Siskel & Ebert Review - Caveman, The Howling, Breaker Morant, Hardly Working, Mon oncle d’Amerique

[@pvthitch]

Breaker Morant ran for a week in my hometown. I saw it 5 times. I was in college studying Criminal Justice. I changed my major to theater. I have been a working actor ever since. It literally changed my life.

[@Vlad65WFPReviews]

I reviewed Breaker on my British movie youtube channel and coming here I'm shocked Roger, who often approved of far more conventional and crappy movies as "fun", gave Morant a thumbs down. I'm with Gene 100%.

[@speedmastermarkiii]

@@Vlad65WFPReviews Lol...why did you review an Australian movie on a British movie channel?

[@jackscratch785]

The Howling is a Classic. In my top 10. Love it.

[@JozeeWalz]

Thank you for posting all these shows. I actually saw all of them in real time and it is a great pleasure seeing them again and sharing them with my film buff + filmmaker son 👏👏👏

[@JanetStarChild]

That dinosaur is ridiculously adorable! Within such a short clip, I was immediately invested in its well-being and was glad it survived the fall in classical cartoon fashion.

[@crossaffliction]

The Howling is a favorite, but Ebert's (negative!) print review of it is probably my favorite review he ever wrote.

[@MCRAIDER40]

Breaker Morant is an all time classic

[@stempo1]

And a great movie by any standards, Roger was a hack (He considered The Usual Suspects to be the worst movie ever made)

[@reneedennis2011]

I agree.

[@daxwhitston5656]

@@stempo1 Ebert never said The Usual Suspects is the worst movie ever made. While I like The Usual Suspects, it ain't great. Reading a review that holds a different opinion than yours is a good thing.

[@ricardocantoral7672]

It's a good, not great film.

[@Swybryd-Nation]

@@stempo1yep PULITZER PRIZE winning HACK(?) Derpyy derp derp

[@adamgrimsley2900]

Caveman is a great film to put on after coming back from the pub

[@haitolawrence5986]

Nothing better than some zug zug after a few pints.😎

[@PatTheBatmanFan]

Aieeeeee!

[@gspendlove]

What I love about The Howling is, you get to see Joe Dante's whole company of actors. Robert Picardo, Dick Miller, Belinda Balaski, Kenneth Tobey. All those same people had roles in Gremlins 2!

[@gmaqwert]

Breaker Morant is one of my all time favorite movies.

[@HarbingerOfBattle]

I love watching these old reviews. Every now and then I might stumble across a movie I haven’t heard of and give it a watch. Some times I like it, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes S&E like and sometimes they don’t. Sometimes we’re all split on what to think. It’s almost like a treasure hunt in a weird sort of way.

[@williamhicks7736]

“You’re Oh for two as far as I’m concerned…”, says Siskel. LOL!

[@AndrewNewZealand]

I thought at least one of them would like Breaker Morant, typically it's Gene who I tend to agree with more. I certainly didn't find it overly standard and formulaic. There were some very interesting twists in the story.

[@nigelhickman2274]

Love how they called the Australian film industry as 'birthing' in the 70's and 80's... considering that the first ever 'feature length' movie anywhere in the world was Australian (1906 'The Story of the Kelly Gang").

[@patrickshields5251]

He’s talking about the Australian New Wave.

[@Elitist20]

It went by fits and starts - there was a small but active film industry in the 20s and 30s, which largely petered out after WW2. The revival began in the late 60s and early 70s.

[@Blaqjaqshellaq]

My mother was a big Jerry Lewis fan. She even liked him in HARDLY WORKING!

[@Jim_Wolf]

Roger dropped the ball on The Howling and Breaker Morant.

[@jgjgjg739]

Also unlike Paths of Glory, Breaker Morant involves real people in a war not many know about.

[@jamesc.lockwood3810]

Agreed, Roger must have been having an off day.

[@Madstsone]

And he pretty much admits they're both good movies. I half expected him to change his recommendation.

[@CharlieD.706]

@@jamesc.lockwood3810 what? They were wrong a lot.

[@kevjohn2006]

@@CharlieD.706 who isn't? 🤷🏿‍♂️

[@goldenage]

Is there a Siskel& Ebert TV review of "An American Werewolf"?

[@ThatOldTV]

I wish. There are some missing episodes from this era. I've never been able to locate a review of An American Werewolf in London.

[@iluvmylovebirdandmybudgiet7729]

He didn`t like it....

[@SaintMartins]

23:09 Gene on Caveman: high quality special effects Jurassic Park: "hold my CGI"

[@centralpete6044]

My neighbor Bucky reached out to me to go see Hardly Working…I wasn’t interested. Wish he’d asked me to see the Howling. Years later my brother in law who was a private pilot shared a voicemail with me Jerry Lewis had left giving direction to him on when he’d be ready to fly. Jerry was respectful and to the point…I liked him more for how matter of fact Jerry was to an “underling”.

[@notcardlinsytaccount1355]

7:02

[@bobscanlon5212]

Breaker morant is a fucking fantastic film

[@danorthsidemang3834]

9:05 lol

[@haitolawrence5986]

The stoned T-Rex is still better than anything after the original Jurassic Park.

[@archangelmusic13]

haha how true

[@matthewschwartz6607]

Did Ebert like An American Werewolf In London (Or Paris .)?

[@banditforever605]

Gene busting out the "r" word

[@paulmcmurray8313]

True, that was awful.

[@LloydGutteridge]

I cannot agree that it is a near miss. Compared to a few good men, breaker mordant on a zero budget and extraordinary performances from Edward Woodward and Jack Thompson is an unforgettable true story of one of the boer wars miscarriages of justice. Script was Oscar nominated I believe

[@matthewschwartz6607]

I think that John Landis wrote (Or co-wrote.) The Howling .

[@jackhead790]

John Sayles wrote The Howling.

[@hmdwgf]

Apparently the making of Hardly Working was a complete s***show- the production ran out of money and the movie’s production was delayed for 6 months, while Lewis himself was also forced to declare bankruptcy. Lewis was able to find another backer and production resumed after 6 months, which is why there are so many very obvious continuity issues in the movie.

[@smichelle65]

Roger: "I thought this kind of Japanese stereotyping ended after WWII." I guess Roger forgot about Breakfast at Tiffany's.

[@trikkerman1]

Caveman is a cult classic IMO.

[@jorel6745]

As a kid Going Ape and Caveman were essential.

[@iluvmylovebirdandmybudgiet7729]

Going Ape..really?? it was a bad HBO watch....

[@jorel6745]

@@iluvmylovebirdandmybudgiet7729 Orangutans. Enough said.🤣

[@iluvmylovebirdandmybudgiet7729]

The Eastwood movies ok.....

[@gspendlove]

I remember laughing an awful lot at Hardly Working, Going Ape and Caveman. I was 10.

[@archangelmusic13]

@@iluvmylovebirdandmybudgiet7729 i love going ape

[@botz77]

Ah, Jerry Lewis movies haven't aged a bit. Just as racist as the day they were made.

[@mjgyrosdude484]

Jerry Lewis was Jewish so he can't be racist

[@Tolstoy111]

How is The Ladies Man or The Nutty Professor racist?

[@Madbandit77]

I don't think all of them were.

[@haitolawrence5986]

@@Madbandit77 They weren't. Stereotypes aren't always malicious. Every single bad guy in the original Star Wars has an English accent. I don't get all bent out of shape over it. That's just silly.

[@MayorMcCheeseStalker]

Don't knock stereotypes. They can be quite funny, while simultaneously reminding minorities of the correct social order --- us on top, them as our helpers.

[@jokerswildio]

Caveman could have been done better...though Ringo and Shelley carried it...just the story wasn't intriguing and most of the gags were lame. It's funny hearing them talk about the "quality" special effects of the dinosaurs 🦕 about 12 years before Jurassic Park. Though great for the time, in today's standards...those effects were pretty obvious.

[@haitolawrence5986]

No zug zug for you!

[@tuffs4it]

To be honest , they were very poor for back then too, but they weren't trying to dazzle us with the effects either.

[@stevegeorge6880]

My unpopular but genuine opinion is that the howling is better than An American Werewolf in London

[@ATMyles]

Woo boy, that’s quite an opinion. I respect your stating it. Better? I don’t know... Maybe as good as? I like both very much. The Howling is more straight-up horror with a dash of campiness. AAWIL is a horror comedy.

[@stevegeorge6880]

@@ATMyles An American Werewolf in London has great set pieces, an excellent novelty soundtrack, an extremely likeable leading man who could have had the same career as Tom Hanks if he had Tom Hanks's range as an actor, and the best makeup effects the genre had yet seen. That's really all I see in it though. The Howling has a more complete story ranging from media satire to exploration of self-improvement efforts of the so-called me generation, good all-around technical elements and performances, and transformation effects not too far off from those in AAWIL on a tenth of the budget. I kind of know what I'm getting with AAWIL whereas with The Howling, I'm surprised by some of the subtler elements that come to the fore in each viewing. It's a damn shame there were sequels. At least in the case of AAWIL, the one attempt was so bad as to be purged from the collective consciousness.

[@ATMyles]

@@stevegeorge6880 you make some excellent points. And about those sequels: Howling 7: New Moon Rising is one of my favorite bad movies. I mean, it is *sooo* bad. Just one of the worst movies ever. I first saw it on TNT’s Monstervision with Joe Bob Brigg’s many years ago, and it’s good for a laugh (especially with Joe Bob’s commentary).

[@stevegeorge6880]

@@ATMyles if you haven't seen it already, I highly recommend Allison Pregler's review on KZbin. It includes a country music cover of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" for those many line dancing scenes and an excellent build-up to those 15 seconds or so of original werewolf footage at the end. Between your endorsement and hers, I really do want to see this in its entirety. Too bad we can't meet Pappy (RIP).

[@ATMyles]

@@stevegeorge6880 ha! RIP indeed. When I think of Pappy, I immediately think of his number, “Stand Up” and Joe Bob’s warning before going that scene: “This you will not believe.” Oh, and the dirt in the chili, of course. Dirt in the chili? Hilarious. I’m going to find Allison’s review right now!

[@davidconlee2196]

Kidney Attack!

[@mowm88]

Roger calls Morant a 'good film' TWICE and doesn't recommend it. WTF.

[@martindrew3513]

He's trying to confuse you, Russian

[@Frederick-t8t]

Jerry Lewis was EVIL. I LIKED THE HOWLING.

[@freddyfurrah3789]

The Howling is a good movie. Once in a while, Siskle gets it right.