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The Way We Were
Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:
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Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:
AV NIRVANA is member and reader-supported. When you purchase an item using our links, we might earn an affiliate commission.
Love her or hate her, but Barbara Streisand was an absolutely electrifying actress and singer. Even if the movie was bad, she somehow managed to shine through it all, and turn a mediocre picture into a film that people watch 50 years later. And to coincide with her autobiography that is coming out, Sony Pictures has given us a brand new 4K UHD release of the film, with an all new 4 minute extended cut (along with the theatrical cut, don’t worry) with a brand new transfer of one of her most iconic films.
While I grew up with Steisand, I never really watched The Way We Were simply due to the fact that I wanted to watch something action filled, or something funny, which meant that this was definitely a no go for my young mind. It wasn’t till that 70s show where it became a plot device that I decided I might as well watch it. Unfortunately I absolutely LOATHED the film from beginning to end back then (I was probably 20 or 21) due to the fact that I had just gotten engage and tragic ending was something that I really didn’t feel like feeling as I was just starting out on my own nuptials. So much so that I actually decided not to buy the Twilight Time Blu-ray release back when it came out in 2013 even though I was collecting most of their classics line simply out of principle. It wasn’t till a few years ago that I felt enough time had passed to revisit the film and give it a another watch.
Luckily for my opinion on the film changed, but even though it was a better watch than the reactionary viewing of a hopeful 21 year old, the movie just doesn’t strike a chord in me the way it did for so many people. It has been labeled as one of the best love stories ever told by critics, and people of my parents generation absolutely rave about it to this day. However, I fall more in line with Roger Ebert’s take, which was that the film was a zeitgeist of the 1970s. More of a tragic rebellion against all of the syrupy love tales that ended happily ever after, rather than an actual died in the wool classic film. The script is frustrating, and the editing sloppy, but somehow Robert Redford and Barbara Steisand are unbelievably mesmerizing on screen. Especially Streisand. But at the end of the day it’s a clumsy film that is beautifully shot, and starts two brilliant performances by legendary actors.
Streisand is one Katie Morosky, a college aged Jewish activist who is heavily on the side of the communists of the Soviet Union and their fight against the Spanish fascists of the day (ironically, with the way the terms are bandied about in the left vs. right politics of today it’s eerily familiar), and Hubbell Gardiner (Robert Redford) is her polar opposite. While she is an on fire activist for the Young Communist League, willing to make an enemy of herself to everyone in order to stick up for her ideals, Hubbell is a jack of all trades all star jock who came from a wealthy family and ends up going to war during WWII and become a hero. Years later Katie works for a local radio station when she bumps into Hubbell again, home from his deployment. Sparks fly, and soon the two polar opposites are madly in love with each, despite their incredible differences.
However, this is not really a love story as one would imagine it. The Way We Were is a Greek tragedy, complete with the utter dismay and bittersweet devastation of two lives. Sydney Pollack crafts a film that really has you rooting for Katie and Hubbell. The two are definitely products of the old saying that opposites attract, and they seem to be fighting the good fight to make something beautiful work out trouble. The two are wildly diametrically opposed to each other on their belief systems, but both are working hard to make their relationship work. Only thing is, working out was never the point of the movie. Pollack slowly leads us to the inevitable conclusion that love itself is not enough to make something work. Sometimes you need to be on the same page to actually make things work out. The ending literally rips your heart out and then crushes the still beating organ in its hands, watching as the characters we hoped and rooted for literally dive bomb into a spiraling display of destruction. Culminating in an ending scene that can only be described as that “what if?” fantasy everyone has when they break up. That scenario where you run into your ex 20 years later, and actually get to ask them how they’re doing. How their life WENT after the relationship ended.
As I said, the movie is less a love story, and more of a Greek Tragedy, but sadly it is not a perfect story either. I can live with a bitter ending if the tale is told well, but Sydney Pollack’s film is only middle of the road in terms of story telling. The first half of the film works well enough, but the editing is absolutely abysmal in the third act as the relationship comes to an end. From what I can tell from reading bits of the original script, as well as several interviews and special features from Pollack, the film was cut and re-cut before it came out and he was extremely unhappy with how it turned out (sadly the 4 minutes of extended footage in the new cut aren’t much different). The latter act makes it seem like Hubbell and Katie’s relationship ends due to his infidelity and it’s awkwardly cut to make it seem that way. The original script had it so that Katie told Hubbell to leave, because she realized her outspoken political beliefs were going to kill his career, with the two of them amicably ending their relationship knowing that, while they loved and cared for each other, they were toxic for each other as a couple. As a result the end 30 minutes is so disjointed and choppy that it leaves even the most forgiving of film fans noticing that it doesn’t even remotely fit the pacing of the first 2 acts.
Looking back at the film I don’t know if Katie and Hubbell ever really LOVED each other. I’m sure they did to a certain extent, but the film makes it seem more like they CARED about each other more than genuinely loved each other. Love requires an incredible amount of sacrifice. Putting he other person above yourself, and the understanding that it is selfless and giving. The two of them deeply cared about each other, but their sacrifices only went skin deep. On the other hand, it’s a very chilling example of what happens when one is unequally yoked to someone with wildly opposing belief systems. Some people can make it work, but a realtionship really needs two people who have similar enough belief systems to truly bond and connect the two, otherwise the run the risk of being two people who care about each other, but can’t stand the other person either. I’ve seen it work before, but VERY VERY rarely.
Rating:
Rated PG by the MPAA
4K Video: Video:
Audio:
Extras:
• Making-Of Documentary “Looking Back”
• Theatrical Trailer
Final Score:
That being said, The Way We Were is a brutally bittersweet film that shares two utterly incredible performances by Streisand and Redford. The two literally light up the screen whenever they’re together, with Streisand head and shoulders above anyone around her. The film suffers from poor editing and middling story telling, but at the end of the day the film became a cult classic for all of those who grew up in the 1970s. Today it may not hold together that well, but it has earned its cult status despite my criticisms of the film. Sony’s Blu-ray looks and sounds great, but sadly the extras are fairly minimalistic for what fans might want. Definitely check it out if you’re interested in sad dramas.
Technical Specifications:
Starring: Robert Redford, Barbara Steisand, James Woods
Directed by: Sydney Pollack
Written by: Arthur Laurents, Francis Ford Coppola, Paddy Chayefsky
Aspect Ratio: 2:35:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA Mono, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Sony
Rated: PG
Runtime: 119 minutes (theatrical) / 123 minutes (extended cut)
Blu-Ray Release Date: October 17th, 2023
Recommendation: Check It Out.
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