Rating: PG
Genre:
Romance
Release Date: 12/14/1999
SubTitles: English/Espanol/Por/KO/TH
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD5.1/DD2
Run Time: 118 Minutes
Flags: Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Adult Language
Distributor/Studio: Columbia TriStar
"Gorgeous goyish guy" meets Jewish radical girl in
Sydney Pollack's glossy romance. In 1937, frizzy-haired Red co-ed Katie Morosky (
Barbra Streisand) briefly captures the attention of preppy jock Hubbell Gardiner (
Robert Redford) with her passionate pacifism, while the writing talent beneath his privileged exterior entrances her. Almost eight years later, the two are reunited in New York, when well-coiffed leftist radio worker Katie spies military officer Hubbell snoozing in a nightclub. Through her force of will, and in spite of his smug rich friends, the two opposites fall in love, sparring over Katie's activist zeal and Hubbell's writerly ambivalence after a failed first novel. They head to Hollywood so that Hubbell can write a screenplay for his buddy-turned-producer J.J. (
Bradford Dillman). But the House Committee on Un-American Activities' Communist witch hunt in 1947 tears the pair apart, as a pregnant Katie refuses to keep silent about the jailing of the Hollywood Ten, while a faithless Hubbell decides to save his career. When the two meet again at the dawn of the '60s, TV hack Hubbell and A-bomb protestor Katie feel the old pull, but they have to decide if it's worth the grief. Although blacklisted writers had returned to Hollywood -- and won Oscars -- by the early 1970s, the HUAC sections of
Arthur Laurents's screenplay were still considered dicey, resulting in substantial cuts; Laurents reportedly blamed star Redford for not fighting them hard enough. Regardless of the edits, and critics' complaints about the film's schlockiness, 1973 audiences went for the well-executed and still politically tinged weepie, turning
The Way We Were into one of the most popular films of 1973 and Redford into a major heartthrob. Streisand won an Oscar nomination for Best Actress and the Streisand-sung title tune won for Best Song. Despite the eviscerated politics,
The Way We Were poignantly captures the insoluble dilemma of reconciling private desires with public awareness.
~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Average Review:
Number of reviews: 2
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A reviewer
from Fort Lauderdale, Florida
An Oscar-Winning Classic Love Story.
Academy Award winners Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford team-up with Oscar-winning director, Sydney Pollack in bringing one of the '70s great love stories to life in which Redford and Streisand play two star-crossed lovers, whose lives are affected by two foreign wars, domestic prosperity, and the McCarthy Era. Alan and Marilyn Bergman won an Oscar for the movie's theme song as Best Song and Marvin Hamlisch also won an Oscar for Best Score. Also starring Bradford Dillman, Viveca Lindfors, Herb Edelman, Lois Chiles, Murray Hamilton, Patrick O'Neal, Sally Kirkland, James Woods, Allyn Ann McLerie, Edward Power, Connie Forslund, George Gaynes, Susan Blakely, and Dan Seymour
A reviewer
from Fort Lauderdale, Florida
An Oscar-Winning Americana Love Story.
This is a collaboration of three of Hollywood's Oscar-winning favorites, Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, and director, Sydney Pollack, and together, they bring a classic love story of two star-crossed lovers, whose lives are affected by foreign war, domestic prosperity, and the McCarthy era. also starring Bradford Dillman, Viveca Lindfors, Herb Edelman, Murray Hamilton, Lois Chiles, Patrick O'Neal, and Constance Forslund. The film won two Academy Awards for Best Song and Best Score.
;)
