Harriet the Spy is a 1996 American coming-of-age comedy film directed by Bronwen Hughes in her feature film directorial debut, and starring Michelle Trachtenberg in her major film acting debut. It co-stars Rosie O'Donnell, J. Smith-Cameron, Gregory Smith, and Vanessa Lee Chester. Based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Louise Fitzhugh, the film follows a sixth-grade student who aspires to become a writer and spy.
Filming began in the fall of 1994 in Toronto and was completed by the end of 1995. Produced by Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies and Rastar, it was the first film produced under the Nickelodeon Movies banner and the first of two film adaptations of the Harriet the Spy books. In theaters, the pilot episode of Hey Arnold! called Arnold was shown before the film.
The film was released in theaters on July 10, 1996. It made $26.6 million worldwide on a production budget of $12 million. The film was released on home video on February 25, 1997, with an orange clamshell packaging.
Plot
Eleven-year-old aspiring spy and writer Harriet M. Welsch lives a privileged life in New York City with her parents, Violetta and Ben, and her nanny, Catherine "Ole Golly", in whom Harriet confides. Harriet and her best friends Simon "Sport" Rocque and Janie Gibbs are enemies with elitist rich girl, editor of the sixth-grade newspaper, and class president Marion Hawthorne.
One night when Harriet's parents are out, Golly invites her friend George to dinner which she burns, so the three go out for dinner and a movie. But when the three return home late in the evening, Violetta becomes enraged at Golly that she had let Harriet stay out past her curfew and she fires her. But Golly concedes that it is time Harriet were on her own. Before leaving, Golly encourages Harriet not to give up on her love of observing people and promises to be the first to buy an autographed copy of Harriet's first novel. Depressed and withdrawn, Harriet breaks into the mansion of Agatha Plummer and is caught hiding in her dumbwaiter.
After school, Marion discovers Harriet's private notebook and begins reading aloud Harriet's comments about her friends, such as how she suspects Janie will grow up to be "a total nutcase", and criticizing Sport's father's low earnings. Sport and Janie turn their backs on Harriet, and her classmates create a Spy-Catcher club to torment her.
When Harriet begins avoiding her homework her parents take away her notebooks and ask her teacher, Miss Elson, to search her for notebooks daily. During art class, Marion and her friends pour blue paint on Harriet as revenge for writing nasty things about them in her notebook. Harriet responds by slapping Marion in the face and flees the school. She exacts revenge by exposing that Marion's father left her family for his secretary, cutting off a chunk of Laura's hair, sabotaging Janie's science experiment, and humiliating Sport with a picture of him in a maid outfit. Her classmates further alienate her.
Harriet's parents send her for evaluation by a psychologist who assures them that Harriet is fine. Harriet gets her notebook back, and in a surprise visit Golly tells her that in order to make things right again, she must do two things which she will not like: apologize and lie. Harriet says it is not worth it but Golly disagrees, saying Harriet is worth it as an individual, and her individuality will make others nervous. She adds: "Good friends are one of life's blessings. Don't give them up without a fight."
Harriet tries to apologize to Sport and Janie, who initially reject her before accepting her apology after finally coming to their senses and consequently quit Marion's bully group as a result of being treated unfairly by her, much to Marion's dismay. Harriet opines to Miss Elson that Marion's appointment as editor was done unfairly, and Miss Elson opens it up for a vote. Harriet is voted in to replace Marion as editor. She writes an article apologizing to the class, all of whom (except Marion) accept her apology. At the opening of the 6th grade pageant, Janie, Sport, and Harriet set off a stink bomb as revenge on Marion, and dance to James Brown's "Get Up Offa That Thing".