For Gene Siscoe and Roger Ebert, the 90s arrived a few months ahead of schedule.

Thanks to a movie that began heating up theaters in the summer of 1989.

Do the right thing was not a parable or a pep talk, but an attempt to show how little

feelings can grow up into big ones and how a race rite can seemingly come out of nowhere.

It was a strong, courageous film, one of the few American films in recent years that uncompromisingly

tried to say something serious about race relations in our country.

The filmmaking is so much fun that people who didn't go to this picture because they

thought it might be too painful for them to watch some kind of preachy lecture.

Boy, did they miss an entertaining motion picture?

The 1990s are going to be better because this guy's making films.

Gene's prediction turned out to be spot on.

The 80s had begun with Raging Bull and ended with a lot of big budget bullshit.

But as that decade wound down, Lee and a new wave of filmmakers, all them stubborn, smart

and independent would rise up.

Their movies energized audiences and critics, especially Cisco and Ebert.

Here's Marlene Eglitz and Gene's wife.

They had to sit through a lot of movies.

And when these jewels started appearing, they were just so delighted to spend two hours

sitting there watching something that was worth watching and worth thinking about.

Gene and Roger weren't the only ones to champion do the right thing.

And it's not like the movie needed their help.

But they were the only film critics who could share their enthusiasm to an audience of

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