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More than most film directors, he made excellent use of music.
12/16/2025
Rob Reiner on the set of 'When Harry Met Sally' in 1989. Columbia Pictures/Everett Collection
Rob Reiner’s shocking death on Sunday (Dec. 14) has triggered a wave of appreciations for his work, both as an actor and a film director. One thing that hasn’t been mentioned enough is that he, more than most film directors, made excellent use of music. Four of his first five films as a director had soundtracks that made the Billboard 200 album chart. One went double-platinum and won a Grammy; another went gold and sent its title song back into the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Reiner received a Grammy nomination for the All in the Family soundtrack (best comedy recording, 1972), an Oscar nomination for best picture (A Few Good Men, 1992) and seven Primetime Emmy nods – five for All in the Family (outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series) and two for the HBO Max show Albert Brooks: Defending My Life – outstanding documentary or nonfiction special and outstanding directing for a documentary/nonfiction program.
Reiner directed three actors to Oscar nominations – Kathy Bates in Misery (who won). Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men and James Woods in Ghosts of Mississippi.
It’s too bad Reiner didn’t receive the Kennedy Center Honors. His long and varied career justified the honor. President Trump said earlier this year that he reviewed a list of about 50 candidates, most of which he rejected because they were too “woke.” If the decision had been made purely on the basis of who was the most deserving (imagine that!), Reiner might well have gotten it.
Here’s a list of Rob Reiner’s film and TV soundtracks that made the Billboard 200.
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All in the Family
You probably know that All in the Family was the No. 1 TV series for five years running. It won the Primetime Emmy for outstanding comedy series three years in a row, holding off The Mary Tyler Moore Show, no less. But unless you lived through the era, it may be hard to know just how much All in the Family revolutionized TV comedy. Most TV families – the Cleavers and the Nelsons and the Andersons – had been impossibly polite and well-mannered. The Bunkers were real people, who fought and swore; slept in the same bed and flushed the toilet.
The show was so hot at its peak that an album of comedy highlights from the show (released on Atlantic Records) reached No. 8 on the Billboard 200 in January 1972, went gold and received a Grammy nod for best comedy recording. The album contained Carroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton’s rendering of the show’s pitch-perfect theme song, “Those Were the Days,” which reached No. 43 on the Hot 100.
A year later, a second album of comedy excerpts from the show (also on Atlantic) reached No. 129. It included excerpts from “Sammy’s Visit,” perhaps the show’s most famous episode, where Sammy Davis Jr. visited the Bunker household.
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This Is Spinal Tap
The soundtrack to Reiner’s first film as a director, This Is Spinal Tap (Polydor), reached No. 121 on the Billboard 200 in 1984. The film featured Michael McKean as David St. Hubbins, Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel and Harry Shearer as Derek Smalls. The three actors co-wrote the songs with Reiner. The cover art is identical to that of the fictional album Smell the Glove, which is featured in the film.
The 2025 soundtrack to the film’s sequel, Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, has yet to make the Billboard 200, though it debuted at No. 1 on Comedy Albums in September.
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Stand by Me
The soundtrack to Reiner’s third film as a director, Stand by Me (Atlantic), reached No. 31 on the Billboard 200 and went gold. The album consisted of hits from the late 1950s and early 1960s, including Dell-Vikings’ “Come Go With Me,” Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire” and The Coasters’ “Yakety Yak.”
The soundtrack also included Ben E. King’s exquisite “Stand by Me,” which gave the film its title. The song, which peaked at No. 4 on the Hot 100 in June 1961, returned to No. 9 in December 1986 after being featured in the film.
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The Princess Bride
The soundtrack to Reiner’s fourth film as a director, The Princess Bride (Warner), reached No. 180 on the Billboard 200. Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits fame scored the film, which brought him a Grammy nod for best album of original instrumental background score written for a motion picture or television. The soundtrack also included Willy DeVille’s “Storybook Love.”
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When Harry Met Sally…
The soundtrack to Reiner’s fifth film as a director, When Harry Met Sally (Columbia), reached No. 42 on the Billboard 200, went double-platinum and brought Harry Connick Jr. his first Grammy, best jazz vocal performance, male.
The music on the soundtrack, including such standards as “It Had to Be You,” “Love Is Here to Stay” and “But Not for Me,” is performed by Connick, while the music in the film is performed by various artists. Bobby Colomby, the drummer for Blood, Sweat & Tears and a friend of Reiner’s, recommended Connick for the soundtrack. Reiner took the recommendation, struck by how Connick sounded like a young Frank Sinatra.
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