‘SEE YOU AT THE MOVIES’
The Star’s Peter Howell bids farewell to legendary film critic Roger Ebert,
Roger Ebert didn’t just review movies, he lived them.
North America’s most beloved film critic, who died at age 70 on Thursday, went out like the tough-talking celluloid heroes and outlaws he admired, refusing to bow his spirit to the cancer that had claimed his voice and body.
Just this week he vowed “I’m not going away,” even as he announced in his blog that a recurrence of the disease was forcing him to take semi-retirement.
John Wayne or James Cagney couldn’t have said it with more determination. And just like those eternal movie icons, it’s impossible to come to terms with the reality that he’s actually gone.
After nearly killing him in 2006 when it stole his jaw and ability to speak, cancer was rediscovered in Ebert during treat- ment for a hip fracture last December. Radiation treatment failed.
Just this week, as he celebrated his 46th anniversary as movie critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, Ebert said he was taking a “leave of presence,” which meant he’d still be tackling a workload that would topple men a quarter his age.
“I’ll be able at last to do what I’ve always fantasized about doing: reviewing only the movies I want to review.”
Last year, Ebert wrote 306 movie reviews, a personal record. That was on top of all the books, features, blog items and tweets he also wrote with enviable industry. Yet despite this prodigious output, his writing always retained an elegance of phrase and clarity of mind.