The Way We Were (1973)

  This was my late friend Tamyka's favorite movie.  We didn't share the same taste in film and I can't honestly say that I would ever watch it again but it was worth it to be able to feel close to her again.

A woman with too many principles marries a man with too few.  That is basically what happens here. Katie (Barbra Streisand) has been a strident activist since college, advocating U.S. involvement in the Spanish Civil War against Franco, and chairing the local chapter of the Communist Club.  Hubbel (Robert Redford) is the campus golden boy, a rich, white, All-American athlete.  Despite their disparate backgrounds, Katie and Hubbel begin dating years later, after WWII.  As much as they love each other, they find themselves caught on opposite sides of the Hollywood 10 debate.  Katie wants more involvement and has never shied away from protesting, while Hubbel is content to swan around with his other rich, white friends and just make jokes about everything.

This film feels very prescient for our own current times.  There are commentaries on class, privilege, religion, 1st Amendment rights, fascism, totalitarianism, ethics, morals, and compromises to be mined from it, as well as a very timely message that you can't change people to fit your image of them.  It's a complex movie anchored by two very strong leads.  Redford and Streisand are both compelling and they play very well against one another.  It was not a pairing I thought was going to work but it does.

The character of Katie does have some problematic moments that can be chalked up to the times.  She smokes and drinks while pregnant, which is just ludicrous now, but she also waits until Hubbel is black-out drunk before climbing into bed with him the first night she can get him alone, which is gross.  If the roles were reversed, it would have been date rape and that character would have been reviled.  As it is, the scene is played for how desperate she is to be with him but it is still not okay.