Logline of When Harry Met Sally: Harry and Sally meet on a trip to New York after graduating. As their lives and careers grow separately, their paths cross over and over again, causing them to consider a romance with each other. 

Writer: Nora Ephron

Director: Rob Reiner

Genre: Romantic comedy-drama

Starring: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby

Release Date: July 14, 1989

Script Can Be Found Here

As part of a weekly series, I’m looking at some of the WGA’s List of Top 101 Screenplays to see how everyone’s favorite screenwriting formula shows up. I neither condone nor condemn the framework. I’m just deeply curious. 

Rank on WGA List: #40

“When Harry Met Sally” Summary:

Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan), two recent grads from University of Chicago, carpool to New York City to jumpstart their careers (Sally is attending journalism school, and Harry has a job as a political consultant). Along the 18-hour trip, Harry believes that men and women cannot be friends (“the sex part gets in the way”), and Sally disagrees. At a diner, Harry notes that Sally is very attractive, which angers Sally (because he with her good friend Amanda). Upon arriving at Washington Square Park, they say their goodbyes. 

On a chance flight five years later, they accidentally run into each other. Coincidentally, Sally is dating Harry’s neighbor, Joe, and Harry is engaged to Helen. Ironically, Harry proposes friendship, but Sally declines. 

Five years later, the pair run into each other at a bookstore while Sally is with her friend Marie. Over coffee, they talk about their previous relationships; both are apparently single now since Helen has left Harry, and Sally and Joe are no more. They have more “friend dates” around New York (as well as late night phone conversations). One iconic scene in the film takes place at Katz’s Delicatessen in New York, where Sally demonstrates her ability to convincingly fake an orgasm. This scene becomes emblematic of the film’s exploration of intimacy, communication, and the blurred lines between friendship and romance.

Upon learning that Joe is getting married, Harry goes to Sally’s apartment to comfort her, and they have sex. Although Sally feels great about it, Harry feels awkward. Tension in the relationship boils over at Jess’s and Marie’s wedding.  Harry tells Sally that he believes that it was a mistake.  They’re no longer friends. 

Sally attends another New Year’s Eve party with Jess (Bruno Kirby) and Marie (Carrie Fisher) and an awkward date; she nevertheless misses Harry. Harry, meanwhile, eats Mallowmars at home and then walks around the city. Harry nevertheless makes a gallant gesture to win Sally back by appearing at the party, explaining why he loves her. Harry and Sally, like the older couples interspersed throughout the film who talk to the camera, mention that they married three months later.

“When Harry Met Sally” Analysis:

Number	STC Element	Page(s) in Script	Event in Script
1	Opening Image (page 1)	1	An elderly couple sits in front of the camera, the man talks about how he saw his wife some 50+ years ago, and that it was love at first sight.

Sure, the audience probably thinks, “Aw, how cute. Old people in love,” but it sets up the themes that will appear throughout the interstitial documentary footage: 1) the love was unexpected, 2) the two were destined for each other, and 3) they lasted the test of time. The footage all set up the themes of Harry’s and Sally’s romance, and they lead up to the final interview of Harry and Sally. 

Number	STC Element	Page(s) in Script	Event in Script
2	Theme Stated (page 5)	17	HARRY:  What I’m saying — and this is not a come-on in any way, shape or form– is that men and women can’t be -friends. The sex part always gets in the way.

So here’s the theme/thesis of the film (note how it comes in way late in terms of pagecount): men and women can’t be friends because there’s underlying sexual tension. 

This gets touched upon quite a bit in their later dates. What’s so interesting is that, for two people who insist on calling themselves friends, they spend an awful lot of time on dates or doing date-like things. In When Harry Met Sally, it becomes a matter of actions speaking louder than words; they may say that they’re just friends, but their constant presence with each other tells us otherwise (behold the power of film…). 

Number	STC Element	Page(s) in Script	Event in Script
3	Set-Up (pages 1-10)	Pages 1-18	Six Things that Need Fixing: 1. Sally finds Harry a little repulsive, 2. She’s very picky in her orders, 3, They’re both attracted to each other, 4. Harry is with Sally’s girlfriend, 5. They part ways, 6. Five years later, now she’s with someone else.

The car ride from Chicago to New York tells us almost everything we need to know about Harry and Sally and the dynamics of their relationship. 

Number	STC Element	Page(s) in Script	Event in Script
4	Catalyst (page 12)	18	Five years later, they’re on the same flight; he mentions that he’s getting married.

The closest thing to a Catalyst/Inciting Incident would be that now they’re on the same airplane five years later. They now have obstacles: she’s with Joe, and he’s getting married to Helen Hillson. (Again, the theme of men and women being friends comes up when Sally mentions to Joe that he recalls Harry saying “men and women couldn’t really be friends” (p. 23) and when they land and he asks her to dinner, she reiterates that to him (page 30). 

You may be wondering, in a romantic comedy like this, who is the protagonist? Are there two? I’d wager to say that it’s Harry because, even though it’s a coincidence that they’re both on the same flight, he’s the one to ask if he can sit next to her; he also makes the grand gesture of running through the streets on New Year’s Eve to be with her. Finally, the film is called When Harry Met Sally, not When Sally Met Harry. 

Number	STC Element	Page(s) in Script	Event in Script
5	Debate (pages 12-25)	N/A	N/A

Two ways to interpret:

1. There isn’t a traditional debate in the sense that Harry’s debating whether he likes her more than Helen, or what he’s going to do next. Instead, they discuss the can-men-and-women-be-friends theme, he asks her out, and she says no. Although he makes a previous amendment to his rule, they don’t exchange phone numbers or decide to keep in touch. They just let each other slide out of each other’s lives again (probably because they’re involved with other people). This isn’t a debate; it’s simply more development.

OR

2. The entire film is one long debate (more likely), but neither wonders it aloud. Instead, the power of When Harry Met Sally lies in that the actions (or the constant presence) of the two characters are contradicting their words. (If they say they’re just friends, why are they doing so many romantic things together?). The two seem joyfully (and subconsciously) conflicted.

Number	STC Element	Page(s) in Script	Event in Script
6	Break Into Two (page 25)	42	Harry bumps into Sally at Shakespeare & Company. He learns that she’s no longer with Joe; Harry is getting divorced from Helen. (They go out for a date in the next scene)

This feels like the beginning of Act One because finally (!) these two characters are single and potentially available to each other (though, of course, neither one would want to admit that they’re dating). Finally, the relationship progresses, and it begins to build some traction. But…

Number	STC Element	Page(s) in Script	Event in Script
7	B-Story (page 30)	77	Harry and Sally set each other up with each other’s friends (Jess and Marie); they go out on a double date, and their dates fall for each other.

…the B-plot (which involves Jess and Marie) doesn’t happen until WAY later. Sure, we’ve met Marie before, but does the B-plot really begin when we meet one character early in the script (but not the other?). Maybe it’s splitting hairs. 

Jess and Marie serve as mirrors to Harry and Sally; they seem to quibble over small things (like the wagon wheel coffee table), but in having Jess and Marie unexpectedly get together, the narrative is pushing Harry and Sally even closer together. Just like the elderly people talking about their love stories in the documentary footage, it’s destiny that Harry and Sally are going to get together. 

Number	STC Element	Page(s) in Script	Event in Script
8	Fun and Games (pages 30-55)	41 – 72	Harry and Sally go on a bunch of dates (but they still won’t admit that they’re dating). She does the famous orgasm-at-Katz-Deli-scene.

Yup, this is what we came for: watching two adults who are wildly attracted to each other pretend to be friends to go on a bunch of dates that they don’t think are dates. (Being a human sure is fun).

Number	STC Element	Page(s) in Script	Event in Script
9	Midpoint (page 55)	72	They kiss at midnight on New Year’s. It’s awkward.

Since the kiss changes their relationship (and raises its stakes), it’s the midpoint. Here’s the weird thing: the kiss shows that it’s no longer two people in denial about their attraction to each other BUT they’re still not ready to be officially romantic with each other. 

Number	STC Element	Page(s) in Script	Event in Script
10	Bad Guys Close In (pages 55-75)	85 – 102	At The Sharper Image, they run into Harry’s ex, Helen. It really knocks Harry off-kilter. Sally becomes upset at her memories of Joe.

Helen isn’t a bad person, but Harry just has to confront his failed marriage (his past) in the face of his burgeoning-yet-still-in-denial relationship with Sally (his present and future). 

Harry mentions, “I looked death in the face and shook its hand. And now I feel great” (p. 87). This may be the Whiff of Death because it really knocks him off balance and gets him agitated in the next scene with Marie, Jess, and Sally, which leads to a slight argument between Sally and Harry. But this couple is still not together; in fact, Harry is dating a woman named Emily, and Sally is dating someone named Julian. 

Afterwards, Sally calls Harry and asks for him to come over. When she does, they talk and Sally becomes upset that Joe is already engaged to someone new. Harry comforts her, which leads to…

Number	STC Element	Page(s) in Script	Event in Script
11	All is Lost (page 75)	102	Whiff of Death: They’ve made love.

This is more likely the “All is Lost”/Whiff of Death moment because, if the theme/thesis of the film is that men and women can’t be friends because the sex part gets in the way, then…did the sex just get in the way? Does this mean that the friendship is over? Did Harry and Sally just royally screw things up by doing what they’ve been wanting to do since they first laid eyes on each other? 

Apropos of nothing: in French, the word “orgasm” translates to “le petit mort” or “the little death.”  (Do with that what you will…)

Number	STC Element	Page(s) in Script	Event in Script
12	Dark Night of the Soul (pages 75-85)	102-107	Harry and Sally freak out.

After they do the deed, they’re not the same as they were. (No wonder there’s an action line on page 103, saying “HOLD on [Harry’s] face, petrified” and that both Harry and Sally call Jess and Marie to tell them what happened). Both fear that their friendship is never going to be the same. 

And they’re right.  

Given the lighthearted tone of the film, this Dark Night of the Soul isn’t horrendously dark; it’s just that they’ve crossed the point of no return. This is the payoff to the Theme that was set-up on the car ride.

Number	STC Element	Page(s) in Script	Event in Script
13	Break Into Three (page 85)	116	Sally and Marie get ready for Marie’s wedding. Jess’s and Marie’s wedding occurs.

The interesting thing about the interstitial documentary clips is that they feel like a palate-cleanse. After Harry and Sally admit the mistake, there’s a clip of an old woman and man talking about a chance meeting in their youth; this feels like an intermission moment which sets up a new beginning: Sally and Marie getting ready for Marie’s wedding. Another set-up is that Sally learns that Harry and Emily are no longer; we now have two things to anticipate during Act Three. 

Number	STC Element	Page(s) in Script	Event in Script
14	Finale (pages 85-110)	116 – 136	Marie and Jess get married. Harry and Sally get into a huge argument.  She’s peeved and slaps him in the kitchen. Then, there’s the toast to Harry and Sally.  He leaves answering machine messages; she picks up and reminds him that  “she’s not his consolation prize” (p. 116).  Another New Year’s Party; she’s with a loser. He’s going to try to win her back and shows up at the party, saying that he loves her. They kiss at the New Year’s Party.

When Sally rejects Harry at the wedding and later over the phone, this *could* be an “All is Lost” moment that just happens to fall in Act Three. What I like about it is that conflict never lets up. This relationship is not easy on either of them. 

All of this sets up the tension for Harry to run to Sally on New Year’s Eve in a grande geste because he’s a hero trying to save the girl. Could that be considered the beginning of Act Three? Well, according to STC, the beginning of Act Three is technically when the hero thinks of and applies this solution. If that were the case, Act Three in When Harry Met Sally would then be a mere four pages long (out of a 137 page script). Thus, I really think it started sooner and just gave Harry and Sally more up’s and down’s to wrestle with. 

Number	STC Element	Page(s) in Script	Event in Script
15	Final Image (page 110)	136	Like the couples before them, Harry and Sally talk on the couch to the camera.

Finally! What’s great about this is that it pays off Harry’s final overture and it finishes the stories that the documentary footage people have been telling us all along. 

There are, however, several paradoxes: 1) Although Harry and Sally finish the collection of stories, they are at the relative beginning of their official relationship, and 2) All of the previous participants have been older, and Harry and Sally are younger, which points metaphorically to the future. 

As a slice-of-life comedy, When Harry Met Sally avoids many of the stock screenwriting “rules” because it’s listening to its characters and internal logic. Had it followed the rules, we wouldn’t have seen something some breezy, making so many keen observations about life and love.