When Harry Met Sally...

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 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" girlfriend and the "transitional person."^[1]

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 2000, the film was 45th on Total Film's list of greatest comedy films, as selected by that magazine's readers.

Synopsis

The movie begins when Harry Burns and Sally Albright finish college at the University of Chicago and are off to New York to begin their careers.^[2] 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.

Critical reception

The film led Roger Ebert to call Reiner "one of Hollywood's very best directors of comedy"; the film as of 1989 was "[Reiner's] 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."^[3]

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." ^[4]

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 reshot again and again, and Meg Ryan demonstrated her fake orgasms for hours and hours.

Soundtrack

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.

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. (who 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.

The soundtrack went to #1 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Chart and was within the top 50 on the Billboard 200.

Album

Performed by Harry Connick, Jr. and Harry Connick, Jr. Trio

1. "It Had to Be You (With Big Band And Vocals)" (Isham Jones, Gus Kahn)
2. "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)

Music in the film

• "It Had to Be You" (Isham Jones, Gus Kahn) – Frank Sinatra
• "Our Love Is Here To Stay" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald
• "Don't Pull Your Love" (Brian Potter, Dennis Lambert) – Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds
• "Ramblin Man" (Dickey Betts) – Allman Brothers Band
• "Right Time Of The Night" (Peter McCann) – Jennifer Warnes
• "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) – Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald
• "Where Or When" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) – Ella Fitzgerald
• "Lady's Lunch" (Marc Shaiman)
• "The Tables Have Turned" (Laura Kenyon, Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman)
• "But Not For Me" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) – Harry Connick Jr.
• "Plane Cue and La Marsellaise" (Max Steiner) (from Casablanca (1942))
• "La Marsellaise" (Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle)
• "Autumn In New York" (Vernon Duke) – Harry Connick, Jr. Trio
• "Winter Wonderland" (Felix Bernard, Dick Smith) – Ray Charles
• "I Could Write A Book" (Hart, Rodgers) – Harry Connick Jr.
• "The Surrey With the Fringe On Top" (Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II)
• "Say It Isn't So" (Irving Berlin)
• "String Quartet No. 7 in E-flat major" (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
• "Stompin' At The Savoy" (Benny Goodman, Chick Webb, Edgar Sampson, Andy Razaf) – Harry Connick, Jr. Trio
• "Don't Be That Way" (Sampson, Goodman, Mitchell Parish)
• "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" (Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin) – Bing Crosby
• "Call Me" (Tony Hatch)
• "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" (Duke Ellington, Bob Russell) – Harry Connick Jr.
• "Isn't It Romantic" (Hart, Rodgers)
• "Auld Lang Syne" (Robert Burns) – Louis Armstrong

Stage adaptation

In early 2004, the film was adapted for the stage in a Theatre Royal Haymarket production starring Luke Perry and Alyson Hannigan^[5] (and later, Molly Ringwald and Michael Landes^[6]). The 2005 UK national tour starred Gaby Roslin and Jonathan Wrather.^{[citation needed]}

Rights

The film was produced by Castle Rock Entertainment and was released by Columbia Pictures. Since its original release, Castle Rock was 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.

In a way, Columbia gained 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.

Trivia

• In one scene, Harry is seen reading the Stephen King novel Misery; Reiner's next movie would be the film adaptation of that novel.
• When Harry and Sally leave the University of Chicago for New York City, they drive north on Lake Shore Drive, towards downtown Chicago. The most direct route to New York would have been to drive south.
• The gates under which Harry and Sally drive when leaving the University of Chicago are no longer accessible by car.
• In the diner scene, after Sally fakes an orgasm, another customer says, "I'll have what she's having." The customer was played by Rob Reiner's mother.

Footnotes and references

1. ^ http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~pasupathi/309k04//texts.html
2. ^ 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.
3. ^ http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19890712/REVIEWS/907120301/1023
4. ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEFDB1630F931A25754C0A96F948260
5. ^ http://www.playbill.com/news/article/84473.html
6. ^ http://www.playbill.com/news/article/86191.html

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