A complete edition of the first movie review program featuring the Chicago Tribune's Gene Siskel and the Chicago Sun-Times' Roger Ebert.
NOTE: Downloaded from the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).
COMMENT: Main review and Dogs of the Week sections are annexed with notes on the theaters each film played in here in Tucson.
StudioCanal and Sony Pictures Movies & Shows have monetized this video in several territories.
Contents: (*See the opening and closing to my VHS of this film here: • Opening and Closing to... )
Opening credits
Introduction, featuring clip from AND JUSTICE FOR ALL*
Reviews:
1. METEOR, an American International picture, at the El Con 6 and Cineworld 4. Gene and Roger both vote "NO" on this disaster film. Roger lampoons the special effects and Gene feels that the film's touting of itself as expensive is very misleading.
2. LUNA, a 20th Century-Fox release, at the El Dorado. Gene, giving the film a "NO" vote, feels that Bernardo Bertolucci crammed his film with too many subjects and had nothing to say about them. Roger also gives the film a "NO" vote, and felt Bertolucci disappointed himself by making a larger-than-life film in which "the characters never come to life."
3. AND JUSTICE FOR ALL*, a Columbia picture, at the El Dorado. Roger gives this Baltimore-filmed courtroom drama a "YES" and believes star Al Pacino draws the viewer from beginning to end even though he thinks it fails in its attempts to combine comedy and drama. Gene gives the film a "NO", declaring it "one of the year's worst films with a major star in it" and says it "plays cheap" with its subject.
4. THE SILENT PARTNER, an EMC release, which played in May of 1979 at the Oracle View 4 and Cineworld 4. Both Gene and Roger give it "YES" votes and describe it as a real treasure.
5. NOSFERATU, THE VAMPYRE, a 20th Century-Fox release at the Showcase. Gene and Roger find it a wonderous, unique take on the Dracula legend and also give it two "YES" votes.
Dogs of the Week:
a. Gene picks out DISCO GODFATHER, which never even made it to a drive-in in Tucson. He thinks this Rudy Ray Moore vehicle "exemplfies the sorry state of American films featuring black people." (Later, the DVD of the film became a recurring feature on RedLetterMedia's Wheel of the Worst; the gang at RLM apparently didn't want to put their weight on it either.)
b. Roger picks out an all-star cast venture named AVALANCHE EXPRESS, at the Coronado. Opining that "anyone who can figure out what this picture is about ought to win a medal", he singles out Robert Shaw ("thank goodness he's gonna be remembered for a lot of other good movies") and Maximillian Schell ("who seems to know he's in a terrible movie but valiantly pretends to have a good time"). (Sadly, both Shaw and director Mark Robson died after suffering heart attacks during the making of the film.)
Recap of reviews
Preview of next week's show
Closing credits
Funding credit: "Public Television Stations"
Logo: PBS