When Harry Met Sally (1989)

When Harry Met Sally
Directed by Rob Reiner
Written by Nora Ephron
1989/USA
Castle Rock Entertainment/Nelson Entertainment
Repeat viewing/DVD collection
#830 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box]Marie: Tell me I’ll never have to be out there again.

Jess: You will never have to be out there again.[/box]

Generally one would expect me to prefer a romantic comedy from 1943 over one from 1989.  This movie was the clear winner in yesterday’s double feature.  I consider it the most perfect film in its genre since It Happened One Night (1934).

Sally Albright’s (Meg Ryan) girlfriend talks her into giving her boyfriend Harry (Billy Crystal) a ride from Chicago to New York where both will live after their graduation from college.  The trip does not go well.  The persnickety Sally and crude Harry don’t hit it off at all and then he comes on to her.  She rejects his advances but suggests that they be friends.  But Harry contends that a man and woman can’t be friends because sex will get in the way.  So Harry and Sally part ways for another 6 years.

When they meet by chance in an airport, Sally is being seen off by her new boyfriend and Harry is about to get married.  Sally rejects Harry’s invitation to dinner in the city where both have landed on business.

Segue to a few years later, and they meet by chance in a bookstore.  Sally has broken up with her live-in boyfriend and Harry going through a divorce.  In their loneliness, they finally become good friends … until sex does in fact get in the way.  And doesn’t.

I have seen this movie and it never fails to make me cry.  (I am a sucker for a good happy ending.)  I love the framing device of the old married couples describing how they met.  I love how the costumes and hairstyles perfectly pick up style over the years.  I love that Harry and Sally know each other long and well before they fall in love.  I love the very funny dialogue and the two performances.

When Harry Met Sally was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Originally for the Screen.  I think it definitely got robbed.  (I hated Dead Poet’s Society, which won.)

Trailer