Sleepless in Seattle is a 1993 American romantic comedy film directed and co-written 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's a chick's movie".

Plot[link]

Sam Baldwin, a Chicago architect, loses his wife Maggie to cancer. He and his young son Jonah start new lives in Seattle, but Sam still grieves.

18 months later, on Christmas Eve 1992, Jonah—who wants his father to find a new wife—calls into a talk radio show. Jonah persuades Sam to go on the air to talk about how much he misses Maggie. Hundreds of women from around the country hear the program, and touched by the story, write to Sam.

One of the listeners is Annie Reed, a Baltimore Sun reporter. She is engaged to Walter but feels there is something missing from their relationship. After watching the film An Affair to Remember, Annie impulsively writes a letter suggesting that Sam meet her on top of the Empire State Building on Valentine's Day. She does not intend to mail it, but her friend and editor Becky does it for her and agrees to send Annie to Seattle to "look into doing a story on those radio shows."

Sam begins dating a coworker, Victoria, whom Jonah dislikes. Jonah, a baseball fan, reads Annie's letter and likes that it mentions the Baltimore Orioles but fails to convince his father to go to New York to meet Annie. On the advice of his friend Jessica, Jonah replies to Annie agreeing to the New York meeting.

While dropping Victoria off at the airport for a flight, Sam sees Annie exiting from her plane and is taken by her, although he has no idea who she is. Annie watches Sam and Jonah playing on the beach together but mistakes Sam's sister Suzy for his girlfriend. He recognizes her from the airport and says "Hello", but Annie can only respond with another "hello" before fleeing. She decides she is being foolish and goes to New York to meet Walter for Valentine's Day.

With Jessica's help, Jonah flies to New York without his father's permission, and goes to the Empire State Building in search of Annie. Jonah goes to observation deck and asks every unattached woman if she is Annie. Sam, distraught, follows Jonah and finds him on the observation deck. Meanwhile, Annie has seen the skyscraper from the Rainbow Room where she is dining with Walter and confesses her doubts to him. They amicably end their engagement. She rushes to the Empire State Building but the observation deck has closed. Annie convinces the guard to allow her to go to observation deck (An Affair to Remember is the guard's wife's favorite movie) and arrives just moments after the doors to the down elevator close with Sam and Jonah inside.

In spite of the observation deck being deserted, Annie convinces the elevator operator to let her take a quick look around. She discovers a backpack that Jonah has left behind. As she pulls out Jonah's teddy bear from the backpack, Sam and Jonah emerge from the elevator, and the three meet for the first time. Annie asks Jonah if the teddy bear is his, and he says it is. "Are you Annie?" Jonah asks. She nods yes, and Jonah smiles. "You're Annie," says a stunned Sam. The elevator operator clears his throat. Sam indicates they should go, momentarily making it unclear what his intentions are, until he says "Shall we?", offers his hand to Annie, and the three go down the elevator together.

Cast[link]

• 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

Ryan and Hanks appeared together in Joe Versus the Volcano prior to Sleepless in Seattle, then followed it with You've Got Mail. Julia Roberts was offered the role of Annie Reed but turned it down.^[1]

Soundtrack[link]

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.^[2]

1. "As Time Goes By" by Jimmy Durante – 2:28
2. "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" by Louis Armstrong – 3:01
3. "Stardust" by Nat King Cole – 3:15
4. "Makin' Whoopee" by Dr. John featuring Rickie Lee Jones – 4:09
5. "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" by Carly Simon – 3:16
6. "Back in the Saddle Again" by Gene Autry – 2:36
7. "Bye Bye Blackbird" by Joe Cocker – 3:30
8. "A Wink and a Smile" by Harry Connick, Jr. – 4:08
9. "Stand by Your Man" by Tammy Wynette – 2:41
10. "An Affair to Remember" by Marc Shaiman – 2:31
11. "Make Someone Happy" by Jimmy Durante – 1:52
12. "When I Fall in Love" by Celine Dion and Clive Griffin – 4:21

^[3]

Awards[link]

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" (another Tom Hanks movie) 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. Ryan won the award for Funniest Actress in a Leading Role at the American Comedy Awards. At the 1994 Young Artist Awards, Malinger won the award for Best Actor Under Ten in a Motion Picture and the film itself won Outstanding Family Motion Picture for Comedy.^{[citation needed]}

Adaptation[link]

Sleepless in Seattle: The Musical is in development. Produced by David Shor, with a book written by Shor's long-time partner Jeff Arch (who wrote the original story for the motion picture), it was given a staged reading in New York in November 2010 and is scheduled to premier in full production at the Pasadena Playhouse on June 12, 2012, for a one-month run.^[4]

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Sleepless in Seattle

Film portal

• Sleepless in Seattle at the Internet Movie Database
• Sleepless in Seattle at AllRovi
• 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
• http://www.sleeplessinseattlemanagement.com