PEOPLE When Harry Met Sally

By The Editors of PEOPLE

It was the beginning of a rom-com revolution, a tiny story released in 1989 about an antagonistic friendship-turned-love story for the ages. Chances are, in the 30 years since its release, you've heard or said one of the iconic lines from the film, maybe even the classic: "I'll have what she's having." Now, to celebrate this 30th anniversary, the editors at People present the special edition 'When Harry Met Sally...' After a recap in pictures, read an exclusive interview with Meg Ryan, Billy Crystal, and director Rob Reiner, their first together since the film was released. Then, enjoy the observation and wit that made Nora Ephron the queen of the romantic comedy. Revisit the iconic locations in New York, and even recreate the secret stars of the film, the food!, with recipes it made famous. And certainly, turn your ear again toward the American Songbook soundtrack that made 20-year-old Harry Connick Jr. a star. Let People's When Harry Met Sally... guide you through the film's legacy and take a look at the many ways the story has been transformed and restaged since its release. Finally, debate and decide for yourself the top 10 romantic comedies of all time.

• Language: English
• Publisher: People
• Release date: Jul 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9781547849666

Book preview

’90s

Our Love Is Here to Stay

30 YEARS AFTER ITS DEBUT, WHEN HARRY MET SALLY . . . TOPS SEVERAL BEST ROM-COM LISTS. BUT IT TOOK SOME FANS A WHILE TO GIVE IN TO ITS CHARMS

MORE THAN FRIENDS Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal as the couple-to-be.

It was not love at first sight.

Just as old married couples gild the details of how they met long ago, the way we recall the start of our love affair with When Harry Met Sally . . . has been embellished in the past 30 years. Today the film sits atop many lists of the greatest romantic comedies ever. But when it premiered on July 12, 1989, this talky little romance about two friends did not enthrall every critic.

Often funny but amazingly hollow, declared The New York Times’s Caryn James. Feminist hackles, prepare to rise, warned Stanley Kauffmann in The New Republic, charging the film rests on the assumption that marriage is the state toward which everyone basically aspires, especially women. (Honestly, if you skipped every movie in which a protagonist hopes to find a mate, you’d watch little but war epics, sports sagas and superhero flicks—and not even so many of those.) We regret to add here that People’s then-critic piled on, taking issue with a couple of jokes, including one that relied on knowledge of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. Such hurtful lapses in taste would neutralize even a witty, intelligent film, and neither of those adjectives applies to this movie, he wrote. Too soon?

Oscar voters also were largely unmoved, offering only one nomination (for Nora Ephron’s screenplay). Of course, plenty of people loved the film, then the latest in an astonishing run for director Rob Reiner, who had already delivered a cult classic, This is Spinal Tap, and a classic classic, The Princess Bride. And, although its limited-release first weekend brought in only $1.1 million, by the end of a year that also saw Batman, The Little Mermaid and an Indiana Jones sequel, it earned an impressive $92 million. Moreover, it made huge stars of its leads, Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal. It introduced the 20-year-old jazzman on its soundtrack, Harry Connick Jr. It set Ephron on a path to direct a rom-com revolution. It made deli sandwiches sexy.

But why, decades later, are people still queuing up at Katz’s to have what Sally was having? How did When Harry Met Sally . . . become America’s favorite in its genre? For one, it starts with a classic rom-com trope—they hate each other!—but quickly delivers a modern twist: The only thing keeping them apart is their friendship. It technically has no sex scenes, making it feel as chaste as any Hepburn-and-Tracy pairing. But just try watching that deli scene with a kid, and you realize this is a film for grown-ups. (Meg Ryan’s fiancé, John Mellencamp, she reveals, learned this the hard way.)

Unlike its frothier competitors, When Harry Met Sally . . . has given us fodder for endless debate: Can men and women be friends? If a person is described as having a good personality, does it mean they are not attractive? Have restaurants become too important? What is Auld Lang Syne about, anyway?

Another key to the film’s dominance: We’ve been quoting its dialogue to one another for 30 years, and those quips still make us feel clever. Can there be better proof of its influence than hearing Harry Styles, born five years after its release, borrowing the film’s description of Sally to explain the effort it took for the members of One Direction to get red-carpet ready: We’re the worst kind. We’re high-maintenance, but we think we’re low-maintenance?

For this 30th-anniversary edition, People is celebrating everything that makes When Harry Met Sally . . . a favorite. Inside is the story behind its timeless soundtrack, a guide to its iconic New York locations and a close-up on the film’s uncredited star: its food, from a diner apple pie that reveals Sally’s penchant for ordering on the side to the couple’s coconut wedding cake. Best of all, we’ve reunited Meg Ryan, Billy Crystal and Rob Reiner for their first interview together in 30 years. They relive the great times they had making the movie and also solve a few mysteries. For starters, what’s with the ellipsis in the title? You gotta have the three dots! says Reiner. "Because it’s ‘when Harry met Sally . . .’ and what happened as a result." What happened is that they fell in love—and, despite some conflicting memories about how it all went down, so did we.

Harry, This is Sally...

THE FIRST TIME THEY MET, THEY HATED EACH OTHER. (WELL, SHE HATED HIM.) THE SECOND TIME THEY MET, HE DIDN’T EVEN REMEMBER HER. (HE CLAIMS HE DID.) THE THIRD TIME THEY MET, THEY BECAME FRIENDS

CAN MEN AND WOMEN BE JUST FRIENDS? It’s still an interesting question, says Meg Ryan, whose Sally debates the issue with Harry (Billy Crystal) over the course of 12 years.

CHICAGO, 1977 Sally arranges to drive to New York City with Harry, who is dating her friend Amanda (Michelle Nicastro). Her hair is directly from my high school experience, says Ryan. We all used curling irons to be Farrah Fawcett.

AT THE DINER Harry is stunned by Sally’s detailed method of ordering. The waitress with the priceless reaction is actress Kimberley LaMarque (below).

‘. . . and I’d like strawberry instead of vanilla, if you have it. If not, then no ice cream, just whipped cream but only if it’s real.