Telly and Oscar welcome special guests Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, who demonstrate their famous way of rating movies: "thumbs up" and "thumbs down." They show how to do their critic exercises to help keep their thumbs in fine form. Oscar then goads Siskel and Ebert into an argument, particularly over Ebert saying you could have a "thumbs sideways" movie, for those which have flaws but aren't completely terrible.
Notes[]
Ebert's example of a great "thumbs sideways" movie is Cinderella: "I liked her okay, but Prince Charming was a complete wimp." This assessment matches Ebert's 1987 review when Cinderella was reissued theatrically: "Prince Charming has all of the charm of a department store dummy."
The entire exchange about Cinderella is not in the script (which merely indicates that when asked to name a thumbs sideways movie, "Ebert does.")
