Rating: 
Summary: AVERAGE!
Review: It's no secret in Hollywood that about 45 minutes or so of footage was cut out of this film prior to its original release. 20 minutes of that was taken out after test preview audiences didn't like the political storylines! For the life of me, I can't understand why that missing footage wasn't put in this 25th Anniversary edition!!!!???????? And not even to put it in a wide-screen version is a further mystery!!!!!????????????
Rating: 
Summary: THE WAY WE WERE is Wonderful!
Review: This is one of my 10 favorites! However, I'm going to wait until the 25th Ann. edition comes out (April 20) before I officially review it. Until then, 5 stars!
Rating: 
Summary: Don't even think about watching this movie
Review: Till now, I thought I can watch Robert Redford anyday. This is the bad movie of all the Redford's movies I watched. Barbara gets on to your nerves. Screenplay is pathetic. Movie is just a mix of couple of scenes put together. It has no emotion whatsoever that others have referred to. Lovestories usually have audience to get related to any character in the movie; but this one fails miserably - you will end up being an outsider watching some hard to pass time movie.
Rating:
Summary: Memories
Review: People love Barbra or hate her. There is not a position in between. Well, I love her. And evidently I love this film. Some could think this is only another romance film, but I have always thought that The Way We Were has that extra something that makes it a great movie. Basically this is the story of a what could have been. What could have happened if Katie and Hubell were diferent and the circumstances also. Katie is one of those characters everybody, no matter if male of female, can identify with. Because we all have been in her situation, have felt like outcasts, like eternal losers. So we just love her. And also admire her because she has principles, and she follows them till the end. Hubell, on the other hand, is not only a handsome lucky man. He is an interesting character that tries to pass through life making the slightest noise possible. And here is where both clash. He has the talent but not the courage, while she has the courage but not the talent requested.
Love here is something that both see from diferent perspectives. She understands it in a total sense. When you love someone you give everything, and here is where the story becomes so tender and appealing. Because Katie is ready to give everything, and Hubell only to a certain point. It is a bittersweet romance with two people that love each other but that cannot make their love survive in the world they are living.
Apart from the outstanding performances. The talent of Pollack is evident. He has a grace and elegance in this film that is hard to find in other films. He lets the characters introduce themselves. And the score is simply fantastic. It seems that all elements that create a film are here together working in a perfect combination. The last scene is still as moving as the first time I watched it.
This edition is definitively a keeper. And I recommend it to anyone who loves a good story and good performances.
Rating:
Summary: The ultimate "chick flick"
Review: Please don't take the review title as a putdown, because it's seriously not; it's just that the film is told entirely from the perspective of the Streisand character, and almost entirely revolves around her passion for the Redford character. I just can't relate.
But the film is absolutely gorgeous. It's really a shame that cinematographer Harry Stradling, Jr., didn't win an Oscar (it went instead to something called "Cries and Whispers") or at least the art direction or costumes should've gotten a statue (those both went to "The Sting," so at least that makes sense).
The story is an engaging one, as the Jewish American Communist played by Streisand falls in unrequited love with Redford's All-American Boy character in college, only to unexpectedly meet him again several years later and gradually win his heart. She encourages his reticent writing talent, boosting his confidence and helping him fine-tune his style, until he is a successful novelist and Hollywood screenwriter. (Many will be turned off by the way this strong woman so thoroughly subjugates her uncompromising politics and personality to his, becoming a more or less typical housewife, but at least this film takes place in and around the WWII years when this happened far more often than today; it also underscores her love for him.)
Ultimately I have to believe that the tearjerker aspect of this film has to do with women identifying with Streisand's loss when Redford leaves her, and their subsequent meeting on a street corner years later. What red-blooded heterosexual female wouldn't be struck with a sense of loss of such love these characters shared, especially of a man the ilk of Redford? Athlete, former naval officer, Hollywood golden boy?
Needless to say, no tears were shed here at the film's conclusion. It's an extremely well-made film, but aimed at a female audience, so it didn't draw me in much at all. Doubtless, however, fans of the film and/or of Streisand will be delighted at her extensive involvement in the making of this DVD.
Rating:
Summary: disappointed
Review: Is there anyone out there that agrees with me that this movie is big disappointment? I will agree that Redford and Streisand are great actors, I've seen their work before. They did great for the parts they were given to work with, but this movie wasn't up to par with their talents. I am a person very easily moved by human experiences, fictional or real. This movie did nothing for me. I couldn't lose myself in their lives. The plot seemed choppy and I wasn't drawn to any of the personalities portrayed. For all the hype about it for so many years...what a let-down!
Rating: 
Summary: Streisand, Redford, Pollack Soar...Blacklisting Falls Short
Review: When Carrie and the girls waxed enthusiastically about "The Way We Were" in an episode of HBO's "Sex in the City", I realized what a touchstone this movie has become for many who saw it as the ultimate opposites-attract romance. Over thirty years have elapsed since its initial release, and it's easy to forget what a massive challenge director Sydney Pollack had in making this movie. Primarily he had to harness the elephantine personality of Barbra Streisand, then the most powerful female movie star, within a period movie that was designed to provide an incisive look at the McCarthy-era witch hunts. Pollack does an exceptional job in delineating the somewhat preposterous love story, and he guides Streisand to one of her most subtle and touching performances, still her best onscreen work. She was also lucky to have veteran screenwriter Arthur Laurents write such a strong, multi-dimensional character in Katie Morosky. It's quite a journey from young Communist college radical in the late thirties to glamorous Hollywood wife in the early fifties, but Streisand seems fully committed in conveying her character's idealism and blind idolatry. Matching her every step of the way is Robert Redford, who was then at the peak of his matinee idol popularity as well. He smartly underplays the lionized Hubbell Gardiner, fleshing out a character that could have remained a cipher but instead seems to understand his own limitations. It's interesting how all the other characters fade completely in the background as a result of the mega-wattage generated by the star coupling.
In essence, the movie consists of three distinct parts: the college years when they first make impressions on each other, the WWII years when they meet again and start an unlikely romance, and the Hollywood years when they are married and get mired in the studio system. The first two parts are excellent and filled with memorable moments. I particularly like the intimate café scene where Hubbell announces to Katie that his article has just been published and later on when she cajoles him to stay for dinner and rattles on in typical Streisand rat-a-tat fashion about how she spent all her ration stamps on steaks and baked potatoes. Her look of realized humiliation afterward is priceless. She also handles her showcase scenes well, for instance, at the radio station when Hubbell concedes that the relationship is impossible to continue and later when Katie begs Hubbell to come over to help her sleep. I realize I was being manipulated by only-in-Hollywood, Oscar-baiting gesticulations, but the scenes somehow work regardless.
When the story moves to Hollywood, the movie gets a bit more problematic. The star-crossed couple is challenged by the revelation to Hubbell's studio that Katie was a former Communist, which in turn makes Hubbell, now a rising screenwriter, a target for blacklisting. What should have been the most interesting part of the film becomes muddled as to what exactly is happening to cause their inevitable break-up. Ironically though, the film's most powerful scene is in this section, the train station confrontation between Katie and Hubbell over people and their principles. But bottom line, there is no narrative connection between the Hollywood blacklist and their separation, which just seems odd given the build-up of the story to that point. I am not certain whether reinstating several crucial scenes (cut at the last minute by Pollack) would have helped after seeing some of them in the extensive and insightful documentary included as part of the DVD package, "The Way We Were: A Look Back". I have to agree with Pollack (and disagree with Streisand) that the deleted scenes don't really fit in with the pacing and emotionalism during this part of the movie even though they do provide added context. Of course the coda outside the Plaza Hotel is still classic, mainly due to the brevity of dialogue, the swooning Marvin Hamlisch music and the tear-jerking stares and gestures.
Despite its narrative disconnect in the last third, I still love this movie, and it does deserve its place among the great screen romances. The evocative music along with the overplayed title tune certainly adds to its impact. It's just that it doesn't belong in a sub-category of films that deal seriously with the Communist red scare. The DVD transfer is good though not exceptional, and for diehard fans of the movie, the well done documentary seems essential.
Rating:
Summary: Unreconcilable differences--love doesn't always win out
Review: "The Way We Were" is one of a handful of movies that I can watch over and over. Bittersweet and poignant, it follows the love, marriage and ultimate breakup of two people who should be perfect for each other but who aren't. Streisand and Redford are brilliantly matched as Katy, a working class Jewish political activist and Hubbell, a cool, blond member of the WASP aristocracy. They meet in college and briefly connect. After graduation, they go their separate ways and encounter each other again in wartime New York. He's in the Navy and she's now more sophisticated and working in radio. Encountering him in a bar, she offers him a place to stay should he ever be without of a hotel room, Eventually, he takes her up on it, and their romance builds from there. They marry, and after the war, go to Hollywood where his novel is to be made into a film. There, they get swept up in both the demands of the studio to make his script more commercial and the demands of McCarthy-era witch hunts.
There are so many more threads in this movie than just the romance between the two main characters. There's politics, for example--she's a passionate leftist and he's a passive, mainstream type. She acts on her principles in refusing to testify before the House Unamerican Activities Committee. He would just as soon go with the flow. She believes in his ability as a writer and pushes him towards reaching his potential. He takes the easy way to Hollywood success. Opposites may attract, but they may not be compatible forever.
In many ways, this is Streisand's film. Redford does a marvelous job playing the easy-going Hubbell, but much of the way the film views him is through Katy's eyes. For Katy, Hubbell is that unattainable object of desire glittering in the distance. She gets him, through sheer determination, but ultimately their differences prove too great and she loses him. But, for her at least, the bittersweet longing remains, even after she's found someone else.
"The Way We Were" is the kind of film that taps into everyone's feelings of perfect but unrequited love. The title song says it all. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: "Katie, it was never uncomplicated."
Review: As stated many times before, THE WAY WE WERE is one of only a handful of romantic blockbusters to actually feature an intelligent script and complex characters. Writer Arthur Luarents' based his screenplay (and subsequent novel) on girl he knew in college, who fought for liberal (and sometimes communist) causes. The film was a surprise box office smash when originally released, and became the fifth-highest grossing film of 1973 and an instant classic. Katie Morosky is a character that Barbra Streisand born play, and she delivers on all accounts. Fierce and determined, yet vulnerable and self-conscious, Katie is a tricky character and Streisand inhabits her so deeply that she seems nothing less than completely believable. Justifiably nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, she was unfortunately robbed of the award. Redford, who actually turned down the role twice before director and friend Sydney Pollack talked him into taking the part, displays some of the best reflective acting ever seen on the big screen and definitely deserved a nomination as well (he was, however, nominated for Best Actor that year for his light comedic performance in THE STING). The film's enduring popular success with the mass audience is due to the magnetic chemistry between Streisand and Redford and the gorgeous visuals and strong directorial hand supplied by Pollack, however it is the complexity of the romance with politics and the strong characterizations by both leads that continues to make THE WAY WE WERE the best love story for adults. About the DVD: The picture quality is beautiful, quite possibly the best the film has ever looked. The sound quality is also vastly improved. Pollack's commentary track is interesting, but the 60-minute documentary is the best extra on the disc. Featuring insightful interviews from Pollack, Streisand, and Laurents (as well as composer Marvin Hamlisch and lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman) the documentary is well-produced and entertaining, and it was great to finally see those much-debated deleted scenes.
|
