Andrew McCarthy. 😀🤣👍

@Samuel Gray heck yeah!

I liked *oz" as well. I was 23. 💃

If they want an Oz film to succeed it has to be a musical. So many people have seen Judy Garland's version compared to those who read the books that they might as well not exist. _The Marvelous Land of Oz_ was written as a stage play and musical first, but _The Wizard of Oz_ was still too successful with its comedy duo of the Tinman and Scarecrow for it to succeed. He made the two armies all-women, thinking of chorus girls. I think it could do well now if they highlight gender roles and make the lead character more of a trans-youth. Tip was played by a woman like Mary Martin's Peter Pan, and she would reveal herself at the end after her transformation as Ozma. They might first want to bring back the stage show and fix it up to be the delight of audiences, before making another movie.

Entourage was better. Whatever weaknesses it may have had was a simple byproduct of what Hollywood was like at the time.

Boy they were so critical and smug know it all hypocrites. Roger's beyond the valley of dolls just as bad as any movie rhey don't like

@@mikej70 I didn't see any of the 7 movies they featured in their best of 1985 show, although I saw three in their top-10 lists, but _The Breakfast Club_ wasn't in there either.

And Rocco tries to float🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

The average person doesn’t get to decide what is considered a “classic.”

@@RocStarr913 A lot of people who doesn't get to decide what they're considering "Cult Classics" as well as "Cult Hits." Sometimes you need to enjoy a whole lot more.

St. Elmo's Fire wasn't bad? Uh, no.........................it WAS.

St. Elmo's Fire is the worst movie ever made. I wanted that movie to end in a mass shooting. I hated every character in that shitfest.

@@stevekenna Worse than "North"? Contrived plot in that film about pushing old people off on icebergs. Yes, that is folklore, but the story and acting in "North" were much worse. Worse than "Natural Born Killers"? All they do is go around to convenience stores and kill people. For the entire movie (or at least what I saw bc I walked out). No plot. No story. No purpose. Just random killings over and over. So is "St. Elmo's Fire" the worst movie ever made? Rotten Tomatoes gives is a 42% Tomatometer and a 68% audience score. Not great, but definitely not "the worst movie ever made" by a longshot.

@George H I'm one of those "'Natural Born Killers' was genius" people, so we won't see eye to eye there. But, you're correct, I was being hyperbolic. "North" is worse than "St. Elmo's Fire. " There are MANY movies worse than "St. Elmo's Fire." That doesn't change the fact that "St. Elmo's Fire" fucking SUCKS!! A bunch of Silverspoon Dickheads with 1st world problems for 2 hours? I'd rather have sex with a dead body. I couldn't decide which character in "St. Elmo's Fire" I wanted to stab the most.

I counted at least 27 movies worth seeing once and 5 worth seeing again, like _Back to the Future, Brazil, Fletch, Spies Like Us, The Breakfast Club._ That's not including their 7 featured on the Best of 1985, none of which I've seen.

They nailed it with “St Elmo’s Fire” though

They just didn't get it!

They believed in movies not moronic behavior caught on tape.