Harvey (film)

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This is about the Jimmy Stewart film; Harvey is also the name of a play that the film was based on. For other uses, see Harvey.
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Harvey

Harvey DVD cover
Directed by Henry Koster
Produced by John Beck
Written by Mary Coyle Chase and
Oscar Brodney screenplay
Myles Connolly (screenplay) uncredited
Starring James Stewart
Josephine Hull
Peggy Dow
Charles Drake
Music by Frank Skinner
Cinematography William H. Daniels
Distributed by Universal International Pictures
Release date(s) (U.S.) October 13, 1950
Running time 104 min
Language English
IMDb profile

Harvey is a 1950 film based on Mary Chase's Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name, directed by Henry Koster, and starring Jimmy Stewart. Stewart plays a man whose best friend is Harvey, a 6 foot, 3 and a half inch rabbit invisible to almost everyone but himself. Josephine Hull plays his sister.

Hull's performance earned her an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress; Stewart's portrayal earned him a Best Actor Oscar nomination.

Contents

[edit] Cast

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Stewart plays Elwood P. Dowd, a middle-aged, amiable, free-spirited (and somewhat odd) individual whose best friend is an invisible six-foot three-and-a-half-inch tall rabbit named Harvey. Harvey is actually a pooka, a mischievous magical creature from Celtic mythology. As the film begins, Elwood has been driving his sister and niece, who crave normalcy and a place in 'society', to distraction by introducing everyone he meets to his pal Harvey.

His sister, Veta Louise Simmons (played by Hull), tries to have Elwood committed to a sanatorium, but, after admitting that she sees Harvey every once in awhile, they let Elwood out and lock her up. After sorting out the mistake, Dr. Chumley (played by Kellaway) goes after Elwood. When tracked down, Elwood goes through several ordeals, although he remains oblivious to the doctor's plans for him. In a touching scene where the doctor and his girlfriend/nurse follow Elwood into an alley, Elwood tells the incredible story of how he came to discover Harvey, and explains how the people react when they meet him.

In the final scene of the film, when Elwood (along with everybody else) arrives back at the hospital, the doctor convinces Elwood to come into his office where he'll receive a serum that will "stop [Elwood] seeing the rabbit". Once they go into the office, the taxi driver tells Elwood's sister about what's happened to the other people who received that medicine and warns her that once he does Elwood will become one of the "normal people. And we know what stinkers they are." Upset by this idea, Veta halts the procedure. At the tale's end Harvey is (indirectly) seen opening the gate to the hospital to follow the others out.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Remakes

The play/film was made for television several times:

[edit] Trivia

  • The films Winchester '73 and Harvey, released a few months apart, were the first to include profit sharing for the film's star; talent agent Lew Wasserman is credited with getting Stewart contracts that guaranteed him a percentage of the returns on those films.[1]
  • Though in the film, Harvey is said to be 6'3 1/2", on the stage it was changed to 6'8 1/2", to be more of a contrast with Stewart's own 6'3".
  • At the suggestion of James Stewart, the director changed many shots to make them wider so that "Harvey" would be in the frame.
  • In "Wallace and Gromit: the Curse of the Wererabbit" The wererabbit is also a huge rabbit, and the local vegetable shop is named after this film as an affectionate nod towards it.
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[edit] External links

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