| | | | When Harry Met Sally
(1989) |
arry Burns (Crystal) is a normal American guy with a single, unbreakable rule he lives by:
He is totally convinced that men and women cannot be friends, because sex always gets in the way.
He shares this belief at length with anyone who wiill listen, including one day Sally Allbright (Ryan) who gives Harry a ride into New York from the University of Chicago at the end of their respective stays there. Sally of course disagrees, and they part in New York.
A few years later, they meet up again by accident in a bookstore (then an airport, then a.... you get the idea) and have the same discussions, and once more, drift apart.
When this has happened a number of times over the years, each of them falling in and out of love, they form a strong friendship, calling each other in the middle of the night, and trying to help the other find true love. They even attempt to set up their best friends (Fisher and Kirby) as a foursome, but when the pairings work out 'differently', Harry and Sally are stuck together again.
In Harry's mind, they are friends because they have talked about the subject so often, they would never, ever consider sleeping together. Until one day when Sally is dumped by a boyfriend, and is feeling so low Harry goes round to cheer her up, and one thing leads to another.....
Now what happens? Sally is really happy, but Harry is scared. Has he just ruined the best friendship of his life? Has he literally screwed things up? How will she react when he leaves? The answer is, very badly. They don't speak for ages, she refuses to return his calls, and slowly, Harry realises that the one thing he hates most about this is not having her in his life.
And now it's New Years Eve...
 Don't forget that When Harry Met Sally is now available to order on Widescreen DVD using our special 80s Retro Assistant...
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This movie set the standard for the light romantic comedies of the late eighties and early nineties. Billy Crystal plays Harry with a combination of angst, confidence, arrogance, and friendliness, that means even if you really want to hate him, you can't, and even if you really want to love him, you can't! Meg Ryan is excellent as the not so ditzy blonde, and the movie provided her with the chance to play the scene of her life in the restaurant ("I'll have what she's having"). Both leads handle the task of maturing from University graduates to full adulthood very well.
A good supporting cast, and excellent dialogue make this a winner all the way.
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"When Harry Met Sally" has made it onto 4 of the American Film Institute's "100 Years, 100..." countdowns. In chronological order: It came in at #23 on AFI'S 100 Years...100 Laughs list in 2000. It came in at #25 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions list in 2002. It came in at #60 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs list for the song "It Had To Be You" in 2004 and it came in at #33 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes list for the immotral line "I'll Have What She's Having".  -Thanks to John Edward Kilduff
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Harry can be seen reading Stephen King's Misery, which would be director Rob Reiner's next film.
Billy Crystal played Meathead's best friend in "All in the Family."
Other titles considered for the movie were: "Just Friends", "Play Melancholy Baby", "Boy Meets Girl", "Words of Love", "It Had To Be You", "Harry, This is Sally", "How They Met", "Blue Moon".
Tracy Reiner had a small part in the movie as Emily, (pseudonym "Aunt Emily" who makes chocolate mousse pies). She plays the young date whom Harry kisses at Jess and Marie's dinner party. Background info: Tracy was adopted by Rob Reiner and later took his last name, when he and Penny Marshall were married in 1971. (They divorced in '79.) Rob Reiner met his current wife Michelle, a photographer, while filming the movie. -Thanks to Jeanie
Director Rob Reiner and close friend Billy Crystal were born just six days apart in New York City in March 1947. -Thanks to Jeanie
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Find much more great trivia in the filmmaker's commentary on the When Harry Met Sally DVD.
Rediscover your favorites! If you like
When Harry Met Sally or 80's Romantic Comedy classics, then be sure to
check out this list: ..... Can't Buy Me Love ..... Say Anything ..... Some Kind Of Wonderful ..... Sixteen Candles ..... Valley Girl ..... Switching Channels ..... Grandview, U.S.A. ..... Dance 'til Dawn ..... Don't Tell Her It's Me ..... Mannequin ..... Teen Wolf ..... Secret of My Success ..... Secret Admirer ..... Pretty In Pink ..... She's Having a Baby ..... Dream A little Dream .....[More]
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The famous org*sm scene was inspired by a conversation Rob Reiner had with the films writer, Nora Ephron. She told him that women often faked orgasms... a few weeks later, Reiner added the scene. -Thanks to Jeanie
The scene was filmed in New York's world-famous Katz's Deli, and the woman who says "I'll have what she's having" after Sally's faked orgasm is director Rob Reiner's mother. Rob said about the scene: "I actually sat down opposite to Billy and acted it out and showed her what I wanted it to be. And I'm pounding the table and saying, "Yes, yes, yes!" And Billy describes it as having a date with Sebastian Cabot or Victor Buono having eaten Thai food or something like that. And I'm pounding away and having this fake org*sm and my mother is sitting there. So, it was a little bit, uh, nerve wracking for me!"
Director Rob Reiner said about the movie: "When we were working on the script, I had been single for 10 years. And that really was the basis for the whole movie, you know, trying to figure out how I could ever get with a woman again and my single life and making a mess of it. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out how I would ever be with another woman again."
The scene where Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) spot each other at a bookstore takes place in a branch of the small chain Shakespeare & Co., which was located at 79th & Broadway in New York City. This location was one of many smaller stores which went out of business around the time a Barnes & Noble megastore opened in nearby Lincoln Center. This store and the stores which went out of business around it would be a model for the activity in the 1998 Nora Ephron film, YOU'VE GOT MAIL. -Thanks to Jeanie
The pecan pie scene was totally ad libbed by Billy Crystal. When he first begins, you can see Meg look off confused at the director who prompted her to keep it going. -Thanks to Kristin Holdman
The scene where Harry and Sally are driving to New York-- Harry is eating grapes and decides to roll down the window after he spits the seeds at the unopened window. So the window was supposed to be down--then there is a wide shot of the car driving--I think on a bridge--where the window is up again. The next shot returns to the inside of the car where Harry is still eating grapes. -Thanks to Tracy
At the beginning of the movie, Harry and Sally are supposed to be heading to New York from the University of Chicago. The movie shows them driving along Lake Shore Drive with Lake Michigan on their left heading towards the John Hancock building. The problem is that the University of Chicago is on the south side of Chicago and the John Hancock building is on the north side. Thus, if you really were heading to New York from the University of Chicago (by way of Interstate 94), you would not be driving the route they took. -Thanks to Charles A
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|  |  |  | | When Harry Met Sally
Locations |
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 Featured Movie Location: The Org*sm Cafe
Wanna see the real life filming location used for The Org*sm Cafe in the movie? These scenes were actually shot at Katz's Delicatessen, located in New York, New York. [New! Show Google Map]
The pecan pie sequence where Harry asks Sally to go to the movies was
filmed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Egyptian Exhibition Room) [Thanks to Rob D.]
The scene where Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) spot each other at a bookstore takes place in a branch of the small chain Shakespeare & Co., which was located at 79th & Broadway in New York City. [Thanks to Jeanie]
The scene where Harry and Sally buy a Christmas tree and carry it up the street (and where Sally later buys a Christmas tree and drags it up the street by herself), was filmed on West 96th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue. The scene shows a green awning with the address number 209 on it. This green awning belongs to The Plant Shed, a plant store that is still on 96th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam, but closer to Broadway.
Can you help? Do you know any of the New York, New York (or any other) filming locations used for When Harry Met Sally, particularly the different houses used? [Please send them in]
|  | | | | ![[16:9 -Widescreen Enhanced]](16_9.gif) | ![[STEREO or SURROUND]](dd2.gif) | Commentary, Featurette, Notes, Score |
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This movie has a great score, mainly performed by the sublime Harry Connick Jr.
1. It Had to Be You [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 [Trio Instrumental]
11. Where or When
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Soundtrack Available:
On CD
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