I can never turn off Pee-Wee's Big Adventure because there's always a great scene minutes away; the train, the Alamo, the biker bar, the rodeo, Large Marge, the studio chase...
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.
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
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.
Roger Ebert never officially reviewed Pee-wee's Big Adventure but in 1987 it topped his list of Guilty Pleasures and he did mention it in his review of Big Top Pee-wee, saying the sequel was not as magical as the first. The second paragraph of that review contrasted the two films explaining what he liked in Big Adventure that he didn't like in Big Top. "In “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and on the Pee-wee Herman television program, we can find a zany weirdness, a goofy, fantastical world in which clocks and chairs have minds of their own. With every step that Pee-wee takes out of that world and into the real one, he loses some of the wonder of his original inspiration." - Roger 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._
Fun Trivia: Disney's "Return to Oz" (1985) was the only film in this category has been nominated for an Academy Award for its non-stop, offbeat special visual effects in 1986. But it went to "Cocoon" instead.
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.
"I've said this before and I'll say it again- 'You know you're in trouble when your favorite character in a movie is the hen.'" Wait, this situation has happened to you before?
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?
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.
WORST FILMS OF 1985 2:03 RETURN TO OZ 3:46 GODZILLA 1985 6:35 ST. ELMO’S FIRE 9:03 FEVER PITCH 11:26 PEE-WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE 13:48 THE BRIDE 15:55 PERFECT 18:23 TARGET
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.
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure is endlessly hilarious. Ground breaking. Filled with quotable lines. Some of the best comedy magic in film history. "Large Marge" is just one example.
@@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.
Major Harold Lloyd vibes in that Pee Wee clip. That moment is hilarious and I don’t understand Gene’s distaste for the film. Return To Oz also is thoroughly awesome!
Their disagreement over Pee-Wee's Big Adventure is very funny especially when Gene puts his hands on his face in disbelief after Roger compared Pee-Wee Herman to Harold Lloyd, for the record Gene gave the film zero stars.
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.
@@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.
I hated St. Elmo's Fire. It was just a two hour soap opera about people I didn't like. I was 16 when the movie came out and I remember hearing a conversation between two girls my age. One said "You saw St. Elmo's Fire? Which one were you?" Without missing a beat, the other replied by citing a specific character in the film who I guess she felt some connection with. I viewed the characters as vapid and one dimensional, and I hated the idea that people were looking at them as archetypes of my generation.
@ 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.
3 года назад+1
@@unadin4583 Couldn't have said it better myself! They should've called this movie St. Elmo's Whiners.
@@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.
i absolutely LOVE! "The Bride" i love it. i think it is a spectacular film and i have never understood for decades now why so few people seem to appreciate it.
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 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.
Thanks for posting!! Lots of cult faves here!! Godzilla 1985 is a personal fave!! They dis Roger Moore, but he was the 007 Gen X grew up on. Excellent episode!! Keep ‘em coming!!
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.
PeeWees Big Adventure is a movie beloved by young and old alike. Big miss by the guys here. Even objectively, the “IM TRYING TO USE THE PHONE” clip made me smile. I still use that line to this day 😆
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.
@@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.'
Once again they end up listing a movie that turned out to be a classic as a bad movie. Pee Wee's Big Adventure is one of the greatest 80's classics. They were probably just too old to appreciate Return to Oz. That movie creeped me out as a kid, which is more true to the books.
@@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!).
I liked Return to Oz just because it's so weird. It's so wildly different than the Wizard of Oz that I don't have an expectation of it to be comparable.
Brewster's Millions was one of my top picks for 1985! It has a hilarious storyline, but there's also a loyalty type of a storyline, between the Main Character, and the Secretary. It made some money at the Box Office, so what more could you ask for, in a movie such as that? At least it wasn't the movie "Legend", which flopped spectacularly at the Box Office!
Wrong about "Pee Wee's Big Adventure", which was actually funny -- even Pauline Kael gave it a positive review. However, they were dead right about "St. Elmo's Fire" -- one of the most infuriatingly bad movies ever made; to this day, it still depresses me that I actually watched that celluloid abomination when I was a kid.
“Next week: 4 new movies that have to be better the ones we reviewed this week…I would hope”. Among the films: “Revolution” which was on the following year’s edition of the worst of the year.
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.’
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.
I hurt my heart to hear them hate on Return to Oz. It is an amazing film that deserved so much better. Also for them to negatively compare Tic Tok to Star Wars despite the fact that the character was in the books.
I keep forgetting Pee Wee started out appealing to adults. His movie ‘Pee Wee’s Big Adventure’ and tv show ‘Pee Wee’s Playhouse’ started his transition to appealing mainly to kids and I believe this preserved his legacy more!!
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.
so _Target_ was about an old, retired special-ops guy going after the people who kidnapped his daughter while she was vacationing in Europe? and it came out HOW many years before _Taken_ did? oh, but i guess _Taken_ WAY different, because in _Target_ it was also the _wife_ who was kidnapped. which is, coincidentally, what happened in _Taken 2._
Gene may have been wrong about Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, but he absolutely nailed how Toho considers Godzilla too good to be parodied. They’ve become infamous for how restrictive they are about the character and franchise since gaining stronger control of it internationally than was the case in early 1986.
The only movie I saw in the theater in 1985 was "Back To The Future." Before there were VCRs I used to go to theaters 2 or 3 times a week. By the 90s that was down to 2 or 3 times a year. Now that we have 4K wide screen sets and Blu ray players I only go to drive-in movies. The last film I saw in an actual theater was "Good Will Hunting" and that was more than 20 years ago.
In addition to the films listed above, Gene also hated ''Turk 182!,'' ''Weird Science,'' Burt Reynolds' ''Stick,'' ''Alamo Bay,'' ''Day of the Dead,'' ''Death Wish 3,'' ''Transylvania 6-5000,'' and ''Once Bitten". (SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, December 22, 1985)
Really, the only reason to see Perfect is for the actors' hard bodies. Maybe the music, too. Other than that, it's pretty empty. I don't know why Jann Wenner would read that script and say, "Yeah, this is how I want my magazine to be portrayed." And the weirdest thing is, he plays a bit part in it! All I can think is, maybe he was high when he agreed to it. Everybody was on cocaine in the '80s, it was practically a vitamin.
Slight bombshell at the end with Ebert claims View To A Kill was dreadful and that Roger Moore killed the Bond series. Both happen to be true though. A staggering shame though as Timothy Dalton was the best Bond ever yet had to take over the series from the terrible Moore, which resulted in Dalton's two Bond films not doing gangbuster numbers at the box office as they should've.
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.
@@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.
I appreciate you posting this, Andy. I used to watch to see scenes from upcoming movies, never listen to the two critics. As i saw it then and now, Siskel and Ebert were two smug movie-lovers who never had the nerve to make their own films, satisfying themselves by tearing down the works of people who did risk it all and made movies.
Pee Wee's Big Adventure? That movie is a classic. It put Tim Burton on the map as a director and it was the debut film of Danny Elfmann as a film scorer. Did Gene see the right movie?
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.
I was 9 when Pee Wee's Big Adventure came out. It's hard to describe just how influential it was for that generation. To see Gene Siskel just not get it, is depressing. Fortunately, Roger Ebert enjoyed it for what it was. Unfortunately, he hadn't seen it yet for this production to push back against Gene.
Shame, I quite like St. Elmo’s Fire as a guilty pleasure, though Siskel and Ebert were really against it in their original review. R.I.P. Joel Schumacher (29 August 1939 - 22 June 2020)
The majority of film critics: [Regarding a three hour black and white foreign film filled with metaphors, similes, and subtitles] "Love it!" [Movies the general public enjoys and/or make money] "Nope nope nope. Hate it! Hate it!"
@@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?
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.
@@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.
So it turns out that St. Elmo's Fire was a forerunner to TV series Entourage- both total trash glorifying the self-indulgent and vulgarly materialistic.
Two years later, the creators of the 1985 cult hit were finally paid off with Warner Bros Pictures' The Lost Boys. Released in September of 1987 with an all star cast under Joel Schumacher's direction which makes the film a whole fun to enjoy and entertain for years to come.
I never missed these shows. I looked forward to them each year. Thankfully I have only seen a few of the films featured over the years. I disagree with Gene Siskel about Pee Wee's Big Adventure and a couple others, but otherwise feel like I was wise enough to avoid 95% of these films for one reason or another. A couple are guilty pleasures, i.e. Porky's and The Blue Lagoon. But a bad review of something I had seen or wished to see didn't sway my own opinion one way or another. They were right on about Dune. It was junk, despite Harlan Ellison being a fan. It was fun watching getting annoyed about some trashy slasher flick that is probably getting more publicity from these tirades than just being allowed to make their quick ash and disappearing into obscurity. I went through this phase in the late 70's and early 80's and outgrew it. I have no fondness for those movies and cringe in embarrassment for even having seen them. But they had no greater effect. From their reviews one gets the impression that it will warp.a mind for ever. Those who do are probably a very small percentage. The rest, like myself, just grow up. But the classic Siskel and Ebert moment would be their review of Blue Velvet. It really touched a nerve in Ebert that Siskel couldn't quite understand. As much as I loved films I would not want to be a critic. There must be a burn out point. Besides, Jay Sherman stole the line I'd use frequently: It stinks!
@@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.
1:57 Roger Ebert remembered this and actually did say that at Siskel's funeral.
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.
I can never turn off Pee-Wee's Big Adventure because there's always a great scene minutes away; the train, the Alamo, the biker bar, the rodeo, Large Marge, the studio chase...
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.
I loved it when reviewers like Siskel & Ebert had opinions and we actually cared.
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.
Pee wee was ahead of it’s time. An absolute classic.
“I’m a loner Dottie, a rebel”
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
Pee Wee was obviously one of the best films of 1985. I went to the theater in Westwood CA the day it opened. As Pee Wee say "I lived it!"
Roger Ebert never officially reviewed Pee-wee's Big Adventure but in 1987 it topped his list of Guilty Pleasures and he did mention it in his review of Big Top Pee-wee, saying the sequel was not as magical as the first. The second paragraph of that review contrasted the two films explaining what he liked in Big Adventure that he didn't like in Big Top. "In “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” and on the Pee-wee Herman television program, we can find a zany weirdness, a goofy, fantastical world in which clocks and chairs have minds of their own. With every step that Pee-wee takes out of that world and into the real one, he loses some of the wonder of his original inspiration." - Roger Ebert.
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._
Back when movie critics were actually worth listening to, even if you didn't always agree with them. Critics today are obsolete.
Facts
Critics today are paid for by the studios
"Next week's movies have to be better than these. Coming up next week: Revolution starring Al Pacino".
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.
Fun Trivia: Disney's "Return to Oz" (1985) was the only film in this category has been nominated for an Academy Award for its non-stop, offbeat special visual effects in 1986. But it went to "Cocoon" instead.
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.
"I've said this before and I'll say it again- 'You know you're in trouble when your favorite character in a movie is the hen.'" Wait, this situation has happened to you before?
there was a pretty boring movie based on journey to the center of the earth. It featured a very prominent duck
What the cluck?
Pee Wee was classic. I loved that one..
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.
RIP Paul Reubens.
Awww, nooo. I didn't know that. 😔
By today's standards this would be a to watch list
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.
I love these guys
You are a lesbian.
On another episode Roger put 'Pee Wee's Big Adventure' in his list of guilty pleasures, so he liked it.
He loved Valeria ❤
The little girl in return to oz used to be one of my favorite actresses when she got older
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
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure!?!? Absolute Blasphemy. One of the greatest of all time.
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
These guys didn’t understand pee wees big adventure.
Roger was intriguied by the clip. Only Siskel was bashing it
More like you guys don't understand Siskel & Ebert
WORST FILMS OF 1985
2:03 RETURN TO OZ
3:46 GODZILLA 1985
6:35 ST. ELMO’S FIRE
9:03 FEVER PITCH
11:26 PEE-WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE
13:48 THE BRIDE
15:55 PERFECT
18:23 TARGET
"i didnt see this movie , i was on vacation" lol ebert uses this excuse in the "worst of" episodes a lot hahaha
"On the basis of that clip, I think I kinda like it." Good call Rog.
I legit laughed just now watching that clip again. And wow, what an insightful comparison to Harold Lloyd; dead-on really!!
I don't mind if I don't concur with their opinions; I often don't. But I just loved listening to two very bright and thoughtful guys discussing film.
You weird.
Same here.
I wonder if Roger honored Gene's wish upon his death. That would have been epic!
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.
The best thing about St. Elmo's Fire. Is the song.
The song was the only good part of the movie.
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure is endlessly hilarious. Ground breaking. Filled with quotable lines. Some of the best comedy magic in film history. "Large Marge" is just one example.
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.
When Godzilla gets sued Perry Mason could represent him in court.
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.
Major Harold Lloyd vibes in that Pee Wee clip. That moment is hilarious and I don’t understand Gene’s distaste for the film. Return To Oz also is thoroughly awesome!
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure is a classic. ❤️
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.
Their disagreement over Pee-Wee's Big Adventure is very funny especially when Gene puts his hands on his face in disbelief after Roger compared Pee-Wee Herman to Harold Lloyd, for the record Gene gave the film zero stars.
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.
No! No! No Gene! Pee Wee's Big Adventure is a phenomenal movie!!!
Aww.. I wanna watch next week's reviews!
I hated St. Elmo's Fire. It was just a two hour soap opera about people I didn't like. I was 16 when the movie came out and I remember hearing a conversation between two girls my age. One said "You saw St. Elmo's Fire? Which one were you?" Without missing a beat, the other replied by citing a specific character in the film who I guess she felt some connection with. I viewed the characters as vapid and one dimensional, and I hated the idea that people were looking at them as archetypes of my generation.
@ 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
the sad part is... these movies would be considered good by todays standards.
Great to see the laughter at the Godzilla "parody", but I still think "Pee Wee's Big Adventure"'s zaniness still holds up.
St elmos fire is so bad i watch it all the time lol
i absolutely LOVE! "The Bride" i love it. i think it is a spectacular film and i have never understood for decades now why so few people seem to appreciate it.
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.
Pee Wee's Big Adventure ROCKED!!!
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
Thanks for posting!! Lots of cult faves here!! Godzilla 1985 is a personal fave!! They dis Roger Moore, but he was the 007 Gen X grew up on. Excellent episode!! Keep ‘em coming!!
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.
Man I liked Return to Oz and Pee Wee’s big adventure. Both classics now
Return to Oz is in no way shape or form, a classic
@@kd17Burger Exactly. The film was a soulless, technical exercise.
"Cult Classics."
That Pee Wee clip was actually funny 😂😂😂😂
PeeWees Big Adventure is a movie beloved by young and old alike. Big miss by the guys here.
Even objectively, the “IM TRYING TO USE THE PHONE” clip made me smile. I still use that line to this day 😆
*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.'
Once again they end up listing a movie that turned out to be a classic as a bad movie. Pee Wee's Big Adventure is one of the greatest 80's classics. They were probably just too old to appreciate Return to Oz. That movie creeped me out as a kid, which is more true to the books.
What the cuss, Gene? Pee-Wee's Big Adventure among the worst of the year?
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
I loved View to a Kill. Too harsh Gene!!
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 liked Return to Oz just because it's so weird. It's so wildly different than the Wizard of Oz that I don't have an expectation of it to be comparable.
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.
Man, some of these are classics!
Brewster's Millions was one of my top picks for 1985! It has a hilarious storyline, but there's also a loyalty type of a storyline, between the Main Character, and the Secretary. It made some money at the Box Office, so what more could you ask for, in a movie such as that?
At least it wasn't the movie "Legend", which flopped spectacularly at the Box Office!
Wrong about "Pee Wee's Big Adventure", which was actually funny -- even Pauline Kael gave it a positive review. However, they were dead right about "St. Elmo's Fire" -- one of the most infuriatingly bad movies ever made; to this day, it still depresses me that I actually watched that celluloid abomination when I was a kid.
Ebert hadn't seen the movie so he couldn't review it. But Ebert later on put it on his guilty pleasures list.
Pee Wee's Big Adventure was a classic in 1985 and a classic today!
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.
“Next week: 4 new movies that have to be better the ones we reviewed this week…I would hope”. Among the films: “Revolution” which was on the following year’s edition of the worst of the year.
I LMAO when he said that.
Ebert’s Harold Lloyd comparison is spot on. I don’t think Siskel went into it expecting a kids movie
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 remember seeing "Godzilla:1985". All I remember about it was the title.
Aw, I love the original (1950's) Godzilla!
Return to oz is great I don't care what they say their wrong
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
I hurt my heart to hear them hate on Return to Oz. It is an amazing film that deserved so much better.
Also for them to negatively compare Tic Tok to Star Wars despite the fact that the character was in the books.
I remember seeing Return to Oz at the theater. It certainly was different.
I keep forgetting Pee Wee started out appealing to adults.
His movie ‘Pee Wee’s Big Adventure’ and tv show ‘Pee Wee’s Playhouse’ started his transition to appealing mainly to kids and I believe this preserved his legacy more!!
Wonderful episode 👍
And as it turned out, Roger stood at Gene's grave much too soon 😢
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.
I loved Return to Oz. It was one of the few kids movies at the time that didn't treat me like a dumb kid.
?
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.
1:56-On February 20, 1999 that thought entered. 😢
so _Target_ was about an old, retired special-ops guy going after the people who kidnapped his daughter while she was vacationing in Europe? and it came out HOW many years before _Taken_ did?
oh, but i guess _Taken_ WAY different, because in _Target_ it was also the _wife_ who was kidnapped.
which is, coincidentally, what happened in _Taken 2._
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?
Those movies were Shakespeare compared to the crap that's out today.
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.
Gene may have been wrong about Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, but he absolutely nailed how Toho considers Godzilla too good to be parodied. They’ve become infamous for how restrictive they are about the character and franchise since gaining stronger control of it internationally than was the case in early 1986.
Pee Wee is definitely hilarious on olde skool Letterman!
St. Elmo's Fire: Elmo goes through Puberty
And Rocco tries to float🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
The only movie I saw in the theater in 1985 was "Back To The Future." Before there were VCRs I used to go to theaters 2 or 3 times a week. By the 90s that was down to 2 or 3 times a year. Now that we have 4K wide screen sets and Blu ray players I only go to drive-in movies. The last film I saw in an actual theater was "Good Will Hunting" and that was more than 20 years ago.
You saw one more movie at the theater than I did back in that year.
How dare you sir! How dare you!
I'm not a Pee Wee fan at all but I've never met a Pee Wee fan that didn't love the movie.
Something that has a cult following is not always indicative of its actual quality.
20:54 Gene: “I hope this is the last James Bond film of Roger Moore.” Well, he’s right.
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
In addition to the films listed above, Gene also hated ''Turk 182!,'' ''Weird Science,'' Burt Reynolds' ''Stick,'' ''Alamo Bay,'' ''Day of the Dead,'' ''Death Wish 3,'' ''Transylvania 6-5000,'' and ''Once Bitten". (SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, December 22, 1985)
Weird Science is so funny. Still.
It is terrible but I enjoy Weird Science 😅
@@sahej6939 nah. It’s amazing. The dialog remains amazing.
Really, the only reason to see Perfect is for the actors' hard bodies. Maybe the music, too. Other than that, it's pretty empty. I don't know why Jann Wenner would read that script and say, "Yeah, this is how I want my magazine to be portrayed." And the weirdest thing is, he plays a bit part in it! All I can think is, maybe he was high when he agreed to it. Everybody was on cocaine in the '80s, it was practically a vitamin.
Slight bombshell at the end with Ebert claims View To A Kill was dreadful and that Roger Moore killed the Bond series. Both happen to be true though. A staggering shame though as Timothy Dalton was the best Bond ever yet had to take over the series from the terrible Moore, which resulted in Dalton's two Bond films not doing gangbuster numbers at the box office as they should've.
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.
Never go to critics for comedy films. They will almost always steer you wrong. Especially Gene Siskel. Lol. Pee Wee is hilarious and a total classic.
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.
It would have been great if Ebert would have cursed Return To Oz in the first interview after Siskel's death.....Bad taste, but funny as hell
Return to Oz is fantastic. Scared the crap out of me as a kid but I really like the dark take on the Oz universe.
I appreciate you posting this, Andy. I used to watch to see scenes from upcoming movies, never listen to the two critics. As i saw it then and now, Siskel and Ebert were two smug movie-lovers who never had the nerve to make their own films, satisfying themselves by tearing down the works of people who did risk it all and made movies.
Pee Wee's Big Adventure? That movie is a classic. It put Tim Burton on the map as a director and it was the debut film of Danny Elfmann as a film scorer. Did Gene see the right movie?
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.
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure is now considered a Classic. Maybe it was too ahead of its time for 1985?
An entertaining and popular movie is not necessarily a “classic.”
I was 9 when Pee Wee's Big Adventure came out. It's hard to describe just how influential it was for that generation. To see Gene Siskel just not get it, is depressing. Fortunately, Roger Ebert enjoyed it for what it was. Unfortunately, he hadn't seen it yet for this production to push back against Gene.
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'm not saying Return to Oz is a great film, but it's not a bad one. Robots existed before Star Wars, Gene.
Pee Wee's Big Adventure is a laugh-riot!
I wonder if he said that at the funeral? What a moment there. These are all great to watch.
Shame, I quite like St. Elmo’s Fire as a guilty pleasure, though Siskel and Ebert were really against it in their original review.
R.I.P. Joel Schumacher (29 August 1939 - 22 June 2020)
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!
The majority of film critics: [Regarding a three hour black and white foreign film filled with metaphors, similes, and subtitles] "Love it!"
[Movies the general public enjoys and/or make money] "Nope nope nope. Hate it! Hate it!"
Gene missed a chance to say the hen chewed up the scenery.
Pee Wee's Big Adventure is one of the rare movies that had Cassandra Peterson in a non-Elvira role.
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?
I like Return to Oz, but probably because I liked it when I was a kid. I thought St Elmo’s Fire was a really bad film.
@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.
Saw Perfect, don't remember much of it. Saw St. Elmo's fire, again don't remember much of it. Saw Pee Wee's fillm, thought it humorous at times.
Yeah, they missed the boat on Pee Wee.
I was in high school in 1985. Loved Pee wee. Don't remember the wizard of oz movie existing..
A lot of those movies on the list have since become classics.
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.
Pee Wee's Big Adventure made a worst-of list? Ok, that's all I need to know. These two dudes were clueless.
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.
So it turns out that St. Elmo's Fire was a forerunner to TV series Entourage- both total trash glorifying the self-indulgent and vulgarly materialistic.
Entourage was better. Whatever weaknesses it may have had was a simple byproduct of what Hollywood was like at the time.
We all respect these guys, but sometimes their opinions are trash.
St. Elmo's Fire is AWEFUL!!! But it's fun to make fun of because of how ridiculous it is. Also the theme song is incredible.
Best thing about the movie.
Two years later, the creators of the 1985 cult hit were finally paid off with Warner Bros Pictures' The
Lost Boys. Released in September of 1987 with an all star cast under Joel Schumacher's direction
which makes the film a whole fun to enjoy and entertain for years to come.
Incredibly lame.
I never missed these shows. I looked forward to them each year. Thankfully I have only seen a few of the films featured over the years. I disagree with Gene Siskel about Pee Wee's Big Adventure and a couple others, but otherwise feel like I was wise enough to avoid 95% of these films for one reason or another. A couple are guilty pleasures, i.e. Porky's and The Blue Lagoon. But a bad review of something I had seen or wished to see didn't sway my own opinion one way or another. They were right on about Dune. It was junk, despite Harlan Ellison being a fan. It was fun watching getting annoyed about some trashy slasher flick that is probably getting more publicity from these tirades than just being allowed to make their quick ash and disappearing into obscurity. I went through this phase in the late 70's and early 80's and outgrew it. I have no fondness for those movies and cringe in embarrassment for even having seen them. But they had no greater effect. From their reviews one gets the impression that it will warp.a mind for ever. Those who do are probably a very small percentage. The rest, like myself, just grow up. But the classic Siskel and Ebert moment would be their review of Blue Velvet. It really touched a nerve in Ebert that Siskel couldn't quite understand. As much as I loved films I would not want to be a critic. There must be a burn out point. Besides, Jay Sherman stole the line I'd use frequently: It stinks!
I think it's funny that Gene hated Pee Wee's Big Adventure so much; my friends and I in college loved it....
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.
Ha, those movies were great compared to the stuff they make now.
Okay boomer
No.
I'm surprised he didn't like Pee Wee's Big Adventure. I remember him liking Beavis and Butt Head do America, and I found them to be similar movies.
Godzilla 85 was awesome.... cmon man !!!!!