There’s an old saying of “There’s a face for radio.” And Gene Shalit may not have had the preppy looks of Tom Brokaw or Peter Jennings, but he made film criticism worth watching with his witty puns and on-camers enthusiasm.
His distinct look which consisted of a brushy moustache, frizzy Afro-styled hair, horn-rimmed glasses and bow tie to boot made him appear like an AI composition of Albert Einstein, Salvatore Dali, Yosemite Sam and a school teacher from a 1960s-1970s Disney live-action movie.
The other film critic named Gene as in Siskel learned early to shave off his moustache as he looked like a pornstar. And it was easy to also get Shalit confused with Joel Seigel, who appeared on Good Morning America, who passed in 2007.
For over 37 years, Shalit was the main film critics on The Today Show on NBC from 1973 to 2010 when he retired at the age of 84. Prior to that he had a radio program Man About Anything on NBC Radio Network. It was probably because he first started out reviewing the arts in the 1960s as the cultural shift began to include a mixture of avant-garde, Bohemian and hippie counterculture. He just looked like the type during the times. Vincent Canby and Pauline Kael were the father and mother of modern film criticism and Roger Ebert was the golden boy and Siskel was the leader among Siegel and Leonard Maltin.
But Shalit was like the fun uncle. Watching and listening to his reviews was mostly a joy. I remember in 1992 or 1993, he did a year-end piece from a turkey farm talking about the worst movies of the year.
But there was controversy. He called Jake Gyllenhaal’s character in Brokeback Mountain a “sexual predator” which angered many. It also gave off the impression that maybe Shalit was getting a little too old to review current movies.
It’s still not as bad as what Michael Medved or Rex Reed have said as they are the black sheep and redheaded stepchild.
Throughout the years, he found himself parodied on SpongeBob Squarepants, Family Guy, The Muppet Show and Saturday Night Live where he was played by both Jon Lovitz and Horatio Sanz. He also voiced himself on episodes of the animated series The Critic.
Shalit passed away on June 12 less than three months after his 100th birthday.
Zane Says 