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Blu-ray Review The Way We Were Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

Richard Gallagher

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The Way We Were Blu-ray Review

Sydney Pollack was a remarkably talented and versatile filmmaker. He could successfully work in almost any genre, whether drama (Out of Africa, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?), western (Jeremiah Johnson, The Scalphunters), suspense (Three Days of the Condor, The Firm), or comedy (Tootsie). Twilight Time has now released a gorgeous Blu-ray edition of Pollack’s bittersweet 1973 love story, The Way We Were, starring Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand and featuring an Academy Award-winning score by Marvin Hamlisch.

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Studio: Sony

Distributed By: Twilight Time

Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HDMA

Subtitles: English SDH

Rating: PG

Run Time: 1 Hr. 58 Min.

Package Includes: Blu-ray

Standard Blu-ray Keep Case

Disc Type: BD50 (dual layer)

Region: A

Release Date: 11/12/2013

MSRP: $29.95




The Production Rating: 4.5/5

Wouldn’t it be lovely if we were old? We’d have survived all this. Everything would be easy and uncomplicated, the way it was when we were young. The film opens in New York City in 1944, where Katie Morosky (Barbra Streisand) works at a radio station. Her boss, Bill Verso (Herb Edelman) has plans to take a woman to the nightclub El Morocco after work, but she has cancelled so Bill invites Katie to accompany him. When they arrive they are told that there are no tables available. Katie’s personality immediately becomes evident when she launches into a tirade because she and Bill are being prevented from entering the nightclub. Bill implores of her, “Can’t you leave your soapbox at home just once?”Once inside the club Katie spots a young Navy officer dozing off at the bar, and she immediately recognizes him. He is Hubbell Gardiner (Robert Redford), who had attended college with Katie seven years earlier. She walks over to him and touches his forehead, but he does not respond. While gazing at him she has a flashback to her college days in 1937, where she is protesting the Spanish Civil War while president of the Young Communist League and Hubbell is the happy-go-lucky, handsome star of the college track and rowing teams. One day Hubbell, his girlfriend Carol Ann (Lois Chiles), and his friend J.J. (Bradford Dillman) attend a rally where Katie gives an anti-war speech. Many of the students who show up are there to mock her, but some of what she has to say apparently strikes a chord with Hubbell. She, however, has little interest in him, pegging him as a shallow young man who doesn’t take anything seriously. At one point she asks him, “Do you smile all the time?”Katie’s opinion of Hubbell begins to change when their English professor praises a short story he has written, and then she learns that a story he wrote has been sold for publication. She begins to believe that he is more substantial than she initially thought, and her feelings toward him soften. They become friends, and he briefly (and silently) dances with her at the senior prom, a scene which demonstrates that eyes can sometimes tell us more than words. We then return to the present day at El Morocco, and Katie snaps Hubbell out of his stupor. He is happy to see her, and she takes him home to her apartment for coffee. However, after vomiting in her bathroom he collapses on her bed, thoroughly exhausted. When he leaves for Washington D.C. the next morning, Katie gives him her phone number and advises him that hotel rooms are scarce in New York and he can always feel free to stay at her place. In the meantime, her political activism continues. Now she is promoting friendship between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, countries which by this time are allies in the fight against Nazi Germany. When Hubbell makes a return visit to New York their friendship blossoms into a romance.The remainder of the film takes place against the backdrop of the post-war efforts by the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) to purge Hollywood of Communists. The political climate strains the relationship between Hubbell and Katie. He admires her commitment to the causes she believes him, but he does not share that commitment. However, The Way We Were is not nearly as political as some people seem to believe. The story originally was intended to take a strong stand about the blacklisting of the Hollywood Ten and the intense pressure which was put on actors and filmmakers to inform on their colleagues, but ultimately the decision was made to focus on the love story. On that level the film works extremely well. Redford is at his best as Hubbell, and it is difficult to imagine anyone else but Streisand playing the pushy, outspoken Katie, a woman who is always ready with a snappy retort. The supporting cast is fine and features such well-known actors as Patrick O’Neal, James Woods, and Murray Hamilton. Sydney Pollack’s direction is mostly excellent, although there are some shifts in the plot during the second half of the film which seem to be abrupt. The cinematography by Harry Stradling, Jr. is wonderful, and Marvin Hamlisch won Academy Awards for Best Original Dramatic Score and for Best Original Song (that would be the film’s theme song, which Streisand sings over the opening and closing credits). The memorable lyrics to the theme song were written by Alan and Marilyn Bergman.Memories may be beautiful and yetWhat's too painful to rememberWe simply choose to forget.


Video Rating: 5/5 3D Rating: NA

Sony has provided Twilight Time with yet another exquisite Blu-ray transfer. The 2.35:1 1080p image is properly framed and boasts vibrant, eye-popping colors. As case in point is the early scene at the El Morocco. As our resident expert Robert A. Harris points out, The Way We Were looks like a three-strip Technicolor film, but it was shot in Panavision with color by Eastmancolor. Readers are encouraged to read Mr. Harris’ comments about this impeccable transfer:A Few Words About...™ The Way They Were -- in Blu-raySpecial note should be made of the production design by Stephen Grimes, which superbly represents the era in which the action takes place. I did notice one error, however. In the opening scene, as Katie is rushing to work at the radio station, she passes a movie theater and there is a large “FDR in ‘44” sign on the building. One of the movies on the marquee is Counterattack, starring Paul Muni and Larry Parks. Counterattack was not released until April, 1945. It is not mentioned in the commentaries, but I suspect that putting that particular film on the marquee was a nod to Larry Parks, whose film career essentially came to a halt when he admitted to HUAC that he had once been a member of a Communist Party cell and he was blacklisted.



Audio Rating: 5/5

The English 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio is the equal of the picture quality. Every word of dialogue is clear, crisp and understandable. English SDH subtitles are available for viewers who need them. Marvin Hamlisch’s evocative score is given a wide and pleasing soundstage.


Special Features Rating: 3.5/5

As usual, this Twilight Time Blu-ray disc includes an isolated score track.We are treated to two commentary tracks. First is a commentary by the late director Sydney Pollack, who provides many insights into the making of the film. If you ever wondered why the theme song begins with Barbra Streisand humming, Pollack explains it all here.The second commentary track is by Nick Redman and Julie Kirgo, who provide important historical context for the film and go into some detail about the controversial decision to pare down the part of the story which deals with the blacklisting.“The Way We Were - Looking Back” is a retrospective documentary which is shown in standard definition with an aspect ratio of 4:3. Robert Redford was unable to participate, but Barbra Streisand and Sydney Pollack talk at length about their film and their differing opinions about what was done with the blacklist angle (Streisand provided the deleted scenes which are shown in the documentary). Marvin Hamlisch, Marilyn and Alan Bergman, screenwriter Arthur Laurents and producer Ray Starks also participate. The documentary has a copyright date of 1999.Also included in the original theatrical trailer, which is in very good shape.An eight-page illustrated booklet contains an incisive essay by the always-excellent Julie Kirgo.It would have been nice if the deleted scenes could have been included as an extra in anamorphic widescreen, but apparently Sony has not seen fit to do that.


Overall Rating: 4.5/5

The Way We Were is a memorable romantic film which never fails to pull at the heartstrings of its audience. It is virtually impossible to watch this film without finding yourself looking back on your own life. The Way They Were is a welcome addition to the library of Twilight Time Blu-ray discs. This is a limited edition release of just 3,000 copies, so readers interested in purchasing it should go to the Screen Archives website and verify that it is still available. It is not yet available through Amazon, but it also is being sold at the TCM Shop while copies last.


Reviewed By: Richard Gallagher


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JohnMor

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Small quibble: Katie's tirade with the nightclub doorman has nothing to do with Bill and her being prevented from entering the club. It's the enlisted men and their dates being told to wait that sets her off. "These boys have been in combat, you... you fascist ropeholder!" LOL

Great catch about Counterattack and Parks! I never caught that before.
 

Johnny Angell

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Twilight Time? Really? Yeah not many people want to see Streisand and Redford. Clearly a couple on B-list actors in a minor film. And that theme song? No one ever liked it. :(
 

schan1269

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Well, I like this movie...and I'm gonna pass on it. You can have the one I'm not buying anyway. That, and it appears that all the other versions everywhere else are all region-free.
 

Richard Gallagher

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schan1269 said:
Well, I like this movie...and I'm gonna pass on it. You can have the one I'm not buying anyway. That, and it appears that all the other versions everywhere else are all region-free.
I'm aware of one from Spain and one from Portugal, but according to amazon.uk both are Region 2 discs.
 

davidHartzog

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Great film I am glad I bought in the splendid BD from TT. A fine romance set against a very accurate portrayal of an ugly period in US history.
 

bryan4999

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I am so pleased with this disc. Looks and sounds great.

Speaking of production design, I can't imagine what the traffic must have been like in Manhattan when they closed down 5th Ave. and 59th. St to film with period cars in front of The Plaza Hotel.
 

schan1269

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Richard Gallagher said:
I'm aware of one from Spain and one from Portugal, but according to amazon.uk both are Region 2 discs.
I've found two that say region free(other than TT and Japan, the rest say "un-tested"). So far there are 10 countries with it available. There is always the Japanese version.

Germany says A and B.
Denmark and Scandinavian are B locked.
Brazil plays here.
 

Mark-P

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schan1269 said:
I've found two that say region free(other than TT and Japan, the rest say "un-tested"). So far there are 10 countries with it available. There is always the Japanese version.

Germany says A and B.
Denmark and Scandinavian are B locked.
Brazil plays here.
Italy's blu-ray is region-free too. I have it.
 

Garysb

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I wish Sony would release a version of the film with the ending cut scenes put back in. However since the director, Sidney Pollack wanted the scenes cut and he is no longer around to change his mind this will never happen. Youtube video with part of the documentary about the film from the DVD.

 

Garysb

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In a new article in Billboard promoting her new record album Streisand mentions something . I really hope she is talking about "The Way We Were"


So I hear your vault is just floor-to-ceiling, stuffed with material. How many songs do you think you have in there?

How many? My God. I have also movies -- all the outtakes of A Star Is Born and some of the other movies -- and I have pictures. All my recordings. I re-edited A Star Is Born [in 2018 for Netflix]. I was in control of it, and I think like a director, so I cut myself out [of the 1976 version] playing the guitar when I first wrote "Evergreen." I thought, "let's move the movie faster and get right to the helicopter shot." And then I thought about it all these years and thought, "maybe I'll put that back in." And I did it for Netflix, where it played for three months before the new version of A Star Is Born came out. And I also had rock n' roll shots that were never used. When we previewed the movie in Arizona, people seemed to love the one take of the eight minutes I sang the last song. So I left it that way. But I thought, "let me try to edit, just the ending to go into his rock n' roll style and become more like him at the end." It's interesting to look at your work many years later. I like having an updated version of certain movies. There's one I'm working on now, but I can't say the name of it.


Is it a movie you directed?

Not necessarily, just something I've always thought should be in there. It was cut out and it's very important to the movie's reality. But I can't talk about it yet. My dear Willie Wyler, who directed me in Funny Girl, he always went back and re-edited his films. Of course, he was a great director and a great friend. I admired him so much.
 

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