MOVIES - May 17, 1988

Populist movie critic Roger Ebert may be ready to hang up his thumb and turn novelist, he told Daily Variety at the Cannes Film Festival. Ebert and partner Gene Siskel made movie reviewing big business through their syndicated “Siskel & Ebert & the Movies.” When that contract expires in three years, he told Daily Variety, he’ll be reviewing all options and “may well” get out of film criticism altogether. Besides his written film reviews for the Chicago Sun-Times, Ebert’s other writing credits include the screenplay for “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.”