Rob Reiner Was The Secret Weapon Of A Classic Martin Scorsese Movie

Filmmaker Rob Reiner's tragic death, alongside his wife Michele Singer Reiner, closes 2025 out on an unbearably bitter note. It's also brought an outpouring of remembrance for a true Hollywood titan; if I were to say that Reiner's film directing streak from 1984 to 1992 is one of the best ever, I'd be (at a conservative estimate) the 10 millionth person to say so. Though many recent tributes to Reiner have, understandably, honed in on his career as a director, let's not forget he was also an actor, and a hilarious one. 

The Rob Reiner performance that always makes me smile is his brief but unforgettable part in Martin Scorsese's raven-dark comedy biopic, "The Wolf of Wall Street." There, Reiner played Max Belfort, the father and accountant of the titular wolf, corrupt stockbroker Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio).

"Wolf" is a three-hour epic of debauchery, one where Scorsese uses the same bag of tricks he and editor Thelma Schoonmaker perfected on "Goodfellas." Jordan gets high on wealth, power, and many actual drugs before it all comes crashing down. Since Jordan doesn't have a conscience, his dad tries to make up for that. Max's few scenes are mostly him trying to counsel Jordan on how his greed is going to ruin him, urging him to quit while he's ahead. 

Yet, even as the silenced angel on his son's shoulder, Max Belfort is no moralistic killjoy. (Scorsese's too smart a director to have a character like that.) In one of those scenes where he tries to advise his son, they get sidetracked discussing whether they prefer women shaved or with some bush. You know, wholesome father-son bonding! The movie similarly introduces Max with the nickname "Mad Max," and Reiner shows off his temper with one gutbusting line delivery after another.

We first meet Max as he's sitting at home, watching "The Equalizer" as Jordan's narration tells us he has a "hair-trigger temper." The trigger is a phone call, interrupting his favorite show, and Max goes to answer the phone in screaming anger... except, when he actually answers it, he cloaks his anger in a polite British accent. Every syllable Reiner says in this scene is comic perfection, but the way he flails his arms in anger is just as funny; take how when he learns he missed an important scene in "The Equalizer," he then rears back and lifts up his head and hands as if he's about to curse out God himself.

This scene is all Reiner, though he's just as hilarious in a triple header with himself, DiCaprio, and Jonah Hill (Belfort's partner-in-crime, Donnie Azoff). Max reams his son and business partners for racking up expenses. Donnie, snickering with Jordan and the other present brokers, insists that he had to order sides for a $26,000 dinner. "They cure cancer?" Max asks. "The sides did cure cancer, that's the problem, that's why they were expensive," Donnie BSes without missing a beat.

As Reiner told /Film at the time of the movie's release in 2013: "If you know what's good for you, when Martin Scorsese calls, you just do what he says." Discussing Scorsese's directing style, Reiner credited him for creating a set atmosphere that thrives on improvisation, as well as his costars (specifically Hill) for thriving in it. "When you hit a tennis ball, you want the ball to come back at you," he noted. So, if we follow that analogy, then Reiner's improv was the work of a master player. May his memory be a blessing.