Streisand ruined this movie for me. Her character was annoying but with a more charming actress like Audrey Hepburn or Natalie Wood I could've looked past it. I can maybe even see someone like Bette Davis playing this role back in the 1930s or 40s. To add to that I don't think she had much chemistry with Redford.
With that said I love the concept of the film and I wouldn't want to see it remade.
OOH! Natalie Wood would have been perfect for Streisands part.
shareYes.
I think with her the movie would be regarded as a classic even more than it is today, as she and Redford would've made such a great on screen couple. I wonder if she was approached and turned it down.
This character was written with Barbara in mind. Natalie Wood would have been terrible, as would Hepburn. The whole idea of Katie was her Jewishness, her rough edges, and her politics. The match between the WASPY Hubbel and the ethnic character Katie is what drives the story. I don't know how old you are --but if you lived through those terrible times in America, you'd have a better feel for them and the story line.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_We_Were
from the above:
Because of his own background, Laurents felt it was important for his heroine to be Jewish and share his outrage at injustice. He also thought it was time a mainstream Hollywood film had a Jewish heroine, and because Barbra Streisand was the industry's most notable Jewish star, he wrote the role of Katie Morosky for her. Laurents had already known Streisand for some time, having cast her in his 1963 Broadway musical I Can Get it For You Wholesale.
> The match between the WASPY Hubbel and the ethnic character Katie is what drives the story.
Absolutely right. I can't think of ANYONE who would have been remotely as good. Natalie Wood?? That's silly. Audrey Hepburn???? That's absurd!
Agreed. I adore Natalie and Audrey but both of them are too doe-eyed, too obviously charming. Completely wrong for abrasive, challenging Katie. Streisand was perfect.
shareshe was prefect in this!
perfectly cast for the mis-matched relationship between the two.
I just watched it just now and mis-matched as they were as a couple, they loved one another but couldn't over come their differences of personalities. and I think Streisand and Redford had great chemistry.
classics guy -- thank you. I just watched it for the 3billionth time. It's one of my favorite movies -- and not so much for cinematic's sake, but the politics of the time and their relationship.
AND as for Barbra being miscast -- again, the film was written specifically as a vehicle for her, with no one else in mind, by Arthur Laurents, so, no one else would have played it.
I'd love to see "The Way We Are" with Streisand and Redford reprising their roles, now, after all the politics and the entertainment industry changes.
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I agree, Barbra was perfect!It's like saying she would've been perfect as Scarlet!
share... because we all know Natalie Wood never played an ethnic character. Sorry, but Streisand and Redford were just plain unsightly together.
"Joey, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?"
Well, the truth of the matter is, that the role was specifically written by Arthur Laurents for Streisand to play. So...
share... because we all know Natalie Wood never played an ethnic character.
Because that went so well and wasn't offensive to anyone at all.
Yes, the idea was that she wasn't conventially pretty and was an outspoken woman.
shareShe and Redford had an onscreen romance--"Inside Daisy Clover" Granted, his character was a closeted gay guy, but it was still a romance. He tried (just like in this movie)
It was their differences that made this a story. So many romance movies _end_ with the couple getting together. This one shows their struggle to keep it together, even though they're from different backgrounds and have different beliefs about so many things. And although Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn were both great actresses, they would have been all wrong for this particular film.
you´re so right...i really like Redford but Barbra wasjust so annoying...she´s ugly and i know that she´s talented and stuff but i just could not watch the entire movie...
shareI agree that she was annoying.
Part of it was in fact, the way the character was written.
But also, remember that this movie also had annoying subtext -- a subject that many were reluctant to talk about -- in historical terms, it was written only about 12 years after the cold war began (12 years after the construction of the Berlin Wall) and we were still reeling politically from the hollywood blacklisting.
Barbra took that very seriously, and perhaps her acting was a bit over the edge... still, it's a good film that could have been much better.
you´re right...(although i ignore the political context)...it could have been so much better...cause it is such a great history...and i waited so long to see it...and was a disappointment...
although i have to say that Redford was awsome as far as a could see...
and im sorry for say that Barbra is ugly...that is no even important but i just find her so creepy with those long red nails touching Hubble´s bangs...
She prides herself on those long nails -- and I agree with you. I don't know how she functions with them! For a while (when she wrote Evergreen, from A Star is Born) she had long nails on her right hand, and short on her left so she could play guitar!
Redford. He still makes my heart pound, even now with him at 70+.
as Betty White said... "Robert Redford is everything under the sun"...
he´s so handsome and that hair OMG!!!!...so you´re heart has all the right to pound for a man like that...
She was good for the part and I missed the angle of politics the first few times I saw it. Too bad she is stuck in that part today. She never has anything good to say about Republicans or Conservatives. I guess she would be happy with a one party (Democrat) system like the old Soviet Union was or a 2 party state when the Republicans were the "me too" party. Still a great movie though and if there is a director's cut I would sure like to see it since there are gaps in it here and there. Best wishes always Barbra. I still like your movies.
shareThe Streisand character was meant to be annoying and not as classically good looking as Redford's friends.
Its that man again!!
How could she be miscast? She was the soul of the story
"Darth Vader is scary and I The Godfather"
I am on your side. I think it was a good part for her. My then wife and I watched it every time it came to the theater, drive-ins (remember them) or TV. The theaters used to repeat booking movies a year or two after they had had their initial showing.
shareI wonder if Natalie Wood was approached for this part as well. Natalie Wood and Robert Redford had fantastic chemistry together.
shareThat would be interesting to find out. My then wife was a big fan of Natalie Wood too.
shareStreisand gave sincerity to her performance, a quality which her character was meant to have and made her endearing. She fitted perfectly into the role.
"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not".
I don't think it's entirely that she's miscast or that he's miscast but they don't fit well together. And this is outside of the plot. They just don't have the right chemistry and their acting styles kind of clash. It doesn't help that the romance is underdeveloped and left to awkward scenes and then montages.
shareNatalie was never approached. The role was WRITTEN for Barbra.
shareIt was written for her. How can she be miscast in a part that was written for her?
shareYou can always tell when her name is spelled "Barbara" that it's going to be Streisand-basher.
"In my case, self-absorption is completely justified."
Audrey or Natalie in 1973?! Wait--at any point? The entire premise of the film would have collapsed. He was interested and intrigued by her, admires her mind, but turned off by her politics and her "style" (her Jewishness) He says as much when pushed by her.
This would not have worked with Audrey or Natalie.
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No one else could have played Katie but Barbra. Not Natalie Wood, not Audrey Hepburn and not Lauren Bacall. These actressess could have played Carol Ann, Hubell's ex-girlfriend played by Lois Chiles, or perhaps any of the rich girls in Hubbell's gang, to which Katie contemptuously refers to as "America the Beautiful."
shareFurthermore, bacall was close to fifty. Ridiculous. Hepburn was 42 or so. Nope. Only Barbra.
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Again. The story was written for Streisand. the character she plays was all about the transformation of the duckling to swan so a more beautiful actress would contradict that.
Plus, it was Barbra's role anyway.