Siskel & Ebert’s fierce, petty rivalry revealed: Sabotage, lies and special seat cushions

nypost.com:

“Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever,” (G.P. Putnam’s Sons). The new book makes it clear that the animosity the legendary film critic duo displayed on their hit show wasn’t cinematic fiction.

The two had a genuine, Windy City rivalry that never subsided — and made both of them better. Ebert was hired as the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1967.

When Siskel was hired in the same role for the Chicago Tribune two years later, Ebert saw it as a direct provocation, a view only enhanced when Siskel began copying Ebert and rating films using four stars.“Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert saw each other as more than competitors; they were closer to mortal enemies,” Singer writes. “Each considered it an essential aspect of their job to beat the other; to write the best review, to land the biggest interview, to score the best scoops.

And they took their jobs very seriously.”By the time a local television producer brought them together to propose a review show in 1976, the two had known each other for over six years but had never had a civil conversation.Still, the allure of television was too great for them to refuse.