The Way We Were

It's WWII. Katie Morosky (Barbra Streisand) is a Jewish girl working in New York radio pumping out patriotic programming among her many activist jobs. In a nightclub, she runs into former crush and Naval officer Hubbell Gardiner (Robert Redford). In college, she was a communist student leader struggling to rally against Franco with Frankie McVeigh (James Woods). He was the WASP star athlete, the man around campus, and outwardly lived a carefree life. He's taken with her tenacity and she admires his writing. In the post war years, they are married in Hollywood where he writes for the studio and she fights against Mcarthyism.

She has the better part. He's playing the trophy wife. His hemming and hawing with his writing is a bit infuriating. He's too cool for school except for a few emotional outbursts. Those are great for showing some depth in his character although the couple seems to have only two polar opposite gears. As for her, Streisand gives it her all. There is a grating edge to her character which is not that appealing. I do like that these two flawed characters struggle with their undeniable connection until I can't take their unending fight about politics. Another issue is the unchanging Grecian God beauty of Redford's look. This movie takes place over decades. He needs to change. Maybe give him a buzz cut during the war years. There is the famous song which I wouldn't diss or praise. Pollack delivers a solid melodrama although the relationship gets too melodramatic at times.

Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford look wonderful in this great story of doomed love. Character development (or arc) is supposed to be one of the basic elements of a good screenplay; but the whole point of Sydney Pollack's 1973 movie is that neither Katie Moroski nor Hubbell Gardner changes. She remains the serious-minded Jewish left-wing activist, and he the easy-going, politically uncommitted WASP, they are when they first meet in college in 1937. Fascinated with each other precisely because they are such opposites, they have an affair, marry and have a baby; but their inability to compromise - or in his case to stop compromising - leads to break-up.

The main action spans the eventful decade from the Spanish Civil War and New Deal, through WWII, to the McCarthy era, by which time Katie and Hubbell have moved from New York to Hollywood, where he is a screenwriter. Though melodramatic and sketchy, the political dimension of the story should not be underestimated; this is one of the very rare American movies in which a communist is treated sympathetically. Presumably much of this side of the scenario stemmed from the personal experience of writer Arthur Laurents, who was the same age as his protagonists, and who had McCarthy-related problems.

Both stars are perfect for their roles; we can see what they see in each other; and we desperately want it to work for them, though we know it won't! Notable in support are Bradford Dillman, Lois Chiles, and James Woods. The theme song, emotionally delivered by Streisand as only she can, is beautiful, but the relevance of its nostalgic lyric to this clear-eyed movie is doubtful.

Had to see this one again after years had elapsed between viewings, and the hair brushed from the face ending still gets to me. Weep weep, boo hoo. Speaking of hair, Babs looks better with her hair curly here, it always seems stiff flattened out. I still can't figure out if Hubbel was challenged by Katie or if he fell for her because he knew she loved him deeply, even if their relationship was based more on her attraction to him than his to hers. I never thought he truly felt comfortable with her. Because she was so "serious" all the time, as he tried to tell her. Romance was bound to fail because he could never think about other people the way she did and she in turn could never relax. The public confrontation during the communist witch hunt is the last straw and eventually leads us to the sidewalks of New York, where Katie's hair is curly again and Hubbel comments that she must have lost her iron. A truly moving romance with some stretches of dullness here and there but never at the expense of character. Both stars look great, with Streisand definitely robbed at Oscar time.

Oh, the way they used to make movies. Robert Redford and Babs. The ultimate star-crossed lovers, him a privileged golden boy for whom everything came too easy, but he knew it, and her a socialist politico who had to work harder for everything because she was plain, jewish, and poor.

Through Beekman Place, McCarthyism, Hollywood, World War II and the fact that they simply weren't cut out for each other, they tried until they couldn't try any more. Barbra is deep and intellectual, at least she wants to be, but ends up being the ultimate drama queen, "I'm not pretty enough for you, am I?" and "Nobody will ever love you like I do." Redford is aloof and chilly and beautiful and as shallow as a mud puddle.

BUT, if you can watch that last scene, "I can't Katie." "I know." and not open up the waterworks then pack up your DVD player and give it to the Goodwill, because movies are not for you.

Epic and anchored by the history of the century, The title, The Way We Were refers to all of us. It's how we once were when things mattered and we cared. Too often dismissed as a chick flick or a tear jerker, this is two of the best there ever were at their personal best.

Actually, "The Way We Were" is both, and happily so. It's a classy romantic period drama about a 1940s wallflower in New York who blooms in love with her ex-jock boyfriend (an old acquaintance from their college days), and the movie overflows with star-power. None of today's celebrities have the kind of chemistry Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford bring to the screen, and Streisand in particular is so deeply into this character that the herky-jerky editing and breathless writing don't harm her or get in the way (the faults can easily be overlooked). When writer Redford adapts his novel into a screenplay and the couple marries and moves to Hollywood in the McCarthy-Blacklist era, her passion for politics gets them both in hot water; that's where this script hits a snag, with increasingly melodramatic plotting (Redford's affair with a former flame) and confusion in the character motivations (this primarily due to hasty, eleventh-hour editing). Still, it is a handsomely-produced movie with a great tearjerker ending and two fine stars who plow right through the nonsense and bumpy continuity. They transcend the make-believe surroundings, turning the picture into something really special, something to remember. ***1/2 from ****