I want to give Harvey star Jimmy Stewart a hug (not actually, though then I could cross “hug a zombie” off of my bucket list). I watched Harvey this week after accepting that Safe wasn’t going to happen, and he is the best. My DVD had an interview with him as an introduction to the movie, and his insights into how people deal with his character, Elwood P. Dowd, and his imaginary friend Harvey, were delightful. Between this and It’s a Wonderful Life, his contributions to reducing the stigma around mental health conditions should get him a prize (on top of the Oscar nomination he got for both roles). On top of that, Harvey is a wonderful movie.
The titular Harvey is a 6’ 3.5 inch invisible rabbit, and the best friend of Elwood P. Dowd, the town eccentric. Elwood is a genuinely pleasant person, introducing himself to everyone and inviting the whole town to dinner or drinks with him. He does have an admitted drinking problem (something the movie doesn’t address properly), but he isn’t seen drunk at any time in the movie. His sister Veta and her niece Myrtle Mae are embarrassed by him and his imaginary friend. At the beginning of the movie, they try to have him committed to the town mental hospital, only to wind up with Veta committed. In the true spirit of screwball comedy, mix-ups ensue until the head of the mental hospital can see Harvey and Veta is talking herself out of having Elwood medicated. A happy ending makes this one of the most pleasant movies about mental health I’ve watched for this blog.
The movie does bring up the idea that Harvey isn’t an imaginary friend, but a pooka, an Earth spirit from Celtic mythology. He is visible to Veta occasionally and to Dr. Chumley, the head of the hospital. Even with that idea though, the concept of an imaginary friend isn’t seen as a bad thing. Most of the townsfolk accept Harvey’s existence, and Elwood isn’t ostracized or demonized in any way. He’s a genuinely nice person who befriends everyone, even a giant invisible rabbit. Even more remarkably, the movie stands up for people with mental illnesses in no uncertain terms. The cab driver who takes the family to the mental hospital at the end of the movie says, “...I've been driving this route for 15 years. I've brought 'em out here to get that stuff, and I've drove 'em home after they had it. It changes them... On the way out here, they sit back and enjoy the ride. They talk to me; sometimes we stop and watch the sunsets, and look at the birds flyin'. Sometimes we stop and watch the birds when there ain't no birds. And look at the sunsets when it's raining. We have a swell time. And I always get a big tip. But afterwards, oh oh... They crab, crab, crab. They yell at me. Watch the lights. Watch the brakes, Watch the intersections. They scream at me to hurry. They got no faith in me, or my buggy. Yet, it's the same cab, the same driver. And we're going back over the very same road. It's no fun. And no tips... After this he'll be a perfectly normal human being. And you know what stinkers they are!” That’s such a delightful way to embrace everyone for who they are, and from someone who interacts with people with mental illnesses all the time. This movie was made in 1950, and this idea is still progressive today.
The movie even does a good job of sending up the psychiatrists in the movie. They are played more as the psychiatrist stereotype, but in a decidedly good natured way. Dr. Chumley, the head of the hospital, is viewed as formidable man to be feared at the beginning, but by the end, he’s seeing Harvey and enjoying himself more. One of the other doctors has a habit of declaring himself good at random things because “psychology!” It’s a well-delivered joke. The doctors are seen trying to help him, and trying to help his sister, who is initially believed to be the person with the mental illness. That doesn’t stop Veta from declaring, “All doctors do in places like that-think about sex all the time.” Dr. Sanderson, the other doctor from the hospital, on being fired, says “It may be ridiculous, but I'm gonna miss every one of the psychos, and the neuros, and the schizos in the place” in the nicest delivery of that line possible. The movie is funny and touching in just the right measure.
Harvey is a really wonderful movie with the sort of spirit that made It’s a Wonderful Life such a delight. The idea that being different isn’t automatically bad, just different. The idea that having a giant rabbit as a friend isn’t such a bad thing if you can go on enjoying your life. Jimmy Stewart plays Elwood like the sort of person you want to be friends with, and want in your community. I understood why Harvey would be his friend, if he exists or not. In 1950, making a movie about a person with a mental illness and making that person a nice person was pretty radical. Making him the main character was pushing the boundaries even further. Yet, Harvey did both and is still a beloved movie. If only Hollywood was making movies like this still. If only Jimmy Stewart was around to get them made.
This one is definitely a keeper.
Next week, we’ll take a look at where Hollywood (and the Academy) went on the idea of mental health conditions, with A Beautiful Mind.
Have you seen Harvey? What did you think?
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