I believe Pauline Kael was a tad more influential than Ebert because of the impact she had on so many other critics - including Ebert - and the way her rather revoltionary writing style impacted critics in almost every field.
She also boosted key 1970s films like &quot;Last Tango&quot; and &quot;Nashville&quot; by reviewing them months before their official openings and setting the critical agenda for them.
Ebert is certainly much more famous and because he started so young his career has lasted much longer than Kael&#039;s (who didn&#039;t get a full-time reviewing position until she was in her late 40s).
By taking movie reviews to national TV, Ebert changed the modern film criticism landscape, but I don&#039;t think you will see a Library of America collection of his writing