12 Times A Director Went On An INSANE Streak Of Great Movies
12. Rob Reiner: Four Films From 1986-90
The Streak: Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery
There's a good argument to be made for extending Rob Reiner's streak - whether that's starting with This Is Spinal Tap and including The Sure Thing, or ending with A Few Good Men - but these four represent the tightest part of his incredible late-80s run when he was, quite simply, untouchable.
The most astonishing thing here is just how Reiner is able to move from genre to genre without missing a beat: Stand By Me is one of the finest coming-of-age films ever made, expertly capturing its moment in time and offering some spookiness, while retaining themes that remain relevant today. From there, he switched to The Princess Bride, a swashbuckling fairytale romance that is still fresh.
After that, he mastered the romcom with When Harry Met Sally - a more lovable take on a Woody Allen film, which boasts one of the finest scripts ever written from Nora Ephron, is endlessly quotable, and captures the world of dating like few films have ever managed. His insane run then concluded with Misery, another Stephen King adaptation, where he crafts a taut psychological thriller that grabs a hold of you and never let's go.
The way he jumped around suggested he could do anything, but there are clear throughlines here: he's a director who knows how to get the best out of his actors, how to keep things as tight as possible, and just how much to trust in the talent of his writers. He might not be a director you'd associate with dazzling visuals or epic scale, but those qualities he does have are just as important, and Reiner was on another level with them here.
[James Hunt]