Ebert had been the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper since 1967.
In 1975, he became the first recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.
Ebert enjoyed increased popularity as a result of his television presence. His first major television production was Sneak Previews on PBS, which he co-presented with the Chicago Tribune's Gene Siskel from 1975. This relationship led to At the Movies, the TV show presented by the two critics from 1986 until Siskel’s death in 1999. The show was famed for the heated debates between the two men, and the influential ‘thumbs-up/thumbs-down’ rating system.
On the tenth anniversary of Siskel’s death, Ebert wrote that “we once spoke with Disney and CBS about a sitcom to be titled, "Best Enemies." It would be about two movie critics joined in a love/hate relationship. It never went anywhere, but we both believed it was a good idea. Maybe the problem was that no one else could possibly understand how meaningless was the hate, how deep was the love”.
After Siskel’s death, Ebert continued to host the show with new co-anchor Richard Roeper. Ebert was forced to stop presenting after complications from thyroid cancer and surgery saw him lose the ability to speak. He never regained his speech despite several further surgeries.
At the Movies continued broadcasting with various presenters until its cancellation in 2010. It continued on for another year on public television, with Ebert continuing to contribute segments to the show with the aide of computer voices and other vocal surrogates. He also presented a TED Talk on the loss of his voice.
"It's not what a movie is about, it's how it is about it.”
Ebert’s reviews were popular due to their honesty and policy of reviewing and rating films for what they were, with Ebert frequently disagreeing with consensus on both widely acclaimed and reviled films. Ebert's reviews, even when controversial, were always passionate and convincingly argued opinions from a man with a genuine love of cinema. His last review was of The Host. He also continued maintaining and developing his popular Great Movies list and articles.
On the subject of his review style, he famously wrote that “when you ask a friend if Hellboy is any good, you're not asking if it's any good compared to Mystic River, you're asking if it's any good compared to The Punisher. And my answer would be, on a scale of one to four, if Superman is four, then Hellboy is three and The Punisher is two. In the same way, if American Beauty gets four stars, then The United States of Leland clocks in at about two”.
While Ebert often showed himself to be a 'glass half full' critic - especially in recent years when he favourably reviewed widely slated films like The Happening and Knowing - many of his amusingly vitorlic reviews are among his best known. His zero-star take on the Elijah Wood starring flop North contained perhaps the writer's most famous quotation when he wrote "I hated this movie. Hated hated hated hated hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it."
The Daily Beast have collected ten of Ebert's most insightful, enthusiastic reviews alongside ten of his most memorably scathing ones.
New technology and other endeavours
As well as criticism, Ebert also tried his hand at filmmaking. He wrote several scripts for films by director Russ Meyer, most famously co-writing the cult Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. He also developed and curated his own film festival called Ebertfest, now in its 15th year.
Despite his frail condition and loss of voice, Ebert’s health issues failed to slow his workload down in recent years. He enthusiastically embraced new technology, and had a very prominent online presence. As well as continuing to write reviews for the Sun-Times, he also had his own blog and review site. One of his most (in)famous series of blog posts saw him express a distaste for video games, a topic which saw him heavily engage with readers and illustrate a willingness to revise his opinion in light of the wealth of comments he received on the topic. His last blog post introduced plans for an app to see him further engage with the discussion.
He was also a passionate tweeter, with over 800,000 followers. As well as links to his reviews and blog posts, he would regularly post videos and articles on varying subjects of interest to him, as well as Netflix recommendations and his entries into the New Yorker caption contest. He finally won one of those contests in 2011 after 107 entries, although continued entering after his victory.
On 2nd April, 2013 Ebert posted a blog announcing a “leave of presence” after his cancer returned. The post admitted that he was going to have to slow down his workload, but Ebert was enthusiastic and optimistic about his future plans. He announced a whole host of initiatives he was working on, including a redesign of his website and the production of a documentary on his life by Hoop Dreams director Steve James. He signed off with “so on this day of reflection I say again, thank you for going on this journey with me. I'll see you at the movies”.
Roger Ebert passed away the following day, the forty-sixth anniversarry to the day of his appointment at the Chicago Sun-Times.
