Rob Reiner Films

Rob Reiner, an immensely talented director, producer and actor, recently died alongside his wife, Michele.  Reiner was 78 and still sharp and very active but unfortunately he and his wife were allegedly victims of a drug fueled assault by their own son.  I have always been horrified at the idea that drugs and alcohol could cause people to hurt those we love most but I want this brief post to focus a little on some of the work Reiner left us with.  I will not apply my usual star ratings since I have not seen these films in a long time.

I have never seen This Is Spinal Tap (or any other concert film) but I will get to it and its sequel one day.  I was born in 1972 so was too young for All In The Family but I have seen several clips of it and know that it was an extremely impactful and funny program.

Reiner as an actor in the films I have seen him in is fast talking and had sharp comedic skills as did his father, Carl Reiner.  I think Carl was probably funnier overall but Rob had much more versatility.

Spoilers for some of the films listed below:

The Sure Thing: An early film with John Cusack and Daphne Zuniga as a mismatched pair making a cross country trip for different reasons.  It is charming and the leads, who look more like normal people than you would usually find in a film like this, play well off each other.

Stand By Me: Reiner managed to make a story (based on a Stephen King short story called “The Body”) about four boys looking for a dead child’s body a heart warming tale.  I saw it about 40 years ago so the biggest impression it left me it was the screen debut of Kiefer Sutherland as a really nasty older teen.  

The Princess Bride:  This William Goldman scripted fantasy story is a delight, due in large part to its admittedly silly tone and quotable lines (“As you wish”, “Inconceivable”).  Goldman and Reiner use a framing device with Peter Falk and Fred Savage (as a skeptical kid representing several members of the audience who may have been dragged to the film) to bring us in and afterwards we also do not want it to end.  Cary Elwes, Savage, Robin Wright, and Wallace Shawn all received huge career boosts thanks to this enchanting film.

When Harry Met Sally: Nora Ephron who went on to write and direct many fine films of her own, scripted this comedy which posits the question as to whether men and women can have a truly platonic friendship.  Billy Crystal (who I sense is essentially playing Reiner here) and Meg Ryan play the titular couple.  the structure bears some similarity to Annie Hall, especially gimmick of the characters speaking to an offscreen interviewer.  

When Harry Met Sally is funny and full of truthful moments, especially in scenes like the awkwardness Harry has when he unexpectedly encounters his ex-wife as well as his bitterness in the aftermath or Sally’s reaction when she learns her ex-boyfriend is getting married and the sadness she had pushed aside comes flowing out of her in funny ways.  Ryan fully commits to her clipped delivery of specific restaurant orders that are almost impossible to follow.  Both characters are well defined and believable as good friends who have suppressed their mutual attraction 

There are two aspects of the film that do not work for me.  First, while the famous restaurant scene in which Sally publicly fakes an orgasm to make a point Harry who as usual is being a little pompous, is hilarious, it is out of character for her.  Earlier she was embarrassed by accidentally discussing sex after being prompted by Harry so even though several years have passed there is nothing else in the film that suggests Sally would be comfortable doing something so bold in public.

Secondly, by pairing up Harry and Sally at the end, it suggests that men and women cannot have platonic friendships.  Speaking from experience I have had many platonic friendships with women that have lasted for years.  So it definitely is possible but it just was not for these two people.

Harry’s big speech to Sally at New Years’ which causes them both to ignore the countdown, has some honest dialogue (“When you realize the you want to spend the rest of your life with someone you want to the rest of your life to start right away”) that feels like it comes from life experience.  Reiner and Crystal wisely do not turn Harry into a romantic sap at that moment but just have him recognize his feelings as a sort of epiphany.  When Harry Met Sally is a classic that audiences continue to enjoy for good reason.

Misery: Reiner returns to Stephen King material with a much darker thriller about a writer Paul Sheldon (played by James Caan) who has a bad accident after driving drunk in the snow on a mountain road and his number one fan, Annie Wilkes, (Kathy Bates) who saves his life and partially nurses him back to health but holds him captive (his legs are broken) in her home until he can write a novel reviving a character he had previously killed off.  

William Goldman scripted this adaptation which captures all of the big moments (and wisely changes one gruesome moment into a more sudden and shocking one) from King’s book without losing the story (though the fate of the new Misery novel is different here than in the book).  Many of King’s novels are so long that they can be a better fit for a limited series like 11/22/63 our The Outsider but pairing a writer like Goldman with Reiner’s narrative skills pares the film down to under two hours with not a second wasted.  Reiner effectively establishes the remote location early on and the production design is so good that the house feels cold to the audience.  Bates creates an incredibly complex character in Annie.  Annie is a little naive and a happy fangirl in the first act which is just as authentic as her scary behavior later. Annie, by spending so much of her time alone, has come to control each aspect of her life. When Annie learns that Misery has been killed and she is in the unique position of having the author at her mercy which must be a nightmare for any writer, the scene in which she confronts Paul, is one of the film’s best (with Paul waking up to see Annie, who has already had an outburst about the cursing in his novels) fiercely staring at him.  She screams at him but then also calmly states that she has not told anyone where he is, making his predicament clear.  In this moment we realize how unpredictable Annie is.  When she shouts Bates makes it feel like she is coming up with the words right in the moment and the delivery is deliberately a little awkward.  When Annie speaks about being depressed it feels completely in character.  Annie is not likely to fly into a rage at that moment but we can believe that her tough moments exhaust her and she knows that Paul would leave the first moment he could if she let up at all.  

Richard Farnsworth and Frances Sternhagen play a charming older married couple who happen to be the town Sheriff (Buster) and deputy that adds some much needed humor to this dark story.  I imagine Reiner and/or Goldman insisted on these characters, who replace a state trooper that Annie murders with a lawnmower in the novel.  Buster eventually tracks down Paul but meets his end by searching for Paul himself without knowing where Annie is instead of calling in backup which might have taken time to arrive since he only seems to work with his wife.  Reiner’s ending is no less shocking (Annie shoots him from behind with a shotgun) and more plausible.  I doubt general audiences would have savored watching an old man run over by a lawnmower, especially one as charming as Farnsworth’s Buster.

Reiner went to several top middle aged stars such as Al Pacino, Robert Redford and Warren Beatty to play Paul but they all turned it down, presumably because Paul spends so much of the movie defenseless in bed.  Caan, a notably wiry and restless performer in the best of times, turns out to be perfectly cast as the bedridden Paul since his frustration at having to lie down is clear with his furrowed brow.  Caan was nowhere near as famous as Sheldon is supposed to be but he had of course been in the Godfather, so his face was familiar to audiences.  The moments where Sheldon is pretending to like Annie also feel real as Cann never projected much quiet warmth.  Caan and Bates play well off each other and it is fun to watch this cinema tough guy beg for mercy when Annie is about to hobble him.   

A Few Good Men: During the Christmas season in 1992 I went with a group of friends to watch The Bodyguard.  I felt a little grouchy during the movie since although I enjoyed the music, especially the song “I Have Nothing”, the film felt like a poorly lit vanity project for Kevin Costner.  The following night I went with the same group of friends to watch A Few Good Men and my faith in the medium of cinema was restored.  Rob Reiner’s biggest profile film about a military court martial contains a powerhouse cast including Tom Cruise (as a cynical lawyer named Daniel Kaffee), Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Demi Moore, J.T. Walsh, Kevin Pollack and perhaps most notably Jack Nicholson as Colonel Jessup who is stationed at Guantanamo Bay.  The film is the first produced screenplay by Aaron Sorkin which was adapted from one of his plays, but punched up quite a bit by Reiner.

Following a prologue in which a “Code Red” (a beating on an underperforming officer named Santiago, stationed at Guantanamo Bay) is performed which leads to unintended death of the officer, the film proper opens with an impressive display of Marines going through a gun salute which sets the tone.  These soldiers are well trained and excel by following a chain of command.  This sets up the contrast with Navy JAG Lieutenant Kaffee who we soon meet playing baseball who despite his rank has little respect for the chain of command.  Cruise is almost too obvious casting at first glance as the cocky Kaffee shares similar traits with other characters he played in Top Gun, Days of Thunder, and Rain Man.  The first act introduces all the players (including the officers at Guantanamo via flashback) and we can see that this is leading to a big courtroom showdown between Kaffee and Nicholson’s entitled and profane Colonel Jessup.

The two men who performed the Code Red are played by Wolfgang Bodison at Lt. Corporal Dawson and James Marshall as Private Downey.  Dawson is proud and Downey is a little shy and out of his depth.  Jessup ordered Sutherland’s Kendrick to give the code red but given the outcome, Jessup and Kendrick are leaving the soldiers on their own.  Kaffee, known for plea bargaining, is forced to become a trial lawyer when Dawson refuses to cop a deal. This sets up a lot of scenes of the lawyers planning for this big case, with Pollock offering comical support, and memorable dramatic scenes between Cruise and Bacon, Sutherland (Kendrick is on his way to becoming a new Jessup), and Walsh (who is heartbreaking as Lt. Colonel Markinson who is ashamed that he allowed himself to be bullied by Jessup).  

The climactic moment where Kaffee has Jessup on the stand has superb dialogue and both Cruise and Nicholson are making each other better.  Kaffee is fighting for the men he has come to care for and Jessup is disgusted that this young Navy Lieutenant is forcing him to answer questions about how he, Jessup, performed his duty.  Nicholson thunderously delivers most of his lines and Reiner puts most of the big monologue in tight closeup.  Jessup is correct of how Marines put down their lives but he is utterly wrong is thinking he is above responsibility for Santiago’s death, when he cruelly ordered the Code Red after refusing the transfer Santiago from the base.  The moment where he tries to belittle Kaffee for using phone records to prove there was no intent to transfer him shows how he tries to use his rank to rise above any discipline.

If there is one flaw in the film it would be the use of Demi Moore’s Lt. Galloway.  Moore has a few good scenes early where she puts Kaffee in his place and she holds her ground by refusing to react to Jessup’s attempts to sexually intimidate her, but once the trial starts she is largely on the sidelines watching Kaffee have all the big moments.  As she is Kaffee’s superior Galloway should have played a bigger role in the proceedings. 

Kevin Pollock has a couple of memorable moments.  The first is when his Lieutenant Weinberg admits he hates that their clients bullied a weaker soldier, hinting that he himself a smaller Jewish man was bullied.  The second is when he calmly defuses Kaffee after a heated moment by recognizing his great skills as an attorney by comparing Kaffee favorably to his late father.

A Few Good Men is a must watch both for Sorkin’s dialogue and for Reiner’s direction of a superb cast.

I have not seen North since I never heard anything good about it so I will refrain from discussing it.  About a year ago I wrote about The American President so you can read that review here.

I have not seen Ghosts of Mississippi as it did not perform well and left cinemas early and afterwards I kind of forgot about it.

Reiner appeared in a small role as Tom Hanks’ buddy in Sleepless in Seattle (written and directed by Nora Ephron) and had a fun moment where he and Hanks pretend to break down over the ending of The Dirty Dozen.

Reiner appeared as an obnoxious DJ in Gary David Goldberg’s ensemble comedy about divorce called Bye Bye Love who speaks far too callously about a complex matter that affects the lives of everyone in the film.  Randy Quaid’s character finally has enough and attacks him, leading to a perfectly timed line by Reiner put in tight close up.  The critics did not like the film but I found it funny, heartwarming in spots, and well intentioned.

The Story of Us:  Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer star in this film which feels designed as a companion to When Harry Met Sally as it uses the same gimmick of the actors speaking to an offscreen interviewer.  This time the couple have been married for a long time and are going through a separation.  It may not be fair to compare The Story of Us to When Harry Met Sally but given the common ground it is almost impossible not to.  Michelle Pfeiffer’s character felt fully formed but Bruce Willis is miscast and lacks the light comedic touch that Billy Crystal excels in.  Willis just comes across as a selfish jerk a lot of the time and I wondered what Pfeiffer ever saw in him.  Nora Ephron’s screenwriting skills are sorely missed as a lot of the dialogue was overwritten as if Reiner did not trust audiences to get the point.  The situations felt forced instead of natural as they do in When Harry Met Sally.  Ultimately I did not enjoy The Story of Us and would not recommend it.

Rob Reiner also co-founded the company Castle Rock Entertainment which produced Seinfeld.  Early on in its run Seinfeld was performing poorly in the ratings and NBC considering cancelling it.  Reiner used with leverage with NBC to keep it on the air to give it time to find an audience.  I would have laughed a lot less in my lifetime without Reiner’s actions.

Castle Rock also produced many films based on Stephen King, most notably The Shawshank Redemption.  Reiner tried to convince director Frank Darabont to allow him, Reiner, to direct Darabont’s script, but Darabont stuck to his guns (and turned down a reportedly lucrative offer) and took less money and ultimately made one of the most touching films of all time.  I expect Reiner’s version would also have been good but would have had a more high profile cast which may have worked against it.

The Bucket List: Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, play cancer patients on opposite ends of the social spectrum who travel the world doing things they had always wanted to before dying while having a series of conversations.   The film almost comes across like a filmed play but for the locations.  It’s a real treat as it allows Nicholson to start as a scoundrel as he often is onscreen but becomes more mature as he begins to value life more.

Reiner had a supporting role in the Wolf of Wall Street as Jordan Belfort’s (the titular character played by Leonardo DiCaprio) father.  When Reiner turned up I expected him to try to rein in some of his son’s excessive behavior but turns out to be supportive until the law starts closing in.

And So It Goes: Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton star as elderly neighbors who eventually get involved after Douglas’ wife dies.  I remember liking it more than expected due in large part to both Douglas’ commitment to playing an comically unlikeable realtor who is a little eccentric (he drives a 1963 Mercedes and wears tailored pastel suits) and Keaton’s funny unselfish conscious performance as a lounge singer who cries during performances.

I still would like to see LBJ, Flipped, Albert Brooks: Defending My Life, and God & Country so I will try to get to them soon.

Thank you Mr. Reiner for giving us such fine work and RIP.