Description

Aspiring writer Hubbell Gardiner (Robert Redford) and Jewish political activist Katie Morosky (Barbra Streisand) meet at college in the 1930s. Although attracted to each other, a romance does not ensue. However, they meet again during the Second World War, beginning an affair which eventually leads to marriage. But the relationship comes under strain when Katie begins to feel that Hubbell, pursuing his writing career in California, is beginning to sell out. Marvin Hamlisch won an Oscar for his sweeping score. A classic early 1970s weepie, The Way We Were stars Barbra Streisand as a Communist activist in the late 30s and 40s and Robert Redford as the ambitious young writer who marries her, cheats on her and eventually leaves her in the early days of McCarthyism for the sake of his Hollywood screenwriting career. Arthur Laurent’s intelligent screenplay, remarkable performances from the two stars and Marvin Hamlisch’s Oscar-winning score and theme song combined to produce a film that even as hostile a critic as Pauline Kael had to admit worked. On the DVD: The DVD re-release includes the usual subtitling facilities, the theatre trailer and a documentary on the film’s making, which includes one of the more political scenes deleted for commercial release; it is also possible to watch the film with a detailed commentary from Sydney Pollack about the problems of its making, problems which included writing new scenes so that Redford was not entirely upstaged by Streisand in the audience’s sympathies. –Roz Kaveney