Sleepless in Seattle
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| Sleepless in Seattle | |
|---|---|
 original film poster |
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| Directed by | Nora Ephron |
| Produced by | Gary Foster |
| Written by | Jeff Arch Nora Ephron Stephen King |
| Starring | Tom Hanks Meg Ryan Bill Pullman Rosie O'Donnell Rob Reiner David Hyde Pierce |
| Music by | Marc Shaiman |
| Cinematography | Sven Nykvist |
| Editing by | Robert M. Reitano |
| Distributed by | TriStar Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 25 June 1993 |
| Running time | 106 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $21,000,000 USD |
| Gross revenue | $227,799,884 USD |
Sleepless in Seattle is a 1993 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Nora Ephron. Based on a story by Jeff Arch, it stars Tom Hanks as Sam Baldwin and Meg Ryan as Annie Reed.
The film was inspired by An Affair to Remember and used both its theme song and clips from the film in critical scenes. The climactic meeting at the top of the Empire State Building is a reference to a reunion between Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr in An Affair to Remember that fails to happen because the Kerr character is struck by a car while en route. At one point, some of the characters discuss Affair, with Sam commenting that it sounds like a "chick movie."
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[edit] Plot summary
Sam Baldwin, a Chicago architect, has lost his wife (Carey Lowell) to cancer. He and his young son Jonah move to Seattle, Washington to make a fresh start, but Sam is still disconsolate. On Christmas Eve, Jonah calls into a national radio advice show and persuades his father to go on the air with him to talk about how much he misses his wife. Thousands of women around the country, touched by Sam's story, send him letters. One letter is from Annie Reed, a journalist from Baltimore, Maryland, engaged to a nice but sneeze-prone man named Walter (Bill Pullman), who feels that there is something missing.
Meanwhile, Jonah, who has been working his way through the flood of mail, finds Annie's missive and likes that it mentions the Baltimore Orioles. He tries to convince his father to go to New York City to meet her on Valentine's Day, but Sam loses his temper and refuses. Sam begins to see a coworker, Victoria, whom Jonah cannot bear because, among other things, she "acts like a ho" and "laughs like a hyena". On the advice of a friend, Jonah mails a letter to Annie agreeing to meet at the top of the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day. At the airport, while dropping Victoria off for a flight, Sam sees Annie getting off the plane and is momentarily entranced.
Annie, on a whim, has traveled to Seattle to meet Sam. She watches him and Jonah playing on the beach together, and on the advice of a friend, Becky, she decides to meet and talk to him. Next day, she sees Sam with his sister Suzy, and thinking she is his girlfriend, stops in the middle of the street. Sam recognizes her, and says hello; all she can respond is hello back, a reference to the movie An Affair to Remember, which she later tells Becky about. Annie then decides she has been being silly and nervous, and goes to New York to meet Walter.
Jonah flies to New York and takes a taxi to the Empire State Building, saying he's going to meet his new mother. Sam, in pursuit, catches up with Jonah, who hasn't found Annie. Meanwhile Annie sees the Empire State Building from the restaurant at which she is eating, and breaks up with her fiancé. Jonah and Sam get on the down elevator just before Annie reaches the top of the building. There she finds Jonah's backpack with a teddy bear in it, not knowing who it belongs to. Jonah and Sam come back to the top to find the backpack, where they meet Annie for the first time.
[edit] Cast
- Tom Hanks as Sam Baldwin
- Meg Ryan as Annie Reed
- Bill Pullman as Walter
- Ross Malinger as Jonah Baldwin
- Rosie O'Donnell as Becky
- Gaby Hoffmann as Jessica
- Victor Garber as Greg
- Rita Wilson as Suzy
- Barbara Garrick as Victoria
- Carey Lowell as Maggie Abbott Baldwin
- David Hyde Pierce as Dennis Reed
- Dana Ivey as Claire Bennett
- Rob Reiner as Jay
- Kevin O'Morrison as Cliff Reed
[edit] Credits
- Director: Nora Ephron
- Writer: Jeff Arch
- Producer: Gary Foster
- Music: Marc Shaiman
- Cinematography: Sven Nykvist
- Editor: Robert M. Reitano
[edit] Soundtrack
The soundtrack was a Number One hit on the Billboard charts.
- Jimmy Durante - "As Time Goes By" 2:28
- Louis Armstrong - "A Kiss to Build a Dream on" 3:01
- Nat King Cole - "Stardust" 3:15
- Dr. John feat. Rickie Lee Jones - "Makin' Whoopee" 4:09
- Carly Simon - "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" 3:16
- Gene Autry - "Back in the Saddle Again" 2:36
- Joe Cocker - "Bye Bye Blackbird" 3:30
- Harry Connick, Jr. - "A Wink And A Smile" 4:08
- Tammy Wynette - "Stand By Your Man" 2:41
- Marc Shaiman - "An Affair to Remember" 2:31
- Jimmy Durante - "Make Someone Happy" 1:52
- Celine Dion & Clive Griffin - "When I Fall in Love" 4:21
| Preceded by Black Sunday by Cypress Hill |
Billboard 200 number-one album August 21 - August 27, 1993 |
Succeeded by River of Dreams by Billy Joel |
The film was originally to have been scored by John Barry, but when he was given a list of 20 songs he had to put in the film he quit.[1]
[edit] Box office
- US Gross Domestic box office: US$ 126,680,884
- Gross International box office: $101,119,000
- Gross Worldwide box office: $227,799,884
- US rentals: $64,930,000
[edit] Awards
Sleepless in Seattle received two nominations for awards in the 66th Academy Awards (held in 1994), but did not win either of them. It lost out to The Piano for Best Original Screenplay while the song "A Wink and a Smile" lost out to "Streets of Philadelphia" for Best Original Song. The film was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards: one for Best Actor - Musical or Comedy (Tom Hanks) another for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (Meg Ryan) and a third for Best Breakthrough Performance (Ross Malinger).
The film won four awards at different ceremonies. Meg Ryan won the award for Funniest Actress in a Leading Role at the American Comedy Awards. At the 1994 Young Artist Awards, Ross Malinger won the award for Best Actor Under Ten in a Motion Picture and the film itself won Outstanding Family Motion Picture for Comedy.
| Award | Category | Winner/Nominee | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| 66th Academy Awards | Best Original Song | "A Wink and a Smile" | No |
| Best Screenplay - Original | Nora Ephron, David S. Ward & Jeff Arch | ||
| 48th BAFTA Film Awards | Best Score | Mark Shaiman | No |
| Best Screenplay | Nora Ephron, David S. Ward & Jeff Arch | ||
| American Comedy Awards 1994 | Funniest Actress in a Leading Role | Meg Ryan | Yes |
| 51st Golden Globe Awards | Best Film - Musical or Comedy | No | |
| Best Actor - Musical or Comedy | Tom Hanks | ||
| Best Actress - Musical or Comedy | Meg Ryan | ||
| 1994 MTV Movie Awards | Best Breakthrough Performance | Ross Malinger | No |
| Best Female Performance | Meg Ryan | ||
| Best Movie Song | "When I Fall In Love" (Celine Dion & Clive Griffin) | ||
| Best On-Screen Duo | Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan | ||
| Young Artist Awards | |||
[edit] Notes
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Sleepless in Seattle |
- Sleepless in Seattle at the Internet Movie Database
- Sleepless in Seattle at Allmovie
- Sleepless in Seattle at the TCM Movie Database
- Sleepless in Seattle at Box Office Mojo
- http://my.opera.com/TheMovieGuy/blog/sleepless-in-seattle
- http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/kim%20basinger.s%20big%20regret
- Movie stills
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