# RIP Roger Ebert 1942-2013 \[was 'Roger Ebert's cancer is back'\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 3, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744 "2013-04-03T17:38:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/61 "2013-04-04T21:15:50Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > I would like to imagine that he’s just been greeted by Gene Siskel, who chided him about what took him so long, and they’re already off and running with a part-serious argument about some film. They’re probably doing it right now. The idea alone makes me smile. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/62 "2013-04-04T21:20:54Z")
Bummer. Like a lot of people, I grew up watching Siskel & Ebert. I usually agreed with Siskel more, but Ebert was the better writer. R.I.P. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/63 "2013-04-04T21:34:11Z")
[From ThinkProgress:](http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2013/04/04/1825441/the-five-best-things-roger-ebert-said-about-politics/) > [@](#): > > **The Five Best Things Roger Ebert Said About Politics** > > By ThinkProgress on Apr 4, 2013 at 4:47 pm > > Legendary film critic Roger Ebert passed away today after a long, public and inspiring battle with cancer. But in addition to being one of the most famous movie reviewers of all-time, Ebert was an outspoken political progressive. > > Here are five of Ebert’s best quotes about politics: > > 1. “I am proudly a liberal. I am also patriotic, reasonable, pro-American, and stand for family values.” [March 2010] > > 2. “I have watched with a kind of petrified fascination in recent years as the world creeps closer to what looks to me like disastrous climate change. The poles are melting. Ocean levels are rising. The face of the planet is torn by unprecedented natural disasters. States of emergency have become so routine that governors always seem to be proclaiming one. Do they have drafts of proclamations on file?” [March 2013] > > 3. “That James Holmes is insane, few may doubt. Our gun laws are also insane, but many refuse to make the connection…This would be an excellent time for our political parties to join together in calling for restrictions on the sale and possession of deadly weapons. That is unlikely, because the issue has become so closely linked to paranoid fantasies about a federal takeover of personal liberties that many politicians feel they cannot afford to advocate gun control.” [July 2012] > > 4. “I believe emphathy is the most essential quality of a civilization.” [May 2012] > > 5. “In the years since then I’ve known a fair share of gay couples who seemed as established and content as other couples, some more some less. In a society that was slowly outgrowing the traditions of patriarchy and matriarchy, they’d made a lateral move into humanarchy. The idea of them being joined in a civil union was a no-brainer. They’d cast their lot together, shared their duties, had an implicit agreement to stand by each other, and certainly deserved to have their relationship recognized by the state if only for reasons of ownership and inheritance.” [August 2010] ---
**Author:** ![artemis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/91b2a8/32.png) [@artemis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/artemis)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/64 "2013-04-04T21:45:17Z")
Damn. Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn. All those projects he’d listed in his last blog post, never to come to fruition. A great talent silenced forever. Farewell, Mr. Ebert. You will be greatly missed. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/65 "2013-04-04T21:46:43Z")
I just read [the story that the AP is running about Mr. Ebert’s death](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBIT_EBERT?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-04-04-17-08-12), and it ends (fittingly, I thought) with this: > [@](#): > > Ebert wrote in 2010 that he did not fear death because he didn’t believe there was anything “on the other side of death to fear.” > > “I was perfectly content before I was born, and I think of death as the same state,” he wrote. “I am grateful for the gifts of intelligence, love, wonder and laughter. You can’t say it wasn’t interesting.” ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/66 "2013-04-04T22:02:56Z")
RIP Roger. I heard just yesteday on the news that he was announcing a “Leave of Presence”, which I thought was an awesome phrase. (I see the OP mentioned that phrase. I obviously posted without reading…) ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/67 "2013-04-04T22:05:57Z")
is this a thumbs up in honor or a thumbs down for what it is? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/68 "2013-04-04T22:19:20Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I find that I’ve been disagreeing with his reviews at an increased rate lately, but there is no one else - critic or otherwise - who I enjoy reading more. You said it. I probably haven’t agreed with an Ebert review in a decade, but the man was (and likely always will be) the best film writer ever. One of my most favorite Ebert moments was when he was discussing John Carpenter’s Vampires in his Answer Man column. Someone asked if he thought the treatment of the female lead (she’s regularly hog-tied and slapped around by Daniel Baldwin) was misogynistic. Ebert wrote that treating any woman that way was reprehensible, but considering the fact that she was a vampire who moments before had tried to eat Baldwin’s face, she got off lightly. Just a perfectly witty answer. RIP Roger. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/69 "2013-04-04T22:22:07Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > The Chicago Sun Times is reporting that he has passed away. HOLY CRAP! That’s not enough time to get used to the idea! I was just dealing with the idea that his cancer was back. I enjoyed his writing, and when he reviewed something, I had a good idea whether or not I’d like it, regardless if he did, by the reasoning he’d use. I enjoyed his writing, and he was my only go-to critic. I’d read other reviews, but I didn’t seek them out by name. Snowboarder Bo, great quote. Thanks for posting it, and I’ll join with others in enjoying the statement, “Leave of presence”. Think I’ll use this one in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/70 "2013-04-04T22:24:11Z")
[A particularly good piece from the AV Club](http://www.avclub.com/articles/some-thoughts-on-the-death-of-roger-ebert,96102/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=standard-post:headline:default). > [@](#): > > If you lived in Des Moines or Missoula—or the Toledo suburb where I grew up—there was a likelihood that you wouldn’t have known films like\* My Dinner With André \*or \*Hoop Dreams \*existed were it not for their advocacy. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/71 "2013-04-04T22:32:15Z")
My goodness. This is a sad thing to read. I really respected him as a writer and he appeared to be a really good man, as well. Dang. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/72 "2013-04-04T22:36:21Z")
☹ I’m going to have to get used to thinking, “I wonder what Roger Ebert would have thought of this movie?” ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/73 "2013-04-04T22:37:22Z")
Roger Ebert was a great guy. A friend tweeted him and though it took a couple months, actually got a “Thank You” back. I have no doubt that for the longest time, he must have replied to most of the people who wrote to him. **Personally.** 🆒 He was a man who wrote what he believed and while I didn’t always agree with his movie opinions, I never doubted once that that was honestly how he felt. The cancer? Horrible. He was a public figure… and it took his Face. ☹ I can’t imagine anything worse. But, it didn’t stop him. If anything, he refused to let it stop him. He pushed on with a power and a presence that made guys with just average or ugly faces question ourselves: I mean, here is a man happy and smiling in a rubber prosthetic mask. What kind of excuse did We have to hide ours in shame if _he_ could smile and bravely face the world!? Roger Ebert’s #1 quote according to Google is “Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you.” Sir, I hope someday to be less confused, but I Know that I am sad right now…and I Know that that is the Truth. If I’m very lucky…Someday… maybe I Will see you at “The Movies”. I promise I’ll turn off my cellphone & the popcorn will be on me… ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/74 "2013-04-04T22:43:15Z")
> [@bup](#): > > And it’s a weirdly fast progression. Probably not “progression” so much as of one the acute complications that people with cancer can develop such as a pulmonary embolism, i.e. blood clot going to the lungs (which are especially common if there’s been a fracture of the hip as in Roger’s case). ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/75 "2013-04-04T22:45:06Z")
And he won a Pulitzer for his writing. Damn. I’ve followed Roger Ebert his entire career, way back in the At The Movies Days, and I bought all his books. They’re so amazing, those collections of reviews, he was so prolific, and so entertaining. I still have a couple of his books that I keep to just pick up and read when I can’t fall asleep. RIP, Mr. Ebert. You brought a lot to the world of entertainment, and I admired you so much. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/76 "2013-04-04T22:49:09Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > The cancer? Horrible. He was a public figure… and it took his Face. ☹ I can’t imagine anything worse. And his voice. And he was a man who loved to eat and it took that, too. But you know what? [He remained Roger Ebert, and because of his writing he was able to communicate that to us.](http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2008/11/siskel_ebert_the_jugular.html) Dealing with those kinds of losses - for yourself and for people around you - is incredibly difficult and he rose to that challenge and shared it with others. I like to think he helped a lot of people handle that, and if he helped them even a little, that’s a tremendous thing. And one of the gifts the Internet and other technology gives us is that we get to have more of people like Roger Ebert. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/77 "2013-04-04T22:51:34Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > And he won a Pulitzer for his writing. Leading to his epic comment to Rob Schneider. Short version for those who don’t know the story: Most critics panned Schneider’s movie _Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo_ but one, Patrick Goldstein, particularly pissed off Schneider, who published a snide response essentially calling Goldstein a hack who had not exactly won a Pulitzer for his own work and was therefore unqualified to judge the work of others. Ebert entered the fray with a defense of Goldstein, then ended with this to Schneider: > [@](#): > > “But Schneider is correct, and Patrick Goldstein has not yet won a Pulitzer Prize. Therefore, Goldstein is not qualified to complain that Columbia financed “Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo” while passing on the opportunity to participate in “Million Dollar Baby,” “Ray,” “The Aviator,” “Sideways” and “Finding Neverland.” As chance would have it, I have won the Pulitzer Prize, and so I am qualified. Speaking in my official capacity as a Pulitzer Prize winner, Mr. Schneider, your movie sucks.” Supposedly, he and Schneider became sorta kinda buddies afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/78 "2013-04-04T22:58:15Z")
[Ebert’s review of _Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo_](http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20050811%2FREVIEWS%2F50725001%2F1023&AID1=%2F20050811%2FREVIEWS%2F50725001%2F1023&AID2=) gives a much better synopsis of the events than I gave above. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/79 "2013-04-04T23:01:38Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Supposedly, he and Schneider became sorta kinda buddies afterwards. I think the same kind of thing happened after his initial pan (and later reappraisal) of Vincent Gallo’s _The Brown Bunny_. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744/80 "2013-04-04T23:04:43Z")
Probably my favorite review of his ever: [Jaws the Revenge](http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19870720/REVIEWS/707200301/1023). A sample: > [@](#): > > I believe that the shark wants revenge against Mrs. Brody. I do. I really do believe it. After all, her husband was one of the men who hunted this shark and killed it, blowing it to bits. And what shark wouldn’t want revenge against the survivors of the men who killed it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-roger-ebert-1942-2013-was-roger-eberts-cancer-is-back/654744.md?page=5)