We remember the key films of the great Hollywood director, who has died, alongside his wife
It is extraordinarily rare for a director to change the entire direction of comedy with their first feature, but that’s exactly what Rob Reiner did with this legendary mockumentary. Following a disastrous American tour by a witless British rock group, This Is Spın̈al Tap manages to nail so many music industry cliches so perfectly that the film quickly became a mainstay of tour buses around the world. Reiner himself got in on the act, playing the blowhard documentary director Marty Di Bergi. The fact that something entirely improvised could create so many deathless lines is even more astounding. This year a sequel, The End Continues, was released. What fitting bookends to a brilliant career.
Reiner’s run between 1984 and 1992 is the sort of thing most directors can only dream of. He spent those years dabbling in multiple genres, and producing a classic each and every time. When Harry Met Sally is a classic example. It was just Reiner’s second romcom, but it instantly became the defining romcom of all time. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan play characters who spend years circling one another, unsure of whether a man and a woman can ever truly be friends. The performances are tremendous, the outfits are great, Nora Ephron’s script is perfect, and the emotions never feel anything but completely real. One of the best films ever made, but maybe not even Reiner’s best film.
