The Way We Were (1973)

The ultimate chick flick, 1974's The Way We Were follows Katie Morofsky, a serious-minded college student and radical who works overtime at very liberal political causes that have developed through the turmoil of WWII and though she is the hardest working gal on campus, things don't always go as effortlessly for her as she would like.Enter into Katie's life a guy named Hubbell Gardner (Robert Redford),a golden boy to whom everything comes easy and who takes life as it comes. Katie and Hubbell meet in college and she is immediately smitten with him, though she tries to fight it. Hubbell admires Katie's spirit, though he doesn't really love her, and from this springs one of the most moving and beautiful love stories ever put on celluloid, ending during the early 1960's.This movie draws you in immediately because Katie and Hubbell are both people that we can relate to and we understand their feelings for each other from the beginning and even though these people are polar opposites, we want to see them make this relationship work, which is further complicated by their conflicting political convictions. Katie is all about making a difference in the world and Hubbell wants to take things as they come and not quite as seriously as Katie does.The on screen chemistry between Streisand and Redford is off the charts and Streisand had to fight hard to get Redford to do the film. He rejected the role after reading the original script and Streisand had re-writes done immediately in order to beef up Hubbell's role.Pollack's sensitive direction and effective support from Bradford Dillman, Patrick O'Neal, and Viveca Lindfors also deserve mention here, but it is the magic chemistry generated by Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford that made this movie the instant classic it became. Needless to say, the classic Oscar winning theme song, flawlessly performed by Streisand, didn't hurt.

What a classic, delicious and beautiful movie! Streisand and Redford are just wonderful as the film follows their stormy but passionate relationship through the years. Redford is gorgeous as Hubbel Gardner. He is meant for this role of the campus king but the story is smart enough that he is flawed. Streisand gives a GREAT performance a Katie Morosky. She is the opposite of Redfords golden charms. It's not until the second half that we see her character in full bloom. She is tortured by her love for Hubbel and her strong political convictions. Streisand plays this passion so real you feel it's a documentary of this character. The pairing of Streisand and Redford is brilliant. They look gorgeous together and Streisand's sexual heat for him is scorching! This kind of movie could not and would not be made today. It is so special and beautiful with no desire to be anything but a tragic love story. It ended up being a GIANT hit!! Icing on the cake for this classic!

After Funny Girl, Mirror Has Two Faces, Yentl, etc., never made the correlation of the same ol' same ol' script for Ms. Fabs.... Always the fish out of water, trying so hard to compensate and too many color coded mugs to count... Always loved those exceedingly long deep red nails and figured hmmmmm.... reminds me of 1937!! Did she wear super bells (bottoms) when lounging with Roberto on their beach front home in Malibu?? Who was the costume supervisor on this??? OK won't address the hair (OY) or war time phrasing, so onto that deep plot device.... Redford in UNIFORM!!! As usual he was very pleasing to the eye as well as devoid of consciousness, nonetheless an infield homerun.After watching "On the Waterfront", and reading about the implied Kazan apology, never appreciated the impact of being a Communist in the US. I was rather shocked to see rallies for the "Party" and that it seemed the right path to take for many citizens. Is this historical aspect correct? I am one of those on the bandwagon for political change and represent the proverbial broken record during many discussions. Only to fall on deaf ears as many just do not have the time or inclination to find out what really is occurring behind the scenes. So I definitely related to the character but would NEVER hook up with some clueless dude who, at the least, enjoyed the joke about Mrs. Roosevelt in the Coal Mines, moronic! Made no sense to me especially when you see her ROWING the boat in the harbor, it cracks me up to think she had to once again do all the work to make him love her... Also, his piece de resistance book, "All the world is Ice Cream" (sic) and how he was given everything, complete dullsville, he didn't even have mega cash like Omar... hence, was perplexed with this effort and can only recommend for the theme song, strong long nails, and Hollywood anathema... sigh

At the dawn of the campus years, Hubbell Gardiner (Robert Redford) celebrates the first publication of one of his short stories; and Katie Morosky (Barbra Streisand) raises a toast "to his first novel". Meanwhile, he asks her why she didn't take with humor one joke made after a political speech, all she needed was to laugh at a rather benign prank and she would have won the audience. But Katie has no sense of humor whatsoever when it comes to politics and Gardiner hardly believes he can make it as a novelist. Here we are with flawed characters trying to inculcate the very value that lacks in the other: detachment and passion. And that kind of complementarity is the true basis of a realistic romance rather than a simple love at first sight or a hate-then-love formula, "The Way We Were", directed by Sidney Pollack in 1973, is above all these clichés.The scene I just described encapsulates the whole relationship between the Jewish, passionate and activist Katie Morosky and the classy, WASP and handsome Hubbell Gardiner. She believes in his talent, he's amazed by her passion, she's a burning fire that ignited his heart, and he embodies a sort of perfection only her eyes can value and cherish, and the way she tenderly caresses his hair is more eloquent than any description. The acting from the two leads makes the chemistry so real, so believable, that I even failed to see how the couple could be seen as 'unlikely', although the attraction between opposites is what drives the whole narrative, if not the romance. Granted Barbra Streisand is not the most attractive actress (though she has marvelous eyes, and fingernails that would turn on any fetishist) the film is definitely not about a sort of 'Beauty and the Beast' syndrome.I'm certain of this assessment even more because it's Katie who steals the show, she's the one who orchestrates the whole relationship and plays like a true mentor to Gardiner. And Redford finds the right note to play a character apparently dull, but in fact, only lacking the necessary amount of confidence because "everything went too easily for him". Gardiner is like the big and strong guy who was so physically impressive that he was never attacked and then could never develop self-defense mechanisms or brutality and could be dominated by smaller and weaker guys. Gardiner is blonde, good-looking, he's an accomplished athlete, and it was so easy for him to be popular that he didn't even need to build a character. He is a spineless guy and in contrast, Morosky dealt with adversity for so many years that, if not the 'Beast', she's the 'Ugly Duckling' who compensated through her courage, her ability to stand up for her ideals and transcended all her limitations.And what a character by the way, Barbra Streisand illuminates the screen with such an energy we can help but feel her enthusiasm and passion for Gardiner, but not without noticing how desperate it is. For she's the one who cares more for their relationships, and another aspect that confirms it is the whole political subtext that undermines the romance rather than accompany it. Gardiner and Morosky do complete each other but in the sense that one needs to be more passionate and gutsy, and the other more easy-going and cool, but the chemistry is always victim of political interferences. The film spans one decade but probably the richest of American history, it starts with the pre-War period when someone (Katie) could proclaim to be a Communist, to the War and it ends with the Cold War and first manifestations of McCarthysm, the era that would give a deathblow to their relationship. Yet the script isn't quite clear about the way the couple is threatened by the hearings, it widens the already existing gap between Gardiner and Morosky, as he believes that one shouldn't risk to lose everything for such abstractions as principles, people count more yet she believes that "People are their principles". The film features a lot of suffering, of misunderstandings, of failed attempts to change the person we love, to elevate him or her and in its own unique way. "The Way We Were" is the chronicle of a doomed relationship, and Pollack doesn't invite us to take side for one character, as each one is responsible for the marital failure. To a certain extent, the script remains true to a bittersweet quality of life, it doesn't even feature an obligatory 'I love you' line for that matter, and it manages to create situations we all can respond to. But now that I found out some scenes were cut out to relieve the film from its political material, I can't help but blame Pollack for having followed his audience' initial reaction (the issues are covered in the DVD features), because what's left is even more puzzling since we don't know why they broke up. We could see the rupture coming, but what was the defining moment that put an end to everything, remains unknown. And the film is too mature to get away with the excuse of infidelity; Morosky could have closed her eyes on that. At the end, "The Way We Were" isn't a perfect film, but it's still satisfactory, as if it was trusting the viewers not to focus on its rather anticlimactic ending, and just understand that the two leads had 'their' reasons to break up, and no matter what happens, they'll forever be the most important person of their respective lives.The movie is not without some flaws especially on the editing department, but it's kind of redeemed by the performances, the directing, a dazzling cinematography, and what's more, the sweet nostalgia induced by Marvin Hamlish's score, less emphatic than "Doctor Zhivago" or dramatic than "Love Story", it's tender enough to be listened to without distracting from the story.