saw this movie as a deconstruction of fetish- we see the instigating moment that creates the desire and then the movie asks what constitutes safe and unsafe ways to express that. When they go to the stunt show we see a version of that desire that is restrained to consenting Parties in a “safe” environment. It’s only when that desire is taken out to the road that we see the true danger. Love this movie and it was great seeing Ebert go to bat for it!

Of course I tried to zoom in on the gear haha.

Blipvert's got some dance moves

‘Crash’ was nominated by the Stinkers as the biggest studio disgrace of 1997: “It was more like crash and burn. A group of sadistic morons gets sexually aroused at the mere sight of violent car crashes. Then they form a club to recreate famous fatal car crashes. Now that's entertainment! Upon seeing the finished product, Fine Line Features chairman Ted Turner refused to release this NC-17 rated film and banished the project back under the rock from which it came. Most of the world saw this fiasco in 1996, but critics in the U.S. had to wait another year before they could put this embarrassment on their "worst films of the year" lists”. Michael Scragow of the Dallas Observer said that “…Crash turns out to be another of Cronenberg's static, self-important art duds, much worse than his wildly overrated Dead Ringers. Cronenberg settles for putting Ballard's dark fantasia on screen coolly and simply, with its profuse promiscuity intact. It's a rank miscalculation. Without some cinematic sizzle burning away, the distance between the viewers and the scarred menagerie of lovers and fiends, the dramatis personae become personae non grata. With their motivations--even their sensations--left somewhere in the stage directions, the actors succumb to zombie-hood”. I wonder how was the Elias Koteas was able to keep a straight face with lines like, “The car crash is a fertilisng rather than a destructive event…the liberation of sexual energy..(?)” How could Ebert keep a straight face with calling ‘Crash’ “…a fascinating study of the way the mind works…” “It’s soft porn..its a bunch of hooey..” (Siskel) Absolutely!

This is gorgeous! I'm really enjoying the experience of listening. Thanks for posting this.

Every time siskel and ebert saw a movie that was a little controversial, one of them, if not both of them usually hated it for some reason, even if the movie in reality was amazing. There's some exceptions of course, but more often then not, this was the case.

Beautiful!

Ebert cooked him here

Crash is Cronenberg's masterpiece.

Jacques Lacan wrote about the eroticism of the vehicle.. sadly, never translated..

this is ridiculous! ah..,like, duh ?!

Prison sex is real sweet

I think it's a totally ridiculous movie. If I would consider even a single scene in this film relatable, I would go and see a doctor.

Along with "Dead Ringers", "Crash" is one of his best films. A lot of credit should go to J.G. Ballard for his novel but Cronenberg really succeeded in reproducing the cold steely poetry and icy clinical tone of the book. Ebert gets it perfectly.

I didn't like this movie either, but to Ebert's argument, that one scene that Siskel brings up where Spader and Unger are in bed having sex is very much not sexy because she continuously uses the words "Anus" and "Penis" over and over again when describing her sexual fantasies which is just awkward and strange. So maybe I need to re-evaluate my perception of the movie and look at it differently.

Fucking awsome watching Ebert defending this film. Love it. Love these goobers

Yes, Gene, you're not hip enough

For the most part I couldn't stand these two but Ebert was on point here.

Good Grief !! This "Crash" movie is NOT the 2006 Oscar winner. Move along ... watching this review ... is a major ... Crash !!

Siskel hated it because Crash peers into the existential depths of the modern human being, which he suppresses and refuses to see.

That visceral shriek of a heartbroken man... chef's kiss. Jason Miller was an absolute gem of the acting world.

NC-17 a year after Showgirls which studio was this

yes true heroes

Awesome band. Awesome singer. Awesome expressions.

Roger Ebert was right. The movie is a character study about people whose lives are so empty and jaded that the idea of death turns them on. They're so turned on by it that tempting fate through car crashes is the height of sexual release for them.

yooo ebert went off on this 🤣🔥🔥

I'm surprised they didn't mention that CRASH is based on a novel, of the same name, by JG Ballard, who also wrote the novel EMPIRE OF THE SUN -- which Spielberg made into a movie -- based on his childhood in a Japanese WW2 internment camp in Shanghai.

Ebert rocks Siskel in this

Siskel is out to LUNCH!!!!!

His acting here always brings me back to this scene

I always liked how that other Crash movie came out a few years later and people had to clarify which one!

I found it disturbing yet fascinating but i also like David Lynch. What? Were not watching Crash and Blue Velvet Christmas eve?

These were exactly the kinds of exchanges that made the show worthwhile, where you felt like you got a well rounded idea of whether you were interested in seeing the film. Gene talks about how unbearable a movie is on nearly every level, while Roger claims moral superiority and explains the depth he saw in it. Oh, wait, I'm thinking of "Cop and a Half". Never mind.

damn I wish this discussion could have gone on a bit longer. Roger really seemed like he had a lot more to say and then he has to go to commercial.

Meh. Ebert doesn’t quite get it. I remember seeing this in the theatre in Toronto. It was a sparse showing. Cars and violence connect. Cars and sex connect. Violence and sex connect. Crash explored all those connections. It’s twisted brilliance. And it is absolutely erotic.

The voice of the mother speaks greek in the beginning, and says: " íse polí kurasménos. Na pas sto kreváti su". Which means: "You are very tired. Go to your bed ". "Είσαι πολύ κουρασμένος. Να πας στο κρεβάτι σου".

One of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. Boring, stupid and a complete waste if everyone’s time. Right when I was finally through with watching this mess and has decided I was leaving the theater, the end credits rolled. I like nearly every other Cronenberg movie but Crash was crap. Zero stars.

God Siskel could be a pearl clutching dork somethings lol

Ebert is definitely wrong when he says that no scene in this movie is intended to be erotic. It's just erotic in a way that is completely lost on those of us who aren't into the very specific brand of kink it's portraying. Like, I don't find latex sexy in the slightest, but I'd be crazy to suggest that no one is into it. And based on the many interviews I've heard with Cronenberg and having seen most of his films I have no doubt that what's depicted here is, to a certain extent, _his thing._

I don't know I'm actually more with Siskel on this one which is rare as I find I tend to agree more Eberts perspective on a lot of things but this film just didn't do anything for me and I disagree with Eberts notion that because its uncomfortable is the only reason people don't want to watch it. I personally loved Lynch's Blue Velvet and felt that had far more to say about society and the perverted underbelly that goes on around us and I think its a shitty assumption that audiences "can't handle" that type of subject matter, what they can't handle is the feeling that their time is being wasted because a pretentious director has some remarkable viewpoint about depression, which he doesn't. Crash just felt empty not just in its tone but also in subtext and if that is suppose to be purposeful I'm sorry that just isn't enough of an excuse to ask an audience to sit through it. I was actually bored by it and I think for me that is the harshest criticism I can give as someone who loves most of Cronenbergs other work and think that his earlier work actually had more profound statements about society.

Interesting that I don't think either of them refers to Ballard's novel, which was quite well-known - the film feels like an 18th century erotic satire; the novel didn't strike me that way, but it makes sense that someone like Cronenberg would approach such speculative fiction that way -

Don’t sleep on “Less Than Zero” Spader is a scary fkn villain. Imagine a young, psychotic John Lithgow with hair.

"Crash" is one of Cronenberg's best.

Ebert with the more introspective and interesting critique again.

siskel L, ebert W

The best thing about these two always is that you can just tell right away which one will love the movie and which one will hate the movie

I wish I could find their "review" of Videodrome. I believe they called it the skunk of the week. They both were really triggered. Ebert later changed his view and gave it a positive review.

For such a divisive, controversial film, Crash has a pretty good score on Rotten Tomatoes. One of my favorite films.

this review (and these comments) don't acknowledge that this is based on the book "crash" by the futurist writer JG Ballard.

I think Ebert got a lot of Cronenberg stuff wrong (hating The Brood, disliking Dead Rings, liking A Dangerous Method) but he's much closer to being right on this one than Gene is. A great movie that most people won't enjoy.