10 Best Carl Reiner Films
8. The One And Only
Only in recent years have we seen the range of Henry Winkler, an actor best known as a one-off character on a dated sitcom. But Hollywood was trying to make The Fonz a thing for a little while and, frankly, we would have been better off if Winkler had taken what Travolta stole.
1978's The One and Only really just modernizes Winker's Fonzarelli persona, playing an equally conceited young man. The roguish Andy Schmidt is convinced he's talented and handsome, but unlike the Fonz, there's really nothing likeable about him. He's a character made for comeuppance, however given Reiner's lighthearted nature, it was destined to be good-natured.
The One and Only is not currently out on DVD, which is fitting considering that it's very much of its time. Reiner incorporates recent trends like professional wrestling and the popularity of Herve Villachez in ways that feel out of place now, but probably made sense then.
It's also one of Reiner's major Hollywood films that calls back to his early years trying to make it in Hollywood, something Reiner often used as a plot device or, in the case of The Dick Van Dyke Show, an entire series.