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When Harry Met Sally…(1989)

R
1h 35m

Release Date: Jul 14, 1989 | Wide

Harry and Sally have known each other for years, and are very good friends, but they fear sex would ruin the friendship.

Releases

Original Release | Jul 14, 1989

30th Anniversary (Fathom Events) | Dec 1, 2019

Box Office

All Releases (2)
Total US & Canada:
$93,117,425
Total International
$156,140
Total Worldwide:
$93,274,466

Total US & Canada:
$92,823,546
Total Worldwide:
$92,823,674

Director & Top Cast

Rob Reiner
Director

Billy Crystal
Harry Burns

Meg Ryan
Sally Albright

Carrie Fisher
Marie

Bruno Kirby
Jess

Steven Ford
Joe

Lisa Jane Persky

Alice

Michelle Nicastro

Amanda

Gretchen Palmer

Stewardess

Robert Alan Beuth

Man on Aisle

David Burdick

9 Year Old Boy

Joe Viviani

Judge

Harley Jane Kozak

Helen

Joseph Hunt

Waiter at Wedding

Kevin Rooney

Ira

Franc Luz

Julian

Tracy Reiner

Emily

Kyle T. Heffner

Gary

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo

Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English

Summaries

Plot Summary

1977. Harry Burns (Billy Crystal) and Sally Albright (Meg Ryan) share a long car ride from the University of Chicago to their new, post-graduation lives in NYC. En route, they discuss whether a man and a woman can be friends, without sex getting in the way. Concluding that they cannot be friends, they part ways upon their arrival.1982. Sally and Harry share a plane flight. Sally is now in a relationship with Joe (Steven Ford), while Harry is about to get married to Helen (Harley Kozak). Once again, Harry explains why men and women can't be friends, even if they're in relationships with other people. They part ways again once the flight is over.1987. Sally tells her friends, Marie (Carrie Fisher) and Alice (Lisa Jane Persky), that she and Joe broke up; while Harry tells his friend Jess (Bruno Kirby) that Helen has left him. Harry and Sally meet again in a bookstore, and over dinner discuss their lives. Harry is surprised to realize he has a "woman friend", and they go on to have late-night phone conversations (about Casablanca, for example, and whether Ingrid Bergman should have stayed with Humphry Bogart at the end of the movie), visit museums, and so on. Sally feels uncomfortable telling Harry she is dating again, but he encourages her to do so, and tells her about his dates. They discuss his relationships with women, and Sally fakes an orgasm at a diner, to prove to him that it can be done, after which another customer (director Rob Reiner's mom, Estelle Reiner) orders "what she's having".Over dinner, Harry tries to match Sally to Jesse, while Sally tries to match Harry to Marie. Marie and Jesse end up together.Four months later, Harry and Sally are shopping for Jesse and Marie's upcoming wedding when they bump into Harry's ex-wife. Later, we learn that Sally is now dating Julian (Franc Luz), while Harry is dating Emily (Tracy Reiner), but when Sally learns that her ex-boyfriend, Joe, is getting married, she calls Harry in the middle of the night. He comes over to comfort her, and they end up having sex.Not sure how to handle the situation, Harry and Sally grow apart. At Jesse and Marie's wedding they have a fight, but later, at a New Year's Eve party, Harry comes over and tells Sally that he loves her. They kiss and later get married.

Storyline

Harry and Sally meet when she gives him a ride to New York after they both graduate from the University of Chicago. The film jumps through their lives as they both search for love, but fail, bumping into each other time and time again. Finally a close friendship blooms between them, and they both like having a friend of the opposite sex. But then they are confronted with the problem: "Can a man and a woman be friends, without sex getting in the way?" — Greg Bole <bole@life.bio.sunysb.edu> Harry and Sally first meet as they finish college in Chicago and spend 18 hours together in a car headed to New York. They don't quite hit off, particularly after Harry opines that a man and a woman can never be just friends because he'll always want to have sex with her. Over the next 10 years, they occasionally meet and soon do in fact become fast friends. They share the intimate details of their lives - hopes, dreams, failures and successes - and in the process also fall in love. It's not evident that will be able to sustain their relationship once they sleep together however. — garykmcd Rob Reiner's romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally stars Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan as the title pair. The film opens with the two strangers, both newly graduated from the University of Chicago, share a car trip from Chicago to New York, where they are both going to make their way. During the trip, they discuss aspects of their characters and their lives, eventually deciding it is impossible for men and women to be "just friends." They arrive in New York and go their separate ways. They meet a few years later on an airplane and Harry reveals he is married. They meet again at a bookstore a few years after that where Harry reveals he is now divorced. From that point on, the two form a friendship. Eventually their closeness results in their respective best friends (played by Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby) meeting and falling in love with each other. At a New Year's Eve party Harry and Sally confront the complex tangle of emotions they feel for each other. Spanning a long decade of inconclusive debates and logical arguments on the ever-present question of whether men and women can be just friends, the successful political consultant, Harry Burns, and the New York City journalist, Sally Albright, still haven't found the answer. Against the backdrop of a strictly platonic friendship peppered with intense love/hate moments, Harry and Sally stubbornly refuse to accept that they are the perfect match, even though they love to banter when they are not bickering. Now, after all this time, they still find themselves before this complex ongoing problem. Will the best friends stop denying the pure magnetism that prevailed ever since Harry met Sally? — Nick Riganas 1 more All