Groundbreaking in its departure from its predecessors, When Harry Met Sally… (1989) established classic romantic comedy themes and tropes still being employed today. Following the relationship between its title characters, Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan), and their best friends Jess (Bruno Kirby) and Marie (Carrie Fisher), the film unfolds as a series of episodes, from Harry and Sally's prickly car journey from Chicago to New York City to a momentous encounter on New Year's Eve twelve years later. Tamar Jeffers McDonald's insightful study explores how writer Nora Ephron and director Rob Reiner used structure, filmic devices, music and classic romcom concepts in innovative new ways. In her afterword to this new edition, she reflects on the movie's continuing influence on the romcom genre, and its relevance in a more turbulent era, where the question at the movie's heart - "Can men and women ever just be friends?" takes on fresh nuance in the age of #MeToo.
Tamar Jeffers McDonald is Dean of the School of Art and Media & Professor in Film History, University of Brighton, UK. She is the co-editor of Stars, Fan Magazines and Audiences: Desire by Design Hollywood and author of Catwalk: Reading Costume and Transformation in American Film (2010) Doris Day Confidential: Hollywood Sex and Stardom (2013).
1. Introduction and Acknowledgments2. 'When Harry Met Sally...'3. Afterword to the 2026 Edition4. NotesCredits.
Tamar Jeffers McDonald, Lies Lanckman, Sarah Polley, University of Brighton) Jeffers McDonald, Tamar (Professor of Film History, and Dean of the School of Art and Media, Bristol) Lanckman, Lies (Senior Lecturer in Film, University of the West of England, University of Kent) Polley, Sarah (Honorary Fellow in Film, Tamar Jeffers Mcdonald
Tamar Jeffers McDonald, Lies Lanckman, Sarah Polley, University of Brighton) Jeffers McDonald, Tamar (Professor of Film History, and Dean of the School of Art and Media, Bristol) Lanckman, Lies (Senior Lecturer in Film, University of the West of England, University of Kent) Polley, Sarah (Honorary Fellow in Film, Tamar Jeffers Mcdonald
Tamar Jeffers McDonald, Lies Lanckman, Sarah Polley, University of Brighton) Jeffers McDonald, Tamar (Professor of Film History, and Dean of the School of Art and Media, Bristol) Lanckman, Lies (Senior Lecturer in Film, University of the West of England, University of Kent) Polley, Sarah (Honorary Fellow in Film, Tamar Jeffers Mcdonald
Tamar Jeffers McDonald, Lies Lanckman, Sarah Polley, University of Brighton) Jeffers McDonald, Tamar (Professor of Film History, and Dean of the School of Art and Media, Bristol) Lanckman, Lies (Senior Lecturer in Film, University of the West of England, University of Kent) Polley, Sarah (Honorary Fellow in Film, Tamar Jeffers Mcdonald