The Way We Were

The journey of two lovers with a firey connection, The Way We Were almosts surprises audiences with it's original , but at times long, plot.
Director Sidney Pollack leaves it up to his leading lovers, Babs (Barbra Streisand) and Robert Redford, to take seemingly insane and quirky characters and make them somehow relevant and connected to audiences everywhere. The story was written by Arthur Laurents and (though not credited) David Rayfiel. The academy award winning score was written by Marvin Hamlisch, composing the title song, "The Way We Were" (sung by Babs herself) as well as Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman, who wrote the lyrics. The three received an Oscar and a Grammy award for the song in 1974 and Hamlisch earned an Oscar for the score. Streisand was nominated for best leading actress at the Golden Globes and the BAFTA awards.
The Way We Were is a story of two opposites, an unlikely pair, that attract. Katie Morosky (Streisand), an avid and very ourspoken supporter of the communist party, spends her college years convincing others of joining the communist party and fulfilling her duties as spokes person for the Young Communist League. Hubbel Gardner, on the other hand, is the typical all-American guy, participating and dominating in many sports and having plenty of options as far as women are concerned. When he sees Katie speaking at an event, he is inspired by her bravery, but disgusted with her political stance. Katie sees him all over town and dotes on him and his very fine physique. When she runs into him 10 years after college has ended, her attraction to him is immediately rekindled, bringing back many memories of their college days. They begin their red-hot romance, although unstable, in her apartment when she lets him spend the night. Hubbell seems uninterested at first, but slowly warms up to her. Katie is a little spastic and possibly has some sort of chemical imbalance, which makes it hard for the audience to understand why Hubbell would even pursue such a psychotic woman, but he does. Morosky realizes that they disagree politically, so in an effort to make things work, she gives up her political voice and marries Gardner. Hubbell sparks an interest in writing screenplays, once WWII ends, which at the time was a very dangerous interest to practice. During the time frame of the film, Hollywood was very corrupt because of the black listing. Once they move to Caliornia, the audience witnesses the slow and painful downfall of their marriage as the passionate and fanatical attraction turns awry. Katie can't help but open her big mouth and fight against the witch-hunts, but Hubbell finds that completely unattractive and implores her to stop her rediculous behavior; but he knows just as well as the audience that no one can stop Katie from doing what she may think is right. She reveals to Hubbell that she is pregnant, but it is not to bring back that lovin' feeling (it's gone gone gone). One fight leads to another until finally Hubell cheats on Katie with his college fling (CLIMAX!!). He stays with Katie until she gives birth to their baby and then the two part ways. When they run into eachother, by chance, years later both are in committed relationships and yet they can both feel their lusty desires for one another. But, alas, they just weren't meant to be. Katie looks on at Hubbell, knowing their political and personality differences could never coincide, and remembers the way they were. (haha I crack myself up)
I thought the film was very interesting. I thought Streisands character was very hard to relate to until the very end when Hubbell cheated on Katie. She came off as a little psychotic and in need of some medication. Although it was long and drawn out at times, I appreciated the storyline. The ending was different than anything I've ever seen before and left the audience with just the right feeling. I think the film should have stuck to one controversial area instead of trying to cover both (Communism and Black listing) so that it could have focused on it a little more and done it justice. For example, I wish we could have seen more of the Hollywood black listing and how unfair it was to everyone. Overall, I give this film a C+ for effort and originality.