10 Essential Movies From Director Ivan Reitman

When I think of Ivan Reitman, I think of films populated by characters that I’d want to invite to a dinner party. The sorts of people who would be my ideal BFF. Lovable, larger-than-life, funny – these characters, thanks to their performers and Reitman’s skill at allowing actors to embrace their comic tendencies and spontaneity, jump off the screen and into our hearts.

Reitman is best known for directing the first two Ghostbusters movies in which he brought to life the vision of stars and writers Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis by finding a stage that brought harmony to its comedy and horror elements, utilising mostly live special-effects to provide audiences with a contemporary New York City that felt familiar yet overrun by paranormal activity.

Enjoying his heyday in the 1980s and early 1990s which saw him release a string of comedy gems including Stripes, Twins and Dave, Reitman continued to work well into his 60s when he enjoyed huge commercial success with lavish adventure romance Six Days, Seven Nights with Harrison Ford in 1998 and No Strings Attached with Natalie Portman in 2011. His final film as director was the 2014 American sports drama Draft Day with Kevin Costner.

Ivan Reitman’s Best Films

Ivan Reitman was born in 1946 in Komárno, Czechoslovakia to parents, both Hungarian Jews, who each had escaped the persecution of the Jews during the Second World War. Indeed, his mother survived being imprisoned at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp. His family left Europe for Canada as refugees where they settled.

Reitman’s first taste of film production came following a stint working for Canadian TV when he produced David Cronenberg’s independent films, Shivers (1975) and Rabid (1977). He followed this by producing National Lampoon’s Animal House in 1978 before taking the director’s chair for 1979’s Meatballs.

As director his notable films include Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters II (1989), Twins (1988), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Dave (1993), and Junior (1994). As producer, his most notable works include Animal House (1978), Beethoven (1992), Space Jam (1996), and Private Parts (1997).

10. Six Days, Seven Nights

Playing South Pacific-based small-time pilot Quinn Harris, Harrison Ford gets himself and his passenger Anne Heche into trouble in this fun adventure comedy when he crashes his small DHC-2 Beaver plane during a thunderstorm. Stranded on a deserted island the warring pair must settle their differences, evade being killed by pirates, battle the jungle wilderness, repair the plane, escape the island and…fall in love.

9. Junior

Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger reteam following the delightful comedy Twins for more high concept misadventure. Here the pair play scientists who discover a drug that allows a man to carry a baby to term. Yes, this is the movie where Schwarzenegger gets pregnant.

8. Legal Eagles

A legal comedy-thriller, Legal Eagles stars Robert Redford, Debra Winger and Daryl Hannah in a film about a New York district attorney – Tom Logan – who finds more than he bargained for when he begins working with his adversary and her enigmatic artist client, who is on trial for murder. As Logan digs deeper a number of twists and turns put his life and career in jeopardy.

7. Twins

Arnold Schwarzenegger might be the gentle giant who can’t act but Danny DeVito is great as his scheming “twin brother” who uses his muscular sibling as an unwitting bodyguard as he tries to fraudulently sell a top secret fuel injector system to a unscrupulous industrialist. Cross-country fun ensues.

6. Meatballs

Harold Ramis and Bill Murray were the driving force, along with Ivan Reitman, of monster hits like Stripes, Ghostbusters and Meatballs. Meatballs give Murray his first starring role which sees him get up to mischief as head counsellor at a low-grade summer camp.

5. Kindergarten Cop

Arnie was never afraid to poke fun at himself. His huge bulk was easy prey for cunning comedy writers who eagerly picked away at his machismo. In Twins he was matched up with mini-man Danny Devito, while the pair would work together again in Junior when Schwarzenegger became the first pregnant man.

In Ivan Reitman’s Kindergarten Cop, Arnie meets his match in the form of pre-pubescent school kids when he goes undercover as a kindergarten teacher. There’s a good bit of tension to go with the comedy and Schwarzenegger is brilliantly game as the hard man who has to find his softer side.

4. Stripes

This is the film that put Bill Murray on the A-list. Columbia Pictures first envisioned this as a “Cheech and Chong go to the army” kind of film but with director Ivan Reitman and best friend Harold Ramis on board, it went from a stoner comedy to more of a laugh a minute slapstick with Murray doing what only Murray can. The comic actor is famous for his deadpan delivery and this is where it all began.

Here he plays John Winger, a man approaching 30, who in a matter of hours has quit his job, had his car repossessed, his girlfriend walk out on him and been told to leave his apartment. He figures the best thing to do is join the army.

Once he does, his attitude in the military is no different than it is in life. Murray has us laughing at the absurdity of the whole thing. The character’s introduction scene is stuff of legend – “A platoon without a leader is like a foot without a big toe.”

3. Dave

Ivan Reitman wisely casts a primed Kevin Kline in the lead role of Dave. Kline is a well meaning, morally wholesome small business owner who looks very much like America’s current President. When the President has a stroke, he is recruited by the White House to pose as the Commander-In-Chief. The film might have one of the most improbable premises but Dave is an ocean of sugar that is bound to smuggle its way into the hearts of even those without a sweet tooth. Kevin Kline is wonderful.

2. Ghostbusters II

While Ghostbusters II doesn’t quite reach the delights of the original film, a fictional continuation of the wonderful characters created Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd can only be welcomed. Indeed, Part 2 delivers more of the same, but when you have characters as lovable as Bill Murray’s Peter Venkman the attraction is simply the company you’re in. A mixture of family-friendly paranormal horror and a healthy dose of comedy make Ghostbusters II one of the better sequels of the 1980s.

1. Ghostbusters

This joyful marriage of supernatural horror and comedy is a stand out cinematic feature of 1980s American cinema. It’s not only Ivan Reitman’s best film but it’s also the defining achievement of its writers and stars Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Bill Murray.

Everyone knows the story of this 1980s classic as a group of paranormal researchers set up a ghost-hunting business in New York. What starts out as a risky move financed by family inheritance turns into a lucrative business as all manner of ghosts and ghouls descend on the city.

As the calls for ghost-busting increase, so does the Ghostbusters’ stock and they are catapulted into the public consciousness, becoming minor celebrities. When the city is faced by the deadly threat of Gozer, the team, with their proton packs and khaki uniforms, become New York’s last hope.

Reitman’s genius here is how he creates a harmonious balance between creepy supernatural horror of the family-friendly variety and laugh-out-loud comedy.

There’s also astute restraint in the use of some fantastic special-effects – which still hold up well in today’s era of CGI – keeping the fantasy grounded in a contemporary New York City that feels familiar amidst the paranormal activity.

Eggs breaking by themselves and frying on a kitchen surface is a stand out moment – subtle yet so effective – as is the scene when a character is attacked in her home by a monster whose arms break out of the sofa she’s sitting on.

Reitman was always a great actor’s director. Someone who could let his stars showcase their talents in an environment which celebrated spontaneity. Not only does he get the best out of his support cast – the bespectacled Annie Potts as the Ghostbusters’ receptionist and Rick Moranis as nice-but-dim Louis Tully – but Bill Murray delivers one of his finest performances as the smooth-talking, street-smart Peter Venkman who spends much of the film trying to court ghost victim Sigourney Weaver including after she becomes possessed!

There’s nothing to dislike in the film – it’s a lovingly produced original comedy with characters you’d want to invite to a never-ending dinner party.

If you enjoyed our look at the best films of director Ivan Reitman, you might also be interested in our look at the best work of some of the actors he’s worked with.