The Way We Were

Directed by Sydney Pollack, The Way We Were charts the bumpy romantic exploits of Barbra Streisand’s fiercely political Katie Morosky and Robert Redford’s comparatively laid-back Hubbell Gardiner – with the movie ultimately transpiring over the course of several decades and following the pair as they individually pursue their careers. Filmmaker Pollack, working from Arthur Laurents’ script, delivers a slow-moving yet mostly compelling love story that benefits quite substantially from the strong work of its stars, with the palpable chemistry between Redford and Streisand going a long way towards smoothing over the sporadic bumps in Laurents’ hit-and-miss screenplay – although, to be fair, it’s clear that any such narrative deficiencies are rendered moot by Pollack’s appealingly sweeping (and epic) approach to the material. And while certain events are unable to pack the engrossing punch Pollack has obviously intended – the picture requires at least a baseline of knowledge related to some historical events, ultimately – The Way We Were does, for the most part, come off as a superior romance that’s aged remarkably well in the years since its 1973 debut. (This is, in the end, undoubtedly as effective (and affecting) an endeavor as Hollywood as ever produced.)

*** out of ****

Leave a comment