Great movies. Classic movies. Movies that will have people laughing, crying and thinking for decades, and maybe centuries. That’s his legacy.
Reiner, a brilliant director and entertaining comic character actor died horribly with his wife last night, apparently murdered by their troubled son. Rob Reiner is the second Hollywood great whose end this year will always cast a shadow over his brilliant career, Gene Hackman being the other. It is so unfair when this happens, and it happens too often. I can’t watch Natalie Wood in a movie, not even “Miracle on 34th Street, ” without wondering if her husband Robert Wagner (I try not think about him at all) drowned her; I can’t watch Phillip Seymour Hoffman, one of the best actors in my lifetime, in any of his performances without my mind flashing back to his death from binging on heroin after seemingly conquering that addiction. Maybe it’s just me: I hope so.
I also hope conservative pundits and bloggers display more compassion, humanity and common sense than progressives and Democrats did when activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated. Reiner was an artist first and foremost, but he used his celebrity and resources to play at being a progressive activist and was really, really, really bad at it. Everyone will be doing him a great favor if they just ignore that embarrassing part of his life. Remember him for “THis is Spinal Tap,” “Stand by Me,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “The Princess Bride,” “A Few Good Men,” or one of his other films. Don’t let his Leftist craziness diminish your respect for his artistry. I regard his addiction to extreme progressive cant the equivalent of Hoffman’s addiction to heroin, or Spencer Tracy’s alcoholism.
Rob Reiner was a victim, a very smart man—as I wrote in 2022 while documenting one of Reiner’s Trump Derangement outbursts, “You can’t be stupid and direct perceptive films and clever films like “Stand By Me” and “The Princess Bride.” (“Pearl Harbor,” “Jurassic World: Dominion” and “Don’t Look Up!,” maybe, but not those films.)”— who was raised in the Hollywood progressive bubble and never had a chance to be anything but a knee-jerk leftist wacko. To his great credit, however, and I respected him for this, his political biases never infected his movies. Rob easily could have morphed into Oliver Stone.
As a victim, Reiner’s words and conduct over the past decade are instructive and tragic, and I’m going to present them in that context. It is horrifying that a smart, educated and talented man could descend into the state he did because of cultural bias, but his case is literally res ipsa loquitur. It speaks for itself.
This post, Part I, is intended to stand for my affection and respect for Rob Reiner as a fellow director and artist. In that respect, he bestrides my narrow world like a Colossus, with me walking under his huge legs and peeping about to find myself an ignominious grave. Part II will stand for his tragic embrace of mad 21st Century progressivism, and how it made a brilliant man act and sound like a fool.
It is a cautionary tale. Attention should be paid.
Ethics Alarms 
Was he a character actor or simply playing himself in “All in the Family?”
Playing himself, mostly. And since he was in opposition to Archie, he was guaranteed to be a cognitive dissonance scale victor. I think Rob’s character would have probably ended up Trump Deranged.
Meathead was either an archetype or the prototype for lefty Baby Boomers, who have, in their dotage, become Trump deranged.
I think Aaron Spelling was an ethics villain and ethics corrupter. “All in the Family” begat “Married, with Children.” The “Family” theme song was supposed to be ironic and satiric. I always thought it was best understood without any irony whatsoever. Archie’s and The Dingbat’s LaSalle could very well have run great.
His character was already socialist progressive deranged.
And we all thought he was harmless and he’d grow out of it. I forget. Did he live at home with his parents?
No. Meathead lived with his in-laws. If you think about it, that is the biggest indictment of the leftist-progressive ideology: A bunch of entitled, freeloading, lazy, self-righteous activists seeking to change what they truly do not understand.
jvb
Meathead would have melted down at Trump’s election. During the run of “Archie Bunker’s Place”, Mike and Gloria separated. She and Joey came back to New York to star in the short-lived comedy, “Gloria”, explaining that Mike had gone to live in a commune because Ronald Reagan was elected.
Any guy who would take The Great Communicator’s election as a cue to dump his wife and child (one of the most common causes of poverty) because he couldn’t stand to live in a world where there were so many poor people at the expense of the wealthy (yep, that’s the excuse that was given) is a hypocritical nut. Divorce is one of the most common causes of poverty. Gloria was forced to find a job, go live out in the country without the help of her father (because Carroll O’Connor refused to appear on “Gloria”) and work for cranky Burgess Meredith.
Clearly, Meathead was not a sympathetic character.
My ethical guide tells me to never celebrate someone’s death. To me a persons politics is immaterial to me in general and they only guide my interactions with them in life.
As much as I can, I try to avoid even your last clause.
“My ethical guide tells me to never celebrate someone’s death.”
My normal preference is to celebrate somebody’s life. In Reiner’s case there is enough to celebrate, and a good way to celebrate his life is to watch his movies. I own a copy of “This is Spinal Tap” (brilliant comedy!), enjoyed “A Few Good Men” but I still have to see his other movies, so I will prioritize these at Amazon Prime.
I have the same attitude about Philip Seymour Hoffman. A couple of years ago there was a retrospective at his movie career at the George Eastman house in Rochester NY where I live, and you see all those brilliant movies, and it makes you sad about his death. Same about John Belushi, plus many great musicians who are part of the 27 Club (Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, Kurt Cobain, Kurt Cobain).
I also prefer to separate the art from the moral character of the artist. There are a lot of negative things to say about Roman Polanski and Woody Allen, but definitively made great movies. And I am going to dig up Phil Spector’s Christmas CD and play it loudly at December 25th.
But some people do not have a life that deserves to be celebrated. People like Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussain, Adolf Hitler and his henchmen. Instead, we celebrated their death without any moral guilt. I would say that celebrating their death is morally required!
And then there are the difficult cases, such as George Floyd, about whose life I have nothing positive to say, and whose death bedeviled the USA during the time of COVID, and about whom I still believe that he should not have died.
Comment of the Day, of course because I agree so completely and have so written, but it bears repeating.
Saw that one coming, Cees. Very elegant.
Comment of the Day indeed! Thanks CVB
I hope most people will mourn for someone tragically killed, no matter the victim’s political persuasion. God rest Rob’s and Michele’s souls, and I’ll echo the hope that what people remember is the art. “The Princes Bride” still stands as one my favorite movies (though I’m still forbidden from watching it, since I can’t help but recite the lines with the movie, which drives my wife crazy), and my appreciation of the movie has never been diminished by Reiner’s politics.
I completely agree with your summation. “The Princess Bride” is one of the most quotable movies ever. Reiner’s death and that of his wife is horrible news.
He did a good job with Princess Bride, but IMO the bulk of the credit should go to William Goldman…the writer of the book, who also happened to be a successful screenwriter and did so for that movie. It tracks with the book about as well as a movie could.
Very well, except for the ending, in which Fezzik got lost, Inigo’s wounds reopened, and Wesley relapsed, while Humperdink’s men were in hot pursuit…
With no sequel available (though apparently Goldman intended for there to be one, but never managed it), The movie’s ending was definitely the better choice for a “storybook story”.
“I also hope conservative pundits and bloggers display more compassion, humanity and common sense than progressives and Democrats did when activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated.”
I believe the president has jumped the shark on this one. I’ll look for the tweet before it gets deleted.
A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood. Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS. He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace! https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/115724141568860081
Ho boy.
I don’t know if that deserves an “UGH!” or a “Yikes!”
jvb
I label it “grotesque”…but still far kinder than what Rob likely said – and many of his ilk DID say – about Charlie Kirk’s murder.
There’s a place and a time to troll. Rob Reiner’s death is neither.
“but still far kinder than what Rob likely said“
His body of work would lead one to that conclusion, but you’ll be SURPRISED; I was.
PWS
Thanks, Paul!! I was clearly wrong in my estimation and I stand corrected.
As awful as he might have been in the things he said about Trump, he didn’t seem to be an angry, vengeful individual. I am not surprised he expressed horror over Kirk’s death.
jvb
My opinion of Reiner just improved a little bit.
-Jut
Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly…
I have given up hoping President Trump would be more circumspect about what he posts or says or thinks or even dreams.
Saying Trump isn’t circumspect enough is too close to Bennie saying that the National Guard shootings were an unfortunate accident…
I disagree. We both agree that Trump’s stream-of-consciousness method of communicating gets in the way of the important things he has to do. This is one of the more blatant examples of it. It pours lighter fluid on the dry kindling of previous unwise statements, giving his opponents and their followers more talking points. I was in a chair at the ENT today when he chose to opine on how it’s difficult to relate to his elderly parents who vote for and support someone so cruel.
Wishing that the would think about the impression these social media rants give of him is not the same as trying to minimize the actions of a mass shooter and murderer. Had Thompson misspoke (as his media enablers seem to want to claim), he would have corrected himself quickly. He didn’t misspeak. I also find it highly unlikely that he was referring to the vetting process, since such a claim would also, by necessity, implicate the Biden Administration for letting the guy in the country in the first place.
I’m not trying to make excuses for Trump nor am I trying to imply that Thompson’s words were worse. Comparisons are odious, after all. Trump didn’t misspeak. He also didn’t mean one thing when he posted something else.
As has been discussed on this blog many times, this is who Trump is. He’s not going to change, much as we sometimes wish he would.
Of course he did.
Son arrested.
Rob Reiner’s son Nick arrested after Hollywood legend and wife were knifed to death inside $13.5m mansion | Daily Mail Online
I forgot he directed “A Few Good Men” and “Misery.” Such a tragedy, a terrible loss. I checked out his Wikipedia and IDMB pages. So much talent. May they rest in peace.
jvb
A decidedly Hollywood tragedy.
I live in Brownsville Oregon, where some of the scenes from Stand By Me were filmed. We have a Stand By Me day every year and it draws people from all over the country and sometimes beyond.
There’s a young Japanese woman who somehow made it here (there’s no public transportation to our town) on her Stand By Me tour, as it is (somehow?) her favorite movie of all time. She posts regularly on our town’s Facebook page.
One of those wonderfully quirky things that reminds one of the power of art to bring people together in shared appreciation of the music and movies and books that they love.