If you ask me who were the major influences in my life that led to my becoming an entertainment writer, I would say there were two. The first was Star Wars, a movie that lit up my six year old mind and irrevocably changed the way I looked at the world. The other was Siskel & Ebert. Not long after Star Wars made me a movie fan, these two showed me the full width of the movie world.
I vividly remember watching the show every weekend on TV, fascinated by the intense passion these two men had for the movies. I lived in a small rural town so I rarely had the chance to see most of the movies they talked about but I was endlessly fascinated none the less. Listening to them over the years I was hooked on movies and lived to debate the ones I saw with my friends. I had barely started running this website when Gene Siskel passed away. It was a sad moment in my life even though I never met him. I would have done anything for a shot at the guest chair that was now appearing on the show next to Ebert but unfortunately I was nowhere near well known enough to get an offer (I still say I'd be a far better partner than that Roeper guy). One of my highlights of working on the website so far was meeting Ebert while covering the Virginia Film Festival. That passion for movies that hooked me on the show comes across ten times stronger in person. This is a man who seems to live for movies.
So when I was asked to review Roger Ebert's book The Great Movies by the publisher, it felt like I had come full circle. I was now presented with the opportunity to review the work of the man who helped me become a reviewer in the first place. I jumped at it, despite never once having reviewed a book for the website before.
The book is based on a series of articles that Ebert has been writing for the Chicago Sun-Times for several years now. Every couple weeks he reviews what he considers to be a great movie. The book contains 100 such articles, all expanded from the original copies that appeared in the newspaper. This is not a list though. The movies that appear in the book should not be considered the 100 greatest movies of all time. I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if he issues another book with another 100 great films down the line. The point of the book is not to rank the movies and compare them to one another in some contest for superiority. To illustrate that point, the articles are arranged alphabetically. The point instead is to simply appreciate and look deeply into great movies.
Reading the book gave me a similar feeling to shopping for DVDs. I'll browse the racks and start grabbing titles, usually with a gleeful smile as I discover a personal favorite. Eventually I have far more movies than I have cash to pay for and I have to start the painful process of culling the pile to something more manageable. Flipping through the book I smile at one of my favorites and start to read. Finishing the article I flip around until another favorite appears, and so on. Soon I've run out of time to read for the moment but I don't want to put down the book as I can see yet another favorite on the next page.
I can't claim to have personally seen all of the movies listed in the book although I have seen many of them. Mostly that speaks to my age. The great majority of those that I haven't yet watched were made in the 1950s or earlier. As a result of reading the book I will be sitting down to watch those movies as soon as possible.
Ebert's style is very down to earth. He never appears to be trying to impress the reader with his knowledge of movies. He speaks plainly but always finds the heart of a movie and relates it to the reader in a very accesible manner. Even a casual movie goer might be able to take a stab at a surrealist movie like Un Chien Andalou after reading the book.
The articles are well thought out, not only reviewing the film but putting it into context in terms of the movie's style, genre, director and time period. The articles often contain background material on the filmmakers and events surrounding the film's production. For instance, an article on Battleship Potemkin becomes far more fascinating when it also tackles the political environment the movie appeared in and what its influence was. Bride of Frankenstein becomes much more intriguing when you understand the people who made it. JFK stands out more when it is discussed in terms of public opinion and less about strict historical accuracy. You never look at a Hitchcock film quite the same way after you learn about his weird little habits and fetishes. The importance of Grand Illusion comes into clear focus when you read about the history of the film after its release.
If you are a new fan of the movies and want to explore the great movies, this is a perfect place to start. Avid movie fans will find plenty to think about in terms of films they already know and love. The book is clearly the work of a man with endless love for the movies, someone who revels in what the great ones can mean to us. Great movies are more than simply entertainment as they can make us stop and reconsider the world around us. Ebert is a man with the love and patience to regularly conduct week long sessions in which he and an audience go through a movie virtually frame by frame to investigate what makes it tick. I have taken part in one of these and for the serious movie fan, it should be a requirement. This book is the short form version of that process.
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