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" Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, sex symbols? It&amp;#039;s one of the most entertaining and revelatory sidelights in the new documentary Life Itself, in theaters July 4. Based on Ebert&amp;#039;s best-selling 2011 memoir of the same name and directed by Steve James \u2014 whose nonfiction classic Hoop Dreams Ebert named the best movie of the 1990s \u2014 the film is a profound look at the Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago Sun-Times critic&amp;#039;s life, particularly his treatment for the thyroid cancer to which he would ultimately succumb in 2013, at age 70. Siskel, who was both Ebert&amp;#039;s nemesis as critic for the rival Chicago Tribune and his co-host on their nationally-televised movie review show, died from a brain tumor in 1999, at age 53. And while the two were opposite in just about every way \u2014 their opinions of Full Metal Jacket, for hilarious example \u2014 one thing they did share, it turns out, was success with the ladies.  Ebert&amp;#039;s libido isn&amp;#039;t exactly a secret. Not only did he champion the work of cult sexploitation director Russ Meyer, he even wrote the screenplay for Meyer&amp;#039;s psychedelic genre mashup Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, which features a car-climax scene even more insane than Cameron Diaz banging that Ferrari in The Counselor. &amp;quot;What did he love about Russ Meyer&amp;#039;s films?&amp;quot; says Ebert&amp;#039;s friend and newspaper colleague John McHugh in the documentary. &amp;quot;Boobs.&amp;quot; McHugh and other old drinking buddies of Ebert from O&amp;#039;Rourke&amp;#039;s in Chicago also offer hilarious reminiscences of his questionable paramours prior to quitting booze and meeting the love of his life, Chaz, whom he married in 1992 when he was 50:  &amp;quot;Roger has always been attracted to weird types. I mean, you should see some of the women that he&amp;#039;s hauled into O&amp;#039;Rourke&amp;#039;s over the years.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Back in the old days, Roger had probably the worst taste in women of any man I&amp;#039;ve ever known. They were either gold diggers, opportunists, or psychos.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Yeah, I met Roger one time with a woman that looked like a young Linda Ronstadt. And when she was gone from the table briefly, I said, &amp;#039;Who is that?&amp;#039; And he said, &amp;#039;She&amp;#039;s a hired lady.&amp;#039; And I said, &amp;#039;A hooker?&amp;#039; And he said, &amp;#039;Now, you take care of her when I leave.&amp;#039; And he left town. And... anyway.&amp;quot; Not that Ebert worried what his friends thought \u2014 or anyone else. In fact, such self-assuredness is precisely what made him so alluring. As Chaz explains, &amp;quot;Roger weighed 300 pounds when we first started dating. He didn&amp;#039;t care that he was fat. He thought he was great. And that was so sexy.&amp;quot; As for Siskel, he consorted with an altogether different crowd of women. The documentary reveals the little-known trivia that he was close friends with another Windy City native who&amp;#039;d done well in media. &amp;quot;[Gene] was a philosophy major at Yale,&amp;quot; says his wife of nearly twenty years, Marlene Iglitzen. &amp;quot;While Roger was one of the good old boy news reporters, Gene was just more of a, for lack of a better word, elegant character. He caught the eye of Hugh Hefner, and he was adopted by the clan at the Mansion. And he traveled with Hefner in the Bunny jet. Even though Roger wrote Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, I think Gene lived the life for a while.&amp;quot; While Life Itself offers many captivating storylines \u2014 an inspiring portrait of one man&amp;#039;s indefatigable will to not only live but to enjoy life and bring joy to others, a moving tribute to the equally indomitable spirit of his beloved spouse and caregiver, a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse of America&amp;#039;s medical-industrial complex, an ode to friendship, a love letter to cinema \u2014 it&amp;#039;s also worth seeing simply for the snapshot of a mustachioed, bird-chested Siskel posing with some topless blonde in the Playboy Mansion pool. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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