‘These Go to 11’ – This is Spinal Tap (1984)
Every second line from Reiner’s singular mockumentary – “or rockumentary if you will” – has made it into the comedy lexicon, but the conversation about Nigel Tufnel’s custom amplifier has actually become part of the wider language. It is funny that the intellectually challenged guitarist ranks the dials up to 11. It is funnier still that he can’t understand why this makes no sense. “Why don’t you just make 10 louder?” a baffled Marty DiBergi asks. There is a pause as Nigel fails to take this in. “These go to 11,” he replies.
Stonehenge – This is Spinal Tap (1984)
Honestly, take your pick. Or “Hello, Cleveland!” Or Derek Smalls producing his cucumber at airport security. Or “None more black”. Stonehenge wins because it covers two great scenes. Ian Faith, the band’s manager, is dumbfounded that the designer of the set has taken the instruction on a napkin literally and made the monument just 18 inches high. “F**k the napkin!” he tells Anjelica Huston. We then see the band aghast as the tiny Stonehenge makes a mockery of their great prog-rock moment.
‘What’s Goofy?’ – Stand by Me (1986)
When Stand by Me, adapted from Stephen King’s story The Body, emerged nearly 40 years ago, many cinemagoers were surprised to discover the author didn’t just do horror. The film invites its young cast to consider, through witty dialogue, some vital conundrums, among them a hitherto unanswered question concerning Disney characters. “Mickey’s a mouse, Donald’s a duck, Pluto’s a dog. What’s Goofy?,” A dog? “He can’t be a dog. He drives a car and wears a hat.”
The Cliffs of Insanity – The Princess Bride (1987)
Obviously, the Cliffs of Insanity, played by the Cliffs of Moher in Co Clare, will always hold a special place in the hearts of Irish cinemagoers. The geological formation offered a supposedly impassible barrier that, against all reason, the mysterious Man in Black – who turns out to be suave Cary Elwes as suave Wesley – scales considerably faster than the enormous Fezzik (André the Giant). “I’m just going to have to find myself a new giant, that’s all,” his master Vizzini (Wallace Shawn) says with a sigh.
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‘Prepare to Die’ – The Princess Bride (1987)
There is so much to love in this delightful, romantic tribute to the great tradition of fairy stories, but the response from Inigo Montaya, played by a rising Mandy Patinkin, when he finds Count Tyrone Rugen, the man from whom he has long sought vengeance, echoes most strongly through the decades. “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!” Other candidates include Wallace Shawn’s frequent enunciation of the word “Inconceivable!” and Peter Cook’s hilarious drawling clergyman.
The diner scene – When Harry Met Sally ... (1989)
There is only one candidate from Reiner’s classic romantic comedy. You know what happens. While having lunch at Katz’s Diner in New York’s Lower East Side, Meg Ryan, as Sally, proves to Billy Crystal, as Harry, that she can fake an orgasm very effectively. Yes, it is Estelle Reiner, the director’s mother, who delivers the killer punchline: “I’ll have what she’s having.” Years later, Crystal remembered how the scene went down at an early screening. “When she starts faking it, they go berserk,” he said. “I mean, like, berserk. You couldn’t hear any dialogue.”
The ‘cockadoodie car’ – Misery (1990)
In this chilling – and blackly funny – Stephen King adaptation, Kathy Bates, a deranged fan of James Caan’s romance author, kidnaps her hero when his car crashes near her remote home. She turns out to be the sort of obsessed pop-culture maniac that we became more and more familiar with as the internet set in. Her greatest tirade comes at the memory of an old movie serial cheating on a cliffhanger ending. “HE DIDN’T GET OUT OF THE COCKADOODIE CAR!” she bellows. The prissy non-swear makes the line that bit more unhinged.
The Hobbling – Misery (1990)
It would be mad to suggest that the enthusiasm Bates brings to the film’s most troubling scene won her the Oscar, but, for many, that swing of the sledge hammer sticks in the brain as stubbornly as anything else in the Stephen King universe. “Annie, whatever you’re thinking about doing, please don’t do it,” James Caan says as she places a block between his outstretched legs. Smiling sweetly, she smashes the tool brutally against his ankle. If you freeze-frame you can catch the foot cracking off at a sickening angle. Or so a friend told me.
‘You Can’t Handle the Truth!’ – A Few Good Men (1992)
By 1992, Reiner could count himself among the most respected directors in Hollywood. No surprise, therefore, that he managed to sign up Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise and Demi Moore for a courtroom drama written by a then barely known Aaron Sorkin. In the climax of the film, the Cruiser, as a military lawyer, presses Nicholson’s bellicose colonel into admitting an uncomfortable truth. “You can’t handle the truth!” Jack famously bellows back. Judith Humphrey, in her book Impromptu: Leading in the Moment, claims Nicholson himself changed the line from “You already have the truth!”
Stonehenge Redux – Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (2025)
Reviews of what turned out to be Reiner’s last film were mixed, but it is a touching piece that engages sincerely with the sadness of ageing. Tap II is also magnificently silly, not least when a properly sized Stonehenge belatedly makes its way down on to the stage and, after teetering on a relocated drum riser, ends up crushing guest star Elton John. All this is funny enough, but an epilogue, playing out beneath the credits as Elton and Tap recover in hospital, is (well, nearly) up there with the first film for cheeky laughs. An honourable way to end a great career.
