As movies (for the most part), comic book films today are fairly good but there are so many of them and most of them are remakes of remakes of remakes. It’s corporate cyncism at its worst.
@hmdwgf, much like with Star Wars, I only choose a selected number of superhero movies that I want to watch. It's no big deal to me if I don't watch every movie, there's several other movies that aren't part of a big franchise that deserve a viewing too.
@@castle3267 There has always been oversaturated movie genres and fads. Difference was the 80s slasher movies weren't taken seriously and were for the most part low budget. Every single comic movie has huge budgets, are over marketed and billed as the next blockbuster movie. And even with all the money thrown at these comic films, they are mostly mediocre at best.
I love that Gene and Roger could alternately make each other laugh and then drive each other crazy. Once they found their chemistry, it was for the ages. Two smart guys with well informed opinions…sadly missing these days.
Wise words indeed. Besides being well-versed in film, they were both well read, highly intelligent men. The problem these days is that nobody reads anymore. Thus the severe lack of intellectual discourse among literally ANY group, critical or otherwise. It's mostly gaudy, foolish nonsense. "Mishegoss" as my mother would say.
One thing I vividly remember is how cool movie advertisements looked in newspapers in the late 70s and eighties. Studios were using artists to draw up action films and horror movie posters.
Of note is that this was their first "Worst of the Year" show; previously the "Dogs of the Year" segment was confined to their year-end "Best of the Year" shows (see their 1978 and 1979 "Best of the Year" installments). Other films Gene Siskel hated in 1980 were "The Boogey Man", "New Year's Evil", "Silent Scream", "Friday the 13th", "Why Would I Lie?", "MAD Magazine Presents Up the Academy" (the magazine's staff was in agreement with a lot of the critics-including Gene-regarding that picture, even going as far as mocking it in the October 1980 issue), "Loving Couples", "Guyana: Cult of the Damned", "The Bermuda Triangle", "Wholly Moses!", "The Baltimore Bullet", "The Gong Show Movie", "The Runner Stumbles", "The Nude Bomb", and "Little Miss Marker". (SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, December 29, 1980)
They didn't review it for their regular show. I don't even think they mentioned it as one of their Dogs of the Week (something that they did for both CALIGULA and WHEN TIME RAN OUT by comparison). It was released very late in 1980 and presumably they didn't want to give the movie that much attention around the blockbuster holiday releases that year like POPEYE and STIR CRAZY.
Roger gave it 2 stars out of 4 in his print review, saying (in so many words) that the film had an interesting premise but didn't do much with it. It stands out in this group because his print reviews for the other films on his naughty list were scathing (what he wrote on I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE is just as damning as his stunned, sickened, angry response to that movie when he names it his worst film of 1980) and The Final Countdown's reads more like a film he'd have given a "thumbs-down, not the worst but doesn't quite work" review on if the movie had been released in 1985 or 1991.
I saw The Final Countdown many years ago. I watched it with a friend who liked movies like Back to the Future and The Time Machine. I didn’t think it was bad.
Gene's description of Roger Moore playing an espionage agent in WW2 fighting Nazis on a ship in "ffolkes" is an indication he didn't even see the movie as none of that is true. It's a contemporary adventure, they're on an oil rig, the villains are terrorists, and Moore's character is the leader of a counter-terrorism unit.
I actually watch their original review to see if that mistake did appear in that review. It doesn't. It's obvious that he completely forgot what the movie was about.
@@patrickshields5251 It's clearly an easy movie to forget about! (It was directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, who also made Joe Don Baker's MST3K classic MITCHELL.)
Coincidentally both "ffolkes" and "The Sea Wolves" were made by the same director (Andrew V. McLaglen) but "The Sea Wolves" wasn't even released in the US until more than a full year after "ffolkes", so I don't think it can be the cause of Gene's confusion in this instance.
Right. It had nothing to do with WW2 or Nazis. And it wasn't a bad movie, nor was "The Mountain Men". I'd rather see either of those than what I'm sure was Siskel and Ebert's favorite movie for that year, "Raging Bull", which for me should have been called "Raging Boredom".
Along with XANADU, one of the movies listed here caused one John J.B. Wilson to form the Golden Raspberry Awards in early 1981. HINT: Roger Ebert starts discussing it at 13:25.
More than the production values, it's stunning to me that Irwin Allen failed to evolve with the film industry. Apparently, he couldn't understand why Star Wars was a success.
BOY,Do I miss these two guys.I love it when they give good reviews of movies I love and bad reviews of movies that I REALLY hate.unfortunitly, they sometimes give bad reviews of movies that I like.although to be ho nest, it's always fun to watch these two tear apart a really, REALLY bad movie.R.I.P to both GENE SISKEL and ROGER EBERT.
1980 did mark the end or close to the end of a few movie trends: -Disaster Movies: While "Airplane!" was a terrific parody, the bad box office receipts of the latter day disaster flicks killed that genre. The public realized that these movies were all the same, with only difference being the disasters themselves. -The International Thriller: These movies had ad posters with the bottom filled with international stars. While Gene may've forgotten what Ffolks was all about, he was right when he said that they cared more about the financing than the script. -The "Saturday Night Fever" ripoffs-The poor box office receipts of "Can't Stop the Music" and "Xanadu" helped end that trend, though the worst ripoff IMO (The sequel Staying Alive) did pretty well. Of course, the popularity of Disco music also ended in late 1979. -Low-grade Kung Fu Bruce Lee ripoffs also nearly ran their course. Only Chuck Norris managed to continue his career awhile longer. -Slasher movies had a long way to go before that genre faded away, and it really didn't fade out all that much.
The end of the disaster film might have been the best thing about the 1980s. Unfortunately a few studios insisted on reviving the trend to make terrible disaster movies in the 90s. Xanadu, Can't Stop..., and Popeye more or less killed the musical for a few years.
Slashers, as we know them today, were only getting started in 1980. Ever since Texas Chainsaw in 1974 they slowly rose in popularity until 1978 when Halloween hit audiences too close to home. After that everyone was trying to rip it off.
Loved that theme song!.I knew when I heard it I was going to see new movies(before the days of VCR's) on my TV set..Sure, it was in 25 second clips but I always got excited for it!
Both Siskel and Ebert have separately stated that "I Spit on your Grave" was the most depressing experience they had as movie critics. I haven't seen the film, but have read reviews about it, All of which call it a celebration of sadism against a helpless victim, who then gets revenge on her attackers, one by one; and then the film ends. That's the entire plot. Shame on everyone who appeared in that film, especially the actors. It proves the very depressing point that actors will take any job, no matter how personally degrading or humiliating it is. Every actor who turns down a role like this preserves their own dignity and the dignity of actors in general.
literally the lead actress got married to the director??? literally all of the actresses have said this role is empowering to them??? literally the entire point of the movie is to show that rape is abhorrent??? all the rapists die??? feminist critics and anti-rape activists have reclaimed the movie for decades??? assault survivors (such as myself) usually find it cathartic??? I promise you, it's well worth a watch and maybe the most honest, critical film about violence against women ever made. highly recommended. I even have a tattoo from it.
If you were 13 years old like I was in 1980 The Blue Lagoon was a very good movie. The Final Countdown was also fun to watch. Like others have said I’ve seen it several times. Still miss the great report between Siskel and Ebert. Two great personas of the 20th Century. Some of their moralizing does seem a bit stodgy and conservative looking back on it, but who doesn’t have faults. Terrific human beings nonetheless.
Absolutely correct Sir. Caligula is THE ultimate in swords and sandals big screen enjoyment. I spit on your grave is a masterpiece of revenge. I'm sorry but I never saw Ffolkes.
Roger Moore has called “ffolkes” (aka “North Sea Hijack”) his favorite role. He has a lot of fun in it. Also, the film had nothing to do with Nazis or World War 2.
The original "I Spit..." is an exploitation horror B-movie icon. It is a bit slow-paced though, and it could use more gore, so I guess that's why they remade it. A much more honest endeavor than remaking an universally well-know blockbuster, fucking it up, and cashing in.
Yes, but you have to admit: In the end, NOTHING happens. I remember the theater cheering when they were going to go shoot down the Zeros, then... zero.
Strangely, Roger Ebert's print review of The Final Countdown wasn't that bad. He didn't LIKE the movie per se, and only gave it 2 stars out of 4, but it's a pretty big leap from a two-star rating to placing in on the Worst Of list for a year. If you want to read a review where Roger's loathing of a movie comes through strongly, the zero-stars entry he wrote for I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE will suffice nicely; every word makes it clear he's never seen a movie he hated more than that one.
On the ones I saw... When time ran out was a wash out, Irwin Allen had success with 1972 The Poseidon Adventure and 1974 The Towering Inferno, should have left it at that. Can't stop the Music, aside from The Village People music, a sheer waste of Panavision filming . The Blue Lagoon, in my opinion was OK ,simple story line,but the breathtaking cinematography and the beautiful soundtrack for me made the film. The only thing I can say about Caligula-- REPULSIVE !!!
I'm a big fan of The Blue Lagoon, I think it would of been great if the special addition of the movie on DVD would of included this review, that would of been funny.
It's interesting to realize that the "international thriller" is now extinct. Or what Ebert later referred to with the Box Rule: Box Rule: Useful rule-of-thumb about movie advertisements that have a row of little boxes across the bottom, each one showing the face of a different international star and the name of a character (e.g., “Curt Jurgens as the Commandant”). The rule is: Automatically avoid such films.
@@cliffordshafran9250 Some of these movies were based on books, but I'm starting to think that these studios were making these movies to exploit these source materials.
Not only was it not screened for critics (aside from those who attended the 1980 Montreal World Film Festival), it did not even play in Chicago, where an October 1980 release date listed by Wikipedia is not corroborated by anything I could find in the Tribune archives.
It wasted Brooke Shields’ talent. She could act, as seen in Pretty Baby, which was surprisingly Siskel’s SECOND best movie in all of 1978. Ebert also liked the film, and both lauded Brooke’s performance in that one. I guess the director of Blue Lagoon didn’t know how to direct children.
4:34 Gene Siskel clearly explains the reason why I am starting to wean off of Marvel films. The Marvel Cinematic Universe that has its share of great movies, but after TWENTY FOUR FILMS I shouldn’t be the only one to notice a basic plot formula these movies follow. You might know what I’m talking about.
That also means they were NEVER good to begin with. All 25+ movies have aged terribly after one viewing or a year. They will never stand the test of time like Superman 1978 and Batman 1989.
I grew up watching these guys, and- as a fan of cheesy horror- often laughed a bit at their squeamishness, but what’s interesting rewatching their reviews is that they actually are self-appointed moralists as much as they are film critics, which seems very unacademic in retrospect. They come across as genuinely concerned about America’s consumption of low-brow entertainment and its long-term effects on our culture and psyche, like amateur sociologists. Seems quaint but also kind of cute that they cared.
i always found it a bit obnoxious, their pearl clutching and their snobbishness. just critique the movie dont go get all high and mighty and be outraged or indignant over films. its what bothered me most about the show for all those years. i didnt care that they didnt like a lot of my favorite fims or gave them bad ratings, but when they would start preaching and like i said acting all indignant ugh.
Every year has terrible movies, but these were so surreally bad, it's interesting to watch this. How many directors and studio heads would have been sober for 3 consecutive hours in a day in 1980?
I'm guessing they thought that *Friday the 13th* was too typical a slasher movie to be put there. As for *Heaven's Gate,* that was on their Dogs of 1981 show, and that got uploaded separately by the same user.
@@jessecoffey4737 You're probably right about Friday the 13th. I saw the Heaven's Gate part after I wrote this. I always think of Heaven's Gate as 1980.
@@johnfitzpatrick3094 Heaven's Gate killed off the era of autuer driven Hollywood productions, which inadvertently kept Hollywood's blockbuster culture going.
@@patrickshields5251 I agree. I remember Francis Coppola called the 70's as the inmates taking over the insane asylum, and the 80's as the studios taking the asylum back.
@@johnfitzpatrick3094 Speaking of Hollywood's blockbuster culture, Siskel and Ebert actually predicted this in their year end show for 1978 that the blockbusters are crowding out the smaller films. They could never be more right because now where getting so many super hero films. So not much has changed after they died.
Sadly I disagree with their comments about audiences being disappointed about getting the same old film over and over again. For a lot of the audience it's what they want, they know what they're getting, studios are less likely to take risks when they can just play it safe. Audiences though often know when they've seem something special.
In I Spit on Your Grave the woman got her revenge and you could come away cheering for her. If you want disgusting take a shower afterwards try Watching August Undergrounds Morden in its entirety.
If you understand the concept of 70's exploitation movies, there's nothing truly despicable about I Spit on Your Grave. Even the rape scenes in movies like Death Wish 2 feel more impactful. A Serbian Film is bullshit, "look at me, I'm so shocking!".
@@mousiespanks2379 I understand the catharthis factor, but I think what sickened me was that the men who committed the r*pe had more screentime than the woman (at least that's what I remember) and the r*pe scenes went on for so long, that it felt like the film went overkill in trying to show how sick they were. Apparently, the director wanted this to be an anti-r*pe film, but stuff like what I mentioned made me question what the film's real priorities were.
While not the first movie I saw I had a similar experience with Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I was ten years old when I saw it and thought “Wow! What a boring piece of shit!”
@@rosario508 As a 10 year old, not understanding the backdrop to the 1st Trek movie, I can easily understand how it would be boring. Seeing it as an adult and understanding how amazing it was to see the cast board the Enterprise for the first time in several years, it was a magical experience.
Ffolkes takes place during World War II with helicopters, oil platforms and a Margaret Thatcher type Prime Minister?!? Did they even see the film? This beats calling Time After Time a comedy featuring Jack the Ripper. These guys were really dense.
Irwin Allen was a cartoon caricature of a producer. His behavior was so obnoxious and off-putting, that he wound up ruining his own productions, which were already pretty schlocky (Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants, Lost in Space). These three series were successful in spite of Irwin, not because of him, and he wound up getting all three series canceled within six months of each other and getting kicked off the studio lot because of his behavior.
I liked ffolkes. It was a good thriller. Also, I think Gene was wrong when he said it took place during WWII. IIRC, it took place during the present day of 1979/1980.
@@connorbrennan4233 Or maybe he saw so many films that year that he forgot the details. I mean, ffolkes is not the greatest movie ever made to be sure, but I don't think it's the flop that Siskel and Ebert were making it out to be.
I think the main problem with Caligula is that the screenplay is diametrically opposed to the purposes of the film. The film makes a big point about showing all the pornography, but the screenplay is focused up on how such prurience is evil. So, how can you enjoy the pornography while being told that you are wicked for enjoying it? They should have maybe adapted a specific classical work with erotic elements like the Golden Ass, or Satyricon, or Daphnis and Chloe instead. (though I suppose Daphnis and Chloe is a bit close to the material in Blue Lagoon, so the critics wouldn't have like that either.)
It seems like they disregarded any film that had any sort of “exploitation” in it without acknowledging the redeeming elements they had. The film Caligula may not have had a great script, but the acting, set design, and overall directing was honestly top notch. It has a lot of graphic sex and gore, but the whole theme of the film was about the perversion of the Roman Empire, so it’s not really out of place.
First off, Sisk & Eb found 1980 to be a truly horrible year the movies. Hell, several films that one or both of them gave ZERO STARS to didn't make the worst-of list: MOTHER'S DAY, THE EXTERMINATOR, and GUYANA: CULT OF THE DAMNED. Also, they only left FRIDAY THE 13TH off the list because they had other horror films to focus on, and hated Charlton Heston's THE AWAKENING as much as THE MOUNTAIN MEN (again, they didn't want to overdo the horror/slasher film coverage).Second...the look on Roger's face as he finishes watching that horrible clip from I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE is genuinely unsettling in how sickened and shocked he is. And the line where he says "The people who made this film should really be ashamed of themselves, and so should the people who booked it and the people who went to see it. It's really an inhuman, sick film", highlights all the ways that he's the GOAT film critic.
Bullshit. Mother's Day, Exterminator, I Spit on Your Grave... these are all exploitation/B-movie cult classics. Films like these shouldn't be approached as if they were some self-important hollywood drama with a "message". As for Charlton Heston, I don't have to tell you what jewish liberals thought of him and his movies back then, and it is no coincidence that they relentlessly targeted Stallone, Selleck and Reynolds next.
I first saw "The Blue Lagoon" on cable in 1981 while I was still in JH, and instantly had a crush on Brooke Shields. So, needless to say I was a big fan of the movie at the time. But, then I re-watched it 12-years later and was laughing at how bad the writing and acting was, especially from Chris Atkins. Plus, Brooke Shields was only 15 at the time, and she's half-naked the entire movie. Which makes the film not only bad, but bad in a creepy kind of way. Something I didn't understand when I was still in JH.
I thought "Ffolkes" had potential as a thriller with an interesting premise, and Roger Moore's character was interesting in that he despised women - the exact opposite of James Bond. Yes, it was overdone with some poor acting, but Siskel and Ebert trashed it more than it deserved.
@@davidl570 I think he's right about the porn, but there's a good movie in between the porn and it's actually accurate, or at least is faithful to Suetonius.
I love how Gene admits to lusting after Brooke Shields in Blue Lagoon, waiting for her clothes to fall off, but conveniently omits the fact that she was a CHILD.
Didn't Siskel & Ebert realize that by giving these films any publicity audiences would be rushing out to see it? This is why I Spit on Your Grave found an audience.
They did, but I think that the people who watches this show can decide whether they want to go see them or not. I think that Siskel & Ebert onky gave their opinions on new movies to the viewing audience
@@patcrites5274 I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE did very well on the emerging video-rental market in 1981 and 1982, both in the U.S. and the UK for some reason. It found its audience there, and that was enough to make it profitable.
Yeah, SMOKING had a lot to do with it. Ask anyone who was a child pre-1980...most of them will tell you the literal smell of cigarettes is a big part of their childhood memories. Tons of people did it, even teenagers, and it was legal to do it in many public spaces, and even around children. Combine the super common habit of smoking, along with alcohol...and it’s no wonder many people back then looked much older than their actual age.
For you young people I'll tell you that 80- 81 -82 was full of fantasy movies like Dragonslayer /Legend/ Xanadu/ The dark Crystal ....the blue lagoon was just a fantasy ! so when he said it's not realistic ......of course not😝
Blue Lagoon was on a lot of critics' worst lists, but not just because it wasn't realistic. Brooke Shields was like 15 at the time, so if it was legal in 1980, it soon wouldn't have been. I didn't know it was packaged as something wholesome like they say here, but that would explain why some people found it appalling.
What Gene said about disaster movies is exactly what is happening with comic book movies today.
Every DC movie is a disaster.
As movies (for the most part), comic book films today are fairly good but there are so many of them and most of them are remakes of remakes of remakes. It’s corporate cyncism at its worst.
And what was happening with slashers in the ‘80s
@hmdwgf, much like with Star Wars, I only choose a selected number of superhero movies that I want to watch. It's no big deal to me if I don't watch every movie, there's several other movies that aren't part of a big franchise that deserve a viewing too.
@@castle3267 There has always been oversaturated movie genres and fads. Difference was the 80s slasher movies weren't taken seriously and were for the most part low budget. Every single comic movie has huge budgets, are over marketed and billed as the next blockbuster movie. And even with all the money thrown at these comic films, they are mostly mediocre at best.
I love that Gene and Roger could alternately make each other laugh and then drive each other crazy. Once they found their chemistry, it was for the ages. Two smart guys with well informed opinions…sadly missing these days.
Wise words indeed. Besides being well-versed in film, they were both well read, highly intelligent men. The problem these days is that nobody reads anymore. Thus the severe lack of intellectual discourse among literally ANY group, critical or otherwise. It's mostly gaudy, foolish nonsense. "Mishegoss" as my mother would say.
One thing I vividly remember is how cool movie advertisements looked in newspapers in the late 70s and eighties. Studios were using artists to draw up action films and horror movie posters.
thanks to the uploader for putting these on TH-cam.one of my favorite shows on early cable.
"Fresh air and volleyball," LOL! Siskel & Ebert were so much fun to watch back in the day, way better than the movies they reviewed! Thumbs Up!
Of note is that this was their first "Worst of the Year" show; previously the "Dogs of the Year" segment was confined to their year-end "Best of the Year" shows (see their 1978 and 1979 "Best of the Year" installments).
Other films Gene Siskel hated in 1980 were "The Boogey Man", "New Year's Evil", "Silent Scream", "Friday the 13th", "Why Would I Lie?", "MAD Magazine Presents Up the Academy" (the magazine's staff was in agreement with a lot of the critics-including Gene-regarding that picture, even going as far as mocking it in the October 1980 issue), "Loving Couples", "Guyana: Cult of the Damned", "The Bermuda Triangle", "Wholly Moses!", "The Baltimore Bullet", "The Gong Show Movie", "The Runner Stumbles", "The Nude Bomb", and "Little Miss Marker". (SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, December 29, 1980)
I love how Mister Siskel would use his own puns and plays on words, like when he said The Gong Show Movie should have been a “dog-gonged movie.”
Siskel hated Betsy Palmer's role...while wearing John Travolta's Disco suit from Saturday Night Fever😏
I can't believe Siskel and Ebert even reviewed I Spit On Your Grave! LOL.
I gotta admit, I found that clip they showed from that one kind of FUNNY, .. . albeit in a SICK kind of way.
They didn't review it for their regular show. I don't even think they mentioned it as one of their Dogs of the Week (something that they did for both CALIGULA and WHEN TIME RAN OUT by comparison). It was released very late in 1980 and presumably they didn't want to give the movie that much attention around the blockbuster holiday releases that year like POPEYE and STIR CRAZY.
Caligula and I Spit On Your Grave are both in the Top 10 most disturbing movies of all time
For me, The Final Countdown is an entertaining, and re-watchable movie. It is also fairly original.
No its not...
The Final Countdown is a classic. These guys were off-base with this one
I always thought it was a TV movie. Entertaining flick.
Roger gave it 2 stars out of 4 in his print review, saying (in so many words) that the film had an interesting premise but didn't do much with it. It stands out in this group because his print reviews for the other films on his naughty list were scathing (what he wrote on I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE is just as damning as his stunned, sickened, angry response to that movie when he names it his worst film of 1980) and The Final Countdown's reads more like a film he'd have given a "thumbs-down, not the worst but doesn't quite work" review on if the movie had been released in 1985 or 1991.
I saw The Final Countdown many years ago. I watched it with a friend who liked movies like Back to the Future and The Time Machine. I didn’t think it was bad.
I saw all these movies as a kid on cable. I saw The Final Countdown around 10x loved it!
Spot's "MGM" is just amazing! Thanks so much for uploading these!
This was their best musical and visual introduction.
Yeah -- when they plopped down the popcorn and it spills, and the soda splashes
Is the music an original piece?
boy. that one scene with the arm being continuously slammed with the door is fucking _hilarious._ 16:16
Shlub who got hired to scare...man, he got a really rough deal.
Gene's description of Roger Moore playing an espionage agent in WW2 fighting Nazis on a ship in "ffolkes" is an indication he didn't even see the movie as none of that is true. It's a contemporary adventure, they're on an oil rig, the villains are terrorists, and Moore's character is the leader of a counter-terrorism unit.
I actually watch their original review to see if that mistake did appear in that review. It doesn't. It's obvious that he completely forgot what the movie was about.
@@patrickshields5251 It's clearly an easy movie to forget about! (It was directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, who also made Joe Don Baker's MST3K classic MITCHELL.)
Coincidentally both "ffolkes" and "The Sea Wolves" were made by the same director (Andrew V. McLaglen) but "The Sea Wolves" wasn't even released in the US until more than a full year after "ffolkes", so I don't think it can be the cause of Gene's confusion in this instance.
@@rosselliswilkinson It's actually called The Sea Wolves.
Right. It had nothing to do with WW2 or Nazis. And it wasn't a bad movie, nor was "The Mountain Men". I'd rather see either of those than what I'm sure was Siskel and Ebert's favorite movie for that year, "Raging Bull", which for me should have been called "Raging Boredom".
24:25 - Spot steals the show! Look at him peeking around Roger!
9:54 Gene gets a dig in at Rex Reed
LOL!
The Final Countdown was a good movie.
Maybe not original, but highly entertaining.
It was more of a gimmick than a film. The plot was paper-thin and the characters were one dimensional.
Along with XANADU, one of the movies listed here caused one John J.B. Wilson to form the Golden Raspberry Awards in early 1981. HINT: Roger Ebert starts discussing it at 13:25.
Lemme guess: It was filmed at the Y-M-C-A! I saw this on VH1 and it was incredibly stupid!
@@cliffordshafran9250 Answer: CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC.
@@jessecoffey4737 Siskel and Ebert, Musical Hell, and Cinematic Excrement has already warned me about this movie.
I am shocked by some of the past nominees of the GR. Stanley Kubrick for The Shining ? Brian De Palma for Scarface ?
@@patrickshields5251 Track down the Cinema Snob's review. Those are funny, but his is a lot funnier
Geez, the production values on "When Time Ran Out" makes it look like an episode of "The Six Million Dollar Man" or something.
Fun fact-With the $$$ he got doing When Time Ran Out Paul Newman started Newman's Own
@@donaldpaluga That is great to know!
@@donaldpaluga Interesting!
More than the production values, it's stunning to me that Irwin Allen failed to evolve with the film industry. Apparently, he couldn't understand why Star Wars was a success.
I remember they used to show that movie on Showtime in 80-81 constantly.
BOY,Do I miss these two guys.I love it when they give good reviews of movies I love and bad reviews of movies that I REALLY hate.unfortunitly, they sometimes give bad reviews of movies that I like.although to be ho nest, it's always fun to watch these two tear apart a really, REALLY bad movie.R.I.P to both
GENE SISKEL and ROGER EBERT.
1980 did mark the end or close to the end of a few movie trends:
-Disaster Movies: While "Airplane!" was a terrific parody, the bad box office receipts of the latter day disaster flicks killed that genre. The public realized that these movies were all the same, with only difference being the disasters themselves. -The International Thriller: These movies had ad posters with the bottom filled with international stars. While Gene may've forgotten what Ffolks was all about, he was right when he said that they cared more about the financing than the script.
-The "Saturday Night Fever" ripoffs-The poor box office receipts of "Can't Stop the Music" and "Xanadu" helped end that trend, though the worst ripoff IMO (The sequel Staying Alive) did pretty well. Of course, the popularity of Disco music also ended in late 1979.
-Low-grade Kung Fu Bruce Lee ripoffs also nearly ran their course. Only Chuck Norris managed to continue his career awhile longer.
-Slasher movies had a long way to go before that genre faded away, and it really didn't fade out all that much.
The International Thriller is still around: Bourne / Mission Impossible/ even Fast & Furious films are basically retreads of those old movies...
Good points !
heaven's gate pretty much killed the new hollywood movement too
The end of the disaster film might have been the best thing about the 1980s. Unfortunately a few studios insisted on reviving the trend to make terrible disaster movies in the 90s.
Xanadu, Can't Stop..., and Popeye more or less killed the musical for a few years.
Slashers, as we know them today, were only getting started in 1980. Ever since Texas Chainsaw in 1974 they slowly rose in popularity until 1978 when Halloween hit audiences too close to home. After that everyone was trying to rip it off.
Loved that theme song!.I knew when I heard it I was going to see new movies(before the days of VCR's) on my TV set..Sure, it was in 25 second clips but I always got excited for it!
that thing they said about _Airplane!_ effectively killing of the "Disaster" genre actually turned out to be incredibly true.
Until the 90's.
thanks for uploading ... grew up on these shows!
So did I!
Great transfer! Audio’s a lil’ soft, but looks good!
Both Siskel and Ebert have separately stated that "I Spit on your Grave" was the most depressing experience they had as movie critics. I haven't seen the film, but have read reviews about it, All of which call it a celebration of sadism against a helpless victim, who then gets revenge on her attackers, one by one; and then the film ends. That's the entire plot.
Shame on everyone who appeared in that film, especially the actors. It proves the very depressing point that actors will take any job, no matter how personally degrading or humiliating it is. Every actor who turns down a role like this preserves their own dignity and the dignity of actors in general.
literally the lead actress got married to the director??? literally all of the actresses have said this role is empowering to them??? literally the entire point of the movie is to show that rape is abhorrent??? all the rapists die??? feminist critics and anti-rape activists have reclaimed the movie for decades??? assault survivors (such as myself) usually find it cathartic??? I promise you, it's well worth a watch and maybe the most honest, critical film about violence against women ever made. highly recommended. I even have a tattoo from it.
If you were 13 years old like I was in 1980 The Blue Lagoon was a very good movie. The Final Countdown was also fun to watch. Like others have said I’ve seen it several times. Still miss the great report between Siskel and Ebert. Two great personas of the 20th Century. Some of their moralizing does seem a bit stodgy and conservative looking back on it, but who doesn’t have faults. Terrific human beings nonetheless.
There’s a lot of classic stars in these dogs.
The Blue Lagoon made a ton of money that year.. The Final Countdown was one of my favorites that year.
" Laughing and scratching in the wilderness "...lmbo. I love these guys.
I absolutely love the intro to this show! The best one they ever had :)
I'm surprised Friday the 13th wasn't listed.
"Ffolkes," Caligula," and "I Spit On Your Grave" are masterpieces, in my opinion.
Absolutely correct Sir. Caligula is THE ultimate in swords and sandals big screen enjoyment. I spit on your grave is a masterpiece of revenge. I'm sorry but I never saw Ffolkes.
@@darkstarZ74 The film is otherwise known as "North Sea Hijack." I await your review: th-cam.com/video/k73XxHg_9i4/w-d-xo.html
1980 was 40 years ago Holy Smokes
Roger Moore has called “ffolkes” (aka “North Sea Hijack”) his favorite role. He has a lot of fun in it. Also, the film had nothing to do with Nazis or World War 2.
The fact that someone saw fit to re-make “I Spit on Your Grave” is a sad commentary on humanity.
At this point, Hollywood will remake ANYTHING that turned a profit.
I watched it. Sheer garbage.
"Never underestimate the depravity of men" -Paul Holes, homicide detective
The remake makes the original look like a masterpiece in comparison. Maybe that was the intention, if so it makes it all the more infuriating.
The original "I Spit..." is an exploitation horror B-movie icon. It is a bit slow-paced though, and it could use more gore, so I guess that's why they remade it. A much more honest endeavor than remaking an universally well-know blockbuster, fucking it up, and cashing in.
Spot is so cute.
Puppy!
Which one is Spot?
I LOVED "The Final Countdown"! Ok, it WAS dumb, but I did love it.
Yes, but you have to admit: In the end, NOTHING happens. I remember the theater cheering when they were going to go shoot down the Zeros, then... zero.
Strangely, Roger Ebert's print review of The Final Countdown wasn't that bad. He didn't LIKE the movie per se, and only gave it 2 stars out of 4, but it's a pretty big leap from a two-star rating to placing in on the Worst Of list for a year. If you want to read a review where Roger's loathing of a movie comes through strongly, the zero-stars entry he wrote for I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE will suffice nicely; every word makes it clear he's never seen a movie he hated more than that one.
I agree. I would describe "The Final Countdown" more as a Guilty Pleasure than a Turkey.
The Linda Ronstadt song was a nice touch.
I gotta admit, I found that clip they showed from I Spit On Your Grave kind of FUNNY, .. . albeit, in a SICK kind of way.
I can't believe this was 39 years ago.
On the ones I saw...
When time ran out was a wash out, Irwin Allen had success with 1972 The Poseidon Adventure and 1974 The Towering Inferno, should have left it at that.
Can't stop the Music, aside from The Village People music, a sheer waste of Panavision filming .
The Blue Lagoon, in my opinion was OK ,simple story line,but the breathtaking cinematography and the beautiful soundtrack for me made the film.
The only thing I can say about Caligula-- REPULSIVE !!!
I'm a big fan of The Blue Lagoon, I think it would of been great if the special addition of the movie on DVD would of included this review, that would of been funny.
4:11 For a while, Roger, yes. For a while. But the 90s are waiting patiently to dunk our heads in it like never before...
Best line in this review: "peekaboo with sex"
8:49 Oops, probably should've chosen a different clip lol.
I noticed that too!
It's interesting to realize that the "international thriller" is now extinct. Or what Ebert later referred to with the Box Rule:
Box Rule: Useful rule-of-thumb about movie advertisements that have a row of little boxes across the bottom, each one showing the face of a different international star and the name of a character (e.g., “Curt Jurgens as the Commandant”). The rule is: Automatically avoid such films.
Some still exist. Jon Hamm in Beirut was pretty good.
Such movies were more prevalent throughout the 1970's. Almost all of them were agressively advertised package deals and not real movies.
@@cliffordshafran9250 Some of these movies were based on books, but I'm starting to think that these studios were making these movies to exploit these source materials.
Extinct??? You have your head in the clouds! What about those god-awful Mission Impossible movies they keep churning out? I hate Simon Pegg!!
This sort of gathering is always hilarious.
four of these films had staying power. i loved the final countdown and blue lagoon was hot if a little boring
Siskel and Ebert obviously didn't see The Apple, did they?
Not only was it not screened for critics (aside from those who attended the 1980 Montreal World Film Festival), it did not even play in Chicago, where an October 1980 release date listed by Wikipedia is not corroborated by anything I could find in the Tribune archives.
@@jessecoffey4737 It was shown at the 1980 Chicago International Film Festival; maybe the response there killed hopes of a release.
yeah, BLUE LAGOON is bad...but it's such a fu**ing guilty pleasure movie for me.
It wasted Brooke Shields’ talent. She could act, as seen in Pretty Baby, which was surprisingly Siskel’s SECOND best movie in all of 1978. Ebert also liked the film, and both lauded Brooke’s performance in that one.
I guess the director of Blue Lagoon didn’t know how to direct children.
4:34 Gene Siskel clearly explains the reason why I am starting to wean off of Marvel films. The Marvel Cinematic Universe that has its share of great movies, but after TWENTY FOUR FILMS I shouldn’t be the only one to notice a basic plot formula these movies follow. You might know what I’m talking about.
That also means they were NEVER good to begin with. All 25+ movies have aged terribly after one viewing or a year. They will never stand the test of time like Superman 1978 and Batman 1989.
The only good Marvel film is Iron Man.
My husband went to a bachelor party back in the day and one of the guys bought the movie Caligula.
How many of these do you remember? I remember some from Roger's reviews in his Companions.
You forgot to include the movie “Windows” on your description list
Sad this was one of if not the last william holden film
"S.O.B." was his last, and came out shortly before his death in 1981.
Gracias!@@orbyfan
Also like in a 1950's movie, Charlton Heston was still a complete ham of an actor.
Can’t believe they didn’t like The Final Countdown; seems like a movie that Roger would love, at least.
I grew up watching these guys, and- as a fan of cheesy horror- often laughed a bit at their squeamishness, but what’s interesting rewatching their reviews is that they actually are self-appointed moralists as much as they are film critics, which seems very unacademic in retrospect. They come across as genuinely concerned about America’s consumption of low-brow entertainment and its long-term effects on our culture and psyche, like amateur sociologists. Seems quaint but also kind of cute that they cared.
i always found it a bit obnoxious, their pearl clutching and their snobbishness. just critique the movie dont go get all high and mighty and be outraged or indignant over films. its what bothered me most about the show for all those years. i didnt care that they didnt like a lot of my favorite fims or gave them bad ratings, but when they would start preaching and like i said acting all indignant ugh.
Ironic considering Ebert is an OG purveyor of Hollywood B movie softcore trash i.e. Valley of the Dolls, etc. Fuckin' hypocrite.
Hey, Blue Lagoon was Great! ;-)
'Paradise' with Phoebe Cates was better. 'Blue Lagoon' used body doubles and was a major bore.
There was a movie from 1980 I always loved. Was worried that it would be here. It wasn't. Yay.
What movie is that? Just curious.
And that movie was.........................?
Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown?
Every year has terrible movies, but these were so surreally bad, it's interesting to watch this. How many directors and studio heads would have been sober for 3 consecutive hours in a day in 1980?
1980 must have been a pretty bad year when their worst of lists don't include Friday the 13th and Heaven's Gate.
I'm guessing they thought that *Friday the 13th* was too typical a slasher movie to be put there. As for *Heaven's Gate,* that was on their Dogs of 1981 show, and that got uploaded separately by the same user.
@@jessecoffey4737 You're probably right about Friday the 13th. I saw the Heaven's Gate part after I wrote this. I always think of Heaven's Gate as 1980.
@@johnfitzpatrick3094 Heaven's Gate killed off the era of autuer driven Hollywood productions, which inadvertently kept Hollywood's blockbuster culture going.
@@patrickshields5251 I agree. I remember Francis Coppola called the 70's as the inmates taking over the insane asylum, and the 80's as the studios taking the asylum back.
@@johnfitzpatrick3094 Speaking of Hollywood's blockbuster culture, Siskel and Ebert actually predicted this in their year end show for 1978 that the blockbusters are crowding out the smaller films. They could never be more right because now where getting so many super hero films. So not much has changed after they died.
For me, The Blue Lagoon is an entertaining and watchable movie. It is also fairly original.
When the Budget Ran Out.
Among other things...
I liked the final countdown it's a great what-if.
Sadly I disagree with their comments about audiences being disappointed about getting the same old film over and over again. For a lot of the audience it's what they want, they know what they're getting, studios are less likely to take risks when they can just play it safe. Audiences though often know when they've seem something special.
I Spit On Your Grave is probably the most despicable film I've ever seen. And I haven't seen The Human Centipede films or A Serbian Film.
I heard A Serbian Film is sick!🤮
In I Spit on Your Grave the woman got her revenge and you could come away cheering for her. If you want disgusting take a shower afterwards try Watching August Undergrounds Morden in its entirety.
If you understand the concept of 70's exploitation movies, there's nothing truly despicable about I Spit on Your Grave. Even the rape scenes in movies like Death Wish 2 feel more impactful. A Serbian Film is bullshit, "look at me, I'm so shocking!".
@@mousiespanks2379 I understand the catharthis factor, but I think what sickened me was that the men who committed the r*pe had more screentime than the woman (at least that's what I remember) and the r*pe scenes went on for so long, that it felt like the film went overkill in trying to show how sick they were. Apparently, the director wanted this to be an anti-r*pe film, but stuff like what I mentioned made me question what the film's real priorities were.
"Can't Stop the Music" was the first movie I saw in the theater as a boy in which I thought to myself "now this is a really lousy movie"!
It helps to be aggressively gay when watching it.
While not the first movie I saw I had a similar experience with Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I was ten years old when I saw it and thought “Wow! What a boring piece of shit!”
Hope that didn't stop you from seeing films in theaters.
@@HC-cb4yp pervert!
@@rosario508 As a 10 year old, not understanding the backdrop to the 1st Trek movie, I can easily understand how it would be boring. Seeing it as an adult and understanding how amazing it was to see the cast board the Enterprise for the first time in several years, it was a magical experience.
Blue Lagoon was one of the movies of all time.
Ffolkes takes place during World War II with helicopters, oil platforms and a Margaret Thatcher type Prime Minister?!?
Did they even see the film? This beats calling Time After Time a comedy featuring Jack the Ripper. These guys were really dense.
Two movies I have and will NEVER watch is Caligula and I Spit On Your Grave
I don’t blame you
Im surprised HBO didnt reboot CALIGULA...oh wait...GAME OF THRONES??
What about "Rome"?
@@reneedennis2011 Spartacus
@@donaldpaluga Yup. That show, too.
Irwin Allen was a cartoon caricature of a producer. His behavior was so obnoxious and off-putting, that he wound up ruining his own productions, which were already pretty schlocky (Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants, Lost in Space). These three series were successful in spite of Irwin, not because of him, and he wound up getting all three series canceled within six months of each other and getting kicked off the studio lot because of his behavior.
I liked ffolkes. It was a good thriller. Also, I think Gene was wrong when he said it took place during WWII. IIRC, it took place during the present day of 1979/1980.
Maybe because the film is simply so forgettable and that's why he got it wrong.
@@connorbrennan4233 Or maybe he saw so many films that year that he forgot the details. I mean, ffolkes is not the greatest movie ever made to be sure, but I don't think it's the flop that Siskel and Ebert were making it out to be.
"Blue Lagoon" and "Can't Stop the Music", two of the biggest all-time turkeys
I think the main problem with Caligula is that the screenplay is diametrically opposed to the purposes of the film. The film makes a big point about showing all the pornography, but the screenplay is focused up on how such prurience is evil. So, how can you enjoy the pornography while being told that you are wicked for enjoying it? They should have maybe adapted a specific classical work with erotic elements like the Golden Ass, or Satyricon, or Daphnis and Chloe instead. (though I suppose Daphnis and Chloe is a bit close to the material in Blue Lagoon, so the critics wouldn't have like that either.)
I've seen the R-rated version of Calígula, and it's just as lot of nudity. It was so silly!
Paul Smith "It's not good art, it's not good filmmaking, and it's not good porn."--Roger Ebert re: Caligula
It seems like they disregarded any film that had any sort of “exploitation” in it without acknowledging the redeeming elements they had. The film Caligula may not have had a great script, but the acting, set design, and overall directing was honestly top notch. It has a lot of graphic sex and gore, but the whole theme of the film was about the perversion of the Roman Empire, so it’s not really out of place.
Were these at movie theaters!?
Yes all theatrically released but flopped
The clips were as long as the movie...smile
8:33 This Scene Was Probably Made For Television
24:30
You thought that was bad? They made TWO sequels!!!
Noooo! I actually really liked Ffolks.
Not to mention The Wild Geese!
Now my love our only memory will be of me gently slamming that intruders hand in the door. Ahh memories.
First off, Sisk & Eb found 1980 to be a truly horrible year the movies. Hell, several films that one or both of them gave ZERO STARS to didn't make the worst-of list: MOTHER'S DAY, THE EXTERMINATOR, and GUYANA: CULT OF THE DAMNED. Also, they only left FRIDAY THE 13TH off the list because they had other horror films to focus on, and hated Charlton Heston's THE AWAKENING as much as THE MOUNTAIN MEN (again, they didn't want to overdo the horror/slasher film coverage).Second...the look on Roger's face as he finishes watching that horrible clip from I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE is genuinely unsettling in how sickened and shocked he is. And the line where he says "The people who made this film should really be ashamed of themselves, and so should the people who booked it and the people who went to see it. It's really an inhuman, sick film", highlights all the ways that he's the GOAT film critic.
Bullshit. Mother's Day, Exterminator, I Spit on Your Grave... these are all exploitation/B-movie cult classics. Films like these shouldn't be approached as if they were some self-important hollywood drama with a "message". As for Charlton Heston, I don't have to tell you what jewish liberals thought of him and his movies back then, and it is no coincidence that they relentlessly targeted Stallone, Selleck and Reynolds next.
I thought The Final Countdown was pretty cool as a kid!
Watching this in 2021 and still fascinated by their critique of such garbage :)
One of the guys in "Can't Stop The Music" looks like Caitlin Jenner.
This is the reverse of living under a rock (unless you’re sarcastic).
@@littlekingtrashmouth9219OK Dr Cooper😏
Final Countdown was awesome!
I first saw "The Blue Lagoon" on cable in 1981 while I was still in JH, and instantly had a crush on Brooke Shields. So, needless to say I was a big fan of the movie at the time. But, then I re-watched it 12-years later and was laughing at how bad the writing and acting was, especially from Chris Atkins. Plus, Brooke Shields was only 15 at the time, and she's half-naked the entire movie. Which makes the film not only bad, but bad in a creepy kind of way. Something I didn't understand when I was still in JH.
I thought "Ffolkes" had potential as a thriller with an interesting premise, and Roger Moore's character was interesting in that he despised women - the exact opposite of James Bond. Yes, it was overdone with some poor acting, but Siskel and Ebert trashed it more than it deserved.
Caligula is one of my all time favorite movies. There's a good movie there in between the porn and Malcolm McDowell was awesome.
"It's not good art, it's not good filmmaking, and it's not good porn."--Roger Ebert on Caligula
@@davidl570 I think he's right about the porn, but there's a good movie in between the porn and it's actually accurate, or at least is faithful to Suetonius.
I love how Gene admits to lusting after Brooke Shields in Blue Lagoon, waiting for her clothes to fall off, but conveniently omits the fact that she was a CHILD.
Krusty the Klown in "The Blue Haired Goon" is better than the Blue Lagoon.
Didn't Siskel & Ebert realize that by giving these films any publicity audiences would be rushing out to see it? This is why I Spit on Your Grave found an audience.
They did, but I think that the people who watches this show can decide whether they want to go see them or not. I think that Siskel & Ebert onky gave their opinions on new movies to the viewing audience
@@patcrites5274 I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE did very well on the emerging video-rental market in 1981 and 1982, both in the U.S. and the UK for some reason. It found its audience there, and that was enough to make it profitable.
The blue lagoon was my first porno 👍🏼
Gene was 34 Roger was 38, that's crazy how these are men in their 30s??? It's true people looked older in the past
I once looked through my mother's yearbook and everyone in it looked over 30.
Yeah, SMOKING had a lot to do with it. Ask anyone who was a child pre-1980...most of them will tell you the literal smell of cigarettes is a big part of their childhood memories.
Tons of people did it, even teenagers, and it was legal to do it in many public spaces, and even around children.
Combine the super common habit of smoking, along with alcohol...and it’s no wonder many people back then looked much older than their actual age.
The Apple didn't make it on this list? Must have been a really bad year.
I like The Apple!
For you young people I'll tell you that 80- 81 -82 was full of fantasy movies like Dragonslayer /Legend/ Xanadu/ The dark Crystal ....the blue lagoon was just a fantasy ! so when he said it's not realistic ......of course not😝
Blue Lagoon was on a lot of critics' worst lists, but not just because it wasn't realistic. Brooke Shields was like 15 at the time, so if it was legal in 1980, it soon wouldn't have been. I didn't know it was packaged as something wholesome like they say here, but that would explain why some people found it appalling.
Legend came out in 1985.
Clash of the Titans and Beastmaster too!
The 80s. A time when "Rotten Tomatoes" had real intelligent unbiased opinions. It was a better simpler time.
Get off my lawn!