Sneak Previews

Reviews of “Continental Divide”, “Only When I Laugh”, “Body Heat”, “Mommie Dearest”, and “First Monday in October”.  Gene and Roger introduce Sparky the Wonder-Dog, whose dogs of the week are “Hollywood High Part 2” and “Chu Chu and the Philly Flash”.

Reviews of “Carbon Copy”, “Prince of the City”, and “The French Lieutenant’s Woman”

Reviews of “Rich and Famous”, “So Fine”, “Gallipoli”, “True Confessions”, and “Cattle Annie and Little Britches”.  Dogs of the week are “The Kinky Coaches and the Pom Pom Pussycats” and “A Hard Way to Die”.

Gene and Roger discuss movies directed at adolescent audiences.

Reviews of “…All the Marbles”, “Southern Comfort”, “Stevie”, and “Chariots of Fire”.  Dogs of the week are “Fantasies” and “Hell Night”.

Reviews of “Body and Soul” and “Looker”

Reviews of “The Watcher in the Woods”, “Halloween II”, “Priest of Love”, and “Chanel Solitaire”.  Dogs of the week are “Fear No Evil” and “Ms. 45”.

Reviews of “Time Bandits”, “The Woman Next Door”, “Man of Iron”, and “The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper”.  Dogs of the week are “Lovers and Liars” and “Haunts”.

Reviews of “Tattoo” and “Raggedy Man”.

Reviews of “The Onion Field” (1979), “Fingers” (1978), “Bye-Bye Brazil” (1979), “Stroszek” (1977), “The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith” (1978), and “Gates of Heaven” (1978).  Sparky the Wonder-Dog has the week off; no dogs this week.

Reviews of “Absence of Malice”, “Buddy, Buddy”, “Pixote”, and “Ragtime”.  Roger’s dog of the week is “The 7 Grandmasters”, but Gene’s pick ,“Adios Amigo”, turned out to be unexpectedly enjoyable.

Reviews of “Heartbeeps”, the re-release of 1950’s “Cinderella”, “Taps”, and “Taxi Zum Klo”.  Sparky the Wonder-Dog visits on his day off (no dogs this week) so Gene and Roger can recap the holiday season's movies that are worth seeing.

Once again, Gene and Roger each share their picks for the top ten films of the past year.  There was also a special mention of the re-release of the 1927 silent classic “Napoleon”.  Since many the films were still in theaters, this episode was repeated (with newly recorded "bookends") on April 1st.

The worst widely-released, disappointing and inexplicable films of the year.

Reviews of “Whose Life is it, Anyway?”, “Four Friends”, “On Golden Pond”, and “Modern Problems”.  Dogs of the week are “The Children” and “Jack the Ripper”.

Reviews of “Zoot Suit”, “Venom”, “The Border”, and “Personal Best”.  Dogs of the week are “Vice Squad” and “Jaws of the Black Dragon”.

Reviews of “Cannery Row”, “The Boat is Full”, “Soldier Girls”, and “Making Love”.  Dogs of the week are “Private Lessons” and “Super Fuzz”.

Reviews of “Shoot the Moon”, “Night Crossing”, “Montenegro”, and “One From the Heart”.  Sparky comes to visit on his day off, as Gene and Roger take the Academy to task over two actors with historic performances who were snubbed this year.

Reviews of “Evil Under the Sun”, “Union City”, “The Amateur”, and “Quest for Fire”.  Dogs of the week are “The Creeper”, originally titled “Rituals” (1977), and “Nightmare County” (1977).

Reviews of “The Seduction”, “Vernon, Florida”, “Ticket to Heaven”, and “Missing”.  Sparky again comes in on his day off, as Gene and Roger discuss a new Academy Awards category.

Reviews of “Porky’s”, “El Salvador, Another Vietnam”, “Deathtrap”, “Richard Pryor, Live on the Sunset Strip”, and “Das​ ​Boot”.  Dogs of the week are “Madman” and “Great White”.

Gene opened the show with a review of Neil Simon's "I Ought to Be in Pictures" which Roger thought was redeemed by good performances, but Gene thought was sappy and silly. Neither liked the Chuck Norris science fiction horror adventure "Silent Rage" which they both thought was ridiculous. They split on "Victor/Victoria", Roger thought it was stylish and fun while Gene thought it was unfunny and over-wrought. They were both enthusiastic about the remake of "Cat People. Plus, for the "Dogs of the Week" segment, Roger chose the college campus horror picture "Mark of the Witch" and Gene chose "Strange Behavior".

Reviews of “Circle of Deceit”, “The Kirlian Witness”, the revival of Walt Disney’s “Fantasia”, and “Diva”.  Gene and Roger both stumbled upon the same dog this week, “The Beast Within”.

Reviews of “Death Wish II”, “Gaijin”, “If You Could See What I Hear”, and “Swamp Thing”.  Dogs of the week are “Blonde Ambition” and “The Grim Reaper”.

Reviews of “The Sword and the Sorcerer”, “Partners”, “Christiana F.”, and “Conan the Barbarian”.  Dogs of the week are “The Beach Girls” and “The Senior Snatch”.

Gene and Roger are “…spotlighting six excellent movies that we believe the public, film studios, and sometimes even the critics have overlooked unfairly”.  Roger’s picks are “Cattle Annie and Little Britches” (1981), “Over the Edge” (1979), and “Swamp Thing” (1982), and Gene’s picks are “Go Tell the Spartans” (1978), “The Wanderers” (1979), and “Agatha” (1979).  No dogs this week.

Roger opens the show with a negative review of the Steve Martin comedy “Dead Man Don’t Wear Plaid”, Gene agreed.  Neither liked “Rocky III”, which they both thought lost the colorful writing and intimate details that made the two previous installments.  They review two Steven Spielberg productions, first was “Poltergeist”, which Roger gave a moderate recommendation due to the special effects, and Gene disliked because he thought it failed at being scary or even entertaining.  However both were very enthusiastic about “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial”, which they thought was one of the best films of the year.  Plus, in the “Dogs of the Week” segment, Roger selected the vigilante fantasy called “Fighting Back”, and Gene selects the Sean Connery journalism drama called “Wrong is Right” which he dismisses as a crushing bore.

Reviews of “Hanky Panky”, “Annie”, “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”, and “Grease 2”.  Dogs of the week are “Visiting Hours” and Universal Pictures for withdrawing “Barbarosa”, according to Roger, “before it ever had a chance to really prove itself”.

Reviews of “Author! Author!”, “Burden of Dreams”, “A Week’s Vacation”, and “Firefox”.  Dogs of the week are “Mystagogue Superman” and “The Swinging Wife” (1974).

Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert review Blade Runner (1982), Chan Is Missing (1982), Eight Minutes to Midnight: A Portrait of Dr. Helen Caldicott (1981) and Diner (1982).

Reviews of “Megaforce”, “The Atomic Café”, “The Weavers: Wasn’t That a Time”, and “The Thing”.  Sparky the Wonder-Dog has the week off, so Gene and Roger can address the record summer at the box-office by talking about “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial”.

Reviews of “The Secret of Nimh”, “The Devil’s Playground”, “Gregory’s Girl”, and “Tron”.  Dogs of the week, introduced by a debuting Zeke, are “Humongous” and “Vanessa”.

Reviews of “Young Doctors in Love”, “The Aviator’s Wife”, “A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy”, and “The World According to Garp”.  Dogs of the week are “Garden of the Dead” and “Seed of Terror” a.k.a. “Grave of the Vampire”.

Reviews of “Night Shift”, “Smash Palace”, “Xica da Silva”, and “An Officer and a Gentleman”.  Dogs of the week are “Dracula’s Last Rites” and “Enter the Ninja”.

Reviews of “The Road Warrior”, “Sisters”, “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”, and the re-release of “Barbarosa”, unceremoniously pulled from theaters just weeks earlier.  Roger’s dogs of the week is “Frankenstein Island”, but Gene’s pick, “The Challenge” was a pleasant surprise to him and definitely not a dog.