(This is Part 3) Here is Part OneMagic Hour is a quality of light at sunrise and sunset. You see it in many films. I included a frame from "Days Of Heaven" as an example. Nestor Almendros was one of the all time great cinematographers. I include him because when I think about magic he comes to mind. Also, I have a bit of flu. God knows where this post may end up.
In part two I mentioned my phone call with David Copperfield. I forgot to mention how he asked if I knew he'd just been to Russia and that all his gear was stolen. I said that it was too cold to get news in Toronto but nearly said that if he was a good magician he should be able to make it reappear. But somehow I imagined some bad guy named Boris saying the same thing.
Anyway, Magic. (Nice flu-like segue) First, as I mentioned in the opening, as soon as you analyze it, it's gone. Magic, Enlightenment, pure realms of reality cannot be dissected. They just are . Secondly, I don't have the credentials of Harry Keyishian. Harry is the step father of a writer friend of ours who deserted us and moved to Melbourne. Harry and his wife, Marjorie are Shakespeare scholars. I adore their wit and genuine intellect. Harry laughs at my jokes. Marjorie scowls at my lack of Shakespearean education. It all works out. (I will email Harry and ask him to comment.)
Simply, in the end - what I saw during the mixing and previewing is something I had never seen before or since. Besides the 13 second laugh (and I challenge you to find a longer one) Besides the buzz, the fun of collaboration and the beginning of a great relationship with Rob Reiner - this is what I saw that, still, blows me away. During the mixing process, where all the sound and music are mixed with the dialogue - whenever I walked past the projection booth there was a crowd of 15 or 20 people crammed into the booth sneaking a view of the movie. Those are insiders, union workers, you couldn't pay them to do that. (Sounds like an oxymoron but you get it, right?) They just don't do that. To see them laughing from the projection booth was (to me) the greatest magic of that film.
When Harry Met Sally worked out. It may not be your favorite film. It certainly borrowed from Woody Allen. But it had a *Timely Premise, Great Script, Great Cast, Great Photography, Great Music. And Luck. And luck for me that I got to work on the movie.
* Last night I was watching Renoir's Rules Of The Game This is a fantastic film. In it Paulette Dubost (the French Maid) had this line of dialogue; "I'll be friends with men when pigs can fly."
Tags:
Rob Reiner, Marc Shaiman, Nora Ephron, Andrew Scheinman, When Harry Met Sally, Movie Magic, Harry Connick Jr, Barry Sonnenfeld, Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, David Copperfield, Bobby Colomby, Jean Renoir, Nestor Almendros , Luck
14 comments:
Harry Met Sally in an Act One, Two, and Three...very nicely told.
Agreed--very well told. You had me devouring this third entry--which is saying a lot, as lately I've been way off my blogger game.
Keep up the great inside tales...I enjoy the heck out of them!
Cheers!
Peg
While Harry Met Sally may not be my favourite film, and yeah, there were times when I sat muttering “Woody Allen...”, the film made me smile, laugh, and damn well laugh out loud. And for a comedy that’s always a good thing.
More importantly, Harry Met Sally wasn’t incrementally rammed down my throat in the months leading up to its release. I don’t even think I saw a trailer. Instead Iread a couple of the broadsheet reviews, thought it looked good and bought a ticket. One of the last seats the cinema had for that performance, as I remember.
With so many studios announcing YOU MUST SEE THIS FILM! sometimes a year before the release date, the contrary little sod inside me comes out, flips it the bird, and goes home to watch some Hitchcock instead.
Whatever happened to the days when you could just discover a film for yourself?
do you know I have never seen all of When Harry met Sally - I realize this is odd from someone who adores films like that - but... never got into that one... hmmm
wc/peg - thanks. it felt like it took all day to post that story. i watched it the rest of the afternoon with no comments and wanted to start drinking.... and Peg, you could never be off... and you know i am the Kathy Bates of virtual stalkers....
good dog. a really great point you make. i have a tendancy to let films run before i see them just to avoid the hype. but that's impossible. there was an article somewhere about the marketing being screwed up on WHMS. which may have been a good accident.
Dennie - i haven't seen it in a long time. maybe since it came out. check my film library sidebar for films I watch a lot.
You can quibble with "When Harry Met Sally," but it is immensely "watchable."
I like the "pigs fly" line. But I would bet that a man wrote it.
"When the film opened in 1939, initial reception of it was so bad that one viewer lit a newspaper and tried to burn the theater that it was playing in...."
Renoir and a man named Koch wrote it. this must be why they call you the Zen Wizard.
You were Ira, weren't you? Am I right?
mister zero, miss smarty pants....
I didn't even know such a film existed. Now that I do, I think I'll check it out.
I am shocked at all the people who haven't seen When Harry Met Sally. Shocked!
Dennie, I'm talking to YOU, especially!
"Mr. Zero knew???"
Ok, Mr. Zero wasn't in the movie. Was he? Were you on the cutting room floor? Maybe you already mentioned this and I just can remember. I am getting old, you see. ;-)
Or rather, "Don't fuck with Mr. Zero". That's better.
Days of Heaven was a visual feast.
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