Sneak Previews (TV Series) Why Would I Lie?, Terror Train, Gloria, Private Benjamin (1980) User Reviews

This particular ep of "Sneak Previews" was my intro to Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert

[tavm · 8/10 · 31 March 2017]

On a Saturday afternoon in Fall 1980 when I was 12, I stumbled into this ep of "Sneak Previews" when switching channels on my family TV to WLPB-27 in Baton Rouge, LA. This was my first view of Chicago movie critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. The movies they reviewed here were-in chronological order-Gloria which was the original John Cassavetes/Gena Rowlands version, an obscure one called Why Would I Lie? starring Treat Williams, Goldie Hawn's Army comedy Private Benjamin, and Terror Train which was another in a line of Jamie Lee Curtis horror movies during this period. Before doing "Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down" in later years, Gene and Roger did Yes and No votes. They agreed on all of them: Gloria got Yes, WWIL? No, PB Yes, and TT No. As an aside, Roger said both WWIL? and TT had an "Idiot Plot"-"If everyone in the movie wasn't a total idiot, they'd figure out the movie's mysteries instantly and it would be over in 10 minutes!" Then they did the Dog of the Week when Spot the Wonder Dog came into view. Gene's Dog was something called Nightmare which starred Ray Milland and Peter Graves. It's listed on IMDb as Spree. Gene mentioned the awful things that happened in it and also how padded it was when two songs were performed in their entirety! Roger's choice was something called Black Friday which he realized was made in West Germany and also-judging by the cars depicted in it-that it was made 10 years previous! After recounting what they thought of the major releases, Roger ended the show saying, "Until then, we'll see you at the movies." This was years before the closing line was "The balcony is closed." Incidentally, after leaving PBS, their next show was called "At the Movies". Anyway, I remember liking this ep so much, I saw their special "The Best Films of 1980" several weeks later before eventually watching them regularly the following year...