The Way We Were (1973)
Friday, April 11, 8:30 PM
A Classic Romance...

When the American Film Institute announced it's list of the 100 greatest movie love stories, CASABLANCA, which we showed at the ROCFF in 2005, came in at numero uno; GONE WITH THE WIND, one of our 2006 selections, was rated No. 2, and AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER, on our agenda last year, was No. 5 on the list. (Slots 3 and 4 were filled by WEST SIDE STORY and ROMAN HOLIDAY.) Quite unintentionally, this year three movies from that AFI list are on our schedule: THE WAY WE WERE (#6), THE AFRICAN QUEEN (#14) and THE KING AND I (#31). Great love stories they all are although in the case of each, their romantic natures are only one of the elements which make them so entertaining to watch.

In THE WAY WE WERE, for instance, the assets also include the powerful oil-and-water mix of Barbra Streisand as a nerdy college radical in love with Robert Redford as an illegally handsome, WASPY campus king. Mismatched they are but they're also one of the most charismatic couples the screen has produced.  Additionally, the script by Arthur Laurents is literate and unpredictable, the story's angst believable and touching. Another plus: it's haunting musical score by Marvin Hamlisch which won him one of three Academy Awards that year. Hamlisch earned a second for co-writing the title song with lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman.

And Oscar didn't stop there.  Streisand was nominated as best actress for her performance, and there were also nods for the film's cinematography, art direction and costume design. Redford was also an Academy Award nominee that year, but not for this movie; he won his slot on the best actor list for his work in another 1973 blockbuster THE STING, a movie which also brought Hamlisch a third statuette for that film's music score.  

But for all the assets of THE WAY WE WERE, it is most remembered for that love story at it's core which has been very sensitively directed by Sydney Pollack. It's one of several films in which Redford and Pollock have collaborated as star and director. They also worked together in the 1962 film WAR HUNT, that time both as actors.) THE WAY WE WERE, to the frustration of many fans, remains the one and only on-screen teaming of La Streisand and the King of Sundance. For years rumors swirled about a possible a sequel perhaps looming in the future. It has never materialized and, at this point in time, with 35 years having past, it's unlikely it ever will. But that makes this particular jewel all the more special, wouldn't you say? 

1973. 118  minutes.  Panavision, Color. Producer: Ray Stark. Director: Sydney Pollock. Screenplay: Arthur Laurents. Cinematography: Harry Stradling Jr. Editor: Margaret Booth. Music: Marvin Hamlisch. Costumes: Dorothy Keakins, Moss Mabry. Production design: Stephen Grimes. Cast: BARBRA STREISAND, ROBERT REDFORD, Bradford Dillman, Lois Chiles, Patrick O'Neal, Viveca Lindfors, Allyn Ann McLerie, Murray Hamilton, Herb Edelman, Sally Kirkland, Marcia Mae Jones, Susan Blakely. A Rastar poduction released thru Columbia Pictures.