Have fun storming the castle!

That’s what I said to the girls every day when I dropped them off at school, or at practice, or at their friends’ houses: “Have fun storming the castle!”

That’s from The Princess Bride. It’s what Miracle Max (Billy Crystal) says to Westley and Inigo and Fezzik as they head out, despite the long odds against them, to take down the Powers That Be in pursuit of justice and true love. I suppose saying that to our daughters was a way of reminding them to be as brave and determined and loyal and good as the heroes in that story — a story that shows and teaches and reminds us all of what all those things, bravery and goodness and true love, look like and what they mean. Plus saying that always made them laugh, remembering the way they laughed at that scene the first time we watched that movie. And the second. And the third.

We all loved that movie. Most people do — including you, probably.

That’s part of why most of us were so sad to hear the shocking, tragic news this weekend about the death of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle. This was somebody who made movies that people loved.

The mourning of Reiner’s death on social media reflected this, with many people pointing again to that incredible string of beloved movies that he directed at the beginning of his career. The diversity of genres and styles and stories is dazzling in those seven films: This Is Spinal Tap, The Sure Thing, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, A Few Good Men.

Those movies are all more than 30 years old now, but they endure. People still watch them and re-watch them, because we love those movies. Reiner has never been in the conversation about the greatest directors in cinema because he generally didn’t make movies that were admired, merely movies that were loved.

And that’s pretty much what he was going for. This 2018 profile by Hadley Freeman gets at this aspect of Reiner’s career, and how it’s the thread connecting all of those otherwise disparate-seeming movies listed above: “‘I want everyone to be happy’: how Rob Reiner became a great director – and a political hero.”

Reiner loves talking about his movies the way people enjoy talking about their kids. Yet unlike most parents, Reiner seemingly has no ego about his babies. So when I tell him there’s not a week – a day – when a scene from one of his films doesn’t pop into my head, he looks down, makes an embarrassed snuffle and changes the subject by asking if I have any kids. When I ask if he got a kick out of seeing how Stand By Me was one of the main references in the first series of Stranger Things, he looks a little bewildered, says he heard about that, but never watched the show, and what, actually, is Stranger Things? The only time he acknowledges his legend is when he mentions that the fake orgasm scene from When Harry Met Sally … was recently voted one of the funniest scenes of all time in a movie poll. “Amazing,” he marvels.

Rob, I say, at least three scenes you directed are widely agreed to be among the best of all time: Sally’s fake orgasm; “These go to 11” in Spinal Tap; and “You can’t handle the truth!” in A Few Good Men. Don’t you know that? “It’s really something,” he says, looking down again. “So how old are your kids?”

My kids are in their 30s now. They came by together the other day to raid my wife’s closet for a dress for some Christmas party. When they left I said what I always say, “Love you guys. Have fun storming the castle!”

There’s a lot more to talk about when it comes to Rob Reiner and his long career, including the way his own politics matched and carried forward the Norman Lear liberalism he embodied 50 years ago playing “Meathead” Michael Stivic on All in the Family, and how his politics has led some ugly people to politicize his death in ugly ways.

But we can deal with all of that later. For now, let’s just all carve out some time to re-watch Spinal Tap or Princess Bride or When Harry Met Sally or A Few Good Men or Shawshank or any of the other beloved movies Reiner produced through his Castle Rock studio. Because I want everybody to be happy.