DVD Review: THE WAY WE WERE / Sydney Pollack (1973)
November 22nd, 2008 by Scott Marks
The Way We Were (1973)
Directed by Sydney Pollack
Written by Arthur Laurents
Starring: Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, Bradford Dillman, Lois Chiles, Patrick O’Neal, Herb Edelman, Viveca Lindfors, Murray Hamilton and James Woods in his first film
Photographed by Harry Stradling, Jr. in Panavision and Eastmancolor
Running Time: 118 min.
Rating: 
Gene Siskel didn’t drive, and after the preview of The Way We Were (it sneaked with the Robby Benson film One On One), he stood in front of the Golf Mill Theatre looking for a cab.This was a few years before At the Movies transformed him into one of America’s most recognizable, if not top, movie critics. There weren’t many hacks cruising Milwaukee Ave. at 10:30 on a Friday night, so Gene accepted my offer of a lift home and was good enough to buy my friend and me a burger at the old Lum’s in Old Town. We all agreed that One on One was the better of the two and I’d probably still feel that way today were the same double bill presented to me.
Let’s begin with a couple of pet annoyances. When a character removes a pot from a hot stove and transfers a spoonful of its contents to another character’s mouth (who in turn winces from the scalding spoon), they should never handle and return said pot to their lap lest they covet third degree thighs.
Nothing undermines painstaking period detail quicker than an anachronistic haircut. Though the film takes place during and after World War II, Robert Redford’s thatched, Summer Boy headdress smacks of Santa Monica Pier c.1973. There is a running hair motif that has Streisand lightly adjusting the fallen locks of her goyisha-kup lover doll’s feathered do. The only man allowed to have hair hanging over his forehead in the 1940s was Hitler. Put away the damn blow dryers when you’re making a period piece! While of the subject of anachronisms, check out Patrick O’Neal’s swingin’ wardrobe. He looks like Peter Lawford subbing for Dickie Dawson on a game show.
Streisand plays an outwardly tough dame who alternates between fiercely independent and hopelessly needy. By day she’s a college student championing Leftist causes. (Her bedroom is painted red and she cries when FDR dies even though she has a huge picture of Uncle Joe Stalin hanging in her living room.) Away from the rallies she’s a virginal meeskite who turns into a lap dog the second Hubbell (Redford) is around. Spotting him in a bar she can’t wait to take him back to her place and hop Hubbell’s telescope. She’s a dishrag waiting for some buff surfer to come along and wipe his hands all over her.
The film had everything going for it — interesting story, precise period detail, a big budget and even bigger stars –yet it lacked a director who had a feel for the time and place. The studio’s original choice, reigning hot shot Peter Bogdanovich, who had recently turned down both The Godfather and The Exorcist, also took a pass on this one. Too bad. His flair and feel for the period would have added layers of insight and sophistication to this otherwise over-glossed star vehicle. Years later Bogdanovich publicly regretted his decision after three legendary flops in a row sent him forever reeling to the margins of film history. Pollack, in turn, went on to produce more plastic blockbusters to great acclaim.
The high key cinematography is beautifully executed, but is it the right look for this story? Study the inordinate amount of extra light it takes to make Redford and Streisand look even more beautiful. According to Arthur Laurent’s original script, their characters are not beautiful and their lives none-too pretty. Whether it was a studio decision, a star contract clause or the conception of director and DP, whatever it was it was the wrong choice. It offset the rest of the picture and sent it into a tailspin.
It’s a People Magazine cover shoot masquerading as a movie. The leads move from scene to scene with introductions and camera set-ups identical to the ones that came before it. Was Pollock contractually obligated to give each star an equal amount of close-ups? It sure seemed that way. Pollock’s career was paved with lumpy scripts. When the material was in front of him he could execute it with great aplomb (They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Absence of Malice). He was a craftsman who couldn’t transcend the failings of a large number of the properties assigned him. Bogdanovich, a experienced writer and film historian, would have tweaked the dialog, moved the camera back and cut the hair.
Why are Streisand and Redford so bitter and disillusioned? They’re young, they’re beautiful and both have good studio jobs, yet at age 33 all this maudlin pair do in their spare time is pine away for the past. In all fairness, the film was heavily tampered with after initial previews proved audiences of the day preferred lyrical, love story-like montages over unpleasant talk of the Hollywood Ten. Note that Murray Hamilton’s character appears and quickly vanishes never to be heard from again. One gets the idea that the stars are frequently reacting to a subplot that isn’t there.
In any case, the film was destined to be the box office smash that it was and Marvin Hamlisch’s loathsome theme continues to haunt elevators, malls and wedding receptions to this day.
Tags: barbara streisand, barbra streisand, DVD Review, Movie Review, murray hamilton, patrick oneal, Robert Redford, Sidney Pollack, Sydney Pollack, THE WAY WE WERE, the way we were movie, the way we were reviewShare: 
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3 Responses to “DVD Review: THE WAY WE WERE / Sydney Pollack (1973)”
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It’s EXACTLY a People Magazine cover masquerading as a movie…which is why it is so popular. If Bogdanovich had directed it, or if the political subplots were left in, it would be a much better movie, but not nearly as popular or remembered. You can blame that on the vacuous tendencies of American audiences who prefer movies about simplistic romance over complex adult relationships.
Enjoyed the review immensely, but as a basketball fan who has sat through way too many lousy basketball movies (it has not been nearly as well served on the screen as boxing and baseball), I have to question your memory timeline.
“One on One” was released in 1977. Are you sure it played on a double bill with a sneak preview of “The Way We Were?”
Perhaps this will save you an avalanche of e-mails from the Robby Benson fan club.
Also, one little error I’m sure your time in a sunny state led to: The Golf Mill was off of Milwaukee Ave., not Waukegan. I drive by there every day on my way to work and curse the oversized fitness center that has taken its place.
Right actor, wrong movie. It was “Jeremy.”
And I guess that I’ve been out of Chicago too long. It was Golf and Milwaukee, not Waukegan.
I’ll go back and correct my boners.