It’s the kind of career that’s so rich you can easily forget gems like The Russians Are Coming until you read the obituary and go, “Oh, right, that too!”
The start of a Reiner thread, featuring Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid.
In July of 2012, @MrPeytonReed and I hosted a "Summer of 1982" series at the @newbeverly. '82 is generally considered the summer that made "summer movies" a thing, so it held a special place in both of our hearts - especially Peyton's because he's much older than me.
As I arose at 7:30 this morning, I was saddened to relive the day that led up to the election of a bankrupted and corrupt businessman who had no qualifications to be the leader of any country in the civilized world...
... At the same time, Hillary Clinton, who had all the needed qualifications to lead our beloved nation, had received 3 million more popular votes than our Russian-installed puppet president.
There must have been something in the water at the Dick Van Dyke Show, given how long so many of the principals lived (or in Van Dyke's case, still living). It's still one of the old TV shows that holds up (mostly. the sexism is cringy, like the episode when Rob doesn't want Laura to go back to work as a dancer). But so many of the episodes were based around misunderstandings because the characters were trying to be nice. Which I guess was a reflection on Carl Reiner as the creative force.
Carl Reiner didn’t mean to create The Dick Van Dyke Show — or, rather, he didn’t mean to create a show for Dick Van Dyke. When he sat down to write what was then called Head of the Family, Reiner was basing its hero, Rob Petrie, on his own experiences as a suburban dad and writer for Sid Caesar’s sketch-comedy shows. So who better to play Rob than himself? Reiner starred in the pilot episode, with Barbara Britton as Rob’s wife, Laura, and Morty Gunty and Sally Rogers as Rob’s co-writers Buddy and Sally. CBS passed, but producer Sheldon Leonard suggested Van Dyke, who was a hit on Broadway in Bye Bye Birdie Reiner swallowed his pride, made a new pilot with Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Morey Amsterdam, and Rose Marie in the key roles, and history was made.
There's a lot to be said for a creative person who can put aside his ego to make something really great.
The score to Once Upon a Time in America is my favorite, but I'll have to revisit The Mission now.
Morricone, more than most, to my ear anyway, was the best in integrating the score with the movie. And Once Upon... is the peak of that integration for me.
I just read that Sergio Leone asked for the score first sometimes, before filming, so that he could fit the movie to the music.
I made the mistake of taking my oldest daughter to see Charlie Daniels in Sayreville. In between songs, he came out with a couple of anti-gay slurs.. He had already played, "The Devil Came Down to Georgia (Actually, I don't think he ever left Georgia) so we upped and left.
so many wonderful lines, and sketches, to replay, and some are even more relevant now. 
Carl Reiner, 98. I thought he’d live forever.