Questo mese, su manuscritto.it,
la sceneggiatura integrale di "Harry ti presento Sally",
la commedia, che negli anni 80, divenne il simbolo di una generazione
ispirando tanti film successivi.
Per maggiore aderenza al testo, riportiamo la sceneggiatura in lingua
originale.
When Harry Met Sally
Transcripted
by Yours Truly
A Rob Reiner Film
Harry Burns
- Billy Crystal
Sally Allbright - Meg Ryan
Marie - Carrie Fisher
Jess - Bruno Kirby
Joe - Steven Ford
Alice - Lisa Jane Persky
Amanda - Michelle Nicastro
Man: I was sitting
with my friend Arthur Cornrom in a restaurant. It was an
___ ___ cafeteria and this beautiful girl walked in and
I turned to Arthur and I said, "Arthur, you see that girl?
I'm going to marry her, and two weeks later we were married and
it's over fifty years later and we are still married. (At
the university, Harry and Amanda kissing goodbye.)
Amanda: I love
you
Harry: I love
you
Sally: (clears
throat) kmm kmm... Kmm Kmm
Amanda: Oh, hi
Sally. Sally, this is Harry Burns. Harry, this is
Sally Allbright.
Harry: Nice to
meet you.
Sally: You want
to drive the first shift?
Harry: No, you're
there already you can start.
Sally: Back's
open.
Amanda: Call
me.
Harry: I'll call
you as soon as I get there.
Amanda: Oh, call
me from the road.
Harry: I'll call
you before that.
Amanda: I love
you.
Harry: I love
you.
Sally: (honks)
Sorry.
Harry: I miss
you already, huh, I miss you already.
Amanda: I miss
you.
Harry: Bye.
Amanda: Bye.
(Harry and Sally in
the car, on their whay to New York)
Sally: I have
it all figured out. It's an eighteen hour trip which breaks
down into six shifts of three hours each or alternatively we could
break it down by mileage.
(Harry climbs to reach
for something at the back-seat)
Sally: There's
a...there's a map on the huh... visor that I've marked to show
the locations so we can change shifts.
Harry: Grapes?
Sally: No, I
don't like to eat between meals.
(Harry spits pits out
but the window was shut)
Harry: I'll roll
down the window. Why don't you tell me the story of your
life.
Sally: 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: I can go into journalism school to become
a reporter.
Harry: So you
can write about things that happen to other people.
Sally: That's
one way to look at it.
Harry: Suppose
nothing happens to you. Suppose you lived out your whole
life and nothing happens you never meet anybody you never become
anything and finally you die in one of those New York deaths which
nobody notices for two weeks until the smell drifts into the hallway.
Sally: 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? No you're probably one of
those cheerful people who dots their eyes with little hearts.
Sally: I have just as much of a dark side as the
next person.
Harry: Oh really.
When I buy a new book I always 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: That doesn't
mean you're deep or anything I mean... yes, basically I'm a happy
person... Harry: 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 jumps in and out of the transient
of your mind. I spend hours, I spend days...
Sally: And you
think that makes you a better person.
Harry: Look,
when the shit comes down I'm gonna be prepared and you're not
that's all I'm saying.
Sally: And in
the mean time you're gonna ruin your whole life waiting for it.
(a while later, still
in the car)
Sally: You're
wrong.
Harry: I'm not
wrong, he wants...
Sally: You're
wrong.
Harry: ...he
wants her to leave that's why he puts her on the plane.
Sally: I don't think she wants to stay.
Harry: Of course
she wants to stay. Wouldn't you rather be with Humphrey
Bogart than the other guy? Sally: I don't want to
spend the rest of my life in Casablanca married to a man who runs
a bar. I probably sound very snobbish to you but I don't.
Harry: You'd
rather be in a passionless marriage.
Sally: And be
the first lady of Czechoslovakia.
Harry: Than live
with the man you've had the greatest sex of you life with, and
just because he owns a bar and that is all he does.
Sally: Yes.
And so had any woman in her right mind, woman are very practical,
even Ingrid Bergman which is why she gets on the plane at the
end of the movie.
(They pull up to a road
side cafe.)
Harry: I understand.
Sally: What?
What?
Harry: Nothing.
Sally: What?
Harry: Forget
about it.
Sally: For..
What? Forget about what?
Harry: It's not
important.
Sally: No just
tell me.
Harry: Obviously
you haven't had great sex yet. (Turns to waitress) Two please.
Waitress:: Right
over there.
Sally: Yes I
have.
Harry: No you
haven't. Sally: It just so happens that I have had
plenty of good sex. (Silence, the whole restaurant looks
at Sally. Sally realises what she had done, walks carefully
with a tilted head towards the table.)
Harry: With whom?
Sally: What?
Harry: With whom
did you have this great sex? Sally: I'm not going
to tell you that!
Harry: Fine,
don't tell me.
Sally: Shel Gordon.
Harry: Shel?
Sheldon? No, no, you didn't have great sex with ... Sheldon.
Sally: I did
too.
Harry: No you
didn't. A Sheldon can do your income taxes. If you
need a root canal Sheldon's 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'.
Doesn't work.
Waitress: Hi,
what can I get ya?
Harry: I'll have
a number three.
Sally: I'd like
the chef salad please with the oil and vinegar on the side and
the apple pie a la mode.
Waitress: Chef
and apple a 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.
Waitress: Uh
huh.
Sally: What?
Harry: Nothing, nothing. So how come you broke
up with Sheldon? Sally: How you know we broke up?
Harry: Because
if you didn't break up you wouldn't be here with me, you'd be
off with Sheldon the wonder-schlong.
Sally: First
of all, I am not *with* you, and second of all it is none of your
business why we broke up.
Harry: You're
right, you're right, I don't want to know.
Sally: Well if
you must know, it was because he was very jealous and I had these
days-of-the-week underpants.
Harry: (imitates
a wrong answer buzzer) uah! I'm sorry I need a judge's ruling
on this...days-of-week underpants.
Sally: Yes.
They had the days of the week on them and I thought they were
sort of funny. And then one day Sheldon says to me, 'You
never wear Sunday'. It's all suspicious, where was Sunday, where
was Sunday? And I told him and he didn't believe me.
Harry: Why?
Sally: They don't
make Sunday.
Harry: Why?
Sally: Because
of God.
(They've finished eating.)
Sally: (talking
to herself) Ok, so fifteen percent of my share is ninety... six
ninety. This leaves seven. (To Harry) 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 may
be she doesn't think I'm attractive.
Harry: I don't
think it's a matter of opinion, empirically you are attractive.
Sally: Amanda
is my friend.
Harry: So?
Sally: So you're
going with her.
Harry: So?
Sally: So you're
coming on to me!
Harry: No I wasn't.
What?
(Sally is not impressed,
jaw drops, wide eyes)
Harry: Can't
a man say a woman is attractive without it being a come-on? Alright,
alright, let's just say just for the sake of argument that it
was a come-on. What do you want me to do about it?
I take it back, ok? I take it back.
Sally: You can't
take it back.
Harry: Why not?
Sally: Because
it's already out there.
Harry: Oh gees,
what are we suppose to do, call the cops? It's already out
there.
Sally: Just let
it lie, ok?
Harry: Great!
Let it lie. That's my policy. That's what I always
say, let it lie. Wanna spend the night at a motel?
See what I did? I didn't let it lie.
Sally: Harry.
Harry: I said I wouldn't and I didn't.
Sally: Harry.
Harry: I went
the other way.
Sally: Harry.
Harry: What?
Sally: We are
just going to be friends, ok?
Harry: Great!
Friends! It's the best thing.
(On the road once more)
Harry: You realise
of course that we can never be friends.
Sally: Why not?
Harry: What I'm
saying is... 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 is 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, what
I'm saying is 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 that a man can be friends with a woman he finds unattractive.
Harry: Nuh, you
pretty much wanna nail'em 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. You are the only person I knew in New York.
(Louis Armstrong breaks
into "You say neither, I say....". They've reached
the Big Apple and are unloading Harry's luggage)
Harry: Thanks
for the ride.
Sally: Yeah,
it was interesting.
Harry: It was
nice knowing you.
Sally: Yeah.
(They shake hands)
Sally: Well have
a nice life.
Harry: You too.
(Luois is back with
the song and it switches to another couple on a couch)
Woman: We fell in love in high school.
Man: Yeah we
were... we were high school sweethearts.
Woman: But then
after our junior year his parents moved away.
Man: But I never
forgot her.
Woman: He never
forgot me.
Man: No, her
face is burned on my brain. And it was thirty four years
later that I was walking down Broadway and I saw her come out
of _______ .
Woman: And we
both looked at each other, and it was just as though not a single
day had gone by.
Man: She was
just as beautiful as she was at sixteen.
Woman: He was
just the same. He looked exactly the same. (Sally
and Joe kissing in the airport, Harry walked by and saw them.)
Harry: Joe! I
thought it was you. I thought it was you. Harry Burns.
Joe: Harry, Harry
how're you doing?
Harry: Good,
how're you doing?
Joe: I'm...fine,
I'm doing fine.
Harry: Yeah,
it's great, I was just walking by and I thought it was you and
there it is, it's you!
Joe: Yea, yea,
it was. Harry: Are you still with the DA's office?
Joe: No I switched
to the other side, what about you?
Harry: I work
with a small firm and we do political consulting.
(sociable laughs all
round)
Joe: Oh Harry
this is Sally Allbright. Harry Burns. Ah...Harry and
I use to uh...we lived in the same building.
(more sociable laughs)
Harry: Well listen
I got a plane to catch, it was really good to see you Joe.
Joe: You too
Harry. Harry: Bye.
(Sally nods)
Sally: Thank
God he couldn't place me, I drove from College to New York with
him five years ago and it was the longest night of my life.
Joe: What happened?
Sally: He made
a pass at me and when I said no he was going with a girlfriend
of mine uh... Oh God I can't even remember her name! Don't
get involved with me Joe I am twenty six years old and I can't
even remember the name of the girl I was such good friends with
I wouldn't get involved with her boyfriend.
Joe: So what
happened?
Sally: When?
Joe: When...
when he made a pass at you and you said no and...
Sally: Oh, oh.
I said we could just be friends. And this part I can remember
he said that men and women could never really be friends.
Do you think that's true?
Joe: No.
Sally: Do you
have any women friends, just friends?
Joe: No.
But I will get one if it is important to you.
Sally: Amanda
Reese, that was her name, thank God.
Joe: I will miss
you. I love you. Sally: You do?
Joe: Yes.
Sally: I love
you.
(in the plane, Sally
day-dreaming about something)
Air Hostess:
And what would you like to drink?
Passenger: Nothing
thanks.
Sally: Do you
have any Bloody Marry mix?
Air Hostess:
Yes.
Sally: Oh wait,
here's what I want. Regular tomato juice, filled up about
three quarters than add a splash of Bloody Marry mix, just a splash,
and a little piece of lime, but on the side. Harry:
(from a row behind Sally) The University of Chicago right?
Sally: (looks
at Harry, sighs) Yes.
Harry: Did you
look this good at the University of Chicago?
Sally: No.
Harry: Did we
ever uh...(makes pumping fist gesture)
Sally: No!
No! (to man sitting on her right) We drove from Chicago
to New York together after graduation.
Man: Would you
two like to sit together?
(Simultaneously...)
Sally: No. Harry: Great! Thank you.
Harry: You were
a good friend of umm...
Sally: Amanda's.
I can't believe you can't remember her name.
Harry: What do
you mean? I remember, Amanda right? Amanda Rice.
Sally: Reese.
Harry: Reese, right! That's what I said!
What ever happened to her?
Sally: I have
no idea.
Harry: You have
no idea? You were really good friends with her. We
didn't make it because you were such good friends.
Sally: You went
with her!
Harry: And was
it worth it? The sacrifice for a friend that you don't even
keep in touch with?
Sally: Harry,
you might not believe this but I never considered not sleeping
with you a sacrifice.
Harry: Fair enough.
Fair enough.
Harry: (contd)
You were going to be a gymnast.
Sally: A journalist.
Harry: Right,
that's what I said. And?
Sally: I am a
journalist, I work at the news.
Harry: Great!
And you're with Joe. Well that's great, great. You're
together, what, three weeks?
Sally: A month,
how did you know that?
Harry: You take
someone to the Airport it's clearly the beginning of a relationship
that's why I have never taken anyone to the Airport at the beginning
of a relationship.
Sally: Why?
Harry: Because
eventually if things move on and you don't take someone to the
Airport, and I never wanted anyone to say to me, "How come
you never take me to the Airport anymore?"
Sally: It's amazing,
you look like a normal person but actually you're the Angel of
Death. Harry: Are you going to marry him?
Sally: (gasping,
lost for words) We have only known each other for a month and
besides neither one of us is looking to get married right now.
Harry: Hmm, I'm
getting married.
Sally: You are?
Harry: Umm hmm.
Sally: *You*
are.
Harry: Hmm, yeah.
Sally: Who is
she?
Harry: Helen
Helson, she is a lawyer, she's keeping her name.
Sally: (laughs)
You're getting married. Harry: Yeah.
Sally: (laughs
some more)
Harry: What's
so funny about that?
Sally: (laughs
even more) It's a...well...It's just so optimistic of you
Harry.
Harry: Well you'd
be amazed what falling madly in love can do for you.
Sally: Well it's
wonderful, it's nice to see you embracing life in this manner.
Harry: Yeah plus
you know you just get to a certain point where you get tired of
the whole thing.
Sally: What "whole
thing"?
Harry: The whole
life-of-a-single-guy thing. You meet someone, you have the
safe lunch, you decide you like each other enough to move on to
dinner. You go dancing, you do the white-man's over-bite,
go back to her place, you have sex and the minute you're finished
you know what goes through your mind? How long do I have
to lie here and hold her before I can get up and go home.
Is thirty seconds enough?
Sally: (In disgust)
That's what you're thinking? Is that true?
Harry: Sure!
All men think that. How long do you want to be held afterwards?
All night, right? See there's your problem, somewhere between
thirty seconds and all night is your problem.
Sally: I don't
have a problem!
Harry: Yeah you
do.
(Plane lands, Harry
and Sally meet again on one of those motorised walkways in the
Airport)
Harry: Staying
over?
Sally: Yes.
Harry: Would
you like to have dinner?
(Sally looks over)
Harry: Just friends.
Sally: I thought
you didn't believe men and women could be friends.
Harry: When did
I say that?
Sally: On the
ride to New York.
Harry: No no
no no, I never said that. (Harry pauses, thinks.)
Yes, that's right, they can't be friends. Unless both of
them are involved with other people then they can. This
is an amendment to the earlier rule, if the two people are
in relationships, the pressure of possibility of involvement is
lifted. (Pauses) That doesn't work either because what happens
then is the person you're involved with can't understand why you
need to be friends with the person you're just friends with.
Like it means something is missing from their relationship and
"why do you have to go outside to get it?". Then
when you say, "no no no no, it's not true nothing's missing
from the relationship", the person you're involved with then
accuses you of being secretly attracted to the person you're just
friends with, which we probably are, I mean, come on, who the
hell are we kidding, let's face it, which brings us back to the
earlier rule before the amendment which is men and women can't
be friends, so where does that leave us?
Sally: Harry.
Harry: What?
Sally: Goodbye.
Harry: Oh, OK.
(They both start to
walk along the motorised walkway, side by side)
Harry: I'll just
stop walking, I'll let you go ahead. (Another old couple
on the same couch)
Man: We were
married forty years ago. We were married three years, we
got a divorce. Then I married Margerie.
Woman: But
first you lived with Barbara.
Man: Right, Barbara.
But I didn't marry Barbara I married Margerie.
Woman: Then he
got a divorce.
Man: Right, then
I married Kitty.
Woman: Another
divorce.
Man: Then a couple
of years later at Atticalicio's funeral, I ran into her.
I was with some girl I don't even remember.
Woman: Ruberta.
Man: Right, Ruberta.
But I couldn't take my eyes off you. I remember I snuck
over to her and I said... What did I say?
Woman: You said,
"What are you doing after?"
Man: Right.
So I ditched Ruberta, we go for a coffee, a month later we were
married.
Woman: Thirty
five years today after our first marriage.
(Three women sitting
outdoor at a table in a restaurant, nice view overlooking water
and willow with skyscrapers faintly visible in the distance) (Five
years have passed since Harry and Sally's last meeting)
Marie: I went through his pockets in bed.
Alice: Marie
why do you go through his pockets?
Marie: You know
what I found?
Alice: No, what?
Marie: They just
bought a dinning room table. He and his wife just went out
and spent sixteen hundred dollars on a dinning room table.
Alice: Where?
Marie: Huh...
The point isn't where, Alice. The point is he's never going
to leave her!
Alice: So what
else is new you've known this for two years.
Marie: You're
right, you're right, I know you're right.
Alice: Why can't
you find someone single. When I was I knew lots of nice
single men. There must be someone. Sally found someone.
Marie: Sally
got the last good one.
Sally: Joe and
I broke up.
Alice: What?
Marie: When?
Sally: Monday.
(At the same time) Alice:
You waited three days to tell us? Marie: You mean Joe's
available?
Alice: Oh for
God's sakes Marie don't you have any feelings about this?
She's obviously upset. Sally: I'm not that upset,
we've been growing apart for quite a while. Marie:
But you guys were a couple, you had someone to go places with,
you had a date on national holidays.
Sally: I said
to myself, "You deserve more than this, you're thirty one
years old..."
Marie: And the
clock is ticking.
Sally: No the
clock doesn't really start to tick until you're thirty six.
Alice: God you're
in such great shape.
Sally: Well,
I've had a few days to get use to it, and uh... I feel OK.
Marie: Good!
Then you're ready.
(Marie reaches down
to bring up her card index) Alice: Oh really Marie.
Marie: Well how
else do you think you do it? (To Sally) I've got the perfect
guy. I don't happen to find him attractive but you might.
She doesn't have a problem with chins.
Sally: Marie,
I'm not ready yet.
Marie: But you
just said you were over him. Sally: I *am* over
him, but I'm in a mourning period. (Pauses) Who is
it?
Marie: Alex Anderson.
Sally: (Disgusted)
Uh! You fixed me up with him six years ago.
(Alice giggles)
Marie: Sorry!
Sally: God!
Marie: Alright,
wait, here, here we go, Ken Darmen.
Sally: He's been
married for over a year.
Marie: Really.
(Dog-ears the his card) Married... Oh wait, wait, wait,
I got one. Sally: Look, there is no point in my
going out with someone I might really like *if* I met him at the
right time but who right now has no chance of being anything to
me but a transitional man.
Marie: OK, but
don't wait too long. Remember what happened to David Walsaw?
His wife left him and everyone said, "Give him some time,
don't move in too fast." Six months later he was dead.
Sally: What are
you saying? I should get married to someone right away in
case he's about to die?
Alice: At least
you could say you were married.
Marie: I'm saying,
that the right man for you might be out there right now, and if
you don't grab him someone else will and you'll have spend the
rest of your life knowing that someone else is married to your
husband.
(At a football
game) (We follow the Mexican wave and see Harry and Jess)
Jess: When did
this happen?
Harry: Friday.
Helen comes home from and she said, "I don't know if I want
to be married anymore." Like it's the institution,
you know, like it's nothing personal, just something she's been
thinking about... in a casual way. I'm calm, I say, "Why
don't we take some time to think about it, you know, don't rush
into anything."
Jess: Yeah, right.
Harry: Next day
she said she's thought about it, and she wants a trial separation.
She just wants to try it, she says, but we can still date.
Like this is supposed to cushion the blow. I mean I got
married so I can stop dating. So I don't see where we can
still date is any big incentive since the last thing you want
to do is date your wife, who's suppose to love you, which is what
I'm saying to you, that's when it occurs to me that may be...
she doesn't. So I say to her, "Don't you love me anymore?"
You know what she says?
(Jess shakes his head)
Harry: "I
don't know if I've ever loved you."
Jess: Ooo that's
harsh.
(They partake in the
Mexican wave)
Jess: You don't
bounce back from that right away.
Harry: Thanks
Jess.
Jess: No, I'm
a writer, know dialogue and that's particularly harsh.
Harry:
Then she tells me that somebody in her office is going to South
America and she can sub-let his apartment. I can't believe
this, and the doorbell rings, 'I can sub-let his apartment', the
words are still hanging in the air, you know, like in a balloon
attached to a mouth.
Jess: Like in
the cartoon. Harry: Right. So I go to the
door, and there were moving men there. Now I start to get
suspicious. I say, "Helen when did you call these movers?",
and she doesn't say anything. So I asked the movers, "When
did this woman book you for this gig?". And they're
just standing there. Three huge guys, one of them was wearing
a T-shirt that says, "Don't mess with Mr. Zero."
So I said, "Helen, when did you make this arrangement?".
She says, "A week ago.". I said, "You've
known for a week and you didn't tell me?". And she
says, "I didn't want to ruin your birthday."
(They do the Mexican
wave again)
Jess: You're
say Mr. Zero knew you were getting a divorce a week before you
did?
Harry: Mr. Zero
know.
Jess: I can't
believe this!
Harry: I haven't
told you the bad part yet.
Jess: What could
be worse than Mr. Zero knowing.
Harry: It's all
a lie. She's in love with somebody else, some tax attorney.
She moved in with him.
Jess: How did
you find out?
Harry: I followed
her, I stood outside the building.
Jess: So humiliating.
Harry: Tell me
about it. (Pauses) And do you know I knew? I
knew the whole time that even though we were happy it was just
an illusion and that one day she will kick the shit out of me.
Jess: Marriages
don't break up on a count of infidelity. It's just a symptom
that something else is wrong.
Harry: Oh really?
Well that symptom is fucking my wife.
(Marie and Sally in
a book store. Second floor)
Marie: So I just
happen to see his American Express bill. Sally:
What do you mean you just *happen* to see it?
Marie: Well,
he was shaving and... there it was in his briefcase.
Sally: What if
he came out and saw you looking through his briefcase?
Marie: You're
missing the point, I'm telling you what I found. He just
spent a hundred and twenty dollars on a new night gown for his
wife. I don't think he's ever going to leave her.
Sally: No one thinks he's ever going to leave her.
Marie: You're
right, you're right, I know you're right.
(Marie saw Harry peering
at Sally through the top of his book)
Marie: Someone
is starring at you in personal growth. Sally: I
know him. You'd like him, he's married.
Marie: Who is
he?
Sally: Harry
Burns, he's a political consultant.
Marie:
He's cute.
Sally: You think
he's cute?
Marie: How do
you know he's married.
Sally: 'Cos last
time I saw him he was getting married. Marie: When
was that?
Sally: Six years
ago.
Marie: So he
might not be married anymore.
Sally: Also he's
obnoxious.
Marie: Uh, this
is just like in the movies remember when the lady vanishes and
she says to meet the most obnoxious man in the world....
Sally: The most
contemptible. Marie: And they fall madly in love.
Sally: Also he
never remembers me.
Harry: Sally
Allbright.
Sally: Hi Harry.
Harry: I thought
it was you.
Sally: It is.
Huh... this is Marie. (Marie is already on her way down
stairs)
Sally: Was Marie.
Harry: How are
you?
Sally: Fine!
Harry: How's
Joe?
Sally: Fine.
(Pauses) I hear he's fine.
Harry: You're
not with Joe anymore? Sally: We just broke up.
Harry: Oh, I'm
sorry, that's too bad. Sally: Yah...well, you know...yah.
(Long pause) So, what about you?
Harry: I'm fine.
Sally: How's
married life?
Harry: Not so
good. I...I'm getting a divorce.
Sally: Oh, sorry.
Oh I'm really sorry.
Harry: Yeah,
well, what're you going to do. What happened with you guys?
(Harry and Sally now
sitting in a empty restaurant, having coffee)
Sally: When Joe
and I started seeing each other we wanted exactly the same thing.
We wanted to live together but we didn't want to get married because
every time anyone we knew got married it ruined their relationship,
they practically never had sex again. It's true. It's
one of those secrets that no one ever tells you. I would
sit around with my girlfriends who have kids... actually this
my girlfriend who has kids, Alice, and she and Garry never did
it anymore. She didn't even complain about it now that I
think about it. She just said it matter-of-fact-ly.
She said, they were up all night, they were both exhausted all
the time, the kids just took every sexual impulse they had out
of them. (Pauses) Joe and I use to talk about it and
we'd say, we are so lucky we have this wonderful relationship,
we can have sex on the kitchen floor and not worry about the kids
walking in, we can fly off to Rome on a moment's notice.
And then one day I was taking Alice's little girl for the afternoon
because I promised I'd take her to the circus, and, we were in
the cab playing eye-spy. Eye-spy mailbox, eye-spy lamppost.
And she looked out the window and she saw this man and this woman
with these two little kids and the man had one of the little kids
on his shoulders and she said, "I spy a family".
And I started to cry. You know I just started crying.
And I went home and I said, "The thing is Joe we never fly
off to Rome on a moment's notice.
Harry: And the
kitchen floor...
Sally: Not once,
it's this cold, hard Mexican ceramic tile.
Harry: Umm.
Sally: Anyway,
we talked about it for a long time and I said, "This is what
I want." and he says, "Well I don't." and I said,
"Well I guess it's over." and he left. And the
thing is I... I feel really fine. I am over him, I mean
I really am over him. And that was it for him. That
was the most that he could give. And everytime I think about
it I am more and more convinced that I did the right thing.
Harry: Boy you
sound really healthy.
Sally: Yah.
(Harry and Sally walking along in a park)
Sally: At least
I got the apartment.
Harry: That's
what everybody says to me too. But really what's so hard
about finding an apartment? What you do is, you read the
obituary column. Yeah, you find out who died, and go to
the building and then you tip the doorman. What they can do to
make it easier is to combine the obituaries with the real estate
section. Say, then you'd have Mr. Klein died today leaving
a wife, two children, and a spacious three bedroom apartment with
a wood burning fireplace. (They both sound of genuine laughter)
Harry: You know
the first time I met I really didn't like you that much.
Sally: I didn't
like you.
Harry:
Yeah you did, you were just so uptight then. You're much
softer now.
Sally: You know
I hate that kind of remark. It sounds like a complement
but really it's an insult.
Harry: OK, you're
still as hard as nails.
Sally: I just
didn't want to sleep with you and you had to write it off as a
character flaw instead of dealing with the possibility that it
might have something to do with you.
Harry: What's
the statute of limitation on apologies?
Sally: Ten years.
Harry: Ooo, I
can just get it in under the wire.
Sally: Would
you like to have dinner with me some time?
Harry: Are we
becoming friends now?
Sally: Well...
(Pause) yah.
Harry: Great!
A woman friend... You know you may be the first attractive woman
I have not wanted to sleep with in my entire life.
Sally: That's
wonderful Harry.
(New old couple again)
(They "cross-talk" all the time, they kind of overlaps
each other's speech)
Man: We were
both born in the same hospital. Woman: Nineteen twenty
one.
Man: Seven days
apart. Woman: In the same hospital.
Man: We both
grew up one block away from each other. Woman: We both
lived in tenements.
Man: On the lower
east side.
Woman: On Delancey
Street.
Man: My family
moved to the Bronx when I was ten. Woman: He lived on Fordham
Road.
Man: Hers moved
when she was eleven. Woman: I lived on a hundred and eighty
third Street.
Man: For six
years she worked on the fifteenth floor as a nurse where I had
a practice on the fourteenth floor in the very same building.
Woman: I worked for a very prominent neurologist, Dr. (someone
or rather). We never met. Man: Never met.
Woman: Can you imagine that?
Man: You know
where we met? In an elevator. In the ambassador hotel
in Chicago Illinois. Woman: I was visiting family.
He was on the third floor I was on the twelve. Man: I rode
up nine extra floors just to keep talking to her. Woman:
Nine extra floors.
(A shot of Harry in
the office, looking pathetically at one of those bobbing toys
that seems to dip its head enough to drink from a glass of water)
(The phone rings, actually the phone is from his apartment as
they go about their bedtime phone conversations) (We see Harry
and Sally each carrying out their everyday life. Work, shopping
etc)
(Voices overs) (Sally
answers the phone)
Sally: Hello.
Harry: You sleeping?
Sally: No, I
was watching Casablanca. Harry: Channel please.
Sally: Eleven.
Harry: Thank
you, got it. Now you're telling me you will be happier with
Victor Laszlo than Humphrey Bogart?
Sally: When did
I say that?
Harry: When we
drove to New York.
Sally: I never
said that, I would never have said that. Harry:
Alright, fine. Have it your way. (Pause) Have
you been sleeping?
Sally: Why?
Harry: 'Cos I
haven't been sleeping. I really miss Helen. May be
I coming down with something. Last night I was up at four
in the morning watching "Leave it to Beaver" in Spanish.
"(Harry recites some of the Spanish dialogue from Leave it
to Beaver)". I'm not well.
Sally: Well I
went bed at seven thirty last night. I haven't don't that
since the third grade.
Harry: Well that's
the good thing about depression, gets you rest.
Sally: I'm not
depressed.
Harry: OK, fine.
Do you still sleep on the same side of the bed?
Sally: I did
for a while but now I'm pretty much using the whole bed.
Harry: God, that's great. I feel weird when just
my legs wanders over. I miss her.
Sally: I don't
miss him, I really don't.
Harry: No even
a little?
Sally: You know
what I miss? I miss the idea of him. Harry:
May be I only miss the idea of Helen. No, I miss the whole
Helen.
Sally: Mm, last
scene.
(We see them both looking
at the TV, Casablanca playing)
Harry: Ooo, Ingrid
Bergman, now she's low maintenance. Sally: Low maintenance?
Harry: There
are two kinds of women. High maintenance and low maintenance.
Sally: And Ingrid
Bergman is low maintenance?
Harry: In LM,
definitely.
Sally: Which
one am I?
Harry: You're
the worst kind. You're high maintenance but you think you're
low maintenance.
Sally: I don't
see that.
Harry: 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. And then the Salmon with the mustard
sauce, but I want the mustard sauce, on the side. On the
side is a very big thing for you.
Sally: Well I
just want it the way I want it.
Harry: I know.
High maintenance.
(Casablanca ends with
"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.")
Harry: Mmm, best
last line of a movie ever.
Sally: Hmm....
Harry: I'm definitely
coming down with something. Probably a twenty four hour
tumour they're going around.
Sally: You don't
have a tumour.
Harry: How do
you know?
Sally: If you're
so worried go see a doctor.
Harry: No, he'll
just tell me it's nothing.
Sally: Will you
be able to sleep? Harry: If not I'll be OK.
Sally: What will
you do?
Harry: I'll stay
up moan. May be I should practice now. (moans....)
Sally: Goodnight
Harry.
Harry: Goodnight.
(Both hang up the phone)
(Sally's light is out) (Harry keeps moaning... and eventually
lights out)
(Harry and Sally walking
along the street)
Harry: I had
my dream again, where I'm making love and the Olympic judges are
watching. I've nailed the compulsories so this is it, the
finals. I got a nine eight from the Canadian, a perfect
ten from the American, and my mother disguised as a East German
judge gave me a five six. Must've been the dismount.
Sally: Well basically
it's the same one I've been having since I was twelve.
Harry: What happens?
Sally: No it's...
it's too embarrassing.
Harry: So tell
me.
Sally: OK there's
this guy. Harry: What's he look like.
Sally: I don't
know he just kind of faceless.
Harry: Faceless
guy, OK, then what?
Sally: He rips
off my clothes.
Harry: Then what
happens?
Sally: And that's
it.
(They stop walking)
Harry: That's
it? A faceless guy rips off your clothes and that's the
sex fantasies you've been having since you were twelve.
Exactly the same.
Sally: Well sometimes
I vary it a little. Harry: Which part?
Sally: What I'm
wearing.
(Harry pauses, looks
away, starts walking again)
Sally: What?
Harry: Nothng.
(They are now inside
a building with a very tall ceiling. Museum? Gallery?)
(Harry talking in a funny accent)
Harry: I have
decided that for the rest of the day we are going to talk like
this.
Sally: (Plays
along) Like this?
Harry: No, please,
to repeat after me. Pepper.
Sally: Pepper.
Harry: Pepper.
Sally: (Starting
to giggle) Pepper.
Harry: Pepper.
Sally: Pepper.
Harry: Pepper.
Sally: Pepper.
Harry: Waiter,
there is too much pepper on my paprikash.
(Sally giggles some
more, Harry feeding her the line again)
Sally: Waiter,
there is too much pepper...
Harry: On my
papricash.
Sally: On my
papricash.
Harry: But I
would be proud to partake of your pecan pie.
Sally: Oh...no.
Harry: But I
would be proud.
Sally: But I
would be proud.
Harry: To partake.
Sally: To partake.
Harry: Of your
pecan, pieeee.... Sally: Of your pecan, pieeee....
Harry: Pecan
pieeee.... Sally: Pecan pieeee....
Harry: Pecan
pieeee....
Sally: Pecan
pieeee....
Harry: Would
you like to go to the movie with me tonight? Sally:
Would you like to go... would, would...
Harry: (Shakes
his head) Not to repeat, please, to answer. Would
you like to go to the movie with me tonight?
Sally: (Mouth
opened, realises something, accent gone) Oh, oh. Well I'd
love to Harry, but I... I can't.
Harry: (Still
with accent) What to you have, a *Hot Date*?
Sally: Well yah,
yah.
Harry: (Accent
stops) Really?
Sally: Yah, well
I... I was going to tell you about it but I don't know I just...
I felt strange about it.
Harry: Why?
Sally: Well because
we've been spending so much time together.
Harry: Oh I think
it's great that you have a date.
Sally: You do?
Harry: Yeah.
(Sally looks around nervously, may be even a bit struck
by the answer!?)
Harry: It's that
what you're going to wear?
Sally: Yah.
Well, I... I don't know, why?
Harry:
I think you should wear skirts more. You look really good
in skirts.
Sally: I do?
Harry: Yah.
(Sally is looking around
again, this time the reaction is a bit more pleasant)
Harry: You know
I have a theory that Hieroglyphics are really an ancient comic
strip about a character named Sphinxie.
Sally: You know
Harry I think you should get out there too.
Harry:
(With accent now) Oh no I'm not ready.
Sally: You should.
Harry: I would
not be good for anybody right now.
Sally: It's time.
(They are in an apartment
(I think it's Sally's) unrolling a new rug into its place.)
Harry: It was
the most uncomfortable night of my life. Sally:
Oh. See no, it has to go this way. The first day back
is always the toughest Harry.
Harry: We only
had one date. How do you know it's not going to get worse?
Sally: How much
worse can it get than finishing dinner having him reaching over
pull a hair out of my head and starts flossing with it at the
table?
Harry: We're
talking dream dates compared to my horror. It started out
fine, she's a very nice person, and we're sitting and we're talking
at this Ethiopian restaurant that she wanted to go to. And
I was making jokes, you know like, "Hey I didn't know that
they had food in Ethiopia? This will be a quick meal.
I'll order two empty plates and we can leave." (Sally
laughed while drinking from a bottle of water)
Harry: Yeah,
nothing from her not even a smile. So I down shift into
small talk, and I asked her where she went to school and she said.
"Michigan State", and this reminds me of Helen.
All of a sudden I'm in the middle of this mess of an anxiety attack,
my heart is beating like a wild man and I start sweating like
a pig.
Sally: Helen
went to Michigan State?
Harry: No she
went to Northwestern, but they're both big-ten schools.
I got so upset I had to leave the restaurant.
Sally: Harry
I think this takes a long time. It might be months before
we're actually able to enjoy going out with someone new.
Harry: Yah...
Sally: And may
be longer, before we're actually able to go to bed with someone
new.
Harry: Oh I went
to bed with her.
Sally: You went
to bed with her?
Harry: Sure.
Sally: Oh.
(Harry and Jess practising
their batting with coin activated pitching machine)
Jess: I don't
understand this relationship. Harry: What do you
mean?
Jess: You enjoy
being with her? Harry: Yah.
Jess: You find
her attractive?
Harry: Yah.
Jess: And you're
not sleeping with her.
Harry: No.
Jess: You're afraid to let yourself be happy.
Harry: Why can't
you give me credit for this? This is a big thing for me.
I never had a relationship with a woman that didn't involve sex.
I feel like I'm growing.
Kid: You finish
yet?
Harry: Hey I
got a whole stack of quarters and I was here first.
Kid: Were not.
Harry: Was too.
Kid: Were not!
Harry: Was too!
Kid: Big jerk!
Harry: Little
creep! (To Jess) Where was I?
Jess: You were
growing.
Harry: Yeah.
It's very freeing. I can say anything to her.
Jess: Are you
saying you can say things to her you can't say to me?
Harry: Nah it's
just different. It's a whole new perspective. I get
the woman's point of view on things. She tells me about
the men she goes out with and I can talk to her about the women
that I see.
Jess: You tell
her about other women.
Harry: Yeah.
Like the other night. I made love to this woman, and it
was so incredible, I took her to a place that wasn't human, she
actually meowed.
Jess: You made
a woman meow?
Harry: Yah.
That's the point, I can say these things to her. And the
great thing is, I don't have to lie because I'm not always thinking
about how to get her into bed. I can just be myself.
Jess: You made
a woman meow?
(Harry and Sally at
a diner)
Sally: So what
do you do with these women, you just get up out of bed and leave?
Harry: Sure.
Sally: Well explain to me how you do it. What
do you say?
Harry: You'd
say you have an early meeting, early haircut or a squash game.
Sally: You don't
play squash.
Harry: They don't
know that they just met me.
Sally: That's
disgusting.
Harry: I know,
I feel terrible.
Sally: You know
I'm so glad I never got involved with you. I just would've
ended up being some woman you had to get up out of bed and leave
at three o'clock in the morning and clean your andirons, and you
don't even have a fireplace. Not that I would noticed.
Harry: Why are you getting so upset? This is not
about you.
Sally: Yes it
is. You are a human affront to all women and I am a woman.
Harry: Hey I
don't feel great about this but I don't hear anyone complaining.
Sally: Of course
not you're out of the door too fast.
Harry: I think
they have an OK time.
Sally: How do
you know?
Harry: What do
you mean how do I know? I know.
Sally: Because
they...
Harry: Yes, because
they...
Sally: And how
do you know that they really...
Harry: What are
you saying, that they fake orgasm?
Sally: It's possible.
Harry: Get outta
here!
Sally: Why?
Most women at one time or another have faked it.
Harry: Well they
haven't faked it with me.
Sally: How do
you know?
Harry: Because
I know.
Sally: Oh, right,
that's right, I forgot, you're a man.
Harry: What is
that supposed to mean? Sally: Nothing. It's
just that all men are sure it never happened to them and that
most women at one time or another have done it so you do the math.
Harry: You don't
think that I could tell the difference?
Sally: No.
Harry: Get outta
here.
Sally: Ooo...Oh...Ooo...
Harry: Are you
OK? Sally: Oh...Oh god...Ooo Oh God...Oh...Oh...Oh...Oh
God...Oh yeah right there Oh! Oh...Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes...Oh...Oh...Yes
Yes Yes....Oh...Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes...Oh...Oh... Oh... Oh
God Oh... Oh... Huh...
(Sally finishes, looks
at Harry and smiles. Harry looks back, looking a little
uneasy)
Lady from another table:
I'll have what she's having.
("Winter Wonderland"
playing in the background, scenes of Harry and Sally buying Christmas
tree. Switches to them dancing at a New Year's eve party)
Sally: I like
you without your beard, you can see your face.
Harry: Hey it
is my face. Woow, dipping you. Sally:
I really want to thank you for taking me out to night.
Harry: Aw don't
be silly. The next New Year's eve if neither one of us is
with anybody, you got a date.
Sally: Deal.
(They dance now cheek
to cheek)
Sally: See, now
we can dance cheek to cheek.
Harry: Mmm.
Sally: Mmm.
(Both of them noticed they are feeling something about this moment.
Just as it was getting a little 'Heavy' we hear...)
Someone: (Out
of shot) Hey everybody! Ten seconds till New Year!
Harry: Want to
get some air? Sally: Yah.
(We hear the crowd counting
down the seconds, "Seven, six, five, four, three, two one,
Happy New Year!" Couples around fall into embraces
and gave each other New Year kisses. "Auld Lange Syne"
is sung by everyone.)
Harry: Happy
New Year. Sally: Happy New Year. (They kissed, hugged,
awkwardly.)
(Another old couple)
Woman: Well,
he was the head counsellor and the boys' camp and I was the head
counsellor at the girls' camp, and they had a social one night,
and he walked across the room. I thought he was coming to
talk to my friend Maxine, 'cos people were always crossing rooms
to talk to Maxine. But he was coming to talk to me, and
he said...
Man: I'm Ben
Small of the Coney Island Smalls.
Woman: At that
moment I knew. I knew the way you know about a good melon.
(Sally and Marie walking
to a restaurant. Harry and Jess doing the same thing.
Harry is introducing Sally to Jess and Sally is introducing Marie
to Harry at a match-making dinner)
Sally: You sent
flowers to yourself.
Marie: Sixty
dollars I spent on this big stupid arrangement of flowers and
I wrote a card that I planned to leave on the front table Arthur
would just happen to see it.
Sally: What did
the card say? Marie: "Please say yes.
Love Jonathan."
Sally: Did it
work?
Marie: He never
even came over. He forgot this charity thing that his wife
was a chairman of. He's never going to leave her!
Sally: Of course
he isn't.
Marie: You're
right, you're right, I know you're right. Where is this
place?
Sally: Somewhere
in the next block. Marie: Uh... I can't believe
I'm doing this.
Sally: Look,
Harry is one of my best friends and you are one of my best friends
and if by some chance you two hit it off then we could all still
be friends in stead of drifting apart the way you do when you
get involve with someone who doesn't know your friends.
Marie: You and
I haven't drifted apart since I started seeing Arthur.
(Sally stops walking,
turns to Marie)
Sally: If Arthur
ever left his wife and I actually met him I'm sure that you and
I would drift apart.
Marie: He's never
going to leave her.
Sally: Of course
he isn't.
Marie: You're
right, you're right, I know you're right.
(Harry and Jess now)
Jess: I don't
know about this.
Harry: It's just
a dinner.
Jess: You know
I've finally gone to a new place in my life where I'm comfortable
with the fact that it's just me and my work. If she's so
great why aren't you taking her out?
Harry: How many
times do I have to tell you, we're just friends.
Jess: So you're
saying she's not that attractive.
Harry: No, I
told you she *is* attractive. Jess: Yeah but you
also said she has a good personality.
Harry: She *has*
a good personality.
(Jess stops walking,
turns to Harry, raises his arms in the air)
Harry: What?
Jess: When someone
is not that attractive, they're always described as having a good
personality.
Harry: Look,
if you would ask me, "What does she look like?" and
I said, "She has a good personality." That means
she's not attractive. But just because I happened to mention
that she has a good personality, she could be either. She
could be attractive with a good personality, or not attractive
with a good personality.
Jess: So which
one is she?
Harry: Attractive.
Jess: But not
beautiful, right?
(Harry walks away.)
(They are now all at
a table in the restaurant. Jess is telling Sally about writing.
Marie is talking with Harry about something to do with hostages.
Both group are not really happening at all. (and I couldn't
be bothered transcripting all those cross-talk.)) (Eventually,
they stopped. Long silence. All four looking uncomfortable.)
Sally: Harry,
you and Marie are both from New Jersey.
Marie: Really.
Harry: Where
are you from?
Marie: South
Orange.
Harry: Haddenfield.
Marie: Ah!....
(Silence. Harry
and Marie are both holding a polite smile. Then, nothing.
And both turn back to the table, looking blank.) Harry:
So, what are we going to order?
Sally: Well I'm
going to start with the grilled riddichio.
Harry: Jess,
Sally is a great orderer. Not only does she always pick
the best thing in the menu but she orders it in a way that the
chef didn't even know how good it could be.
Jess: I think
restaurants have become too important.
Marie: Mmm I
agree. Restaurants are to people in the eighties what theatre
was to people in the sixties. I read that in magazine.
Jess: I wrote that.
Marie: Get outta
here.
Jess: No, I did,
I wrote that.
Marie: I've never
quoted anything from a magazine in my life, that's amazing, don't
you think that's amazing? And you wrote it!? Jess:
I also wrote "Pesto is the quiche of the eighties."
Marie: Get over
yourself!
Jess: I did!
Marie: Where
did I read that? Jess: New York Magazine.
Harry: Sally
writes for New York Magazine.
Marie: You know
that piece had a real impact on me, I mean I, I don't know that
much about writing but...
Jess: Well, well,
it spoke to you, and that pleases me.
Marie: I.. I
mean I really.. have.. you have to admire people who can be as...
that articulate.
(Harry and Sally simultaneously
looked at each other. They each know what's going on.)
Jess: Nobody
has ever quoted me back to me before.
(The four are walking
along the street.)
Marie: Oh!
I've been looking for a pair of red suede pumps.
(In saying so Marie
and Sally are in a place where they can talk, privately.)
Marie: What do
you think of Jess?
Sally: Well,
eh.
Marie: Do you
think you could go out with him?
Sally: I don't
know, eh.
Marie: 'Cos I
feel really comfortable with him.
(Sally nodding her head,
may be subconsciously.) Sally: You want to go out
with Jess.
Marie: If it's
alright with you.
Sally: Sure,
sure. I'm just worried about Harry. He's very sensitive,
he's going through a rough period and I... I just don't want you
to reject him right now.
Marie: I wouldn't,
I totally understand.
(Harry and Jess now.)
Jess: If you
don't think you're going to call Marie, do you mind if I call
her?
Harry: No, no.
Jess: Good, good,
good.
Harry: But for
tonight you shouldn't. I mean Sally's very vulnerable right
now. I mean you can call Marie, that's fine. But just
wait for a week or so, huh? Don't make any moves tonight.
Jess: Fine, no
problem, I wasn't even thinking about tonight.
(Sally and Marie walks
over to the guys.)
Jess: Well I
don't really feel much like walking anymore. I think I'll
get a cab.
Marie: I'll go
with you!
Jess: Great!
Taxi!
(Jess and Marie hurried
into the cab and it drives off, leaving Harry and Sally alone,
again. They turn and look at each a other, a little bewildered.)
(Another old couple.)
(Woman nods while the
man kept talking.)
Man: A man came
to me and said, "I found nice girl for you, she lives in
the next village, and she is ready for marriage." We
were not suppose to meet until the wedding, but I wanted to make
sure. So I sneak into her village, hid behind a tree, watch
her washing the clothes. I think if I don't like the way
she looks, I don't marry her. But she look very nice to
me. So I said, "OK." to the man. We get
married. We married for fifty five years.
(Four months later...)
(Harry and Sally are out shopping for a gift for Marie
and Jess.) (Harry slam dunks on a toy basketball hoop and said...)
Harry: I have
to get this. I have to get this.
Sally: Harry,
we're here for Jess and Marie.
Harry: I know,
we'll find them something. There's great stuff here!
Sally: We should've
gone to the plant store.
Harry: Here,
perfect for them. (Harry puts a helmet on Sally.)
Sally: What's
that?
Harry: Battery
operated pith helmet, with fan.
Sally: Why is
this necessary in life?
Harry: I don't
know. (Takes the helmet off Sally's head.) Look, look at
this, it also makes great fries. Oh, O-o, good, hold off
the dogs, the hunt is over. Sally, this is the greatest.
(Harry turns the machine
on, now speaking through the microphone.)
Harry: Sally,
please report to me. Look at this, this is the greatest,
you're going to love this. This is a singing machine.
Look, you sing the... the lead and it has the backup and everything.
This is from Okalahoma! Here is the lyrics right here.
Sally: "Surrey
with the fringe on top".
Harry: Yes, perfect.
(Harry starts to sing.)
Harry: Ooo!
Chics and ducks and geese better scurry. When I take you
out in my surrey. When I take you out in my surrey with
a fringe, on top. Now you.
Sally: (With
Harry singing along.) Watch that fringe and see how it flutters.
When I drive those high stepping strutters. Nosy pokes will
peek through the shutters and their eyes will pop. (Sally
keeps singing, Harry stopped as he saw something, or someone.)
Sally: The wheels
are yellow the upholstery's brown and the dashboard's genuine
leather. With icy glass curtains that will... (Still on
the microphone.) What? It's my voice isn't it? I hate
my voice. I know, it's terrible, Joe hate...
Harry: It's Helen.
Sally: (Still
on the microphone.) Helen?
Harry: She's
coming right towards me.
(Helen and a man approaches.)
Helen: How are
you Harry?
Harry: Fine,
I'm fine.
Helen: This is
Ira Stod. Harry Burns.
Ira: Harry.
Harry: I'm sorry.
This is Sally Allbright. Helen Hillson and Ira.
Ira: Sally.
Helen: Nice to
meet you.
Sally: Hi.
Helen: Well,
see you.
Harry: Yeah,
bye. Nice to meet you, Ira.
Sally: Are you
OK?
Harry: Yah, I'm
perfect. She looked weird, didn't she? She looked
really weird, she looked very weird.
Sally: I've never
seen her before.
Harry: Trust
me, she looked weird. Her legs looked heavy, really, she
must be retaining water.
Sally: Harry.
Harry: Believe
me, the woman saved everything.
(They are at a flower
shop, Sally holding a bunch of flowers. Harry is starring
into space.)
Sally: Sure you're
OK?
Harry: Oh I'm
fine. Look it had to happen at some point, in a city of
eight million people you're bound to run into your ex-wife so
boom, it happens, and now I'm fine.
(Harry walks away.)
(They reach Jess and
Marie's place. They are looking at a wagon-wheel coffee
table.)
Jess: I like
it, it works. It says home to me.
Marie: Alright,
alright. We'll let Harry and Sally be the judge. (To
Harry and Sally) What do you think?
Harry: It's nice.
Jess: Case closed.
Marie: Of course
he likes it, he's a guy. Sally?
(Sally shakes her head.)
Jess: What's
so awful about it?
Marie: It's so
awful there's no way even to begin to explain what's so awful
about it.
Jess: Honey,
I don't object to any of your things. Marie: If
we had an extra room you could put all of your things including
your bar stools.
Jess: No, honey,
wait, wait, wait, honey, honey, wait, wait, wait... you don't
like my bar stools? (To Harry) Harry, come on, someone
has to be on my side.
Marie: I'm on
your side, I'm just trying to help you have good taste.
Jess: I have
good taste!
Marie: Everybody
thinks they have good taste in a sense of humour but they couldn't
possibly all have good taste.
Harry: You know
it's funny. We started out like this, Helen and I.
We had blank walls, we hung things, we picked out tiles together.
Then you know what happens? Six years later you find yourself
singing "Surrey with a fringe on top" in front of Ira!
Sally: Do we
have to talk about this right now?
Harry: Yes, I
think that right now actually is the perfect time to talk about
this because I want our friends to benefit from the wisdom of
my experience. Right now everything is great, everyone is happy,
everyone is in love, but you got to know, that sooner or later,
you're going to be screaming at other about who's going to get
this dish. This eight dollar dish will cost you a thousand
dollars in phone calls to the legal firm of that's-mine-this-is-yours.
Sally: Harry...
Harry: Please,
Jess, Marie, do me a favour for your own good, put your name in
your books right now, before they get mixed up and you don't know
who's is who's. Because one day, believe it or not, you'll
go fifteen rounds over who's going to get this coffee table.
This stupid, wagon wheel, Roy Rogers garage sale coffee table!
Jess: I thought
you liked it.
Harry: I WAS
BEING NICE!
(Harry walks out.)
Sally: He just bumped into Helen.
(Sally follows.)
Marie: I want
you to know, that I will never, want that wagon wheel coffee table.
(Outside, with Sally trying to talk to Harry.)
Harry: I know
I know I shouldn't have done it.
Sally: Harry,
you're going to have to try and find a way of not expressing every
feeling that you have, every moment that you have them.
Harry: Oh really?
Sally: Yes, there
are times and places for things. Harry: Well the
next time you're giving a lecture series on social graces would
you let me know, 'cos I'll sign up.
Sally: Hey!
You don't have to take your anger out on me.
Harry: Oh I think
I'm entitled to throw a little anger your way, especially when
I'm told how to live my life, by Miss Hospital-Corners.
Sally: What's
that supposed to mean?
Harry: I mean
nothing bothers you! You never get upset about anything!
Sally: Don't
be ridiculous!
Harry: What?
You never get upset about Joe. I never see that back up
on you. How is that possible? Don't you experience any feelings
of loss?
Sally: I don't
have to take this crap from you!
Harry: If you're
so over Joe, why aren't you seeing anyone?
Sally: I see
people! Harry: See people, have you slept with one
person since you broke up with Joe?
Sally: What the
hell does that have to do with anything? That will prove
that I'm over Joe, because I fucked somebody? Harry you're
going to have to move back to New Jersey because you've slept
with everybody in New York and I don't see that turning Helen
into a faint memory for you! Besides I will make love to
somebody when it is 'making love', not the way you do it like
you're out for revenge or something! Harry: Are
you finished now?
Sally: Yes.
Harry: Can I
say something?
Sally: Yes.
Harry: I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
(Jess taking out the
wagon wheel.)
Jess: Don't say
a word. (New scene, in Jess and Marie's house, a bunch
of people playing pictionary or something similar. Sally
is drawing something on the white board.)
Jess: Uh, it's
a monkey. It's a monkey, monkey see monkey do! It's...
an ape, going ape!
Woman: It's a
baby!
(Sally points to her.)
Jess: Planet
of the apes!
Harry: Planet
of the apes? She just said it's a baby. How about
planet of the dopes?
Jess: It doesn't
look like a baby.
Harry: Hmm a
big mouth... Mick Jagger is a baby!
Jess: Baby ape,
baby ape!
Harry: Stop with
the apes would you please?
Woman: Uh...
baby's breath!
Harry: Rosemary's
Baby's mouth! Won't you come home Bill baby!
Woman: Babababy...kiss
the baby!
Harry: Melancholy
baby's mouth!
Jess: Baba...baby
fish mouth, baby fish mouth! (Out of shot: fifteen seconds.)
Woman: Baby boom!
Jess: Draw something
resembling anything.
Woman: Crying
baby, kiss the baby. Harry: Uh...Baby spitting up,
exorcist baby!
Woman: Yes sir
that's my baby!
Harry: No sir
don't mean may be.
(Out of shot: That's
it times up.)
Sally: Baby talk.
Jess: Baby talk?
What's that, that's not a saying.
Harry:
Oh but baby fish mouth is sweeping the nation. I hear them
talking.
Man: Final score,
our team one ten, you guys sixty.
Sally: I can't
draw.
Julian: Nah,
that's baby, and that's clearly talking. You're wonderful.
Marie: Alright
who wants coffee?
Jess: I do and
I love you.
Woman: Do you
have any tea? Marie: One tea.
Harry: Industrial
strength.
Sally: I'll help
you, (To Julian) de-caf?
Julian: Yes.
Marie: Cream.
Woman: Where's the bathroom?
Marie: Through
that door down the hall.
Jess: (To Julian)
Doesn't look like a baby to me.
Julian: Which
part?
Jess: All of
it.
Harry: Hey Jess,
you were going to show me the cover of your book.
Jess: Oh yeah
yeah, it's in the den. Look Julian, help yourself, have
some... more wine or whatever you like OK? (To Harry)
I like saying it's in the den, it's got a nice ring to it.
(Marie and Sally in the kitchen making coffees.)
Sally: Emily
is a little young for Harry don't you think?
Marie: Well she's
young, but look what she's done.
Sally: What has
she done? She makes desserts. (Harry and Jess in
the den.)
Harry: Did Julian
seem a little stuffy to you? Jess: He's a good guy,
you should talk to him, get to know him.
Harry: He's too
tall to talk to.
(In the kitchen.)
Marie: She makes
thirty six hundred chocolate mousse pie a week.
Sally: Emily
is "Aunt Emily"?
(Den.)
Jess: He took
us all to a Met game last week, it was great.
Harry: You all
went to a Met game together?
Jess: Yeah, but...
it was a... last minute thing.
Harry: But Sally
hates baseball. (Kitchen.)
Sally: Harry
doesn't even like sweets.
Marie: Julian
is great.
Sally: I know,
he's grown up.
(Den.)
Jess: Emily is
terrific.
Harry: Yeah,
of course when I asked her where she was when Kennedy was shot
she said, "Ted Kennedy was shot?"
Jess: No.
(Harry is in bed, reading a new book. Flick to the last
page to read the ending. Phone rings.)
Harry: Hello.
Sally: Are you
alone?
Harry: Yeah I
was just finishing a book.
Sally: Could
you come over?
Harry: What's
the matter?
Sally: He's getting
married.
Harry: Who?
Sally: Joe.
Harry: I'll be
right there.
(Sally opens the door
for Harry, she is covered in tears.)
Sally: Hi.
Harry: Are you
alright?
Sally: Come on
in.
(Harry closes the door
behind him.)
Sally: I'm sorry
to call you so late.
Harry: It's alright.
Sally: I need
a Kleenex.
Harry: OK.
Sally: OK?
(They walk into Sally's
bedroom.)
Sally: He just
called me up 'wanted to see how you were', fine. 'How are
you?', fine. His secretary's on vacation, everything's all
backed up and he's got a big case to do, blah blah blah.
And I'm sitting on the phone I'm thinking, I'm over him, I really
am over him. I can't believe that I'd ever be remotely interested
in any of that. And then he said I have some news. She works
in his office, she's a paralegal, her name is Kimberley.
(Sob, Sob.) He just met her. She's suppose to be his
transitional person, she's not suppose to be the one. All
this time I've been saying that he didn't want to get married,
but the truth is, he didn't want to marry me. He didn't
love me. Harry: If you could take him back right
now, would you?
Sally: No, but
why didn't he want to marry me? What's the matter with me?
Harry: Aw, nothing.
Sally: I'm difficult.
Harry: You're
challenging. Sally: I'm too structured, I'm completely
closed off.
Harry: But in
a good way.
Sally: No, no,
no I drove him away, and I'm going to be forty.
Harry: When?
Sally: Someday.
Harry: In eight
years.
Sally: But it's
there. It's just sitting there like this big dead end.
And it's not the same for men. Charlie Chaplain had babies
when he was seventy three.
Harry: Yeah but
he was too old to pick them up. (Sally laughs a little,
then turns into sobbing again.)
Harry: Aw...
Come here, come here, it's going to be OK. It's going to
be fine, you'll see. (Sally is sobbing all over Harry's
pullover.)
Harry: Oh go
ahead, it's not one of my favourites anyway. It's going
to be OK, hmm? You're OK? OK. (Harry kisses
Sally.)
Harry: I'll make
some tea.
Sally: Harry,
harry, could you just hold me a little longer?
(They start kissing,
it didn't stop and yes, it happened. They are in bed, Sally
is wearing a smile, Harry is wearing a blank stare.)
Sally: Are you
comfortable?
Harry: Sure.
Sally: Do you
want something to drink or something?
Harry: No I'm
Ok.
Sally: Well I'm
going to get up for some water so it's really no trouble.
Harry: OK, water.
(Sally goes to get some
water. Harry examines Sally's video indexing cards.)
Harry: You have
all the video tapes alphabetising on index cards?
(Sally passes Harry
the water.)
Harry: Thanks
you.
Sally: Do you
want to watch something?
Harry: No, not
unless you do.
Sally: No, that's
OK.
(Sally snuggles into
bed.) Sally: Do you want to go to sleep?
Harry: OK.
(The next morning.
Sally is still in bed. Harry is putting on his clothes about
to leave.)
Sally: Where
are you going?
Harry: I gotoa
go. Gotta go home, I gotta change my clothes and then I
have to go to work and so do you. But after work I'd like
to take out to dinner if you're free, are you free? Sally:
Yes.
Harry: Right,
I'll call you later.
Sally: Fine.
Harry: Fine.
(Harry kiss Sally on
the forehead and leaves. Sally just watches as he leaves.)
(Now we see Jess and
Marie in bed. First Marie's phone rings.)
Jess: Yours.
Marie: Hello.
Sally: I'm sorry
to call so early.
Marie: Are you
alright?
Jess: I know
I would've called at this hour.
Sally: I did
something terrible.
Marie: What did
you do?
(Jess's phone rings.)
Jess: Now I know who I would call at this hour.
Sally: Uh, it's
so awful.
Harry: I need
to talk.
Marie: What happened?
Jess: What's the matter?
Sally: Harry
came over last night. Harry: I went over to Sally's
last night.
Sally: Because
I was upset that Joe was getting married.
Harry: And one
thing led to another. Sally: And before I knew it
we were kissing and...
Harry: To make
a long story short.
Sally: We did
it. Harry: We did it.
Jess: They did
it. Marie: They did it.
Marie: That's
great Sally.
Jess: We've been
praying for it.
Marie: You should've
done it in the first place. Jess: For months we've
been saying you should do it.
Marie: You guys
belong together.
Jess: It's like
killing two birds with one stone. Marie: It's like
two wrong's make a right.
Jess: How was
it? Marie: How was it?
Harry: The doing
part was good.
Sally: I thought
it was good.
Harry: But then
I felt suffocated.
Sally: But then
I guess it wasn't.
Jess: Jesus I'm
sorry.
Marie: No worries.
Harry: I had
to get out of there.
Sally: He just
diappeared.
Harry: I feel
so bad.
Sally: I'm so
embarassed. Jess: I don't blame you.
Marie: That's
horrible.
Harry: I think
I'm coming down with something.
Sally: I think
I'm catching a cold. Jess: Look it would've been
great if it worked out, but it didn't.
Marie: Ah, you
should never go to bed with anyone when you find out your boyfriend
is getting married.
Harry: Who's
that talking?
Jess: Who?
Sally: Is that
Jess on the phone?
Jess: It's Jane
Fonda on the VCR.
Marie: It's Bryant
Gumbel.
Jess: Do you
want to come over for breakfast? Marie: Do you want to
come over for breakfast?
Harry: No, I'm
not up to it.
Sally: No, I
feel too awful.
Marie: I... I
mean is so early.
Jess: But call
me later if you want.
Marie: I'll call
you later OK?
Harry: OK bye.
Sally: Bye.
Jess: Bye.
Marie: Bye.
(All hang up their phones.)
Marie: God!
Jess: I know.
Marie: Tell me I'll never have to be out there again.
Jess: You will
never have to be out there again.
(Sally putting on make
up.)
Sally (Voice over):
I'll just say we made a mistake.
(Harry in the shower.)
Harry (Voice over):
Sally, it was a mistake.
Sally (Voice over):
I just hope I get to say it first.
Harry: (Voice
over): I hope she says it before I do. (Harry and Sally
at a restaurant.)
Sally: It was
a mistake.
Harry: I am so
relieved that you think so too. I'm not saying last night
wasn't great. Sally: It was.
Harry: Yes, it
was.
Sally: We just
never should've done it.
Harry: I couldn't
agree more.
Sally: I'm so
relieved.
Harry: Right.
Sally: Yah.
Waiter: Two mixed
green salads.
Harry: It is
so nice when you can sit with someone and not have to talk.
(Sally nods in agreement.)
(Harry and Jess power-walking
in a park)
Harry: It's just
like most of the time you go to bed with someone, she tells you
her stories, you tell her your stories. But with Sally and
me, we've already heard each other's stories, so once we went
to bed, we didn't know what we were suppose to do, you know?
Jess: Sure Harry.
(Harry and Jess in the
street.)
Harry: I don't
know. May be you get to a certain point in the relationship
where it's just too late to have sex, you know? (Marie
getting her wedding dress fitted. Sally is sitting down,
watching.)
Sally: Is Harry
bringing anyone to the wedding?
Marie: I don't
think so.
Sally: Is he
seeing anyone?
Marie: He was
seeing this anthropologist but...
Sally: What did
she look like?
Marie: Thin,
pretty, big tits, your basic nightmare. (Marie turns to
Sally with the dress.)
Marie: So, what
do you think? Sally: Oh Marie.
Marie: Tell the
truth.
Sally: It's just
beautiful.
(At Marie and Jess's
wedding. Harry and Sally are best-man and bridesmaid.)
Priest: We are
gathered here today to celebrate the marriage of Marie and Jess,
and to consecrate their vows of matrimony. The vows they
take join their lives, the wine their will share winds all their
hopes together, and by the rings their will wear, they will be
known to all as husband and wife.
Sally: I've never
seen her so happy, she's a totally different person.
Alice: Oh yeah,
she is, well... is great, so, what are you going to do about you?
Alice's husband:
Hon, you want to dance?
Alice: Oh yeah,
yeah.
Harry: Hi.
Sally: Hello.
Harry: Nice ceremony.
Sally: Beautiful.
Harry: Boy, the
holidays are rough. Every year I just try to get from the
day before Thanksgiving to the day after New Years.
Sally: A lot
of suicides.
Harry: Hmm.
Waiter: Would
you like a ___ with a shrimp?
Sally: Thank
you.
Harry: (To waiter.)
No. (To Sally.) How have you been?
Sally: Fine.
Harry: Are you
seeing anybody?
Sally: Harry.
Harry: What?
Sally: I don't
want to talk about this.
Harry: Why not?
Sally: I don't
want to talk about it.
Harry: Why can't
we get past this? I mean, are we going to carry this thing
around forever?
Sally: Forever?
It just happened.
Harry: It happened
three weeks ago.
(Sally with a mouth
opened, eye-brows stitched.)
Harry: You know
a year to a person is like seven years to a dog?
Sally: Yes.
(Harry smiles, shrugs
shoulders.)
Sally: Is one
of us supposed to be a dog in this scenario? Harry:
Yes.
Sally: Who is
the dog?
Harry: You are.
Sally: I am!?
I am the dog!?
Harry: Mmm hmm.
Sally: I am the dog!? I...
(Sally walks away, turns
around signals Harry to follow. They walk to a more private
place.)
Sally: I don't
see that Harry, if anybody is dog, you are the dog. You
want to act like what happened didn't mean anything.
Harry: I'm not
saying it didn't mean anything. I am saying is why does
it have to mean everything?
Sally: Because
it does! And you should know that better than anybody because
the minute that it happened you walked right out the door.
Harry: I didn't
walk out. Sally: No, sprinted is more like it.
(Sally storms into the
kitchen. Harry follows.)
Harry: We both
agreed it was a mistake. Sally: The worst mistake
I've ever made.
(They are now in the
kitchen.)
Harry: What do
you want from me?
Sally: I don't
want anything from you!
Harry: Fine.
Fine, but let's just get one thing straight. I did not go
over there that night to make love to you, that is not why I went
there. But you looked up at me with these big weepy eyes,
don't go home night Harry, hold me a little longer Harry.
What was I supposed to do?
Sally: What are
you saying, you took pity on me?
Harry: No, I
was...
Sally: Fuck you!
(Sally slaps Harry whole-heartedly,
then storms out of the kitchen. Harry took a moment to absorb
what has just happened, then follows. On stage is Jess and
Marie about to make a speech. Harry and Sally have just
arrived from the kitchen.)
Jess: Everybody
could I have your attention please? I'd like to propose
a toast to Harry and Sally. To Harry and Sally, if Marie
or I had found either of them remotely attractive, we would not
be here today.
(Applause all around.
Somehow the two faces aren't exactly smiling.)
(Harry rings Sally leaving
a message on her answering machine. Sally just got home
from a lonely Christmas tree shopping, chooses not to pick up
the phone.)
Harry: Hi, it's
me. It's is the holiday season and I thought I'd just remind
you that this is the season for charity and forgiveness.
And although it's not widely known, it is also the season of grovelling.
So if you felt like calling me back, I'd be more than happy to
do the traditional Christmas grovel. Give me a call.
(Harry rings again.
Sally is working at home, but lets the machine answer.)
Machine: Hi,
I'm not home right now, call you right back.
Harry: If you're
there please pick up the phone, I really want to talk to you.
The fact that you're not answering leads me to believe that you're
a) Not at home. b) Home, but don't want to talk to me. Or
c) Home, desperately want to talk to me, but trapped under something
heavy. If it's either a) or c) call me back.
(Sally looks at the
machine, feeling something.)
(Harry and Jess buying
a hotdog from a street stall.)
Harry: Obviously
she doesn't want to talk to me. What do I have to do, beat
her over the head? If she wants to call me she'll call me.
I'm through making a schmuck out of myself.
(Harry is leaving another
message on Sally's machine. He is singing into the phone...)
Harry: If you're
feeling sad and lonely, there's a service I can render.
Tell the one who dig you only, I can be so warm and tender.
Call me, may be it's late so just, call me. Don't be afraid
to just, phone moire. Call me and I'll be around... Give
me a call.
(Sally picks up the
phone.)
Sally: Hi Harry.
Harry: Hello,
hi, hi. I, I didn't... know... that you were... that you
were there. What are you doing?
Sally: I was
just on my way out.
Harry: Where
are you going?
Sally: What do
you want Harry?
Harry: Nothing,
nothing. I... just called to say I'm sorry.
Sally: OK.
(LONG and awkward silence.)
Sally: I gotta
go.
Harry: Wait a
second, wait a, wait a second. What are you doing for New
Years? Are you going to the Tyler's party? 'Cos I
don't have a date, and if you don't have a date, we always said
that if neither one of us had a date, we could be together for
New Years. And we... could... you know.... why don't...
Sally: I can't do this anymore, I am not your consolation
prize. Goodbye.
(Sally hangs up.)
(New Years Eve.
Harry is at home watching TV.)
TV: And here
we are once again at the sixteenth annual New Year Rockin Eve
coming to you live from the...
Harry (Voice over):
What so bad about this? You got Dick Clark, that's tradition.
You got Mallomars, the greatest cookies of all time. And
you're about to give the Knicks their first championship since
nineteen seventy three.
(Harry misses the basket.)
(At the party.
Sally is dancing with some guy. She doesn't look like she
is enjoying herself. He spins her, twirls her, flings her
towards Jess and Marie. "Don't get around much anymore"
is playing.)
Sally: I don't
know why I let you drag me into this.
(Harry is now walking
the empty New Years street.) Harry (Voice over):
This is much better, fresh air, I have the streets all to myself.
Who needs to be at a big, crowded party pretending to have a good
time? Plus this is the perfect time to catch up on my window
shopping. This is good.
(Harry hears laughter,
turns and spots a happy couple.)
(Back to the party.
Some guy is telling Sally a joke.)
Joker: So the
guy says, "Read the card." (laughts.)
(Sally laughs, not really
getting the joke. Turns to Marie.)
Sally: I'm going
home.
Marie: You'll
never get a taxi.
(Sally turns to the
joker and laughs again.)
(In the street, Harry
is finishes off an ice-cream, throws it in the bin. Starts to
reminisce.)
Harry (Voice over):
You realise of course that we can never be friends.
Sally (Voice over):
Why not?
Harry (Voice over):
What I'm saying... is that men and women can't be friends because
the sex part always gets in the way.
Sally (Voice over):
That's not true.
Harry (Voice over):
No man can be friends with a woman he finds attractive.
He always wants to have sex with her.
Sally (Voice over):
What if they don't want to have sex with you? Harry
(Voice over): 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 (Voice over):
Well I guess we're not going to be friends then.
Harry (Voice over):
Guess not.
Sally (Voice over):
That's too bad. You are the only person I knew in New York.
("It had to be
you" is playing in the backgraound. Harry starts running
to the party. Sally is about to leave the party.)
Sally: I'm going.
Marie: It's almost
midnight.
Sally: Well,
the thought of not kissing somebody is just...
Jess: I'll kiss
you. (Harry tries to hail a cab but they all ignore him.
So he keeps running.) Jess: Come one, stay, please.
Sally: Thanks
Jess I just, I have to go.
Marie: Oh wait
two minutes.
Sally: I'll cal
you tomorrow.
(Sally kisses Marie
then walks away. Then she sees Harry arriving, still puffing.
Then, Harry sees Sally as well.)
Harry: I've been
doing a lot of thinking. And the thing is, I love you.
Sally: What?
Harry: I love
you.
Sally: How do
you expect me to respond to this?
Harry: How about
you love me too?
Sally: How about
I'm leaving.
Harry: Doesn't
what I said mean anything to you?
Sally: I'm sorry
Harry, I know it's New Years Eve, I know you're feeling lonely,
but you just can't show up here, tell me you love me and expect
that to make everything alright. It doesn't work this way.
Harry: Well how does it work?
Sally: I don't
know but not this way.
Harry: Well how
about this way. I love that you get cold when it's seventy
one degrees out, I love that it takes you an hour and a half to
order a sandwich, I love that you get a little crinkle above your
nose when you're looking at me like I'm nuts, I love that after
I spend a day with you I can still smell your perfume on my clothes
and I love that you are the last person I want to talk to before
I go to sleep at night. And it's not because I'm lonely,
and it's not because it's New Years Eve. I came here tonight
because when you realise you want to spend the rest of your life
with somebody, you want the rest of the life to start as soon
as possible.
Sally: You see,
that is just like you Harry. You say things like that and
you make it impossible for me to hate you. And I hate you
Harry... I really hate you. I hate you.
(They kiss and make
up.)
Harry: What does
this song mean? For my whole life I don't know what this
song means. I mean, 'Should old acquaintance be forgot".
Does that mean we should forget old acquaintances or does it mean
if we happen to forget them we should remember them, which is
not possible because we already forgot them!?
Sally: Well may
be it just means that we should remember that we forgot them or
something. Anyway it's about old friends. (They kiss
and make up, once more.)
Harry (Voice over):
The first time we met we hated each other.
Sally (Voice over):
No, you didn't hate me, I hated you. And the second time
we met you didn't even remember me.
Harry (Voice over):
I did too, I remembered you. The third time we met, we became
friends.
Sally (Voice over):
We were friends for a long time.
Harry (Voice over):
And then we weren't.
Sally (Voice over):
And then we fell in love.
(Harry and Sally on
the couch this time.)
Sally: Three
months later we got married.
Harry: Yeah it
only took three months.
Sally: Twelve
years and three months.
Harry: We had
this... we had a really wonderful wedding.
Sally: It was
a, it really was, it was a wonderful wedding.
Harry: Yeah,
we had this enormous coconut cake.
Sally: Huge coconut
cake, with the, with the... tiers and this... very rich chocolate
sauce on the side.
Harry: Right,
'cos not everybody like it on the cake 'cos it makes it very soggy.
Sally: Particularly
the coconut, soaks up a lot of that stuff, so you really... it's
important to keep it on the side.
Harry: Right.
THE END