Harriet the Spy
Movie, 1996, The Mid 90s
Harriet the Spy is #23 of 27 in release order and #23 of 27 in chronological order in the VHS Kids Classics.
The story
Harriet may only be in the sixth grade, but she's already found her calling: to be a spy. In a private journal she takes everywhere, Harriet records suspicious activity and keeps a running list of observations on virtually everyone she knows. It seems harmless enough until, one day, someone finds the journal and exposes Harriet's critical thoughts about her classmates. Suddenly, even her best friends are against her, and Harriet resolves to take revenge.
Harriet the Spy recap
Eleven-year-old Harriet Welsch lives in New York City and wants to be a writer, so she spies on her neighbours and writes down everything she thinks in a notebook. Her nanny and confidante, Ole Golly, encourages her, and her best friends are Sport and Janie. Her parents fire Golly after a mix-up, and Golly leaves, telling Harriet to keep observing people. At school, Harriet's classmates, led by her rival Marion, find her notebook and read aloud the cruel things she has written about them. Sport and Janie turn on her, the class forms a club to torment her, and Marion's group pours blue paint on her. Harriet strikes back with nasty pranks on each classmate, making things worse, and her parents take away her notebooks and send her to a psychiatrist.
Harriet the Spy ending explained
Golly visits and tells Harriet she must apologise and that good friends are worth fighting for. Harriet makes up with Sport and Janie, wins a class vote to replace Marion as editor of the class newspaper, and uses her first column to apologise to everyone. At the school pageant, the three friends set off a stink bomb and everyone dances.
Post-credits scenes
No. There is no post-credits scene.
Where to watch Harriet the Spy
Harriet the Spy is streaming on Kanopy and Hoopla in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 6.0/10, Rotten Tomatoes 47%
Where it fits
- Release order: after Matilda, before Space Jam.
- Chronological order: after Matilda, before Space Jam.
Cast
- Michelle Trachtenberg as Harriet
- Gregory Smith as Sport
- Vanessa Lee Chester as Janie
- Rosie O'Donnell as Ole Golly
- J. Smith-Cameron as Mrs. Welsch
- Robert Joy as Mr. Welsch
- Eartha Kitt as Agatha K. Plummer
- Charlotte Sullivan as Marion Hawthorne
- Teisha Kim as Rachel Hennessy
- Cecilley Carroll as Beth Ellen Hansen
- Dov Tiefenbach as Boy with Purple Socks
- Nina Shock as Carrie Andrews
Directed by Bronwen Hughes.