When Harry Met Sally...

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When Harry Met Sally...

Theatrical poster
Directed by Rob Reiner
Produced by Andrew Scheinman
Rob Reiner
Written by Nora Ephron
Starring Billy Crystal
Meg Ryan
Carrie Fisher
Bruno Kirby
Music by Marc Shaiman
Cinematography Barry Sonnenfeld
Editing by Robert Leighton
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Castle Rock Entertainment
Release date(s) July 14, 1989 (limited)
July 21, 1989 (wide)
Running time 96 minutes
Country USA
Language English
Budget $16,000,000
Gross revenue $92,823,546
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

When Harry Met Sally... is a 1989 American 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 title characters from the time they meet on a carpool ride from the University of Chicago to New York, through the next twelve years or so of chance encounters in New York City. The film raises the question "Can men and women ever just be friends?" and advances many ideas about love that have become household concepts now, such as the "high-maintenance"[1] girlfriend and the "transitional person".[2]

The origins of the film came from Reiner's return to single life after a divorce. Ephron interviewed Reiner and it provided the basis for Harry. Sally was based on Ephron and some of her friends. Crystal came on board and made his own contributions to the screenplay, making Harry funnier. Ephron supplied the structure of the film with much of the dialogue based on the real-life friendship between Reiner and Crystal. The soundtrack consists of standards performed by Harry Connick, Jr., with a big band and orchestra arranged by Marc Shaiman. Connick won his first Grammy for Best Jazz Male Vocal Performance.

Columbia Pictures released the film using the "platform" technique, which involved opening it in a few select cities letting positive word of mouth generate interest and then gradually expanding distribution over subsequent weeks. When Harry Met Sally... grossed a total of US$92 million in North America, well above its $16 million budget. Ephron received a British Academy Film Award, an Oscar nomination, and a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for her screenplay. The film is 23rd on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs list of the top comedy films in American cinema and number 60 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies". In early 2004, the film was adapted for the stage in a production starring Luke Perry and Alyson Hannigan.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The movie begins in 1977 when Harry Burns and Sally Albright finish college at the University of Chicago and are off to New York City to begin their careers.[3] The movie records a couple of snippets of their conversations, which center on male-female relationships, during this trip. During one such conversation, Harry states this rule: "Men and women can't be friends because the sex part always gets in the way." Sally disagrees, claiming that men and women can be strictly friends without sex. This argument becomes an underlying theme to the movie. Sally's habit of being picky when ordering her food is also introduced during this road trip. 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. Sally has just started dating a man named Joe, who was at the airport with her previously, and Harry is engaged to a woman named Helen, a fact that surprises Sally. During this encounter, Harry suggests they become friends, which makes him elaborate on his previous rule about male-female friendships, that they can never be friends because sex will always be in their way spoiling it all. They separate concluding that they will not be friends after all.

Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) and Harry Burns (Billy Crystal)
Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) and Harry Burns (Billy Crystal)

Five years later, Harry and Sally meet again in a New York bookstore. By now, their earlier relationships have ended. They have coffee together where they talk about their previous relationships. After leaving the café, they take a walk and decide to become friends.

In the scenes that follow, we see how the two become very close friends having late night phone conversations, going to dinner, and spending a lot of time together. Their dating experiences with other people during this time highlights their different approaches to relationships and sex. In the movie's famous scene at the deli, Sally demonstrates how a woman can easily fool a man by a fake orgasm.

The first time Harry and Sally show attraction to each other is at a New Year's Eve party they attend together; however, they remain platonic friends for a while. One day, the two decide to set each other up with their respective best friends, Marie and Jess. The four go to a restaurant, where ironically it is Marie and Jess that hit it off. The two quickly become a couple and end up getting married. Meanwhile, Sally breaks down crying once she hears the news that her ex, Joe, has gotten married. Harry, who has been listening to her crying over the phone, goes over to her apartment to comfort her. They end up having sex that night, resulting in an awkward morning the next day as Harry quickly leaves Sally's place. This creates a tension in their relationship, as the two have a heated argument one day that leads to them not talking for three weeks. At a New Year's Eve party that year, Sally feels alone without Harry by her side. When she decides to leave the party early, Harry walks in and declares his love for her. They make up and kiss.

It is shown in the last segment of the movie that Harry and Sally have gotten married. This scene is shot as if the two are giving an interview directly addressing the audience. In fact, there are numerous scenes scattered throughout the movie that show couples (who are not characters in the movie) talking about their relationships in the same format.

[edit] Production

In 1984, director Rob Reiner, producer Andy Scheinman and writer Nora Ephron met over several lunch meetings to develop a project.[4] The second meeting transformed into a long discussion about Reiner and Scheinman's lives as single men. Reiner remembers, "I was in the middle of my single life. I'd been divorced for a while. I'd been out a number of times, all these disastrous, confusing relationships one after another".[5] The next time they all met Reiner said that he had always wanted to do a film about two people who become friends and do not have sex because they know it will ruin their relationship but have sex anyway. Ephron liked the idea, and Reiner acquired a deal at a studio.[4]

She then proceeded to interview Reiner and Scheinman about their lives in order to have material on which to draw. These interviews also provided the basis for Harry. Reiner was constantly depressed, pessimistic yet very funny. Ephron also got bits of dialogue from these interviews.[4] Sally was based on Ephron and some of her friends. Billy Crystal came on board and made his own contributions to the screenplay, making Harry funnier. The comedian "experienced vicariously" Reiner's (his best friend at the time) return to single life after divorcing comedienne/filmmaker Penny Marshall and in the process was unconsciously doing research for the role of Harry.[4] During the screenwriting process when Ephron would not feel like writing, she would interview people who worked for the production company. Some of the interviews appeared in the film as the interludes between certain scenes featuring couples talking about how they met,[4] although the material was reshot with real actors. Ephron supplied the structure of the film with much of the dialogue based on the real-life friendship between Reiner and Crystal.[6] For example, in the scene where Sally and Harry appear on a split screen, talking on the telephone while watching their respective television sets, channel surfing, was something that Crystal and Reiner did every night.[6] In order to get into the lonely mindset of Harry when he was divorced and single, Crystal stayed by himself in a separate room from the cast and crew while they were shooting in Manhattan.[6] The script initially ended with Harry and Sally remaining friends and not pursuing a romantic relationship. Eventually, Ephron and Reiner realized that it would be a more appropriate ending for them to marry, though they admit that this is generally not a realistic outcome.[7]

When posed the film's central question, can men and women just be friends, Ryan replied, "Yes, men and women can just be friends. I have a lot of platonic (male) friends, and sex doesn't get in the way." Crystal said, "I'm a little more optimistic than Harry. But I think it is difficult. Men basically act like stray dogs in front of a supermarket. I do have platonic (women) friends, but not best, best, best friends."[8]

[edit] Deli scene

The film may be best known for a scene featuring the two title characters having lunch at Katz's Deli in 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 shot again and again, and Ryan demonstrated her fake orgasms for hours and hours.[7]

This classic scene was born when the film started to focus too much on Harry. Crystal remembers saying, "'We need something for Sally to talk about,' and Nora said, 'Well, faking orgasm is a great one,' and right away we said, 'Well, the subject is good,' and then Meg came on board and we talked with her about the nature of the idea and she said, 'Well, why don't I just fake one, just do one?'"[4] Ephron suggested that the scene take place in a deli and it was Crystal who came up with the scene's classic punchline – "I'll have what she's having."[4] In 2005, the quote was listed 33rd on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes list of memorable movie lines.

Crystal later parodied the scene on the TV show Muppets Tonight, with Miss Piggy, in Ryan's role, faking a sneeze.

[edit] Soundtrack

When Harry Met Sally (Music From The Motion Picture)
When Harry Met Sally (Music From The Motion Picture) cover
Soundtrack by Harry Connick, Jr.
Released July 1989
Recorded RCA Studio B, NYC: June 6, 12 & 19, 1989
Genre Soundtrack
Label Columbia Records
Producer Marc Shaiman
Harry Connick Jr.
Professional reviews
Harry Connick, Jr. chronology
20
(1988)		 When Harry Met Sally...
(1989)		 We Are in Love
(1990)

The movie's soundtrack album was released by Columbia Records in July 1989. The soundtrack consists of standards performed by Harry Connick, Jr., with a big band and orchestra arranged by Marc Shaiman. Connick won his first Grammy for Best Jazz Male Vocal Performance.[9]

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 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.

The soundtrack went to #1 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Chart and was within the top 50 on the Billboard 200.[10] Connick also toured North America in support of this album.[11]

[edit] Album

Performed by Harry Connick, Jr., and his trio

  1. "It Had to Be You" (Isham Jones, Gus Kahn)
  2. "Our Love Is Here to Stay" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)
  3. "Stompin' at the Savoy" (Benny Goodman, Chick Webb, Edgar Sampson, Andy Razaf)
  4. "But Not for Me" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin)
  5. "Winter Wonderland" (Felix Bernard, Dick Smith)
  6. "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" (Duke Ellington, Bob Russell)
  7. "Autumn in New York" (Vernon Duke)
  8. "I Could Write a Book" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers)
  9. "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin)
  10. "It Had to Be You (Instrumental Trio)" (Jones, Kahn)
  11. "Where or When" (Hart, Rodgers)

[edit] Music in the film

[edit] Reaction

Columbia Pictures released the film using the "platform" technique which involved opening it in a few select cities letting positive word of mouth generate interest and then gradually expanding distribution over subsequent weeks. On its opening weekend, it grossed $1 million in 41 theaters.[12] Billy Crystal was worried that the film would flop at the box office because it was up against several summer blockbuster films, like Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Batman.[4] The film went into wide release on July 21, 1989, and grossed $8.8 million on its opening weekend in 775 theaters.[12] This was later expanded to 1,174 theaters and the film grossed a total of $92.8 million in North America, well above its $16 million budget.[12]

[edit] Critical reception

Reviews for When Harry Met Sally... were mostly positive. It has a rating of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes (100% for their "Cream of the Crop" designation) and a 76 metascore on Metacritic. The film led Roger Ebert to call Reiner "one of Hollywood's very best directors of comedy", and said that it was "most conventional, in terms of structure and the way it fulfills our expectations. But what makes it special, apart from the Ephron screenplay, is the chemistry between Crystal and Ryan."[13] In a review for The New York Times, Caryn James called When Harry Met Sally... an "often funny but amazingly hollow film" that "romanticized lives of intelligent, successful, neurotic New Yorkers"; James characterized it as "the sitcom version of a Woody Allen film, full of amusing lines and scenes, all infused with an uncomfortable sense of déjà vu".[14] Rita Kempley's review in the Washington Post praised Meg Ryan as the "summer's Melanie Griffith – a honey-haired blonde who finally finds a showcase for her sheer exuberance. Neither naif nor vamp, she's a woman from a pen of a woman, not some Cinderella of a Working Girl."[15] Mike Clark, of USA Today, gave the film three out of four stars, writing, "Crystal is funny enough to keep Ryan from all-out stealing the film. She, though, is smashing in an eye-opening performance, another tribute to Reiner's flair with actors."[16] David Ansen provided one of the rare negative reviews of the film for Newsweek. He criticized the casting of Crystal, "Not surprisingly he handles the comedy superbly, but he's too cool and self-protective an actor to work as a romantic leading man", and felt that as a film, "of wonderful parts, it doesn't quite add up".[17]

[edit] Awards

Nora Ephron received an Oscar nomination[18] and a Writers Guild of America Award nomination for her screenplay. She won a British Academy Film Award for Best Original Screenplay and was nominated for Best Film.[19] The film was also nominated for five Golden Globes, including Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, Reiner for Best Director - Motion Picture, Billy Crystal for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Meg Ryan for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and Nora Ephron for Best Screenplay.[20] The film is 23rd on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Laughs list of the top comedy films in American cinema and number 60 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies."[2]

[edit] Adaptation and Influences

In early 2004, the film was adapted for the stage in a Theatre Royal Haymarket production starring Luke Perry and Alyson Hannigan[21] Later, Molly Ringwald and Michael Landes would be cast in the lead roles.[22]

[edit] DVD

When Harry Met Sally... was released on DVD January 9, 2001, and included an audio commentary by Reiner, 35-minute "Making Of" documentary featuring interviews with Reiner, Ephron, Ryan, and Crystal, seven deleted scenes, and a music video for "It Had To Be You" by Harry Connick, Jr.[23] A Collector's Edition DVD was released on January 15, 2008, including a new audio commentary with Reiner, Ephron, and Crystal, eight deleted scenes, all new featurettes (It All Started Like This, Stories Of Love, When Rob Met Billy, Billy On Harry, I Love New York, What Harry Meeting Sally Meant, So Can Men And Women Really Be Friends?), and the original theatrical trailer.[24]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Michiko Kakutani (18 November 1997). From 'Happy Camper' to 'Out of Sight'. Review of Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Volume II: H-O. ISBN 0-67943-464-X. The New York Times. “When Harry Met Sally (1989) is credited with popularizing the phrase "[[wikt:high-maintenance|]]"…”
  2. ^ a b Pasupathi, Vimala C. "The Rhetoric of Love and Seduction", University of Texas at Austin, July 25, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-11-29. 
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Keyser, Lucy. "It's Love at the box office for Harry Met Sally...", Washington Times, July 25, 1989. 
  5. ^ Weber, Bruce. "Can Men and Women Be Friends?", New York Times, July 9, 1989. Retrieved on 2007-09-23. 
  6. ^ a b c Lacey, Liam. "Pals make "buddy picture"", Globe and Mail, July 15, 1989. 
  7. ^ a b Schwarz, Jeffrey. "How Harry Met Sally...", MGM, 2000. 
  8. ^ Peterson, Karen S. "When boy meets girl", USA Today, July 17, 1989. 
  9. ^ "Grammy Award Winners", Grammy.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-09. 
  10. ^ Jones, James T. "Harry Connick Jr.: He's All That Jazz", USA Today, December 28, 1989. 
  11. ^ Miller, Mark. "Brazilian rhythms with lots of appeal When Harry Met Sally... Harry Connick Jr.", Globe and Mail, November 23, 1989. 
  12. ^ a b c "When Harry Met Sally...", Box Office Mojo, November 29, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-29. 
  13. ^ Ebert, Roger. "When Harry Met Sally...", Chicago Sun-Times, July 12, 1989. Retrieved on 2007-09-23. 
  14. ^ James, Caryn. "It's Harry (Loves) Sally in a Romance Of New Yorkers and Neuroses", New York Times, July 12, 1989. Retrieved on 2007-09-23. 
  15. ^ Kempley, Rita. "Romance That Dances", Washington Post, July 12, 1989. 
  16. ^ Clark, Mike. "Harry Met Sally is Reiner's next sure thing", USA Today, July 12, 1989. 
  17. ^ Ansen, David. "To Make True Lovers of Friends", Newsweek, July 17, 1989. 
  18. ^ "Academy Award Nominations 1989", Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 1989. Retrieved on 2007-11-29. 
  19. ^ "Film Nominations 1989", British Academy of Film and Television Arts, 1989. Retrieved on 2007-11-29. 
  20. ^ "When Harry Met Sally: Awards & Nominations", MSN Movies. Retrieved on 2008-01-09. 
  21. ^ Inverne, James. "Hannigan and Perry's Harry and Sally Set to Face the London Press", Playbill News, February 20, 2004. Retrieved on 2007-11-26. 
  22. ^ Inverne, James. "Landes Joins Ringwald For London When Harry Met Sally", Playbill News, May 17, 2004. Retrieved on 2007-11-26. 
  23. ^ Beierle, Aaron. "When Harry Met Sally: Special Edition", DVDTalk, January 11, 2001. Retrieved on 2007-11-29. 
  24. ^ Woodward, Tom. "When Harry Met Sally", DVDActive, November 29, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-29. 

[edit] External links

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v • d • e
Films directed by Rob Reiner
This Is Spınal Tap (1984) · The Sure Thing (1985) · Stand by Me (1986) · The Princess Bride (1987) · When Harry Met Sally... (1989) · Misery (1990) · A Few Good Men (1992) · North (1994) · The American President (1995) · Ghosts of Mississippi (1996) · The Story of Us (1999) · Alex & Emma (2003) · Rumor Has It... (2005) · The Bucket List (2007)
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American films of the 1980s
1980 · 1981 · 1982 · 1983 · 1984 · 1985 · 1986 · 1987 · 1988 · 1989