Harvey

Harvey (1950)

  • 83% of critics liked it
    (24 reviews)

  • 91% of users liked it
    (37,502 ratings)

This whimsical fantasy about a local drunk's 6' 3 1/2" imaginary rabbit pal was a smash hit (and a Pulitzer Prize winner) on Broadway and was then adapted into this likeable farce that's also an allegory about tolerance. James Stewart stars as Elwood P. Dowd, a wealthy tippler whose… More

Play Trailer

Unrated,
Directed By
Written By
Mary Chase, Oscar Brodney
Genres
Drama, Classics, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Comedy
In Theaters
Jun 1, 1951 Wide
MCA Universal Home Video

Critic Reviews

  • , TIME Magazine

    Unhappily, what the film also borrows from the play, and somehow makes more conspicuous, is a tendency to drag its feet for long stretches, especially during the virtually actionless last third of the story.

  • Variety Staff, Variety

    Harvey, Mary Chase's Pulitzer Prize play, loses little of its whimsical comedy charm in the screen translation.

  • Bosley Crowther, New York Times

    If you're for warm and gentle whimsey, for a charmingly fanciful farce and for a little touch of pathos anent the fateful evanescence of man's dreams, then the movie version of Harvey is definitely for you.

  • Derek Adams, Time Out

    Charming, lightweight stuff (from a play by Mary Chase), so long as you can take Stewart's ingenuousness, but it does wear thin.

  • Matt Brunson, Creative Loafing

    Stewart's Elwood P. Dowd is a soft-spoken philosopher and a friend to all -- he's quite disarming, and so is this movie.

Read all 13 critic reviews

See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Graham J


    Jimmy Stewart is brilliant as Elwood P. Dowd in this great moral tale that will leave you feeling all warm and fuzzy.

  • Sanjay R


    An infectiously nice/insane main character played brilliantly by James Stewart, a great skeptical reflection of the audience portrayed by Josephine Hull, and a great story make this movie one of a kind. It is funny, nice and has a wonderful moral.

  • Thomas B


    Amazing performance by Jimmy Stewart. Full review later.

  • Anthony L


    Whimsical, old fashioned and extremely likable. The film doesn't seem dated but some of the acting does, James Stewart is wonderful as Elwood P. Dowd, one of cinema's best loved characters but the supporting casts performances can grate a little. That though is my only… More

  • Universal D


    Now there's a perfectly rational explanation for everything, you've got to agree . Science has overcome time and space ... well Harvey has overcome not only time and space, but any objections. The nature of faith explained ... by a 6 foot 3 white rabbit.

Read all 20 featured audience ratings

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