When Harry Met Sally
Page 2
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
EXT. UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO CAMPUS—DAY
CARD: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO—1977
A couple in a clinch.
The young man involved is named HARRY BURNS. He’s twenty-six years old, just graduated from law school. Wearing jeans and a sweatshirt.
He’s kissing a young woman named AMANDA. She has long, straight hair that she irons. She’s about twenty. The embrace is fairly melodramatic. They pull back to look at one another.
AMANDA I love you.
HARRY I love you.
They begin to kiss again.
A car pulls up right beside them. Stops. Sits there.
Driving the car is SALLY ALBRIGHT. She’s twenty-one years old. She’s very pretty although not necessarily in an obvious way. She sits there waiting for the kiss to end. It doesn’t end. She clears her throat.
Amanda sees Sally, and she and Harry move over to the car.
AMANDA Oh. Hi, Sally. Sally, this is Harry Burns. Harry, this is Sally Albright.
HARRY Nice to meet you.
They shake hands.
SALLY (to Harry) You want to drive the first shift?
HARRY No, no, you’re there already, you can start.
SALLY Back’s open.
Harry looks meaningfully at Amanda.
Then he starts to put his stuff—a duffel bag, a box of records—into the back seat of the car, where Sally’s stuff is, too—suitcases, stereo speakers, a guitar, boxes of books, a small TV.
AMANDA Call me.
HARRY I’ll call as soon as I get there.
AMANDA Call me from the road.
HARRY I’ll call before that.
Harry and Amanda exchange longing looks outside the car.
AMANDA I love you.
HARRY I love you.
They kiss again.
Sally sits waiting, waiting. She shifts position and accidentally-on-purpose hits the car HORN, which beeps and startles Amanda and Harry into breaking off their clinch.
SALLY Sorry.
HARRY I miss you already.
AMANDA I miss you.
HARRY Bye.
Harry gets into the car, and Amanda watches it pull away.
CUT TO:
INT. CAR—DAY
Harry takes out a bunch of grapes, starts to eat them.
SALLY I have it all figured out. It’s an eighteen-hour trip, which breaks down to six shifts of three hours each. Or, alternatively, we could break it down by mileage. There’s a map on the visor that I’ve marked to show the locations where we change shifts.
HARRY (offering her one) Grape?
SALLY No. I don’t like to eat between meals.
Harry spits a grape seed out the window, which doesn’t happen to be down.
HARRY I’ll roll down the window.
After a lengthy silence.
HARRY (CONT’D) Why don’t you tell me the story of your life?
SALLY The story of my life?
HARRY We’ve got eighteen hours to kill before we hit New York.
SALLY The story of my life isn’t even going to get us out of Chicago. I mean, nothing’s happened to me yet. That’s why I’m going to New York.
HARRY So something can happen to you?
SALLY Yes.
HARRY Like what?
SALLY Like I’m going to go to journalism school to become a reporter.
HARRY So you can write about things that happen to other people.
SALLY (after a beat) That’s one way to look at it.
HARRY Suppose nothing happens to you. Suppose you live there your whole life and nothing happens. You never meet anyone, you never become anything, and finally you die one of those New York deaths where nobody notices for two weeks until the smell drifts out into the hallway.
Sally looks over at Harry. Who am I stuck in this car with? She looks back at the road.
EXT. CAR—TRAVELING SHOT—DAY
As the car turns onto the highway.
SALLY (Voice-over) Amanda mentioned you had a dark side.
HARRY That’s what drew her to me.
SALLY Your dark side?
HARRY Sure. Why? Don’t you have a dark side? I know, you’re probably one of those cheerful people who dot their “i’s” with little hearts.
SALLY (defensively) I have just as much of a dark side as the next person—
HARRY (pleased with himself) Oh, really? When I buy a new book, I read the last page first. That way, in case I die before I finish, I know how it ends. That, my friend, is a dark side.
SALLY (irritated now) That doesn’t mean you’re deep or anything. I mean, yes, basically I’m a happy person …
HARRY (cheerfully) So am I.
SALLY … and I don’t see that there’s anything wrong with that.
HARRY Of course not. You’re too busy being happy. Do you ever think about death?
SALLY Yes.
HARRY Sure you do. A fleeting thought that drifts in and out of the transom of your mind. I spend hours, I spend days—
SALLY (interrupting) —and you think this makes you a better person?
HARRY Look, when the shit comes down, I’m going to be prepared and you’re not, that’s all I’m saying.
SALLY And in the meantime, you’re going to ruin your whole life waiting for it.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. CAR—DAY
The car tooling along a beautiful stretch of highway.
SALLY (Voice-over) You’re wrong.
HARRY (Voice-over) I’m not wrong.
SALLY (Voice-over) You’re wrong.
HARRY (Voice-over) He wants her to leave. That’s why he puts her on the plane.
SALLY (Voice-over) I don’t think she wants to stay.
HARRY (Voice-over) Of course she wants to stay. Wouldn’t you rather be with Humphrey Bogart than that other guy?
EXT.—CAR EXITING (INDUSTRIAL)—MAGIC HOUR
EXT.—DINER—NIGHT
Sally’s car rounds the corner near some refinery tanks, heads into a diner parking lot.
SALLY (Voice-over) I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in Casablanca married to a man who runs a bar. That probably sounds very snobbish to you, but I don’t.
The car pulls up in front of a diner straight out of the fifties, Harry driving.
HARRY (Voice-over) You’d rather have a passionless marriage—
SALLY (Voice-over) —and be First Lady of Czechoslovakia—
HARRY (Voice-over) —than live with the man …
INT. CAR—NIGHT
HARRY … you’ve had the greatest sex of your life with, just because he owns a bar and that’s all he does.
SALLY Yes, and so would any woman in her right mind. Women are very practical.
Sally takes out a can of hairspray, sprays her hair.
SALLY (CONT’D) Even Ingrid Bergman, which is why she gets on that plane at the end of the movie.
EXT. DINER PARKING LOT—NIGHT
HARRY (getting out of car) Oh, I understand.
SALLY (getting out of car) What? What?
HARRY Nothing.
Harry crosses toward the diner. Sally follows after him.
SALLY What?
HARRY Forget about it.
SALLY What? What? Forget about what?
He doesn’t answer and heads up the stairs to the diner, Sally following.
SALLY (CONT’D) Now just tell me.
HARRY Obviously you haven’t had great sex.
He goes inside the diner. She follows.
INT. DINER—NIGHT
HARRY (to the hostess) Table for two.
SALLY Yes, I have.
HARRY No, you haven’t.
He crosses away from her toward the table.
SALLY It just so happens I have had plenty of good sex.
This doesn’t go unheard by the hostess and other diners. Sally walks to the table, sits down.
HARRY With whom?
SALLY What?
HARRY With whom
have you had this great sex?
SALLY (embarrassed) I’m not going to tell you that.
HARRY Fine. Don’t tell me.
A long silence. Harry looks at the menu. Sally opens hers but doesn’t read it.
SALLY Shel Gordon.
HARRY Shel. Sheldon? No. You did not have great sex with Sheldon.
SALLY I did too.
HARRY No, you didn’t. A Sheldon can do your taxes. If you need a root canal, Sheldon is your man, but humping and pumping is not Sheldon’s strong suit. It’s the name. “Do it to me, Sheldon.” “You’re an animal, Sheldon.” “Ride me, big Sheldon.” It doesn’t work.
A WAITRESS approaches the table.
WAITRESS What can I get you?
HARRY I’ll have the Number Three.
The Waitress turns to Sally.
SALLY I’d like the chef salad, please, with the oil and vinegar on the side. And the apple pie à la mode.
WAITRESS (writing) Chef and apple à la mode.
SALLY But I’d like the pie heated, and I don’t want the ice cream on top, I want it on the side. 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. If it’s out of a can, then nothing.
WAITRESS Not even the pie?
SALLY No, just the pie. But then not heated.
As the Waitress leaves, Harry stares in disbelief at Sally.
SALLY (CONT’D) What?
HARRY Nothing. Nothing. So how come you broke up with Sheldon?
SALLY How do you know we broke up?
HARRY Because if you didn’t break up, you wouldn’t be with me, you’d be off with Sheldon the Wonder Schlong.
SALLY First of all, I’m not with you. And second of all, it’s none of your business why we broke up.
HARRY You’re right, you’re right. I don’t want to know.
After a beat:
SALLY Well, if you must know, it was because he was very jealous and I had these Days of the Week underpants.
HARRY (makes a buzzer sound) I’m sorry, I need a judge’s ruling on this. Days of the Week underpants?
SALLY Yes. They had the days of the week on them, I thought they were sort of funny—and one day Sheldon says to me, “You never wear Sunday.” He’s all suspicious. Where was Sunday? Where had I left Sunday? And I told him, and he didn’t believe me.
HARRY What?
SALLY They don’t make Sunday.
HARRY Why not?
SALLY Because of God.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. DINER—NIGHT—REESTABLISH
INT. DINER—NIGHT
They are finishing their meal. Sally figures out her portion of the bill.
SALLY Fifteen percent of my share is … (writes) Six-ninety … leave seven….
She notices Harry just staring at her.
SALLY (CONT’D) (thinking she might have some food on her face, she nervously wipes) What? Do I have something on my face?
HARRY You’re a very attractive person.
SALLY Thank you.
HARRY Amanda never said how attractive you were.
SALLY Well, maybe she doesn’t think I’m attractive.
HARRY I don’t think it’s a matter of opinion. Empirically, you are attractive.
They get up to leave.
SALLY Amanda is my friend.
Harry throws down a crumpled bill, and they head for the door.
HARRY So?
SALLY So you’re going with her.
HARRY So?
SALLY So you’re coming on to me.
EXT. DINER—NIGHT
HARRY (coming out of door) No, I wasn’t.
Sally looks at him.
HARRY (CONT’D) What? Can’t a man say a woman is attractive without it being a come-on?
Harry walks to the driver’s side as Sally is unlocking the passenger door.
HARRY (CONT’D) All right, all right.
Both walk into the foreground, meeting. Sally moves away from him, upset.
HARRY (CONT’D) Let’s just say, just for the sake of argument, that it was a come-on. Okay. What do you want me to do about it? I take it back, okay? I take it back.
SALLY You can’t take it back.
HARRY Why not?
SALLY Because it’s already out there.
An awkward pause.
HARRY Oh, jeez. What are we supposed to do? Call the cops? It’s already out there!
SALLY Just let it lie, okay?
HARRY Great! Let it lie. That’s my policy. That’s what I always say.
They both get in the car.
INT. CAR—NIGHT
HARRY Let it lie. (beat) Want to spend the night in a motel?
Sally glares at him.
HARRY (CONT’D) See what I did? I didn’t let it lie.
SALLY Harry—
HARRY I said I would and then I didn’t—
SALLY Harry—
HARRY I went the other way—
SALLY Harry—
HARRY What?
SALLY We are just going to be friends, okay?
HARRY Great. Friends. The best thing.
As the car starts up and pulls out, we—
CUT TO:
EXT. HIGHWAY—NIGHT
As the car tools along, we hear
HARRY (Voice-over) You realize, of course, that we could never be friends.
SALLY (Voice-over) Why not?
INT. CAR—NIGHT
Sally is driving.
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, because the sex part always gets in the way.
SALLY That’s not true. I have a number of men friends and there’s no sex involved.
HARRY No, you don’t.
SALLY Yes, I do.
HARRY No, you don’t.
SALLY Yes, I do.
HARRY You only think you do.
SALLY You’re saying I’m having sex with these men without my knowledge?
HARRY No, I’m saying they all want to have sex with you.
SALLY They do not.
HARRY Do too.
SALLY They do not.
HARRY Do too.
SALLY How do you know?
HARRY Because no man can be friends with a woman he finds attractive. He always wants to have sex with her.
SALLY So you’re saying a man can be friends with a woman he finds unattractive.
HARRY No. You pretty much want to nail them, too.
SALLY What if they don’t want to have sex with you?
HARRY Doesn’t matter, because the sex thing is already out there, so the friendship is ultimately doomed, and that is the end of the story.
SALLY Well, I guess we’re not going to be friends, then.
HARRY Guess not.
SALLY That’s too bad. (beat) You were the only person I knew in New York.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. NEW YORK SKYLINE—DAWN
As the car comes over the George Washington Bridge. A gorgeous day.
DISSOLVE TO:
EXT. NEW YORK STREET CORNER—DAY
Downtown near Washington Square. The car pulls up and Harry hops out, grabbing his stuff. Sally also walks to the back of the car.
HARRY Thanks for the ride.
SALLY Yeah. It was interesting.
HARRY It was nice knowing you.
SALLY Yeah.
Sally nods. Harry nods. An awkward moment.
Sally holds out her hand. They shake.
SALLY (CONT’D) Well, have a nice life.
HARRY You too.
Harry starts to walk off.
As she drives off.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN
DOCUMENTARY FOOTAGE
Another OLDER COUPLE sitting together on the same love seat we saw earlier.
SECOND WOMAN We fell in love in high school—
SECOND MAN Yeah, we were high school sweethearts.
SECOND WOMAN But then afte
r our junior year, his parents moved away.
SECOND MAN I never forgot her.
SECOND WOMAN He never forgot me.
SECOND MAN Her face was burned on my brain. And it was thirty-four years later that I was walking down Broadway and I see her coming out of Toffenetti’s.
SECOND WOMAN And we both looked at each other, and it was just as though not a single day had gone by.
SECOND MAN She was just as beautiful as she was at sixteen.
SECOND WOMAN He was just the same. He looked exactly the same.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
INT. LA GUARDIA AIRPORT—DAY
IT’S FIVE YEARS LATER.
A couple in a clinch.
The woman is Sally at twenty-six. She looks great, she’s a stylish young woman.
She’s kissing a very attractive man, although it’s not that easy to see him at the moment. His name is JOE.
Harry is coming down the hallway of the airline terminal. He’s wearing a suit and tie and trench coat; he has a kind of attractive-but-rumpled demeanor. He notices the couple kissing. Goes past them. Then stops. Backs up. He recognizes them.
They’re still kissing.
Harry cornes closer, peers at the two of them from slightly too close. It’s not easy to see either of their faces.
Finally, Sally and Joe become aware that someone is standing nearby, and they stop kissing to look at Harry.
HARRY Joe—I thought it was you. I thought it was you! (shaking hands) Harry Burns.
JOE Harry, Harry, how ya doing?
HARRY Good. How you doing?
JOE I’m just fine. I’m doing fine.
HARRY I was just walking by, and I thought it was you, and here it is, it’s you.
JOE Yeah, yeah, it was.
HARRY You still with the D.A.’s Office?
JOE No, I switched to the other side.
HARRY Oh.
JOE What about you?
HARRY I’m working with this small company, doing political consulting.
JOE Oh yeah?
HARRY Yeah, it’s been great. Yeah.
Joe nods. Harry nods. An awkward pause. Sally just standing there, wondering if Harry remembers her.
JOE Oh Harry, this is Sally Albright. Harry Burns.
Harry nods and smiles.
JOE (CONT’D) Harry and I used to live in the same building.
Sally nods. Harry knows he’s seen her someplace but he can’t remember where.
HARRY Well, listen, I got a plane to catch. It was really good to see you, Joe.
JOE You too, Harry.
HARRY (to Sally) Bye.
Harry starts down the long corridor for his plane. Joe and Sally look at each other.