Siskel & Ebert (TV Series)

L.A. Story/Sleeping with the Enemy/The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Roger Ebert: Self - Host

Quotes 

• Gene Siskel - Host : [reviewing "The Silence of the Lambs"]  The horrors of female abuse are too much with us, I think now, to be trifled with anymore in the movies. We had this complaint about, uh, the picture involving Julia Roberts, I have it again here. I didn't learn a thing about serial killers from this movie; a much more honest, less exploitative film on the same subject was last year's "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer". By contrast, "The Silence of the Lambs" is a star-studded freak show, directed by the usually enormously talented Jonathan Demme, who I think, for the first time in his career, has picked a surprisingly trashy project.

  Roger Ebert - Host : Well... this is a tough film to review, because of course, in terms of its subject matter, one can easily target it as you have. And also, I think that the ending doesn't really work. Once she gets into the house of Buffalo Bill, it does become a standard "who's behind this door, gonna jump on me from the shadows". The first part of this film, though, Gene, is terrifically effective, partially because of the real tension, the dynamic interaction between Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins. It's one of the most peculiar and fascinating relationships I've seen in a movie in a long time. Hopkins is very good here, Foster is very good here. The dialogue is at a very high level of intelligence, and the movie works, not perhaps in the same way as "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer", but effectively, and I think that you're really short-changing a lot of skill and craft and art that went into this film.

  Gene Siskel - Host : No no, sometimes you say, "I think you blew it on this one", I think, I think you're being too easy on this picture in this way: He is presented, uh, the Anthony Hopkins character, is presented as this big, evil thing going down there to see him, a journey into Hell, and all that. And frankly, he was so pumped up, and the music was so pumped up at such a high level that...

  Roger Ebert - Host : It worked for me. It worked.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Well then, you're easy, because I, because for me, I thought, "Oh come on." A guy who's TRULY frightening doesn't need, uh, you know, a huge organ playing in the background. I didn't buy it at all.

  Roger Ebert - Host : This is the MOVIES. What did you want? A documentary, a black and white television, shoot it on videotape?

  Gene Siskel - Host : No, you know why "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" works is because these people, my intuition, I don't have any first-hand knowledge, these people tend to be kinda dull.

  Roger Ebert - Host : Well, they're two different kinds of movies, and you're using one to criticize the other instead of...

  Gene Siskel - Host : Yes, we ALWAYS do that, Roger. We say a better picture on the same subject.

  Roger Ebert - Host : Why can't you criticize this on its own terms, instead of...

  Gene Siskel - Host : I'm criticizing it on its own terms. I didn't, I wasn't compelled by anybody, except, I suppose, the Jodie Foster character as a "strong woman".

  Roger Ebert - Host : Come on, a great performance.

  Gene Siskel - Host : Not a "great" performance, a decent performance. She's following...

  Roger Ebert - Host : Anthony Hopkins...

  Gene Siskel - Host : No. I thought that was way overplayed.