I feel compelled for my first entry in here to be about something that really shook me for 2025. the brutal murder of Rob and Michelle Reiner. Rob Reiner although of course I never met him was important in my life.
I want to take some time to pay respect to him and just talk about his work and what it meant to me.
Rob Reiner was never a big A list name, he worked as a shadow in the background, never truly making a big splash. and to some of you the name may not even be familiar at all. But what if i reminded you he directed some of the most influential and referenced films of the 20th century.
When Harry met Sally
A few good men
Stand by me
This is Spinal Tap
The Princess Bride
these films are genre defining pieces and contain some incredible quotes some of which I shall not write of here, as his writing should only ever be spoken by the actors in his films. but I will include just one. a story that to me makes Rob Reiner one of the unseen greats.
the year is 1988, Rob Reiner has written a full script for When Harry met Sally and has begun filming in the autumn of the same year. Billy Crystals character has a theory that men and women cannot be friends, as the man will only ever want sex. this was an outlook Rob Reiner had hated, as he had friends who dated their friends and it never worked out. Reiner wanted to make a film that speaks to the fact that sex can ruin a perfectly healthy friendship. But something happened.
Rob Reiner fell in Love, Michelle, the women who unfortunately was their the day they passed together as husband and wife. friends they had been for a short while before falling head over heels in, on a weekend off shooting he wrote an entirely new ending, an ending where Harry and sally do fall in love and need each other.
Rob Reiner then wrote the greatest confession of love ever, through the body of billy crystal. on a new years party.
Harry: Well how about this way. I love that you get
cold when it's seventy one degrees out, I love that it takes you an hour
and a half to order a sandwich, I love that you get a little crinkle
above your nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts, I love that
after I spend a day with you I can still smell your perfume on my clothes
and I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before I go
to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely, and it's not because
it's New Years Eve. I came here tonight because when you realise you want
to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of the
life to start as soon as possible.
Sally: You see, that is just like you Harry. You say
things like that and you make it impossible for me to hate you.
And I hate you Harry... I really hate you. I hate you.
(They kiss and make up.)
This to me is the greatest Piece of romantic writing put to screen. and if you've not seen the movie yet please go and watch it, its a fantastic masterpiece.
RIP Rob and Michelle Reiner, and I hope you know that on new years eve a lot of channels were showing your film.
Happy new year everybody