When I Met Harry and Sally

By: Valerie Menendez

The Hollywood cult classic When Harry Met Sally, directed by Rob Reiner, has undoubtedly stolen fans’ hearts for many autumns since its release in July, 1989. It is the kind of movie you watch when the leaves start falling and soon cover the streets in hues of orange, yellow, and brown. You watch this kind of movie with a side of hot cocoa in one hand that you hope will help shelter you from the colder weather that is awaiting outside during the impending harsh winter. In these seasons, you keep finding  Harry and Sally and the magic of the setting keeps their story alive. 

The first time I watched the movie, I remember huddling under layers of layers of  blankets before finally pressing play to watch one of the most cinematic rom-coms of all time. While a bit hesitant, I began my watch out of morbid curiosity to see what all this fuss was truly about, and it would go on to be an ingrained decision that I recall wishing I made much sooner.

The movie begins much like it ends, with two people, Harry and Sally. They are first introduced to one another by one of Sally's college friends, Amanda, who is ironically dating the love of her life, Harry. He is hitching an 18hour drive alongside Sally to New York City to begin their careers after college. During the drive, you get to see a kind of rare on-screen chemistry built off of genuine banter that we all see in our day-to-day lives, but canonically we viewers never get the chance to see the same human authenticity brought upon our screens. If you can't tell, it had my compliments already at least 10 minutes in, and it would unknowingly become one of the first I would soon be making during my binge. 

Harry and Sally continue their ride, but make a quick pit stop to get a meal in before they hit the road again. It is here where Harry makes a pass at Sally, despite already being in an established relationship with her friend. Sally, disgusted, rejects him promptly, which is where they landed upon the decision of whether or not they could just stay friends. This is when Harry gives his most notorious opinion, which is that men and women can't be friends. He believes this to be true because the question of physical intimacy will always become a canon issue. After they land in New York, they say goodbye to one another and choose not to stay connected. They wish each other a happy life, not knowing that this would be far from their last interaction with one another.

When they see each other again, five years have passed, and they were about to board the same flight when Sally's boyfriend of one month saw Harry and started to “introduce” Harry and Sally to one another. They spent the entire flight catching up despite the initial detachment Sally held over Harry she entertained him and they quickly picked back up again with their iconic bantering. During such banter, Sally would find out that Harry is soon to be married, which was seemingly out of character due to Harry's player-esque ways. Sally congratulated him, and he did the same for her relationship, and again they said goodbye to each other thinking yet again that it would be the last time they'd see one another. Again they were wrong.

They crossed paths a third time another five years later, and they both were in a book store in New York City. They began catching up, only to realize they are no longer with their partners from long ago. Unlike past times, they decide to keep in touch, and as a testament against Harry's moral belief, they do become friends for a while. I believe this is where their story truly begins. 

They quickly get to know each other much more personally and discover detailed parts of one another that lead them to begin wanting each other as something other  than friends. You see a flicker of this potential when both of them get into relationships where they seem to have outwardly “protective” instinctual judgments on the partners they're with. When you see their on screen back and forth cuts of the same judginess, one can conclude it stems from major jealousy harboring underneath left unsaid and unspoken. 

Eventually, they stop with their antics at a New Year’s party where Harry runs to confess his undying love for Sally. Out of the many scenes in the movie, my absolute favorite has to be when Harry stops by the Washington Square Arch, allowing viewers to witness a retelling of his famous mantra – that men can never be just friends with a woman. Following his speech,  Reiner then goes on to give viewers a moving montage between the two, which is Harry and Sally's best moments with one another.

I will never get tired of recommending this goldmine of a movie. I don't think it can ever get old, mostly due to its well-aged mantras and well-loved slow burn chemistry. The soundtracks also seemed to set the mood for its audiences, and I was in awe when Frank Sinatra’s hit song, It Had To Be You, started to play as Harry realized he was destined to end up with Sally. Overall, When Harry Met Sally is a truly heart warming film that really gets you thinking of the little things in life you don't want to miss, like an 18-hour drive to New York City with the love of your life that you pretend to hate.