Product Details

• Actors: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, Bruno Kirby, Steven Ford
• Directors: Rob Reiner
• Writers: Nora Ephron
• Producers: Rob Reiner, Andrew Scheinman, Jeffrey Stott, Nora Ephron, Steve Nicolaides
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Subtitles: French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• DVD Release Date: January 9, 2001
• Run Time: 96 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (379 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00003CXDC
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,210 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "When Harry Met Sally - Special Edition" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Nora Ephron wrote the brisk screenplay for this 1989 romantic comedy, director Rob Reiner made a nicely glossy New York story (very much in a Woody Allen vein) out of it, and Billy Crystal's unstoppable charm made it something really special. Crystal and Meg Ryan play longtime platonic friends who keep dancing around their deeper feelings for one another, and Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher are their respective pals who fall in love and get married. Ryan doesn't get a lot of funny material, but her performance is typically alive and intuitive, and she more than holds her own with Crystal's comic motor mouth and sweet sentimentality. Reiner is on comfortable ground, liberated from the burden of making serious statements in the lead-footed manner of subsequent features. --Tom Keogh

On the DVD
The Collector's Edition offers seven new featurettes (the previous Special Edition only had one documentary), beginning with a sit-down between director Rob Reiner and writer Nora Ephron waxing nostalgic on how the movie originated: He, recently divorced from Penny Marshall, was a miserable single man, while she was the screenwriter who rejected his initial pitch over lunch ("It was a shame," she remembers, "because we hadn't even eaten yet."). It's easy to see that Reiner is clearly Harry, and Ephron is clearly Sally: He's the squawking chatterbox and she's constantly corrects his memory (Sally's meticulous method of ordering food is also a direct rip-off of Ephron herself). Other featurettes show Billy Crystal's attempts to play Harry (or Reiner, as it were); location filming in New York; the love stories that served as interludes between scenes (again, the counselors-at-camp story is from Ephron's parents); the significance of the film over time; and more discussion on the film's famous question: "Can men and women really be friends?" Most of the stories from the featurettes are recycled in the new film commentary by Reiner, Ephron, and Crystal (Reiner mentions that the "I'll have what she's having" line, spoken by his mother, is in the top 10 of AFI's top 100 movie lines no less than five times overall), but the inclusion of Crystal, who contributed many improvised lines in the movie, makes for a nice easygoing repartee. Fans may be interested to know that Reiner originally thought Harry and Sally shouldn't get together, until he himself fell in love with his future wife on the set, but the most hilarious tidbit involves Reiner storming the production offices and polling all the women on whether or not they "fake it" because didn't believe that really happened. Seven deleted scenes--which were also included in the previous version--and original theatrical trailer round out the set, but Harry Connick Jr.'s "It Had to Be You" music video is missing. Still, the special features are a great look into a romantic comedy that clearly remains a meaningful experience for cast, crew, and audience alike. --Ellen A. Kim

Product Description

"Brimming over with style, intelligence and flashing wit" (Rolling Stone), this "splendid and irresistible" (Los Angeles Times) film from director Rob Reiner(American President is one of the best-loved romantic comedies of all time. Featuring dazzling performances from Meg Ryan, Billy Crystal, Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby, exceptional music from Harry Connick Jr., and an OscarÂ(r)-nominated* screenplay by Nora Ephron, When Harry Met Sally is an "explosively funny" commentary on friendship, courtships - and other hardships - of the modern age (Newsweek)! Will sex ruin a perfect relationship between a man and a woman? that's what Harry (Crystal) and Sally (Ryan) debate during their travels from Chicago to New York. And eleven years and later, they're still no closer to finding the answer. Will these two best friends ever accept that they're meant for each other...or will they continue to deny the attraction that's existed since the first moment When Harry Met Sally? *1989

See all Editorial Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

97 of 107 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars You should meet Harry and Sally December 23, 1999

By "serpico1000"

Format:Videotape

Something has always bothered me about romantic comedies, i.e. you rarely actually get to see the couple fall in love, you know, actually witness the growth of the bond between them. They just fall in love, but you don't really get to be there. Except when you're watching 'When Harry Met Sally'. Rob Riener made a better film from a Nora Ephron script than she ever could. No offence to her, she's just a better writer than she is director. And Meg Ryan is so much better with Billy Crystal than Tom Hanks, although I have nothing but respect for Mr.Hanks. The thing is that its not just a genuinely and consistently funny movie, it's also terribly romantic. It spans about twleve years in the lives of both Harry and Sally, from their first meeting at college. They grow and change, they like and dislike each other, they become romantically involved and then they don't. The whole thing is very engrossing and witty but never seems far fetched or fantastical. I rate this movie as a contender for cinema's best romantic comedy. Enjoy the dialogue, the charm, the music, the drama and melodrama and give praise to Rob Riener and his magnificant team who made a wonderful film. The stars have not reunited since and it is possibly for the best as it would be an extremely difficult task to repeat this kind of quality. Chemistry and genuine emtion are hard to come by in this genre, enjoy it while you can. Its available on video and DVD and is rarely edited for T.V.

47 of 50 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Gender Gap Without The Sap..... November 16, 2002

By L. Shirley TOP 100 REVIEWER

Format:DVD

This review refers to the Special Edition DVD(MGM).......
A great romantic comedy that can be enjoyed by both men and women is a rare treat. This film is one of those rareties. Director Rob Reiner has us laughing at each other as well as ourselves in this story that lovingly highlights the inner workings of both sexes.

Harry and Sally(Billy Crystal/Meg Ryan) meet for the first time right after college graduation as they spend their first 18 hours together car pooling from Chicago to New York.They instantly fall for each other, BUT... neither one realizes that. Right away we see the difference of how men and women think, and how funny those differences can be. Upon reaching New York they part ways because theoretically "Men and women can't be just friends".

Over the years, they run into each other several times(destiny?),still not understanding the other's ways, but eventually become best friends, even trying to fix each other up, as they see each other through various relationships that didn't work out.Eventually they do begin to understand the other and feel themselves falling, but why ruin a good friendship with love and sex... right? How long will it take for these two to realize..."It Had To Be You"?

Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan have a magnificent on screen chemistry, and they'll have you laughing and rooting for them.
Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher are expert at playing the well meaning friends. There are some wonderful scenes of older couples being interviewed that will have you rolling. Rob Reiner does a brillant job of bringing us this everyday world of the gender gap.

You'll also love the soundtrack for this film. Lots of old standards, performed by Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington and some really marvelous stuff by a very young Harry Connick Jr. Nora Ephron wrote the screenplay and was nominated for an Oscar for her outstanding work.

The DVD is great. It is in widescreen, Dolby stereo surround(2.0),the picture is beautiful with all the wonderful scenes of the changing seasons in New York, and the sound, including the music and the dialouge are pleasing. Some really nice Features are included, I very much enjoyed the "Making OF" Documentary with lots of commentary. You'll also find lots of deleted scenes that are fun to watch, you can have Reiner's commentary during the film, and There's a terrific Harry Connick Jr video. There are trailers, and French and Spanish subtitles.
"Viva La Differance!"......Laurie

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Modern Romantic Comedy Classic December 14, 1999

By Lisa Lavins

Format:Videotape

This is one of the few movies I can watch over and over and never tire of seeing it. It is so true to life about relaionships betwen men and women. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan are the perfect actors to play Harry Burns and Sally Albright, the completely opposite and mismatched couple who are actually the perfect match for each other. Billy Crystal's unique humor shines through, and Meg Ryan is the only actress who could play Sally. Bruno Kirby and Carrie Fisher are great as Harry and Sally's best friends. The dialauge between Harry and Sally is wonderfull throughout the fillm. And the diner scene is one of the funniest I've ever seen in a movie. It all but steals the entire picture. This is ,hands-down, a modern romantic comedy classic that everyone should see.