The Way We Were (1973)

Two disparate people have a wonderful romance, but their political views and convictions drive them apart.

Director:

Sydney Pollack

Writer:

Arthur Laurents

Stars:

Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, Bradford Dillman

Won 2 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Barbra Streisand	...	Katie
Robert Redford	...	Hubbell
Bradford Dillman	...	J. J.
Lois Chiles	...	Carol Ann
Patrick O'Neal	...	George Bissinger
Viveca Lindfors	...	Paula Reisner
Allyn Ann McLerie	...	Rhea Edwards
Murray Hamilton	...	Brooks Carpenter
Herb Edelman	...	Bill Verso
Diana Ewing	...	Vicki Bissinger
Sally Kirkland	...	Pony Dunbar
Marcia Mae Jones	...	Peggy Vanderbilt
Don Keefer	...	Actor
George Gaynes	...	El Morocco Captain
Eric Boles	...	Army Corporal

Storyline

The often unlikely joint lives of Katie Morosky and Hubbell Gardiner from the late 1930s to the late 1950s is presented, over which time, they are, in no particular order, strangers, acquaintances, friends, best friends, lovers and adversaries. The unlikely nature of their relationship is due to their fundamental differences, where she is Jewish and passionate about her political activism both in political freedoms and Marxism to an extreme where she takes life a little too seriously, while he is the golden boy WASP, being afforded the privileges in life because of his background but who on the most part is able to capitalize on those privileges. Their lives are shown in four general time periods, in chronological order when they attend the same college, their time in New York City during WWII, his life as a Hollywood screenwriter post-war, and his life as a writer for a New York based live television show. It is during college that Hubbell finds his voice in life as a writer, and ...

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Plot Keywords:

communist | unfaithfulness | infidelity | soviet flag | reference to josef stalin | 

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Taglines:

Streisand and Redford together!!

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Movie Channel [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

19 October 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Way We Were

Filming Locations:

Plaza Hotel - 750 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$49,919,870, 31 December 1974

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Rastar Productions, Tom Ward Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor) (uncredited)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the few songs featured that was not a Marvin Hamlisch composition, 'The Glory of Love' was the theme music used for the '68 movie, "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner". Its star, Katherine Hepburn, shared the Best Actress Oscar with this movie's star, Barbra Streisand, when she was honored for "Funny Girl". The only time that award vote tied.

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Goofs

When the radio announcer refers to the time of Franklin Roosevelt's death, he says it occurred at 5:45 in the morning. President Roosevelt died in the early afternoon.

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Quotes

Katie Morosky Gardner: Hubbell, it's Katie. You did know it was Katie.

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Connections

Referenced in This Close: The Way We Were (2018)

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Soundtracks

In The Mood
(1939) (uncredited)
Music by Joe Garland and Andy Razaf
From Wingy Manone's "Tar Paper Stomp" (1930)
Played on a radio (probably by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra)

User Reviews

Hollywood schmaltz or deeply felt love story?

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 ****