when harry met sally…

 

  • “[27] 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.

  • [49] ‘’You can find traces of ‘When Harry Met Sally’ DNA in virtually every romantic comedy that’s been made since,” The A.V.

  • It was released on DVD for the first time on January 9, 2001, and included an audio commentary by Reiner, a 35-minute “Making Of” documentary featuring interviews with Reiner,
    Ephron, Crystal, and Ryan, seven deleted scenes, and a music video for “It Had To Be You” by Harry Connick Jr.[48] 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?

  • “[3] 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.

  • [6] Originally, Ephron wanted to call the film How They Met and went through several different titles.

  • “[10][11] The memorable scene was born when the film started to focus too much on Harry.

  • [24] The film led Roger Ebert to call Reiner “one of Hollywood’s very best directors of comedy”, and said the film was “most conventional, in terms of structure and the way
    it fulfills our expectations.

  • “[25] 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”.

  • [50] Legacy[edit] Over the years, When Harry Met Sally… has become “the quintessential contemporary feel-good relationship movie that somehow still rings true”.

  • When Estelle Reiner died at age 94 in 2008, The New York Times referred to her as the woman “who delivered one of the most memorably funny lines in movie history”.

  • [51] Before she died, Ephron still received letters from people obsessed with the film and still had “people who say to me all the time, ‘I was having a Harry-and-Sally relationship
    with him or her’.

  • [21] 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.

  • The story follows the title characters from the time they meet in Chicago just before sharing a cross-country drive, through twelve years of chance encounters in New York
    City.

  • Even though they remain friends, they set each other up with their respective best friends, Marie and Jess.

  • 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?

  • “[52] Entertainment Weekly named it as one of the Top 10 romantic movies of all time.

  • [6] The script initially ended with Harry and Sally remaining friends and not pursuing a romantic relationship because she felt that was “the true ending”, as did Reiner.

  • [2] Billy Crystal “experienced vicariously” Reiner’s (his best friend at the time) return to single life after divorcing comedian/filmmaker Penny Marshall and in the process
    was unconsciously doing research for the role of Harry.

  • [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.

  • – #33[45] • 2008: AFI’s 10 Top 10: o #6 Romantic Comedy Film[46] Home media[edit] When Harry Met Sally… was first released on VHS in late 1989, a few months after its theatrical
    release.

  • 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”.

  • [2] 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.

  • Reiner even started a contest with the crew during principal photography: whoever came up with the title won a case of champagne.

  • Katz’s Delicatessen scene In a scene featuring the two title characters having lunch at Katz’s Delicatessen in Manhattan, the couple are arguing about a man’s ability to recognize
    when a woman is faking an orgasm.

  • When Harry Met Sally was acknowledged as the sixth best film in the romantic comedy genre.

  • At a 1988 New Year’s Eve party, Sally feels lonely without Harry.

  • Crystal came on board and made his own contributions to the screenplay, making Harry funnier.

  • [4][5] During the screenwriting process when Ephron did not feel like writing, she would interview people who worked for the production company.

  • The website’s critics consensus reads, “Rob Reiner’s touching, funny film set a new standard for romantic comedies, and he was ably abetted by the sharp interplay between
    Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan.

  • They have coffee and talk about their previous relationships; Sally and Joe broke up because she wanted a family and he did not want to marry, and Harry’s wife Helen left
    him for another man.

  • ‘”[1] Ryan suggested that the scene take place in a restaurant,[12] and it was Crystal who came up with the scene’s classic punchline – “I’ll have what she’s having.

  • Reception Box office[edit] Columbia Pictures released When Harry Met Sally… 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.

  • [2] The second meeting transformed into a long discussion about Reiner and Scheinman’s lives as single men.

  • [1] She worked on several drafts over the years while Reiner made Stand By Me and The Princess Bride.

  • During a New Year’s Eve party, Harry and Sally find themselves attracted to each other.

  • Five years later in 1982, Harry and Sally find themselves on the same flight.

  • Harry and Sally marry three months later, exactly 12 years and three months after their first meeting.

  • The film addresses but fails to resolve questions along the lines of “Can men and women ever just be friends?”

  • When the four go to a restaurant, Marie and Jess quickly fall for each other and later become engaged.

  • [60] In June 2008, AFI revealed its “Ten top Ten”—the best ten films in ten “classic” American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community.

  • Columbia Pictures released When Harry Met Sally… in selected cities, letting word of mouth generate interest, before gradually expanding distribution.

  • [59] In addition, the film helped popularize many ideas about love that have become household concepts now, such as the “high-maintenance” girlfriend and the “transitional
    person”.

  • They have late-night phone conversations, go to dinner, and spend time together discussing their love-lives.

  • Five years later in 1987, Harry and Sally run into each other again in a bookstore.

  • [13] In October of the same year, Katz’s invited Baron Von Fancy to display his ten-foot-high mural quoting the famous line in its pop-up gallery next door, The Space.

 

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Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/archangel12/5892908233/’]