Rob Reiner Was Good

"Even if you don't know who Rob Reiner was, you're living in a world he helped shape. He leveraged the TV fame he earned in the 1970s playing Mike "Meathead" Stivic, the son-in-law and main adversary of motormouthed bigot Archie Bunker on All in the Family, and became a filmmaker responsible for some of the most beloved American movies of the '80s and '90s: Stand by Me ('86), The Princess Bride('87), When Harry Met Sally('89), Misery ('90), A Few Good Men ('92)."

"Reinerologists would add This Is Spinal Tapto that run, his 1984 feature debut that was largely improvised by Reiner and co-stars Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer. It launched Guest into a career of mockumentary film and indirectly led to a sitcom subgenre represented by The Office, Parks and Recreation, Modern Family, and Abbott Elementary. That's the thing about Reiner. He didn't just make movies, he solidified careers."

"As a co-founder of Castle Rock Pictures - named for the town in Stand by Me, the setting for so many Stephen King stories - Reiner co-produced Whit Stillman's Barcelona and The Last Days of Disco; Richard Linklater's Before trilogy; Guest's Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and A Mighty Wind; Kenneth Branagh's uncut, four-hour Hamlet; more King adaptations including The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile."

Rob Reiner transitioned from 1970s television fame into a prolific film director and producer whose work reshaped American popular culture. He directed a string of genre-spanning classics including coming-of-age, romantic comedy, thriller, and courtroom drama. His improvised feature This Is Spinal Tap pioneered mockumentary comedy and helped spawn sitcom formats that dominate contemporary television. As co-founder of Castle Rock Pictures, he produced influential films across directors and genres, including multiple Stephen King adaptations, and collaborated with prominent writers to create memorable lines that entered the cultural lexicon.

Read at Vulture