On Day 5 of the A to Z Blog Challenge
E
is for
Roger Ebert
Fridays are devoted to music here at A Piece of My Mind, as they have been for just over three years now.
Travis at Trav's Thoughts invites everyone to lay down a short set of music that takes their fancies for his 5 on Friday meme.
Although I'm currently on tour with my second novel BOUND BY DRAGONSFYRE, a truer version of me is a filmmaker who devoured every broadcast of Sneak Previews, At the Movies and every incarnation of a Roger Ebert movie review following Gene Siskel's death in 1999.
Their film review show was like a soothing tonic to my soul, filling it with an hour of discussion of the topic I could talk on and on and on about, but which at the time Sneak Previews first came out in the 80s, I had an extremely limited number of people in my life who wanted to talk film.
I'm as sad to lose Roger Ebert as any 3D person in my circle of In Real Life family and friends.
1 - Opening theme to Sneak Previews
This was their original reviews show on PBS. Love this one! Love the music and the opening credits montage--especially as the curtains open at the end and we enter one of my favorite places on Earth: the theatre.
The music ends at the 0:40 mark, but there's nine more minutes of listening to Gene and Roger talk about Oscar prospects for 1979.
2 - Opening theme to At the Movies
Also love this opening credits montage, having worked in one of those old box office booths in the late 80s, as well as at the popcorn counter.
3 - Opening theme to Siskel and Ebert
This is the theme that sticks in my mind for their show. Once again, love the opening credits montage, noticing how this one focuses more on their identities as newspaper writers.
4 - Opening theme to Ebert Presents At the Movies
Very lovely opening montage here.
5 - Opening theme - The Third Man - Anton Karas
This was a favorite piece of music composed for film of Roger Ebert's--so much so, that his final show theme was a version of this one.
BONUS TRACK
My husband remembered that Gene and Roger sang in an episode of the animated show The Critic, a mid-90s Jon Lovitz show.
A lovely tribute to a man who dedicated his life to great writing and a love of film. Those of us who share that love will miss him greatly.
ReplyDeleteCool retrospective. thanks for sharing the videos.
ReplyDeleteDamyanti @Daily(w)rite
Co-host, A to Z Challenge 2013
Twitter: @AprilA2Z
#atozchallenge
Such a sad loss for all who remember the two critics thumbs up or down.
ReplyDeleteHow fun that you had interviews scheduled for the first few days of A-Z!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't seen that singing clip before - thanks for sharing!
I used to watch Siskel and Ebert, but I found that movie critics tended to irritate me more than help me appreciate movies. Too many declarative statements attached to what were fundamentally opinions. Perhaps the opinions were well informed, but they were still opinions that had very little representation to my particular reality.
ReplyDeleteStill, it was sad to hear of Gene Siskel's death many years ago. And it was sad again to hear of Roger Ebert's passing this past week. Both men came across as more genuine in their opinions that any critic I have encountered since.