True fact: Stanley Kubrick once said that "Eraserhead" was his favorite film.

Siskel never fails to fail to understand art

"In the 60s, I think it was called a bad trip. Sometimes people wanna go on one. It makes them feel kind of creepy, and that's maybe what they're looking for." Lmao what a great response to Siskel being a stiff. I do like him a lot, but he can be so annoying about more abstract/art films.

Its not just surrealist nonsense...There was definitely a story and while a lot of it was shown and not told explicitly handed to you what was going on, the emotional beats and conclusion is abatract, but not meaningless fun to get freaked out to. I like to think of it as an allegory for fatherhood and the unwanted child.

As much as I strongly disagree with either of their views at times, I greatly miss this duo. They had a passion for cinema and it showed.

Siskel's's favorite movie was Saturday Night Fever. Nuff said.

Roger Ebert was a brilliant writer and wonderful human being.

David Lynche's Erasurehead remains the most original American film made from the 1970s and beyond..Jack Nance is terrific as Henry Spencer and Judith Hall as Beautiful Lady Across the Hall is absolutely alluring.

Siskel: faithful defender of the quotidian.

Siskel made some very good points. But I still enjoy Eraserhead. I think Roger said it best when he said "it makes people feel kind of creepy and I guess that is what they're looking for."

Move is a nightmare brought to life.

In my opinion: Eraserhead is a movie that puts you inside the mind of someone with Schizophrenia. It's definitely interesting movie, but I was so disturbed by it that I can never watch it again.

"I didnt like the movie" I coughed up a piece of chinese food laughing at that one

The soundtrack is just as amazing..

I first saw this in my teens and was spellbound. It also gave me a headache and I couldn't stop thinking about it for days. The same with my first viewing of In the Mouth of Madness. That is some powerful art.

I just watched this movie and have to say that it’s definitely a masterpiece. Just the soundtrack alone is enough to make it a masterpiece, never mind the amazing cinematography, lighting, and directing. This is the stuff of real nightmares.

Not John Nance but Jack

Tom Hagen: "Tessio. I always thought it would be Clemenza." Michael: "It's the smart move. Tessio was always smarter." Ebert was always smarter.

I didn't get through it the first time because I tried to watch it with my mother when I was younger. I cared what she may think of me. Now that I'm older, I've come to accept and embrace my quirks and love for the abstract and obscure.

Saw this on videotape back around the time Siskel & Ebert reviewed it on their show. Trust me, you do NOT want to watch this movie when you have the flu.

Honestly was anyone expecting them to love it?

It did appeal to me as a college kid in the 1980s. Surrealistic and creepy and themes of alienation. Worked for me back then.

The thing about Eraserhead, is you kind think of it as a short film, because it doesn't behave like a full length film. And then you remember the dread you had after you saw the baby, (especially trapped in the theater) and you started wondering how long the rest of the film was going to be. Cause the humor in it was....gone....But both these guys don't mention the humor in this film.

Eraser head is simply the story of a man who fears becoming a father. Any other sort of subtext you take from the actual film is up to interpretation, but that is a concrete fact of the story. Henry is afraid. Whether or not the events of the film even happen is up to debate, since it is implied the pregnancy was way too short to spawn any sort of life. I like to think that Mary was still pregnant, and Henry imagined what his life would become if he was to be a father. That’s why the second half of the film goes off the rails, in the best way.

You have to realize that these two panned Blade Runner when it first came out. Apparently Siskel watched Roy Batty's speech, and it went over his head.

Ebert understands art a little bit more than siskel obviously

I wouldn't call Henry a hero

It's so funny how they don't understand any film that's not strictly literal. They just call it weird lol. Tim Heidecker does it in On Cinema, it gets me every time.

Dead Kennedy's "You bawl like the baby in Eraserhead!"

David lynch couldn’t even name a Bunuel film, and yet he’s been said to have copied him many times

Dude is the epitome of “I didn’t get it the first time so it means nothing that’s that”

I've shown this movie to half a dozen or so friends and have yet to convince anyone it's a great film. I watch it 3-4 times a year. I don't know how to explain my fascination with it and Ebert comes as close as anyone. To me, and I don't hear much about this, the sound is one of the most critical aspects of the film. I always crank it up and, to be sure, the sound is disruptive and agonizing, in a good way.

After recently watching this for the first time I thought "ok, David Lynch took the brown acid that was announced at Woodstock to avoid!"

ts weird how Siskel says he doesnt get the appeal, only to then perfectly describe why people find it appealing

It is a really good film, one worth rewatching periodically.

flash back to the acid days

Dammit, Gene!

The meaning of Eraserhead rests on nightmares and subconscious, in some place between real and dream world If you reject that idea...you won't be prepared for the movie

Siskel and Ebert were Hollywood yes men.

The “L’Age D’or” comparison is on point

Why are so many commenters saying that Ebert liked the movie? In this clip he never says that he likes it. Are people really this incapable of understanding the English language? It's almost as if they think that Ebert HAD to like Eraserhead simply because Siskel DIDN'T like it.

Thanks for giving away the ending Roger.

Ebert sums up my feelings, but his bad trip analogy would neatly work with Evil Dead 2, various Cronenberg films, probably Argento (though I’ve never seen) and Carpenter’s The Thing, you get my drift.

Siskel is a sharp tack but he was typically the villain when it came to movies like this.

Wow, Ebert breaking out his hard-core film studies knowledge there at the end.

The difference between Ebert and Siskel is clear here...Ebert knew what he was talking about while Siskel didn't. Knowing what surrealism was is one of the keys to have a basic analysis of the movie. Lynch is the son or grandson of Bunuel and the fact that Ebert got it, which honestly it is expected, demonstrates that he had the tools to analyse the movie while Siskel did not

Pretty sloppy comparison with Bunuel's "Golden Age" They both use surrealism but the main themes of each film couldn't be more different.

Creepy? Uhhh no...not for me at least. Eraserhead, to me, is the intense dream you wake from only remembering bits from, but are so intrigued by you want to go back again and again to explore that particular reality. And it is a reality where I am strangely comfortable, for lack of a better word. There is something very calming about it. Now I may lack the ability to understand what it is I see there, along with the ability to convey what little I do understand, but I absolutely love it. It is a favorite among favorites.

In her review of Lynch’s Elephant Man , the late great Critic Pauline Karl prefaced it with a comment on Eraserhead . “ I thought David Lynch was a true original “. Ditto that but like Last Tango in Paris it took me several viewings .

When I saw the chain restaurant Twin peaks, I thought of the chickens scene in Eraserhead.

I have heard it said that we do not choose Heaven, Heaven chooses us, I think that is one of the main themes in the film.

“Oh you are sick”

The oldest thing is that after saying he didn't like it, Siskel went on to pretty much nail the point of the film. If he'd maybe realized that, maybe he would've viewed it a different way.

So Roger liked it. He’s not exactly sure why he liked it but I think I reacted that way also the first time I saw almost any David Lynch film. I liked it but I needed to watch it a few more times to find out why?

I think you have the date wrong. They speak about Blue Velvet, which came out in 86. This had to have been after that, though Eraserhead DID come out in 77.

Much as Siskel didn't like it and couldn't see the point, he got pretty close. I relate a lot to what happens to Henry in this film. Well, not directly luckily.

I think everyone over analyzes Eraserhead. It was Lynch doing his first real feature as such, given free reign to work with a hand-picked gang of friends and recommended colleagues (Alan Splet, et al.), and he's said many times that it was mainly an attempt at creating kind of a self-contained pocket universe of sorts, surreal, an allegory, whatever you want to call it. People used to watch it with me and ask me Scott, what the fuck is the point of this nonsense, and my response is, the point is that it creates a strange world that you go into (Lynch often talks about how that excites him as a reason to want to make a film) and come out of. If you're expecting Eraserhead to be like some conventional Hollywood narrative film, well, you can forget it. It's also kind of a backhanded tribute to Philadelphia and the milieu that Lynch lived in for years attending art college and learning to be a painter and multimedia artist first, and then filmmaker second. If it is "arty" well it is the product of an artist! It wasn't supposed to be Star Wars. Elephant Man creates a similar world but it's a more familiar one, based in historical reality, and Lynch didn't write it, it wasn't his "baby" (haha) as it were. Blue Velvet was a breakthrough because after the DUNE disaster, Lynch was given more free reign to make a more personal project, but it's kind of an uncompromising film that takes you into a weird noir world of smalltown corruption that at least meets Hollywood halfway, by then Lynch had some commercial clout (even after Dune), and he managed to produce a very surreal and strange film that still had some commercial trappings or potential. That's a difficult balancing act. But anyway like all of Lynch's early short films, Eraserhead really was experimental filmmaking and I don't think it makes any apologies for being so. Like Jodorowsky, he wasn't making the film for the multitudes, he was making it for himself and his friends, primarily.

Everyone giving Siskel guff here.... I'll remind you Ebert HATED Blue Velvet and A Clockwork Orange.

People don't generally seek out the "bad" part of a trip.

L’age D’or plug for fifty points. Nice play.

"...okay" at the end LOL

I miss intellectual discussions about film.

Really tough one...appreciate the individuality of it. No desire to get thru it.

”Shot in a crude way”... yeah, sure.

From a critical standpoint ( and despite their physiques) Siskel was Sancho to Ebert's Don Quixote

This film is up to interpretation like, say, 2001: A Space Odyssey. I guess that one is bad too.

Two years ago?

Man, I thought it was a comedy?

Fair review!

The appeal is in the film's use of visual and aural language to communicate an everyman's anxieties about parenthood and sexual intimacy against an intimidating modern, industrial backdrop. It's one of the best films I've ever seen, but one has to know how to read it. Much of what you see an hear is exaggerated and not meant to be literal.

It's a masterpiece. It's a horror dream.

The thumbnail lol

If they hate it you know it’s good. Just like if rotten tomatoes hates it you know it’s good.

Ebert was a film connaisseur. Siskel was a comb over enthusiast.

I totally get what people are saying when they say that Siskel can be annoying sometimes with his unwillingness to better appreciate some of the more abstract/surreal films such as this one. But I still really respect the guy because at least he gives reasons and explanations for why he feels how he does. Regardless of whether those reasons make sense or not. At least he gives a reason. What I can't stand is when people just say "It's just shit and that's all I have to say". Why do you feel that way? "Cuz it just sucks. That's my reason." .... -_- ....

Sometimes this film is straight up comedy. But scary if you don't get the jokes.

The films appeal IMHO is that it is the very best non traditional story telling u will ever see bc it's out there way way way out there but its also either intentionally or unintentionally very funny u decide but Def see this movie bc there's absolutely nothing like it anywhere in film😮🎉❤

JOHN Nance or JACK Nance?

I mean they hate it but Ebert does argue for some of its merits.

A narc and a square acknowledge a movie on a show where their thumbs are a metric of quality

Well, what do you expect from a guy whose favourite film is SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER?

Siskel -- OMG, no clue.

I remember watching this episode on cable during the era when eyeglasses made everyone look like owls.

Why did they always have to spoil the films they reviewed?

Lizard monster......HOW COULD YOU?!?! 2022....... I own the 2020 dvd. Yuhyuhyuh

S&E: Art? How does it work?

Endelusia, slicing up eyeballs

The whole movie is a dark comedy on new Fatherhood. What's the big mystery?

Good

I have yet to see the movie but from what I’ve read, the lady in the radiator represents death. The man who runs the gears represents God. Seems like an interesting premise in a way.

When we were 16 we watched this high on cough syrup. It was horrifying and transcendent. We tried to watch it again months later and it was unwatchable. Highly recommended but you have to be in the right mindset.

Ebert didn’t really like Lynch movies. He did like The Straight Story, and I THINK Mullholland Drive! But other than that (Did he like Twin Peaks?)?

Siskel was such an artless chump.

hack frauds

What an opinion. “The only people who like it are college kids” now and then plenty of grown adults love it, but he can’t even try to THINK about It he just passes it off as “of edgy teens feel lost and need something to identify with so they like weird pointless violent shit”

and that's the last nice thing Roger Ebert said to David Lynch.

I love A Racer Head

“ weird” wow... shocking word.

What? You never had a vacation turn into a nightmare?

Eraserhead is definitely the weirdest movie I’ve ever seen.