Ebert, nation's best-known film critic, dies at 70

CHICAGO (AP) – Roger Ebert had the most-watched thumb in Hollywood.

With a twist of his wrist, the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic rendered decisions that influenced a nation of moviegoers and could sometimes make or break a film.

The heavy-set writer in the horn-rimmed glasses teamed up on television with Gene Siskel to create a format for criticism that proved enormously appealing in its simplicity: uncomplicated reviews that were both intelligent and accessible and didn’t talk down to ordinary movie fans.

Ebert, film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967, died Thursday at the Rehabilita...