When Harry Met Sally...

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When Harry Met Sally...
Directed by	Rob Reiner
Produced by	Nora Ephron, Andrew Scheinman, Rob Reiner
Written by	Nora Ephron
Starring	Billy Crystal Meg Ryan Carrie Fisher Bruno Kirby
Music by	Marc Shaiman
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures (later MGM, more info below)
Release date(s)	July 12, 1989
Running time	96 min.
Language	English
Budget	$16,000,000
IMDb profile

When Harry Met Sally... is a 1989 film written by Nora Ephron, and directed by Rob Reiner. The romantic comedy stars Billy Crystal as Harry and Meg Ryan as Sally. The film follows the relationship of Harry and Sally from the time they meet on a carpool ride from the University of Chicago to New York, through the next 12 years or so of chance encounters leading to friendship, and more in New York City.

The film revolves around the central question: Can men and women ever truly be "just friends"? It popularized the term "high maintenance" as applied to individuals who are difficult to please.

In early 2004, the film was adapted for the stage in a Theatre Royal Haymarket production starring Luke Perry and Alyson Hannigan and also Molly Ringwald and Michael Landes. The 2005 UK national tour stars Gaby Roslin and Jonathan Wrather.

This film is number 27 on the AFI 100 Years... series' "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs" list of the top comedy films in American cinema and number 60 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies"

Contents 1 Trivia 1.1 Rights 2 Synopsis 3 Soundtrack 3.1 Track listing 4 Notes 5 External links

[edit] Trivia

The film is best known for a scene with the two title characters having lunch at Katz's Deli in New York City's Lower East Side of Manhattan. They are arguing about a man's ability to recognize when a woman is faking an orgasm. Sally claims men cannot tell the difference, and to prove her point, she vividly (but fully clothed) demonstrates the skill as other diners watch. The scene ends with Sally casually returning to her meal as a nearby patron, played by Reiner's mother, places her order: "I'll have what she's having." According to the DVD's special features, this scene was reshot again and again, and Meg Ryan demonstrated her fake orgasms for hours and hours.

The film has helped to fuel myths at The University of Chicago that alumni from the institution had a very high intra-marriage rate, possibly due to their inability to form relationships with "other people" as shown in the movie (although Harry and Sally's scholastic affiliation is not a focus of the movie). In reality the marriage rate is significantly above average but not an outlier.

In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted When Harry Met Sally... the 45th greatest comedy film of all time.

In one scene, Harry is seen reading the Stephen King novel Misery. Rob Reiner's next movie would be the film adaptation of that novel.

[edit] Rights

This film was produced by Castle Rock Entertainment and was originally released by Columbia Pictures. Over the years, Castle Rock would be acquired by Turner Broadcasting System and then Time Warner, with the rights to most Castle Rock films made before the Turner merger going to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Columbia would in a way gain some rights back when its parent company, Sony Pictures Entertainment, led a partnership which purchased MGM in 2005. However the worldwide video rights today are held by 20th Century Fox (under license from MGM).

[edit] Synopsis

The movie begins when Harry and Sally finish college at the University of Chicago and are off to New York to begin their careers.^[1] The movie records a couple of snippets of their conversations during this trip, which center on male-female relationships. During one such conversation, Harry states this rule, "men and women can't be friends because the sex part always gets in the way." In New York, they depart less than friendly.

Harry and Sally meet five years later in a New York airport, and find themselves on the same airplane. Both are in relationships. During this encounter, Harry elaborates on his previous rule:

"…They can't be friends…unless both of them are involved with other people. Then they can. This is an amendment to the earlier rule. If the two people are in relationships, the pressure of possible involvement is lifted. That doesn't work either. Because what happens then is the person you're involved with can't understand why you need to be friends with the person you're just friends with, like it means something is missing from the relationship and wanted to go outside to get it. Then when you say, 'No, no, no, no, it's not true, nothing is missing from the relationship,' the person you're involved with then accuses you of being secretly attracted to the person you're just friends with, which you probably are—I mean, come on, who the hell are we kidding, let's face it—which brings us back to the earlier rule before the amendment, which is men and women can't be friends."

Again they separate less than friendly.

Five years later, Harry and Sally meet again in a New York bookstore. By now, their earlier relationships have ended.

To this point only about 30 minutes of the movie has elapsed, the remainder of the movie covers their relationship during the next two years as they become very close friends. During this period, the two are not romantically involved with each other, but are actively dating others. Their conversations during this period explore the topics of relationships and sex.

Eventually, they have sex with each other, which becomes a barrier to their friendship; a barrier that is overcome by the end of the movie.

[edit] Soundtrack

The movie's soundtrack album was released by Columbia Records on July 13, 1989. The soundtrack consists of standards performed by Harry Connick, Jr. with a big band and orchestra arranged by Marc Shaiman.

Several of the songs the viewer hears in the movie are performed by various musical legends, including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Harry Connick, Jr., and Ray Charles. The songs in the soundtrack however, are sung by Harry Connick, Jr. (won his first Grammy for Best Jazz Male Vocal Performance).

Arrangements and orchestrations on "It Had To Be You," "Where Or When," "I Could Write A Book" and "But Not For Me" are by Connick and Marc Shaiman. Other songs were performed as piano/vocal solos, or with Connick’s trio featuring Benjamin Jonah Wolfe on bass and Jeff 'Tain' Watts on drums. Also appearing on the album are tenor saxophonist Frank Wess and guitarist Joy Berliner.

This successful soundtrack went to #1 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Chart. In the process, it was also bulleting inside the top 50 on the Pop Album Chart.

[edit] Track listing

1. "It Had to Be You" (With Big Band And Vocals)
2. "Love Is Here To Stay"
3. "Stompin' At The Savoy"
4. "But Not For Me"
5. "Winter Wonderland"
6. "Don't Get Around Much Anymore"
7. "Autumn In New York"
8. "I Could Write A Book"
9. "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off"
10. "It Had to Be You" (Instrumental Trio)
11. "Where Or When"

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Sally is looking for someone to share the driving; the same premise of two strangers meeting to share a long drive and eventually ending up together was used in Louise Lasser's 1978 telemovie Just Me and You.

[edit] External links

• When Harry Met Sally... at the Internet Movie Database
• When Harry Met Sally stage review
• When Harry Met Sally script transcription
• The real score of the movie