I've written about Rob Reiner before (most recently here). He directed a run of classic movies from 1984 to 1992 that wasn't just the best of his day but rivaled similar runs by all-time greats Buster Keaton, Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks and Billy Wilder.
In case you've forgotten, I'll repeat the list: This Is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery and A Few Good Men.
In the course of that run, he made stars of River Phoenix, Meg Ryan and Kathy Bates (who won an Oscar as James Caan's biggest fan); turned the mockumentary up to eleven, establishing a beloved comedy genre in the process; gave us Jack Nicholson's best known catchphrase ("You can't handle the truth!"); and most importantly, taught women everywhere how to fake an orgasm (Oh, no, sorry — I've just been informed they've been doing that since the beginning of time).
Throw in The Sure Thing (1985), a very funny screwball rom-com that put John Cusack on the map, and you can say Reiner's movies helped shape everything that came after.
The son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, he was also a very good comedic actor in his own right. On the groundbreaking comedy All in the Family, his performance as Mike Stivic — a.k.a. the earnest, sometimes misguided but always funny "Meathead" — twice earned him a Primetime Emmy.
Maybe of more significance, Reiner, with his comic foil Archie Bunker (the great Carroll O'Connor), helped left-wing and right-wing America carry on a conversation at a particularly fraught moment in our history.
If only there were such a cultural meeting place these days! But alas, times change and we're lucky now if we can agree on the day of the week much less things that matter.
Finally, on a personal note, Rob Reiner taught me how to put on my shoes — one foot at a time, of course, not like the rest of you animals, with your sock and a sock and a shoe and a shoe.
Saw that as a kid fifty-plus years ago and I've been walking in Rob Reiner's footsteps, so to speak, ever since.
For that, and for all those movies I still watch and love, thank you, Mr. Reiner. You will be missed.
If you're old like me, you might remember all the hand-wringing and pearl-clutching that accompanied the release of Spike Lee's masterpiece, Do the Right Thing, back in 1989. The movie holds up even if its critics' hysterics look pretty comical in retrospect. Lee basically predicted the Black Lives Matter movement thirty years before it had a name and laid out the injustices and frustrations that underlie it.
A true artist with his finger on America's pulse and the best picture of the year.
So of course the Academy gave the Oscar to Driving Miss Daisy, the essential message of which is Keep your mouth shut and your eyes on the road, Morgan, and eventually the old white lady in the backseat might learn to tolerate you. Try as I might I couldn't shoehorn it into my top ten. Or maybe I just didn't want to.
My choices are noted with a ★. A tie is indicated with a ✪. Historical Oscar winners are noted with a ✔. Best foreign-language picture winners are noted with an ƒ. A historical winner who won in a different category is noted with a ✱.
And on a personal note, I passed a milestone last week. When I say I'm happy to be here, you can bet I really mean it!
I seem to remember some chirping from the peanut gallery back in the day for my failure to nominate Batman — first dark comic book movie, influential, etc. — thus, the nominations for best picture and director. But I still say it hasn't aged well, and Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson now look as campy to me as Adam West and Cesar Romero. Feel free to disagree in the comments section below.
And still no nomination for Driving Miss Daisy, the Academy's choice for the year's best picture. It's not the worst movie to win for best picture — but it's close. I'm going with the anti-Miss Daisy, Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, but you have many other movies to choose from. I hope you find something to your liking.
My choices are noted with a ★. A tie is indicated with a ✪. Historical Oscar winners are noted with a ✔. Best foreign-language picture winners are noted with an ƒ. A historical winner who won in a different category is noted with a ✱.
My choices are noted with a ★. Historical Oscar winners are noted with a ✔.
I had to look up the last time I failed to nominate a movie that the Academy chose as the best picture of the year — Around the World in 80 Days back in 1956.
So, no Driving Miss Daisy, but I will leave you with this classic song that first appeared in Spike Lee's anti-Miss Daisy masterpiece, Do the Right Thing:
A good year for movies—Do The Right Thing, Cinema Paradiso, Crimes and Misdemeanors, When Harry Met Sally, sex lies and videotape, Field of Dreams, My Left Foot, The Killer, Glory, Roger & Me, Henry V, Driving Miss Daisy, Batman, Say Anything, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Kiki's Delivery Service, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure ... and on and on.
It was an even better for getting married. At least if you were Katie-Bar-The-Door and the Mythical Monkey.
P.S. I'm sure the head of my alternate Oscar pal, Erik Beck, will explode when he sees I didn't pick Denzel Washington's supporting performance in Glory—and I don't blame him. Let's just say I'm saving Denzel Washington's award for Malcolm X, which I think is the best performance of his career and the one I'd want you to see if you were only going to see one.
PICTURE (Drama) winner:Do The Right Thing (prod. Spike Lee)
PICTURE (Comedy/Musical) winner:When Harry Met Sally ... (prod. Rob Reiner and Andrew Scheinman)
Named for Katie-Bar-The-Door, the Katies are "alternate Oscars"—who should have been nominated, who should have won—but really they're just an excuse to write a history of the movies from the Silent Era to the present day.
To see a list of nominees and winners by decade, as well as links to my essays about them, click the highlighted links:
Remember: There are no wrong answers, only movies you haven't seen yet.
The Silent Oscars
And don't forget to check out the Silent Oscars—my year-by-year choices for best picture, director and all four acting categories for the pre-Oscar years, 1902-1927.
Look at me—Joe College, with a touch of arthritis. Are my eyes really brown? Uh, no, they're green. Would we have the nerve to dive into the icy water and save a person from drowning? That's a key question. I, of course, can't swim, so I never have to face it. Say, haven't you anything better to do than to keep popping in here early every morning and asking a lot of fool questions?
Posts
