Siskel & Ebert - School Ties Review

Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert review the 1992 drama film "School Ties". Both gave it a thumbs up, although Gene thought that the third act was weak.

[@ccchhhrrriiisss100]

This is a terribly underrated film. It deserved more acclaim.

[@ed9492]

It's better than Dead Poets Society, but not by much.

[@ay8292]

It’s never going to get more acclaim bc a lot of people aren’t exactly big fans of Jews, some more then others. Pretty ironic hu

[@jkrasney1]

This is a truly important and impressive film. Brandon Fraser is exceptional and Matt Damon plus a villainous game, which is a "Heads, I win; Tails, I win" game, as he sees his and Fraser's future -

[@jasonsugar4297]

Dang. I miss Siskel & Ebert. RIP, guys.

[@drparnassus2867]

Before George of the Jungle, when Fraser was an up-and-coming young actor...

[@TobeyStarburst]

Never liked him.

[@needles1987]

Nice to see that Ebert actually likes this movie.

[@spencer10182]

I think this is Brendan Fraser's best performance. I cant stand some of his comedies but he was absolutely fantastic here, giving a genuine well delivered performance. I like him in these sorts of roles, he does very well in drama.

[@jkhoover]

Uhm... Maybe you haven't seen his real best performance. A modern classic called Encino Man.

[@lopezrome1982]

@@jkhoover yreahhh

[@lopezrome1982]

Saw whale.pissed school ties is hisbest

[@dnasty312]

Matt Damon is a great villain here 👍👍

[@natalieps2387]

dnasty312 he plays a good weasel like in the departed as well

[@75smurfette]

This is one of my all-time favorite movies. It's apparently loosely based on the experiences of Dick Wolf, the producer of Law & Order.

[@aurorauplinks]

well if its based on his experiences it might be a good and darkly disturbing film

[@reneedennis2011]

Oh! I didn't know that!

[@danieltadros3262]

I am soo sorry that real life incident happened to Gene Siskel. I was also bullied in school.

[@danieltadros3262]

@SgtBaker16 Thank you for your comment. It hurt me into adulthood. I am 50 and a much stronger person. Adversity didn't make me stronger. It destroyed my self confidence.

[@ccchhhrrriiisss100]

I'm sorry that you went through difficulties with bullying, Daniel. I think that many people do experience something difficult like bullying (including white people). I was bullied by some kids too. However, I eventually overcame the meanness of their cruel words. Like you, it destroyed my self-confidence. However, I grew to realize that those kids had their own issues. Eventually, I became one of the "cool kids" by high school. Yet, I never wanted to be "popular." I sat at the lunch table with the people that most kids in my school didn't like. I was more attracted to "nerdy" or smart girls instead of airheads who might have looked like Victoria Secret models. I wouldn't sit down and remain silent while someone else around me was bullied either. Oddly enough, I ended up being respected by most students at my school -- including the ones that I stood up to in defense of others. I do wish that schools would teach some sort of moral stand against bullying and, well, cruelty. I think that films like School Ties are great in this regard. I had a teacher who played a DVD of it in one of our classes. Hopefully, students aspired to be more like David Green than the other characters.

[@user-mj4oy3rs2m]

I am so sorry Siskel went through that.

[@yaywhewclips242]

Now this is a good performance for Frasier, when he has done so much crap. And a lot of young actors had early parts: O'Donnel, Damon.

[@tonyfelder1206]

Don't forget Ben Affleck. Can't have Matt Damon without Ben back then. Even before they were famous.

[@ScootyPuffSr7]

It really is, especially since he isn't exactly the first person you'd think of when casting a Jewish character. :)

[@Morchabai-]

After reading SCP-1756 which in a way pays tribute to Siskel and Ebert, I had to see episodes of this show for mysef.

[@bobsiyt6548]

Ebert was completely right about the opening scene with the bikers... the movie didn’t need it.

[@patrickthomas8890]

It was what screenwriters call a “save the cat” moment. Establish early on that the protagonist is a good and/or heroic person. It wasn’t so much that it wasn’t needed, but it was poorly executed

[@bobsiyt6548]

@@patrickthomas8890 completely agree. It was cheesy and didn’t fit the rest of the movie. They start the film right at the father dropping him off at the bus - and this movie is so much better.

[@patrickthomas8890]

@@bobsiyt6548 Absolutely. I’ve often noticed movies that start 10 minutes too early instead of getting to the point

[@gheller2261]

Love the film, but disagree that the Damon character can't win because of expectations. Everything he was neurotic about was in his own mind, particularly the jealousy of the achievements of his older brother. In the lunch scene with his father, the father seemed not to be placing any pressure. He was encouraging and it led me to wonder whether the anti-semitism came from his family or merely because the Jewish kid took from him (the girl, being QB) what he believed was rightfully his.

[@capacola262743]

you make good points, and I assume by your name that you are jewish. I wish my father (or anyone) would have ever spoken to me in a sincere, encouraging way like that guy did. he seemed pretty cool to me. also, I think the damon character used antisemitism as his best weapon to strike back at this kid who took his spot on the team AND his girl. what high school boy wouldn't want to get some revenge? school kids have a knack for identifying each other's weaknesses and attacking that vulnerability. it's totally normal. the jewish kid's only "weakness" (or whatever you want to call it) is he is poor and jewish, so the other kids bust his balls about it. none of them seemed to even know WHY they didn't like jews, except that they are "different". again, totally normal human behavior (us against them). I GUARANTEE that if a WASP kid went to an ALL JEWISH boarding school, he too would get hassled CONSTANTLY. it's human nature, but nobody is making that movie.

[@uyeda]

Those two sure love to talk about movies.

[@sha11235]

It depends. Sometimes they saw the films together in a screening room or at a public theater, other times individually. Most of the time they would see the films the former way because it saved time.

[@Dane_Youssef]

That... that was their job.

[@davidjohnson8231]

You would too if you could get paid for it

[@Boxingbear]

This is a great movie.

[@reneedennis2011]

This is a good movie.

[@sha11235]

Interesting this film didn't do that well when it came out.

[@tosomt5419]

this is what it was like being gay in the 80's and 90's

[@leonardo899]

The movie is boring. But I've seen the shower scene I've seen so many times.

[@TheHoopyscoopy]

Bad acting and implausible dialogue.