The Way We Were
In 1973 Sydney Pollack scored his first box-office hit with The Way We Were, a romance starring megastars Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. It also has the dubious distinction of launching into the world the ubiquitous title song and making Marvin Hamlisch a household name.The story is an amber-hued weepie about how a Jewish leftist chick, Streisand, has an implausible romance with a WASPy golden boy, Redford. They meet in college, where she is a member of the Young Communists and he is the popular jock. He's fascinated by her, though, and she is attracted to him, even though she thinks he's lacking in political fervor.
They meet again during World War II, when she's writing for radio and he's a naval officer. They end up having an affair, and after some rough times (she can't stand his laissez faire country club friends and he tires of her constantly politicizing everything) they marry and move to California where he becomes a screenwriter. The story then touches on the Hollywood blacklist era, and the realization that these two lovebirds will never make it. So sad!
Audiences ate this up for some reason, but I found it a crashing bore. It's interesting to look at Streisand's film career and see it as some kind of cry of "I'm attractive!" In this film, The Prince of Tides, and The Mirror Has Two Faces, she plays characters who end up bewitching hunky goyish actors. Streisand is not ugly, I'm not saying that, but jeez, does she really need to air her insecurities in film after film? I didn't think the pairing in this film had any heat, but I don't blame Streisand, I think Redford seems as though he's looking for the first exit out. In all the films I've seen him in he never really has chemistry with any of his leading ladies, unless you count Paul Newman.
Though his film was a yawn and frequently ludicrous, I did watch a long, self-congratulatory "looking back" documentary on the DVD. It was interesting for a number of reasons: Arthur Laurents wrote the script for Streisand (based on a girl he knew in college), Pollack practically begged Redford to do it (Redford, rightly so, thought his character was a bit of a spineless pin-up), and the climax of the film, in which Redford leaves Streisand because her subversive past may jeopardize his career, was cut out of the film. Laurents and Streisand still smart about that, and Pollack justifies the incision of the political material by mentioning the reaction at two previews. Watching the deleted scenes, they wouldn't have made the film much better, but they would have given it a lot more gravitas.
Thank GOD you didn't like this movie. Absolutely hated it. And yes, I do believe Streisand's entire meaning for existence is to prove, "Yes, even marginally-normal-looking people can make it in the movies."
ReplyDeleteHILARIOUS. As soon as I read that sentence about him having no chemistry I was going to say: "Except for the guys he's acted with." Super funny.
Count me in as one who found this film not just bad, but a chore to get through to the end. Amazed that it became such a big success, especially in the early 1970s (not exactly an era noted for such schmaltzy stuff being popular).
ReplyDeleteOn Streisand, to write her off as some self-serving egomaniac is only part of the story, it's a bit more complicated then that.
I think Joe Queenan got it spot on in an article he wrote on her a couple of decades back. While she's always been self-absorbed, in her early films she showed a fair deal of talent. 'Funny Girl' and 'Hello Dolly' have their flaws but they're enjoyable films helped by Streisand's presence and star power. And 'Whats' Up Doc' is terrific fun in a genre that's easy to trip up on, and Streisand's perfectly in sync with what's required.
But (as Queenan stated) then things took a major turning point with TWWW, which saw Streisand change from a talented but somewhat self-indulgent performer to an egomanical self-parody. And little in the subsequent 35 years has done little to change that perception.