When I first saw this movie after its release, I was quite enthralled but suspect, having matured somewhat, I might be considerably less so today.
The film chronicles, over a period of two decades (1930's to 1950's), the tempestuous romance between two opposites. When they first meet in college, Katie is an outspoken Jewish, liberal (no, Communist) activist, working hard to put herself through school. Hubbell is a wealthy, conservative, golden boy WASP, more interested in sports than in causes. When they meet up again some years later, they have a romance that leads to pregnancy, get married, and move to California. However, by now it's getting into a politically volatile era where people are being blacklisted as Communist sympathizers, and their ideological differences cause problems...
This movie is for me, memorable mainly for the amazing on screen chemistry between its two very adept stars, Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford (perfect in their roles here), the immortal tearjerker ending, and the song The Way We Were.
Reading the commentary, I somewhat agree with other reviewers that, even though Katie has remarried, the idea of Hubbell abandoning his daughter, of having no contact with her whatsoever, is not very endearing. However, times were different during that era, and custody or visitation back and forth between New York (Katie) and California (Hubbell) would have proved difficult and unusual. Truthfully, the kindest thing he may have done for his daughter, assuming Katie's current husband to be a loving and decent man, is exactly what he did...stay completely out of the picture and let his daughter have one consistent male parent, the step father. So, while Hubbell on the surface appears selfish and negligent in his parental responsibilities...
This film is a classic romance from my college years, and as such I remember it fondly. It's a testament to a quotation I once heard to the effect that a happy marriage does not depend upon the two people looking at each other, but in them both looking outward in the same direction. I guess we have a demonstration of this here with the apparently insurmountable obstacles faced by Katie and Hubbell.
The film chronicles, over a period of two decades (1930's to 1950's), the tempestuous romance between two opposites. When they first meet in college, Katie is an outspoken Jewish, liberal (no, Communist) activist, working hard to put herself through school. Hubbell is a wealthy, conservative, golden boy WASP, more interested in sports than in causes. When they meet up again some years later, they have a romance that leads to pregnancy, get married, and move to California. However, by now it's getting into a politically volatile era where people are being blacklisted as Communist sympathizers, and their ideological differences cause problems...
This movie is for me, memorable mainly for the amazing on screen chemistry between its two very adept stars, Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford (perfect in their roles here), the immortal tearjerker ending, and the song The Way We Were.
Reading the commentary, I somewhat agree with other reviewers that, even though Katie has remarried, the idea of Hubbell abandoning his daughter, of having no contact with her whatsoever, is not very endearing. However, times were different during that era, and custody or visitation back and forth between New York (Katie) and California (Hubbell) would have proved difficult and unusual. Truthfully, the kindest thing he may have done for his daughter, assuming Katie's current husband to be a loving and decent man, is exactly what he did...stay completely out of the picture and let his daughter have one consistent male parent, the step father. So, while Hubbell on the surface appears selfish and negligent in his parental responsibilities...
This film is a classic romance from my college years, and as such I remember it fondly. It's a testament to a quotation I once heard to the effect that a happy marriage does not depend upon the two people looking at each other, but in them both looking outward in the same direction. I guess we have a demonstration of this here with the apparently insurmountable obstacles faced by Katie and Hubbell.