Roger Ebert's 50 Greatest Film Reviews

42. Superman (1978) - ˜…˜…˜…˜… Director: Richard Donner

Ebert invoked the name of Cary Grant in his review of Superman. He was perhaps the only critic to do so. He described Richard Donner€™s classic plunge into Americana as €œsurprisingly slow-starting,€ but ultimately heaped praise on the film, calling it €œrestrained in its telling, but doesn't seem slow, probably because it tells a good story rich in archetypes.€ €œAs Clark Kent,€ Ebert wrote, €œReeve deliberately channeled a touch of Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby. As Superman, he goes to some pains to have no personality at all. It would be fatal to play Superman as a hero, and Reeve and Donner understand that. He had no personality in the comic books and has none here. He exists as a fact.€

41. Ishtar (1987) - ½

Director: Elaine May

Ishtar was the first big Hollywood film since 1980's Heaven's Gate to receive such scathing reviews from across the critical landscape. The big budget comedy starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman was so poorly reviewed that the reviews became a bigger story than the film itself.

Roger Ebert was surprisingly kind in his review: "Ishtar is a truly dreadful film, a lifeless, massive, lumbering exercise in failed comedy. Elaine May, the director, has mounted a multimillion-dollar expedition in search of a plot so thin that it hardly could support a five-minute TV sketch. And Beatty and Hoffman, good soldiers marching along on the trip, look as if they've had all wit and thought beaten out of them. This movie is a long, dry slog. It's not funny, it's not smart and it's interesting only in the way a traffic accident is interesting.€

40. Being There (1980) - ˜…˜…˜…˜…

Director: Hal Ashby

Being There is a simple story of a mentally challenged man (Peter Sellers) who spent his entire life watching television and gardening for a wealthy Washington D.C. man. When the old man dies, Sellers is sent out alone to find his way, and absurdly becomes a mentor for great men, including the president of the United States.

It€™s a one joke premise, but Being There €œpulls off its long shot and is one of the most confoundingly provocative movies of the year. €œThere's an exhilaration in seeing artists at the very top of their form: It almost doesn't matter what the art form is, if they're pushing their limits and going for broke and it's working. We can sense their joy of achievement - and even more so if the project in question is a risky, off-the-wall idea that could just as easily have ended disastrously. €œI'm not really inclined to plumb this movie for its message,€ Ebert continues, €œalthough I'm sure that'll be a favorite audience sport. I just admire it for having the guts to take this totally weird conceit and push it to its ultimate comic conclusion.€

39. Taxi Driver (1976) - ˜…˜…˜…˜…

Director: Martin Scorsese

In his review of Taxi Driver, starring Robert De Niro, Ebert explored the theme of suffering, a theme he wrote about many times during his career. And he drilled down to some of the more basic elements of this film in order to expose it as an example of remarkable filmmaking. €œThe performances are odd and compelling," Ebert wrote. " goes for moments from his actors, rather than slowly developed characters. "Taxi Driver is a brilliant nightmare and like all nightmares it doesn't tell us half of what we want to know. We're not told where Travis comes from, what his specific problems are, whether his ugly scar came from Vietnam -- because this isn't a case study, but a portrait of some days in his life.€