The Way We Were
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The Way We Were is a 1973 film which tells the story of a Jewish woman who marries a WASP following World War II, at the height of McCarthyism; their political differences eventually drive them apart. It stars Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, Bradford Dillman, Lois Chiles, Patrick O'Neal and Viveca Lindfors.
The movie was written by Arthur Laurents and David Rayfiel (uncredited) and directed by Sydney Pollack.
Part of the movie was filmed on location in New York's Capital Region. The first part of the movie was shot at Union College and in and around Ballston Spa, New York.
Tagline: Streisand and Redford together!!
It tells the story of an idealistic young woman, Katie (Barbra Streisand), who falls in love with Hubbell (Robert Redford), while they are college students in the 1930s. They have immense differences. She is a Marxist, with strong anti-war opinions, and he is a laid-back troublemaker. She is drawn to him because of his writing, which she finds fascinating and captivating. He admires her conviction and her determination as well as her belief in the ability to change and influence those around her.
Years go by and they meet again. Now she works in a radio station and he, having fought in World War II, is settling into a conventional WASP lifestyle. They fall in love and get married, despite their political differences. Katie is intolerant of the political jokes Hubbell's good friends make. She finds them insensitive and ignorant, treating politics as a joke.
Katie finds Hubbell's writing brilliant, but is displeased when Hubbell seeks a job as a screenwriter in Hollywood. She believes it to be a compromising waste of his talent. Despite Katie's growing frustration, they move to California. Hubbell becomes a successful playwright, but Katie's political views remain strong.
Even though Katie is pregnant with their child, Hubbell has an affair with Carol Ann (Lois Chiles), his girlfriend in college and recent ex-wife of his best friend J.J. (Bradford Dillman). Katie and Hubbell finally decide to part. Also, Katie comes to see that Hubbell is not the person she idealized and admired when she fell in love with him. While he is a talented writer, he is unable to take his gift seriously or to discipline and dedicate himself to exploring his talent. Instead, he always chooses to take the easiest and the simplest way out — whether it is cheating in his marriage or writing predictable stories for sitcoms. Katie comes to realize that Hubbell will never challenge himself but will continue to seek what comes easiest to him or is essentially handed to him by life.
Katie retains custody of their daughter Rachel and moves to New York City. Katie remarries and continues to champion her political views while dedicating her life to the causes of disarmament and world peace. Several years after their divorce, Katie accidentally meets Hubbell again in New York. Hubbell, who is with a beautiful woman who exemplifies the WASP ideal, is now writing for a popular sitcom as one of a group of hired and nameless writers. Katie, though, has remained faithful to who she is — a person who believes in the power of politics to change the world for the betterment of people. In the movie's final scene, Hubbell asks Katie about their daughter Rachel. Katie tells him that Rachel is beautiful and he should come see her. Hubbell answers that he can't. The tears in his eyes make it clear that the loss of Katie and the life he had with her is a painful experience for him. He was at his best when he was with her, and no one will ever believe in him or see as much promise in him as Katie once did. Both Katie and Hubbell will always remember with poignancy "the way they were."
Awards
The film won Academy Awards for Best Music, Original Dramatic Score and Best Music, Song (Marvin Hamlisch, Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman for "The Way We Were"), and was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Barbra Streisand), Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Cinematography and Best Costume Design.The title song
In addition to the title song's Oscar win, Barbra Streisand's rendition of "The Way We Were" was a tremendous commercial success, becoming her first number one single in the United States. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1973 and charted for 23 weeks, eventually selling over a million copies and lasting three weeks at number one in February 1974 (non-consecutive, as it was bumped from the top spot briefly by Love Unlimited Orchestra's "Love's Theme"). On the Adult Contemporary chart, it was Streisand's second number one hit after "People" in 1964. Billboard named "The Way We Were" as the number one pop hit of 1974. "The Way We Were" was also the title song of a Streisand album which also hit number one (not the soundtrack album of the movie, which peaked at #20). In the UK, the song wasn't nearly as successful as it was Stateside, reaching #33.Gladys Knight & The Pips returned "The Way We Were" to the charts in the spring of 1975. Knight preceded the sung lyrics to "The Way We Were" with a spoken-word passage incorporating the lyrics to "Try To Remember" from the musical The Fantasticks. The single entered the Hot 100 in late April 1975, charted for 17 weeks and peaked at #11 U.S. and #4 UK
External links
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