Harvey (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This is about the Jimmy Stewart film; Harvey is also the name of a play that the film was based on. For other uses, see Harvey.
| Harvey | |
|---|---|
 Harvey DVD cover |
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| Directed by | Henry Koster |
| Produced by | John Beck |
| Written by | Mary Coyle Chase and Oscar Brodney screenplay Myles Connolly (screenplay) uncredited |
| Starring | James Stewart Josephine Hull Peggy Dow Charles Drake |
| Music by | Frank Skinner |
| Cinematography | William H. Daniels |
| Distributed by | Universal International Pictures |
| Release date(s) | (U.S.) October 13, 1950 |
| Running time | 104 min |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Harvey is a 1950 film based on Mary Chase's Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name, directed by Henry Koster, and starring James Stewart and Josephine Hull. The story is about a man whose best friend is a "pooka" named Harvey—in the form of a six-foot, three and one half-inch-tall rabbit.
Hull's performance earned her an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress; Stewart's portrayal earned him a Best Actor Oscar nomination.
Contents |
[edit] Cast
- Elwood P. Dowd: James Stewart
- Veta Louise Simmons: Josephine Hull
- Miss Kelly: Peggy Dow
- Dr. Lyman Sanderson: Charles Drake
- Dr. Willie Chumley: Cecil Kellaway
- Myrtle Mae Simmons: Victoria Horne
- Duane Wilson: Jesse White
[edit] Plot
Stewart plays Elwood P. Dowd, a middle-aged, amiable, free-spirited (and somewhat odd) individual whose best friend is an invisible six-foot, three-and-a-half-inch tall rabbit named Harvey. Harvey is actually a pooka, a mischievous magical creature from Celtic mythology. As the film begins, Elwood has been driving his sister and niece, who crave normalcy and a place in 'society', to distraction by introducing everyone he meets to his pal Harvey.
His sister, Veta Louise Simmons (played by Hull), tries to have Elwood committed to a sanatorium, but, after admitting that she sees Harvey every once in awhile, they let Elwood out and lock her up. After sorting out the mistake, Dr. Chumley (played by Kellaway) goes after Elwood. When tracked down, Elwood goes through several ordeals, although he remains oblivious to the doctor's plans for him. In a touching scene where Dr. Sanderson and his girlfriend/nurse follow Elwood into an alley, Elwood tells the incredible story of how he came to discover Harvey, and explains how the people react when they meet him.
In the final scene of the film, when Elwood (along with everybody else) arrives back at the hospital, the doctor convinces Elwood to come into his office where he'll receive a serum that will "stop [Elwood] seeing the rabbit". Once they go into the office, the taxi driver tells Elwood's sister about what's happened to the other people who received that medicine and warns her that once he does Elwood will become "just a normal human being. And you know what stinkers they are." Upset by this idea, Veta halts the procedure. At the tale's end Harvey is (indirectly) seen opening the gate to the hospital to follow the others out.
[edit] Remakes
The play/film was made for television several times:
- 1972, in a version also starring Stewart and featuring Helen Hayes as his sister Veta.
- 1985, in a version for West German television, with Harald Juhnke as Elwood and Elisabeth Wiedemann as his sister.
- 1998, starring Harry Anderson and Swoosie Kurtz in the Elwood and Veta roles.
[edit] Trivia
- The films Winchester '73 and Harvey, released a few months apart, were the first to include profit sharing for the film's star; talent agent Lew Wasserman is credited with getting Stewart contracts that guaranteed him a percentage of the returns on those films.[1]
- Though in the film, Harvey is said to be 6'3 1/2", on the stage it was changed to 6'8 1/2", to be more of a contrast with Stewart's own 6'3".
- At the suggestion of James Stewart, the director changed many shots to make them wider so that "Harvey" would be in the frame.
- Donnie Darko also features a 6' anthropomorphic rabbit, though not in the same sense as this film.
- In "Wallace and Gromit: the Curse of the Wererabbit" The wererabbit is also a huge rabbit, and the local vegetable shop is named after this film.
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit? referenced the source work of the film Harvey, a 1944 play by the same name. When the main antagonist is on a search for the title character, a bar patron says he has seen a rabbit. He then puts his arm around an invisible set of shoulders and says, "Well, say hello...Harvey!" much to the amusement of everybody but the villain.
- In, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, when the film's hero steps aboard a computer controlled aircraft and spies the two empty pilot's seats, the Mystery Science Theater characters suggest the pilots are Harvey and Claude Rains.
- In Farscape, the series' protagonist John Crichton has a neural clone of the series' villain Scorpius (Farscape) inserted into his brain. John calls this clone Harvey, and he regularly appears dressed as a giant white rabbit.
- In the film Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, Penny Marshall is casting for a remake of the film "Harvey" and is looking for the next Jimmy Stewart.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Transcript of a July 1997 memorial for Stewart from The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, which includes scenes from and commentary on Harvey
- Harvey at the Internet Movie Database
- Harvey (1972 TV version) at the Internet Movie Database
- Harvey (1998 TV version) at the Internet Movie Database
