Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel review four new movies, pick their Dogs of the Month and discuss the recent Oscar nominations. The critics split somewhat over Martin Scorsese's
Taxi Driver (1976). Siskel has a "love-hate affair" over the movie: he enjoyed the relationship between the two leads, but the violence repelled him. Ebert believes the violence was necessary to the movie, which he found to be a fascinating character portrait. Both critics recommend John Huston's swashbuckling adventure film,
The Man Who Would Be King (1975). Siskel especially enjoyed the wit, a quality sorely lacking in modern movies. Both critics like the "nice little film",
Hester Street (1975), a turn-of-the-century story of Jewish immigrants in New York. They split on Francois Truffaut's new movie,
The Story of Adele H (1975), in which the daughter of Victor Hugo falls in love with a British officer. Ebert enjoyed it; Siskel found it too slight. Ebert's Dog of the Month is the "Exorcist" rip-off,
Sharon's Baby (1975); Siskel's is the awful documentary,
Manson (1973), back in town after 18 months to capitalize on the Squeaky Fromme trial.
—J. Spurlin