Harvey | |
---|---|
Directed by | Henry Koster |
Screenplay by | Mary Chase Oscar Brodney Myles Connolly (Uncredited) [1] |
Based on | Harvey 1944 play by Mary Chase |
Produced by | John Beck |
Starring | |
Cinematography | William H. Daniels |
Edited by | Ralph Dawson |
Music by | Frank Skinner |
Production company | Universal Pictures |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 104 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $2.6 million (US rentals) [2] |
Harvey is a 1950 American comedy-drama film based on Mary Chase's 1944 play of the same name, directed by Henry Koster, and starring James Stewart, Josephine Hull, Charles Drake, Cecil Kellaway, Jesse White, Victoria Horne, Wallace Ford and Peggy Dow. The story centers on a man whose best friend is a púca named Harvey, a 6 ft 3+1⁄2 in (1.92 m) tall white invisible rabbit, and the ensuing debacle when the man's sister tries to have him committed to a sanatorium.
Elwood P. Dowd is an amiable but eccentric man whose best friend is an invisible, 6 ft 3+1⁄2 in-tall (1.92 m) white rabbit named Harvey. As described by Elwood, Harvey is a púca, a benign but mischievous creature from Celtic mythology. Elwood spends most of his time taking Harvey around town, drinking at various bars and introducing Harvey to almost everyone he meets, much to the puzzlement of strangers although Elwood's friends have accepted Harvey's (supposed) existence. His older sister Veta and his niece Myrtle Mae live with him in his large estate, but have become social outcasts along with Elwood due to his obsession with Harvey.
After Elwood ruins a party Veta and Myrtle Mae arranged in secret, Veta finally tries to have him committed to a local sanatorium. In exasperation she admits to the attending psychiatrist, Dr. Sanderson, that she sees Harvey once in a while herself. Mistaking Veta for the real mental case, Sanderson has Elwood released and Veta locked up. Dr. Chumley, head of the sanatorium, discovers the mistake and realizes he must bring Elwood back, searching the town with Wilson, an orderly. With Veta's help, Chumley eventually tracks Elwood to his favorite bar, "Charlie's", and decides to confront him.
Four hours later, Wilson returns to the sanatorium and learns from Sanderson and nurse Kelly that Chumley and Elwood had not returned. They all go to Charlie's and find Elwood alone; he explains that Chumley wandered off with Harvey after several rounds of drinks. As they converse, Elwood encourages Sanderson and Kelly to dance, rekindling their romantic relationship. Elwood eventually explains that he met Harvey one night several years ago after escorting a drunk friend to a taxi, and they had since enjoyed going to bars and socializing with other patrons to hear their grand life stories and aspirations. Convinced Elwood is insane and may have harmed Chumley, Wilson calls the police and has Elwood escorted back to the sanatorium.
Chumley returns to the sanatorium disheveled and paranoid, and is followed by an invisible presence. When the others arrive, Chumley invites Elwood to his office. In private, Chumley says that he now knows Harvey is real, and Elwood explains Harvey's various powers, including his ability to stop time, send anyone to any destination for as long as they like, and then bring them back without a minute passing. Chumley expresses his fantasy to go to Akron with a beautiful woman for two weeks. Veta arrives with Judge Gaffney and Myrtle Mae, prepared to commit Elwood, but are convinced by Sanderson that an injection of a serum called Formula 977 will stop Elwood from "seeing the rabbit".
As they prepare the injection, Veta tries to pay the cab driver but, emptying her purse, is unable to find her smaller coin purse. She interrupts the injection procedure and asks Elwood to pay the driver. Warmed by Elwood's kindness, the cab driver explains how he has driven many people to the sanatorium to receive the same formula, warning Veta that Elwood will soon become "a perfectly normal human being, and you know what stinkers they are." Veta is upset by this, and halts the injection; she then finds her coin purse, and realizes that Harvey had intervened to save her brother. Wilson and Myrtle Mae, who had met at Elwood's house, reveal that they have become a couple, and Elwood invites Wilson over for tomorrow night's dinner.
Leaving the institute, Elwood sees Harvey on the porch swing. Harvey tells him that he has decided to stay and take Chumley on his fantasy trip to Akron. Dejected, Elwood walks out the gate, but when it is closed he sees Harvey coming back. The gate lever is then moved to the open position by an unseen force. Elwood happily says "Well, thank you, Harvey; I prefer you too", and they follow Veta and Myrtle Mae along the road and into the sunrise.
In addition, "Harvey as Himself" is shown in an on-screen credit as the final shot of the film.
Reviews from critics were mostly positive. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that "so freely flowing is the screenplay which Mrs. Chase and Oscar Brodney have prepared, so vivid and droll is the direction which Henry Koster has given it and, particularly, so darling is the acting of James Stewart, Josephine Hull and all the rest that a virtually brand new experience is still in store for even those who saw the play." [3] Variety wrote that the play "loses little of its whimsical comedy charm in the screen translation", and that Stewart "would seem the perfect casting for the character so well does he convey the idea that escape from life into a pleasant half-world existence has many points in its favor." [4] Harrison's Reports wrote, "A brief synopsis cannot do justice to the humor in the story, much of it delightful and some of it hilarious. Stewart is excellent in the leading role; his casual ease and amiability, and the quiet manner in which he explains his relationship with 'Harvey,' are fascinating." [5] Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post called it "one of the most beguiling comedies possible ... I'm certain you'll admire the able playing of Stewart and the marvelous out-of-this-world perplexity of the superb Mrs. Hull. Both are Academy Award performances." [6]
John McCarten of The New Yorker called it "a movie that only a case-hardened wowser would fail to find beguiling. Even if you saw the play, I don't think your familiarity with the alcoholic hallucinations of Elwood P. Dowd, the hero, will diminish your enjoyment of the film, and though James Stewart, who plays Dowd in the picture, doesn't bring to his part all the battered authority of Frank Fay, the originator of the role, he nevertheless succeeds in making plausible the notion that Harvey, the rabbit, would accept him as a pal." [7] The Monthly Film Bulletin was less positive, writing that "Harvey himself scarcely begins to exist for the audience until the last few minutes. In his absence, the humours that can be extracted from the more obvious aspects of lunacy or suspected lunacy are wrung rather dry." [8]
TV Guide says James Stewart gave "one of his finest performances in this lighthearted film", and it currently has five out of five stars on their site. [9] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 87% of 30 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.6/10. [10]
Stewart took a percentage of the profits. In 1953, William Goetz estimated that Stewart had earned $200,000 from the film, [11] equivalent to $2.28 million in 2023.
In March 1990, Stewart recorded a special narrative introduction, which was combined with many of the film's still photos and added to the film's original release on VHS. MCA Home Video released Harvey on VHS in 1990. The special narrative introduction also appears on at least one DVD release of the film.
Award | Category | Nominee(s) | Result |
---|---|---|---|
Academy Awards | Best Actor | James Stewart | Nominated |
Best Supporting Actress | Josephine Hull | Won | |
Golden Globe Awards | Best Motion Picture – Drama | Nominated | |
Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama | James Stewart | Nominated | |
Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture | Josephine Hull | Won | |
Hugo Awards | Best Dramatic Presentation | Henry Koster, Oscar Brodney, Myles Connolly and Mary Chase | Nominated |
James Stewart later declared in an interview that Josephine Hull had the most difficult role in the film, since she had to believe and not believe in the invisible rabbit... at the same time.
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
The play/film was made for television several times:
Producer Don Gregory purchased the merchandising and film rights to Harvey from the Mary Chase estate in 1996. In April 1999, Gregory sold the rights to Miramax Films, who beat out several high-profile bidders, including Walt Disney Pictures (represented by the producing team Barry Sonnenfeld and Barry Josephson), Universal Pictures and New Line Cinema. However, Miramax still intended to have Gregory produce Harvey. Universal was interested in having Harvey with Jim Carrey starring and Tom Shadyac directing, while New Line saw it as an Adam Sandler movie. Harvey Weinstein of Miramax was also considering Carrey and Sandler, as well as Tom Hanks. Weinstein wanted Harvey to be set in a modern setting. [15] Weinstein eventually took the project to Dimension Films, who partnered with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to co-finance. Craig Mazin was hired by Dimension in November 2001 to adapt the screenplay. [16] John Travolta entered negotiations to star in March 2003, [17] but the rights for Dimension and MGM lapsed, [18] which were picked up by 20th Century Fox in 2008. [19] Jonathan Tropper was hired to write the script, which, in August 2009, drew interest from Steven Spielberg as director. As a result, Spielberg pushed back development for an Abraham Lincoln biopic (which was released in 2012); a remake of Oldboy and an adaptation of The 39 Clues . It was then announced that Harvey would be a joint 50/50 production between 20th Century Fox and Spielberg's DreamWorks, with Spielberg and Gregory also set to produce the film. Tom Hanks, who previously worked with Spielberg on Saving Private Ryan , Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal , was considered for the lead role. [19] Spielberg had also approached Robert Downey Jr., but in December 2009 Spielberg opted out after a dispute over his vision for the project. [20] [21]
In December 2018, it was reported that streaming service Netflix had started developing a version of Harvey. [22]
The Jimmy Stewart Museum, based in Stewart's hometown of Indiana, Pennsylvania, presents the Harvey Award to a distinguished celebrity tied to Stewart's spirit of humanitarianism. Past recipients include Robert Wagner, Shirley Jones, Janet Leigh, and Rich Little.
In the 1957 comedy film Desk Set starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, Hepburn's character is given a large stuffed pink bunny rabbit by her boyfriend as a Christmas present. Pointing at the gift, she asks “Aren’t you going to introduce me to Harvey?”
A 1971 children's film, Mr. Horatio Knibbles, [23] also starred a giant talking rabbit, visible only to one person.
The first episode of the 1975 television series The Invisible Man featured a scene with an invisible rabbit (wearing a visible collar) called "Harvey", in a cage in a laboratory.
The 1977 comic book story, "The Harvey Pekar Name Story," written by Harvey Pekar and illustrated by Robert Crumb, alludes to the play/film when Pekar describes how childhood acquaintances made fun of his name by calling him "Harvey the Rabbit." [24]
A scene in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit has a barfly confessing to Judge Doom, "I seen the rabbit" (seemingly referring to Roger, who is being wrongfully sought as a murder suspect). He puts his arm around an invisible presence and says, "Well say hello – Harvey!", as a means of both mocking Doom and protecting Roger. The movie takes place in 1947, while the play was released in 1944.
In the 1989 film Field of Dreams , farmer Ray Kinsella hears a voice in his cornfield that no one else can hear. His daughter, Karin, is later shown watching a scene from Harvey on TV.
The 1992 film Memoirs of an Invisible Man sees the recently-turned-invisible Nick Holloway, afraid to reveal his identity to a sinister government agent, answer "Harvey" when asked his name.
The character Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption , released in 1994, describes "Randall Stevens" – the fake person Dufresne created to launder money – as "a phantom, an apparition, second cousin to Harvey the rabbit."
In the Farscape television series, produced by The Jim Henson Company between 1999 and 2003, the main character Crichton was often "haunted" by visual-auditory hallucinations referred to as a neural-clone of his archenemy Scorpius, produced by an interactive neurochip embedded in his brain. This character is dubbed "Harvey" and called such by Crichton in direct reference to the original film.
In the 2000 film Sexy Beast , Ray Winstone's character sometimes sees a large imaginary rabbit. [25]
In the 2001 movie A Beautiful Mind , John Nash points to an empty chair and says to his friend, "Have you met Harvey?"
The 2001 film Donnie Darko contains a six-foot tall rabbit named Frank, which haunts the titular character. Despite popular belief that this character was a reference to Harvey, Donnie Darko's writer/director Richard Kelly denies it. In an interview with Future Movies, he is quoted as saying: "I have never even seen the movie, it never occurred to me." [26] In 2002, the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica programmed Harvey and Donnie Darko as a double feature. [27]
In the series Scrubs , J.D.'s 'conscience' is his high school gym teacher with his head replaced with a rabbit's.
In 2004, the 15th-season episode of The Simpsons , "My Big Fat Geek Wedding" contained a similar imaginary rabbit acting as Barney's 'anti-sobriety' sponsor.
In the cartoon series Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends , the city's founder was Elwood P. Dowd.
In the 2008 video game Edna & Harvey: The Breakout , the titular protagonist has a stuffed rabbit named Harvey whom she imagines talks to her.
A British law firm was partially named after the rabbit. [28]
In the 2015 episode "Adventures in Chinchilla-sitting" in the cartoon series Bob's Burgers , character Teddy seems to spot Louise's signature bunny ears. When he turns, the ears have disappeared and he remarks, "Thought I saw Harvey."
The British indie rock band Her's included a song named "Harvey" based on the film on their 2018 debut album Invitation to Her's . Harvey was one of lead singer Stephen Fitzpatrick's favorite films. [29] [30]
In 2019, the thirteenth episode of John Green's podcast The Anthropocene Reviewed featured the film, and an essay on the film was also included in Green's book of the same title published in 2021. In the essay he describes an episode of severe clinical depression, which led to him resigning from his job, upon which his boss told him "Watch Harvey". He writes how the film helped him to get well, and that he was eventually able to return to his job at Booklist magazine. [31] [32]
In the 2024 film IF , a film where a young girl discovers imaginary friends, or "IF" for short, the character Bea is watching Harvey on television before her attention is drawn to the noise of the IF Blossom outside her grandmother's apartment.
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American independent crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino from a story he conceived with Roger Avary. It tells four intertwining tales of crime and violence in Los Angeles, California. The film stars John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhames, and Uma Thurman. The title refers to the pulp magazines and hardboiled crime novels popular during the mid-20th century, known for their graphic violence and punchy dialogue.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed E.T., who is left behind on Earth. Along with his friends and family, Elliott must find a way to help E.T. find his way home. The film stars Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton and Drew Barrymore.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay written by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. It is loosely based on the 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit? by Gary K. Wolf. The film stars Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Stubby Kaye, and Joanna Cassidy, along with the voices of Charles Fleischer and an uncredited Kathleen Turner. Combining live-action and animation, the film is set in an alternate history Hollywood in 1947, where humans and cartoon characters co-exist. Its plot follows Eddie Valiant, a private investigator with a grudge against toons, who must help exonerate Roger Rabbit, a toon framed for murder.
Gangs of New York is a 2002 American epic historical drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Jay Cocks, Steven Zaillian, and Kenneth Lonergan, based on Herbert Asbury's 1927 book The Gangs of New York. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Cameron Diaz, along with Jim Broadbent, John C. Reilly, Henry Thomas, Stephen Graham, Eddie Marsan, Brendan Gleeson, and Liam Neeson in supporting roles. The film also marks the start of a fruitful collaboration between DiCaprio and Scorsese.
Marie Josephine Hull was an American stage and film actress who also was a director of plays. She had a successful 50-year career on stage while taking some of her better known roles to film. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the movie Harvey (1950), a role she originally played on the Broadway stage. She was sometimes credited as Josephine Sherwood.
American Splendor is a series of autobiographical comic books written by Harvey Pekar and drawn by a variety of artists. The first issue was published in 1976 and the last one in September 2008, with publication occurring at irregular intervals. Publishers were, at various times, Harvey Pekar himself, Dark Horse Comics, and DC Comics.
Harvey Lawrence Pekar was an American underground comic book writer, music critic, and media personality, best known for his autobiographical American Splendor comic series. In 2003, the series inspired a well-received film adaptation of the same name.
1941 is a 1979 American war comedy film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale. The film stars an ensemble cast including Dan Aykroyd, Ned Beatty, John Belushi, John Candy, Christopher Lee, Tim Matheson, Toshiro Mifune, Robert Stack, Nancy Allen, and Mickey Rourke in his film debut. The story involves a panic in the Los Angeles area after the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.
Harvey is a 1944 play by the American playwright Mary Chase. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work in 1945. It has been adapted for film and television several times, most notably in a 1950 film starring James Stewart and Josephine Hull.
Mary Chase was an American journalist, playwright and children's novelist, known primarily for writing the 1944 Broadway play Harvey, which was adapted into the 1950 film starring James Stewart.
I'm No Angel is a 1933 American pre-Code black comedy film directed by Wesley Ruggles, and starring Mae West and Cary Grant. West received sole story and screenplay credit. It is one of her early films, and, as such, was not subjected to the heavy censorship that dogged her screenplays after Hollywood began enforcing the Hays Code.
American Splendor is a 2003 American biographical comedy drama film written and directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini. The film, which chronicles the life of comic book writer Harvey Pekar, is a hybrid production featuring live actors, documentary, and animation. It is based on the 1976–2008 comic book series of the same name written by Pekar and the 1994 graphic novel Our Cancer Year written by Pekar and Joyce Brabner. The film stars Paul Giamatti as Pekar and Hope Davis as Brabner. It also features appearances from Pekar and Brabner themselves, who discuss their lives, the comic books, and how it feels to be depicted onscreen by actors.
Mother Wore Tights is a 1947 American Technicolor musical film starring Betty Grable and Dan Dailey as married vaudeville performers, directed by Walter Lang.
While the City Sleeps is a 1928 American synchronized sound crime drama film about a tough New York City police detective, played by Lon Chaney, out to catch a murdering gangster. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with sound effects using the sound-on-film Western Electric Sound System process. The film was directed by Jack Conway, written by Andrew Percival Younger, and co-starred Anita Page, Carroll Nye, Wheeler Oakman, and Mae Busch.
Abandoned is a 1949 American crime film noir starring Dennis O'Keefe, Gale Storm and Jeff Chandler.
Harvey is a 1996 American made-for-television fantasy-comedy film and a remake of the blockbuster American comedy drama film 1950 classic film based on Mary Chase's 1944 play of the same name. The television adaptation was directed by George Schaefer and starred Harry Anderson, Leslie Nielsen, and Swoosie Kurtz. Though it was filmed in 1996, the film sat on the shelf until July 18, 1999, when it was broadcast by CBS, two years after Schaefer's and Stewart's deaths.
The Thief and the Cobbler is an animated fantasy film co-written and directed by Richard Williams, who intended it to be his masterpiece and a milestone in the animated medium. Originally devised in the 1960s, the film was in and out of production for nearly three decades due to independent funding and ambitiously complex animation. It was finally placed into full production in 1989 when Warner Bros. agreed to finance and distribute the film after his successful animation direction for Who Framed Roger Rabbit. When production went over budget and behind schedule, and Disney's similarly-themed Aladdin loomed as imminent competition, Williams was forced out and the film was heavily re-edited and cheaply finished by producer Fred Calvert as a mainstream Disney-style musical. It was eventually released by Allied Filmmakers in 1993 with the title The Princess and the Cobbler. Two years later, Miramax Films, which was owned by Disney at the time, released another re-edit titled Arabian Knight. Both versions performed poorly at the box office and received mixed reviews.
Big is a 1988 American fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Penny Marshall and stars Tom Hanks as Josh Baskin, an adolescent boy whose wish to be "big" transforms him physically into an adult. The film also stars Elizabeth Perkins, David Moscow, John Heard, and Robert Loggia, and was written by Gary Ross and Anne Spielberg. It was produced by Gracie Films and distributed by 20th Century Fox.
The Dangerous Age is a 1923 American silent drama film directed by John M. Stahl and written by J.G. Hawks, Bess Meredyth, and Lenore Coffee. The film stars Lewis Stone, Cleo Madison, Edith Roberts, Ruth Clifford, Myrtle Stedman, and James Morrison. The film was released on February 4, 1923, by Associated First National Pictures.
The Invisible Woman is a 1983 made-for-television science fiction comedy film starring Alexa Hamilton as Sandy Martinson, the titular character, and Bob Denver as her scientist uncle, Dr. Dudley Plunkett. The film first aired on NBC on Sunday, February 13, 1983.