Rob Reiner: Reflections

Rob Reiner (1947-2025)

If you were around in the early seventies, you couldn’t miss All in the Family. Norman Lear had created something unique. It wasn’t just a that this was a sitcom with larger issues on its mind; it was both genuinely thoughtful and ridiculously funny. Regardless of how easily described each of the principles were, none of them were caricatures or stereotypes. Archie was a bigot, sure, but he loved his family very much and would occasionally show a gentle side when you least expected it. Edith was the scatterbrain ditz, but she could act with steel resolve and stand up for herself. Gloria was the daughter chafing at still living under her parents’ roof with her husband until they could move out and might have been the most well-rounded character, not being exaggerated or broadly drawn to begin with. And then there was her husband, Mike. Mike was the embodiment of the bleeding heart liberal, the very stereotype (whoops, was I wrong?) of the suburban radical who couldn’t help but seize a moment to argue about he rightness of a cause. Mike could be - and often was - pedantic and didactic. He was Archie’s inverted double.

What made Mike Spivic work was an actor who could fill out the role as well as O’Connor could fill his. Carroll O’Connor had a storied career on stage and was a highly regarded actor’s actor with decades under his belt. Rob Reiner was born to one of the geniuses of situation comedy or just flat-out comedy who, along with Mel Brooks, Ernie Kovacs, and Sid Caesar pushed the boundaries of what comedy could be on this new medium. As such, Reiner came complete with an understanding of how comedy works and what is likely DNA imprinted with a complete knowledge of the sitcom genre. You might want to punch Archie, but you would likely want to slug Mike, too. And when given a chance, both actors were able to take their roles to places you wouldn’t expect. Certainly within the ensemble, but even in two-handers like the time when Archie and Mike were stuck in Archie’s bar’s walk-in in the spin-off Archie’s Place when Mike came to see why Archie held the views he did. This was O’Connor’s scene, but Reiner knew something else, just as deep: how to listen to his scene partner. Such moments were glorious.

Reiner took home two Emmys for his portrayal of “Meathead” and would shine as a character actor on the big screen in Throw Momma from the Train, Bullets Over Broadway, Primary Colors and more. Before acting, he honed his writing chops on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and before he broke through with This Is Spinal Tap, he had tried his hand at directing a couple of TV movies, Sonny Boy and Likely Stories, Vol.1, which was also Christopher Guest’s directorial debut. But yeah, Tap. There’d been other documentaries before, but nothing as masterful and fully realized as this one. Not only is it a masterpiece of comedy and improvisational comedy, at that, but it announced the arrival of a major director.

The litany of what follows is stunning and staggering: in short succession came The Sure Thing, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally…, Misery, A Few Good Men, The American President, Ghosts of the Mississippi. It’s also stunning that he’d only been nominated for one Oscar (for A Few Good Men). Of course, anyone who knows me, knows that I’m not surprised by how little my regard is for the Academy to do the right thing, so there’s that.

In any case, I have the impression that wasn't a matter of much importance to him. Anyone who loves film, knows that Reiner left us some stone classics among some of the finest work in American cinema. Now, we pause: “he left us.”

The wind left my sails when I read the early reports that he and his wife Michele had been found dead, likely murdered by their son, Nick. It is disturbing and tragic beyond words. There are three other children and Rob’s siblings, and of course, others who are affected by this awful loss. 

Reiner had other projects in the works, and if the Spinal Tap sequel wasn’t as well-received critically as one would hope, it showed he still had things he wanted to do, work to share with the world, and of course, love to give to his family and friends and support to causes close to his heart. 

One could rightfully assume that Rob and Mike shared something else; idealism and a belief that participation in politics is a citizen’s duty in a democracy. And yes, Reiner was famously a capital L Liberal and one that could discuss policy and legislation with the pols. 

I bridle when I hear people say people in show business should shut up and just act or direct or keep their traps shut because they don’t know anything. This is utter nonsense and false. It is, at the very least, attempting to tell another citizen that their voice doesn’t matter or shouldn’t matter because - why, exactly? - they’re in the arts? That our artists shouldn’t be political? Bullshit. 

Of course, this shows the willful ignorance of those who would silence artists across the board. Few and far between are truly “non-political” artists. Some of our artists enter the political arena and actually succeed in effecting policy at the state level (Al Franken, Arnold Schwarzenegger) and even at the national level (Ronald Reagan). Throughout history, such is the case, across all countries. 

But Rob Reiner was a liberal, knew whereof he spoke and through his efforts effected change like founding the American Foundation for Equal Rights with Chad Griffin and Kristina Schake among others and chaired the campaign to press California Propostion 10 , which led to instituting a tax on tobacco products to fund early childhood development services. I could go on but I may save this for my other blog. For right now, I want to take a moment to recognize a great filmmaker and a great man. Or maybe, he’d prefer to be described as a good man who contributed to great things.

I also do not want to give airtime to a so-called leader who couldn’t say anything decent upon learning of Rob and Michele’s deaths. But I do want to acknowledge that said charlatan, that said fraud, slandered someone who created something beautiful while the so-called leader has wrought nothing but ugliness, division, and sorrow to this country. History will judge one far more laudably than the other. 

I’ll stop here and try to decide which opus I want to lead off my retrospective with. His personal favorite of his films was Stand By Me. I can see why and I think it’s a good place to start.