Siskel & Ebert Review - Pixote, Ragtime, Buddy Buddy, Absence of Malice

In this episode, Siskel and Ebert review: Pixote, Ragtime, Buddy Buddy and Absence of Malice.

[@rosario508]

I must thank my father for taking me to see Ragtime when I was a kid. It still blows my mind to this day.

[@kd17Burger]

It's very good

[@reneedennis2011]

@@kd17Burger Yup.

[@Tolstoy111]

Imagine a PG film with extended nudity today!

[@Tolstoy111]

An example of a film that would never be made today.

[@keithdoherty3178]

Pixote is an ASTONISHING MOVIE !!!!

[@kd17Burger]

Maria Perrila would have gotten my vote as Best Actress that year It's still very disturbing and it is 1981 and it's more disturbing than movies like Requiem for a Dream It's so bold and it's flat out Brilliant City of God owes so much to Pixote

[@jimmyl324]

Pixote is a masterpiece

[@user-rh2io7gm1l]

Incidentally, the kid who played 'Pixote ,' *Fernando Ramos da Silva,* was a genuine street urchin who never rose above his station, turned to crime, and was eventually killed at age 19 in a shootout with police. He was a young husband and father.

[@sonicgrub]

Ragtime is a masterpiece.

[@alanquinn9845]

I really miss these guys. Seeing them on T.V. was a real treat. They helped me view a lot of good motion pictures.

[@Autostade67]

One of the great 'sorrows' of 80s film history - that despite its several Oscar nominations - 'Ragtime' - laced with so much well known talent, has fallen in to virtual obscurity (and failed to make back its investment) while other, lesser 1981 films (some of them O. nominees and winners themselves) are regarded as classics.

[@gmail4218]

Ironically, the last scene of Pixote is the most realistic, not "melodramatic" as Siskel said! I saw it when I was 13 and it still haunts me to this day.

[@deanrane1961]

Pixote is an absolute groundbreaking masterpiece that has been highly overlooked for decades.

[@QBAN2010]

I sure do miss these guys

[@reneedennis2011]

So do I.

[@Gaucho97]

They both nailed how brilliant Forman was and to think he had not even done Amadeus yet.

[@ricardocantoral7672]

He did One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest years before Amadeus.

[@Tolstoy111]

@@ricardocantoral7672 and superb Czech films before that

[@letstalkcriterion]

Buddy Buddy was Billy Wilder trying to recreate the glory days with Matthau and Lemmon and he failed sadly.

[@ricardocantoral7672]

What's even worse was that was Billy Wilder's swan song. He continued to work on scripts for years and no studio wanted him.

[@MrBoyYankee]

Damn @ThatOldTV your on the ball today.

[@ThatOldTV]

Due to the pandemic, I work one week on and one week off. So, for a week, I posted as many videos as possible and then schedule one video a day for the next week.

[@MrBoyYankee]

@@ThatOldTV I dig it sir. Keep on keeping on. Btw, I hope that you seen my comment on your posting of The Shakespeare in Love/Star Trek: 8 insurrection retro review.

[@philiphalpenny3783]

Wonderfully warm words from Gene about Cagney here upon his return for 'Ragtime'..." He sets off patriotic sparklers with his every gesture".

[@Tolstoy111]

The Cagney character is the villain of the film. Siskel missed that

[@djmadijohnson]

Can't believe they didn't say anything about Wilford Brimley's performance in Malice....And wait a minute Gene likes Adios Amigos but hated house party

[@ludwik7326]

I loved The 7 grand masters, I watched it with my grand father as a kid 😅

[@SvenS2]

I absolutely adore Buddy Buddy. The movie is hilarious, I highly recommend people check it out. The only reason it was bombed at the time was because social norms were completely different back then. The statements in this review are more blown out and exaggerated than a Nostalgic Critic review

[@iluvmylovebirdandmybudgiet7729]

it didn`t do well cause it wasn`t funny..just grating

[@kdohertygizbur]

@@iluvmylovebirdandmybudgiet7729 Exactly

[@charliedontsurf70]

I loved it too!

[@kdohertygizbur]

Funny is funny... regardless of time...and this movie stunk...in regards to our times

[@TZ61]

I don't remember "Buddy Buddy" being "excruciatingly bad", but it was definitely a sad and pale imitation of Wilder's, Lemmon's or Matthau's best work. More sad since it was Billy Wilder's last effort.

[@reneedennis2011]

I've seen Ragtimw and Absence of Malice.

[@kdohertygizbur]

And ?

[@charlieparker5678]

What do you want? A cookie?

[@adamgrimsley2900]

Anyone know where I can see Ragtime?

[@hevyonez97]

It's available on dvd...

[@film79]

You can rent if here on KZbin for like $3.99

[@jamesmitchell8922]

Pixote got snubbed by the Oscars.

[@montysloungetv]

You wouldn't be 'pulled off the story' these days - you might get a pulitzer

[@samaireoctober5584]

Pixote should be the entire segment, the other films are a joke in comparison.

[@Tolstoy111]

Ragtime is a classic

[@jdayala-wright8875]

Buddy Buddy had some laughs with Walter Matthau, the problem was Jack Lemmon's character who is too likable, he should have been played by a real jerk or asshole like a Chevy Chase where the humor is Matthau's hitman character trying to kill him because he is so annoying and cloying.

[@kdohertygizbur]

It sucked ...if you laughed...then Ace Ventura had you in stitches

[@jdayala-wright8875]

@@kdohertygizbur Ace was funnier than "Buddy, Buddy" but not by much. Both movies have the same problems outside its central character the jokes aren't funny.

[@kdohertygizbur]

@@jdayala-wright8875 the movie had no laughs , I can't believe the talent there couldn't see how bad it was

[@jdayala-wright8875]

@@kdohertygizbur It had a few laughs with Walter Matthau on screen at the opening sequences so there were a few laughs but the minute Jack Lemmon was on, the humor was gone because we like Jack Lemmon instead of a real asshole pain in tbe ass performer. I think the basis of this material is a raw black comedy that in order for the humor to work you really got to cast it right and go all the way with the vulgarity. Wilder has had success with this in much of his career unfortunately he and I.L. Diamond sanitized the dark edge of this french farce originally translated to mean "A pain in the ass" to where the humor disappears.

[@kd17Burger]

@@jdayala-wright8875 the problem is that Billy Wilder, one of the Greatest Directors , still was stuck in the same 60s genre and didn't update the humor Walter Matthau as a hitman ? No way, if he had chosen a more conventional actor, maybe..it would have been a bad movie, I didn't have a problem with Jack Lemmon so much, but their chemistry with this material was DREADFUL

[@JasonVictorEverett]

Wow. Siskel didn’t like Absence of Malice..

[@freddyfurrah3789]

I liked Jack Lemon, but I couldn't stand The other guy. Too bad Lemon was an alcoholic who smoked. I HATE SMOKING. TWO THUMBS DOWN, FOR CIGARETTES.

[@ricardocantoral7672]

Whatever