Carrie Fisher: “I want you to know…I will never want that wagon wheel coffee table.” It’s an okay table, too. I would totally own that table.
Bruno Kirby: “[disgusted laugh] NO” immediately at the end of Billy Crystal’s “Ted Kennedy was shot?” line.
Carrie Fisher: “You’re right, you’re right, I know you’re right,” every fucking time.
That redheaded friend of Sally and Marie’s: “At least you could say you were married,” during the riverside lunch scene.
When Billy Crystal is trying to initiate his flirtation with Meg Ryan on the first meeting, and they’re talking about Casablanca, and he says “than stay with the man you’ve had the greatest SEX of your life with…” in a way you would never emphasize that word unless you wanted to be the first person to mention sex in the conversation.
Meg Ryan, still on their ill-fated first drive, after Billy Crystal says they can never be friends: “It’s too bad. (beat) You were the only person I knew in New York.” And she’s so wistful and mildly regretful, but also stonily resigned.
The way Billy Crystal pronounces ‘balsamic’ (‘bal-sam-ic,’ not ‘bal-sahm-ic’) in “You don’t see that? Waiter, I’ll begin with a house salad, but I don’t want the regular dressing. I’ll have the balsamic vinegar and oil, but on the side.”
Carrie Fisher‘s breathy, shocked, “Mar-ried!” upon learning that Alex Anderson is off the market and folding the edge over on his Rolodex card.
Meg Ryan‘s increasingly incredulous “I am? I am the dog? I am the dog?”
Ben Small‘s deadpan “I’m Ben Small, of the Coney Island Smalls.”
Mrs. Small (or maybe she kept her name, like Helen Hillson!): “I thought he was coming over to talk to my friend Maxine. People were always crossing rooms to come talk to Maxine.” Eyes downcast. Smile of triumph. “But he was coming to talk to me.”
Billy Crystal‘s “I’ll roll the window down” after Meg Ryan glares at him for splattering grape seeds onto the glass. Note that seedless grapes were rarer then.
Woman: “He looked the same, he looked EXACTLY the same to me.”
Bruno Kirby‘s delightfully rapid, slurred take on “I also said that pesto is the quiche of the eighties.” It took me until I was 25 to realize he wasn’t saying “I also said…pastiche in the eighties.”
Bruno Kirby again, this time during the game of Pictionary: “Draw something…resembling anything.”
As always when the subject of When Harry Met Sally is raised, The Toast would like to take this opportunity to remind you that even though Jess promised Marie “You will never have to be out there again,” Bruno Kirby died in 2006 and somewhere Marie is back out there without him.
Tags: billy crystal, bruno kirby, bruno kirby was in godfather ii guys never forget that, carrie fisher, harry connick jr, love, meg ryan, movies, perfection, someone is staring at you in personal growth, when harry met sally
The Toast would like to take this opportunity to remind you that even though Jess promised Marie “You will never have to be out there again,” Bruno Kirby died in 2005 and somewhere Marie is back out there without him.
WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS
WHY
(This is the best movie.)
Also I LOVE LOVE LOVE every single cut scene to an actual couple except the one where the woman talks over her husband the whole time, because she drives me nuts.
Also, “I’ve been LOOKING for a red suede pump!”
Also also “Because baby fish mouth is sweeping the nation?”
(This is my favorite movie. I’m sure you can’t tell.)
ONE MORE because Meg Ryan nails it with the jawflapping when Billy Crystal is trying to get her to say “but I’d be proud to partake of your pecan pie.”
And the pecan pie bit was entirely improvised! At one point you can see Meg Ryan glance offscreen for Robert Reiner’s direction, he said go with it, and she did.
This fucking movie.
Oh I love the pecan pie scene so much! It’s so odd. I feel like on the special features VHS copy I had of this movie (sure did) they talked about how that scene was mostly Billy Crystal ad-libbing it so when Meg Ryan shakes her head and her eyes cut to the side she’s looking over at Rob Reiner like…should I go with this? /end super fandom
YES. You should go on.
Pee-can piiiiiiiie
The willage guy is my favorite. They are so cute, even though the fact that she doesn’t speak is worrisome, yet somehow simultaneously great.
I love that couple so hard. Willage!
They BOTH talked over each other and you are a SEXIST
At least she can say she was married.
I KNOW the toast needs to stop breaking my heart, please
That almost made me cry, which is dumb, but maybe I can blame it on being pregnant.
ALSO in that grapes scene if you pay attention you can see that the window is back up almost immediately after he rolls it down!
I’m always amazed at Sally for not tearing him a new one for rolling the window down in the first place, considering he left the grape seed spit on it.
Also, also, they leave University of Chicago (south of Chicago) for New York, but somehow* end up cruising along Lake Shore Drive north of downtown a few minutes later.
*There’s actually no “somehow” about it. That stretch of LSD, with the skyline on one side of you and Lake Michigan on the other, is ridiculously scenic and every move set in Chicago will include a scene shot in this location whether it fits the plot or no.
WHEN HARRY MET SALLY! Sophomore year of college we watched it once a week for quite some time. Also I have been really wanting to watch it due to complications involved with maybe being in love with my best friend. (50% of people who watch When Harry Met Sally once a month during sophomore year think the end is a lie.)
This movie means way more to me than any movie probably has the right to but I’m sure I’m in good company with that feeling.
My poor college roommates. During a particularly low period it wasn’t enough that I watched it once or twice a day but when alcohol was involved I ended up reciting every line right along with the movie.
did you create this account name just for this, or… ?
Actually, I changed my commenter name last week. 🙂
Baby Fish Mouth is Sweeping the Nation!
Also, I was listening to “I Remember Nothing” on audiobook last week which was narrated by Nora Ephron and it made me so sad that I won’t ever see a new movie from her. Then I thought about Bruno Kirby and just compounded my WHMS sads.
Sally: And I’m going to be 40!
Harry: When?
Sally: <amazing hand gesture, inimitable wistfulness/resignation> Someday!
Haha the crying scene! Man, the way she just sobs out “I’m DIFFICULT” is something that always, always gets me right in the heart place.
It’s the “B” in “I’m” that gets me. “IB’M DIFFICULT.”
THAT. THAT QUOTE. Meg Ryan, how do you know our ever-anxious hearts so well.
In EIGHT YEARS.
(Oh hell, I’M going to be 40 in eight years. Less! Boy, that snuck up on me.)
“Then you know what happens? Six years later you find yourself singing
‘Surrey with a fringe on top’ in front of Ira!”
“…we ran into Helen today.”
Oh and Meg Ryan’s voice is SO terrible!! It always makes me feel better about being tone deaf.
My favorite movie and now I want to cry bc the old people aways remind me of my grandparents and my granddad died earlier this summer
Same scene…
Sally: Charlie Chaplin had babies when he was 73.
Harry: Yeah, but he was too old to pick them up.
Sally: <laugh, turning to increased sobbing>
Yes! to the entire scene with the Smalls and especially Mrs. Small ending with “At that moment I knew. I knew the way you know about a good melon.”
I WAS COMING HERE TO SAY PRECISELY THAT. God. Nora could have gotten to heaven on the strength of that line alone.
There is too much pepper in my paprikash.
I thought of another line I love: “You know, I have a theory that hieroglyphics are just an ancient comic strip about a character named Sphinxy.”
I don’t even know how to comment on this because it’s all too perfect and I’m just too excited. I need to watch this tonight. (I say that at least once a month)
When he’s flipping through the index cards of movies post-sex: “you have your videos organized alphabetically” and she just kind of stares at him in a way that isn’t “YEAH SO?” or “Yeah, is that weird”? But something so perfectly in between.
this is exactly what i needed at this exact moment in time.
add this to the growing pile of evidence that mallory and nicole are witches.
It’s amazing. You look like a normal person but actually you are the angel of death.
I was watching the credits the last time I saw the movie (like a month ago) and was HEARTBROKEN to see the names of the old couples – they’re not the names they said! omg! this was just ACTING?!?!?!
Then I took my time to google it and the stories are real, with actors telling them. Which doesn’t break my heart TOO badly I suppose…
It’s actually Ken Darmouth who’s reaaalllly? …Marrrrried. [folds down Rolodex card] And I know this because I’ve watched that movie approximately once a month since I was 12.
I thought Ken Darmouth was the one whose wife left him and then six months later he was dead! Must have mixed them up.
God, I love Carrie Fisher. This movie is like Annie Hall sans narcissism. Wait, is it better than Annie Hall? I’m going to have to do extensive rewatch research.
Also, those old couples = inspiration for Match.com ads (down to the fact that they’re actors)?
You made a woman meow?!
Mr. Zero knew.
Sally: I’m going home.
Marie: You’ll never get a taxi.
(Sally turns back to her date and laughs again.)
OR EVEN BETTER!
” What does this song mean? For my whole life I don’t know what this song means.”
“I’ll just stop walking, I’ll let you go ahead.”
When Marie is going through her rolodex (!) at lunch– “Really…” (folds over the card’s corner) “…married.”
IIRC, it's "I know it was you, Fredo. You broke my heart."
Crap, my brain is still stuck on the My Fair Lady reference from a couple days ago.
Forgiven because the image of dopey Freddy from My Fair Lady ratting out the mob is actually hysterical.
The faux nonchalance in Carrie Fisher’s voice in the line “Oh! I’ve been looking for a red suede pump!” is wonderful. I also like when she’s trying on the wedding dress “He was seeing this, anthropologist, but…”
What, no ‘Someone is staring at you in personal growth’ or ‘Thin, pretty, big tits, your basic nightmare.’? (I loooooove Carrie Fisher in this movie/life.) Oh, and ‘I spy a family.’ *Waaaaah* Also, that (stupid, Roy Rogers wagon wheel) table is NOT OKAY.
What, no 'Someone is staring at you in personal growth' or 'Thin, pretty, big tits, your basic nightmare.'? (I loooooove Carrie Fisher in this movie/life.) Oh, and 'I spy a family.' *Waaaaah* Also, that (stupid, Roy Rogers wagon wheel) table is NOT OKAY.
Also, also, they leave University of Chicago (south of Chicago) for New York, but somehow* end up cruising along Lake Shore Drive north of downtown a few minutes later.
*There's actually no "somehow" about it. That stretch of LSD, with the skyline on one side of you and Lake Michigan on the other, is ridiculously scenic and every move set in Chicago will include a scene shot in this location whether it fits the plot or no.