Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

atlasmb The confluence of great direction (Sydney Pollack), a great script (Arthur Laurents), great acting, and great music (score and song) must necessarily result in a singular film, and "The Way We Were" is not just one of the best romances of all time. It is one of the best films of all time.Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford play two people from different worlds, different strata of society, different classes. The film covers their relationship over the years between the late 1930s and the late 1950s. They negotiate dramatic world changes and dramatic personal changes. Through it all, the question is whether or not love alone is enough to sustain a relationship. No other film answers that fundamental question better than "The Way We Were".This film contains some of my favorite cinematic lines and some of my favorite scenes. And a few of those memorable moments that make cinema such a transcendent medium.I you love a good romance--one that contains multiple levels of subtext in every scene and every look--this is the film to see.

brchthethird In my experience of watching movies, THE WAY WE WERE is a rare bird: a romantic drama that isn't corny, has complex characters, and weaves in sociopolitical commentary without being overbearing about it. Given the title (and absolutely beautiful title song), nostalgia is one of the film's major themes. Yet nostalgia isn't approached from a purely idealistic standpoint either, as a third-act line from Hubbell (Robert Redford) indicates ("Katie, it was never uncomplicated"). The film, to a degree, is about how politics can be divisive, particularly in personal relationships, but also in one's professional life, as part of the story takes place against the backdrop of McCarthyism and the Blacklist in Hollywood. I found the whole thing to be extremely well-written and balanced, with Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford's characters each making valid points about devotion to causes, perception vs reality, and relationships. I haven't seen a lot of movies with either person, but both of them were in very good form here. And, the film had a very strong three-act structure that brought out the central relationship's development that much more. On technical matters, I thought period detail was attended to very well, with each segment/act being distinct in terms of light, color, etc. Then, there's the title song. Barbra Streisand has a beautiful voice that fit Marvin Hamlisch's music to a tee; and, the music itself did an excellent job of evoking a sense of nostalgia throughout the entire running time, appearing in various forms and instrumentation over the course of the film. It is without hesitation or reservation that I put this among one of my favorite films of all time. Everything about it just works, from the story, the acting, the music, etc. It's the kind of movie that will have you longing for the "good old days," even if you never grew up during that time period.

Gideon24 The ultimate chick flick, 1974's The Way We Were follows Katie Morofsky, a serious-minded college student and radical who works overtime at very liberal political causes that have developed through the turmoil of WWII and though she is the hardest working gal on campus, things don't always go as effortlessly for her as she would like.Enter into Katie's life a guy named Hubbell Gardner (Robert Redford),a golden boy to whom everything comes easy and who takes life as it comes. Katie and Hubbell meet in college and she is immediately smitten with him, though she tries to fight it. Hubbell admires Katie's spirit, though he doesn't really love her, and from this springs one of the most moving and beautiful love stories ever put on celluloid, ending during the early 1960's.This movie draws you in immediately because Katie and Hubbell are both people that we can relate to and we understand their feelings for each other from the beginning and even though these people are polar opposites, we want to see them make this relationship work, which is further complicated by their conflicting political convictions. Katie is all about making a difference in the world and Hubbell wants to take things as they come and not quite as seriously as Katie does.The on screen chemistry between Streisand and Redford is off the charts and Streisand had to fight hard to get Redford to do the film. He rejected the role after reading the original script and Streisand had re-writes done immediately in order to beef up Hubbell's role.Pollack's sensitive direction and effective support from Bradford Dillman, Patrick O'Neal, and Viveca Lindfors also deserve mention here, but it is the magic chemistry generated by Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford that made this movie the instant classic it became. Needless to say, the classic Oscar winning theme song, flawlessly performed by Streisand, didn't hurt.

Desertman84 The Way We Were is a romantic film about a handsome young man and a radical and ordinary looking Jewish girl that features Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford.The screenplay by Arthur Laurents.It was based on his college days at Cornell University and his experiences with the House Un-American Activities Committee. Sydney Pollack directs.Katie Morosky is the secretary of the campus Young Communist League. Hubbell Gardiner,to whom Katie is fascinated due to fact that he is not only incredibly handsome and the top athlete on campus, but also writes great fiction for their short story class. Unfortunately,for all of his charms and talents, however, he's basically weak: He drifts into love affairs on the strength of drunken excuses and drifts out if the girl has too independent a mind. Katie does.She can't stand Hubbell's WASP friends with their jokes about Eleanor Roosevelt and their endless weekend cocktail parties. Hubbell, on the other hand, suggests that she find an additional mode of address to supplement her basic one, the impassioned political harangue. Anyway, they have nothing in common. But nevertheless,they they fall in love and get married and they move to Hollywood.They arrive roughly during the McCarthy period, and of course Katie is outraged in defense of the Hollywood 10 and Hubbell doesn't care. So we're all set up for the big obligatory scene where Katie stands up for principle and Hubbell chickens out at a HUAC hearing.Inexplicably, the movie suddenly and implausibly has them fall out of love and they split up.Overall,it is an engrossing, if occasionally ludicrous, hit tearjerker with Pollack, Streisand, and Redford doing a good job of bringing Laurents' script to the screen.It is enjoyable as a star vehicle for its handsome stars - Redford and Streisand - in their only film together.Although it does not resolve anything in the end and it turns out to be a talky melodrama with politics in the background,the stars manages to make the film a hit classic inspite of its limitations.