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Comment by mellosouls | Hacker News Reader

I'd forgotten what an unusually strong and culturally-resonant line of movies the man had without (I think) the popular acclaim you might associate with them, like a low-profile Spielberg.

Spinal Tap

The Princess Bride

When Harry Met Sally

Sleepless in Seattle

Stand By Me

etc

A great loss, RIP

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I'm just commenting to mention The Sure Thing, a delightful and endearing romcom with John Cusack and Daphne Zuniga, with small parts by Anthony Edwards, Nicollette Sheridan, and Tim Robbins.

This is indeed a delightful film. I tend to forget that Nicollette Sheridan was the titular character. It’s unusual (but perhaps explains some of Reiner’s interest, I wonder) that this film has an identifiable, personified McGuffin.

A Few Good Men is also a great movie IMHO.

And he was quite excellent in The Wolf of Wall Street (playing I think Leonardo's father?)

Very sad development.

Oh wow he did A Few Good Men, too? These comments are just crazy in how many influential movies he made to me, without me realizing they were by him. And how are you the first to mention AFGM? That's the best of the bunch!

He also co-wrote the pilot for Happy Days...

His first seven films are the kind of good that most filmmakers would like to have throughout a career, not starting one. He was also a writer on The Smothers Brothers before his role on All in the Family. He was definitely one of the greats.

He was also brilliant as Michael “Meathead” Stivik in the phenomenal TV series “All in the Family”.

Amazing how many classics he worked on throughout his career.

Throughout his entire career I have always thought "Meathead has done so well for himself! He really showed Archie."

Talking about Rob Reiner:

https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/people/rob-reiner?c...

https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/rob-rein...

Rob Reiner: The 60 Minutes Interview (2 months ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLeBquj8LKI

Indeed. I grew up watching AitF, and I remember being totally floored when I realized he directed “When Harry Met Sally.”

Really sad end to a great career and as far as I could tell, a decent human being.

I remember a radio host in the 90's remarking about how ironic it was that three of the biggest movie directors at the time were: Opie (Ron Howard), Laverne (Penny Marshall) and MeatHead (Rob Reiner).

I only ever watched the re-runs (1980s). Still, somehow I never made the connection that “meathead” was Rob Reiner.

It's definitely interesting seeing him physically morph from his younger days to today. When he first came on my radar as a director, I wondered if it was just another guy with the same name, I had to go look it up, and I was surprised. Seemed like a really great guy. :(

His last film was Spinal Tap II. I think if you could tell him that Spinal Tap would bookend his life, he'd be tickled by that.

The second installment isn't good... But he has more than enough decent work to be remembered by.

No, it isn't a patch on the original. But I did find it better than I expected at least. A low bar, but at least it passed it. ;)

I personally preferred the sequel to the original.

I loved the original but its pacing wasn’t all that great. I also felt II had better cohesion too.

I had the same thought when I looked up his filmography - highly underrated. No idea he made all those classics.

Amen. I can appreciate films. Reiner made Movies. Great movies.

Spielberg is an apt comparison.

Misery is another classic

Wow, I didn't know he directed Misery! Great film.

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