“Everything in the world that happens does not happen to you personally.”

Andie’s rating: Katy Girls of the world unite!

Andie’s review: I’ve been interested in seeing The Way We Were for awhile now because there is an episode of Sex & the City where Carrie and the girls discuss “Katy Girls.” Carrie’s boyfriend Big just left her for a girl that was easier to be with, someone who didn’t challenge him as much as she did, someone with whom the relationship would not require work. Carrie is lamenting to her girls that it’s just like in The Way We Were, where Hubbell and Katy can’t be together because Hubbell can’t handle it. And so Carrie divides the world in to Katy Girls and Other Girls — and so my curiosity about The Way We Were was piqued.

I finally saw this film, and it completely surpassed all my expectations. I love Robert Redford, not only because he’s hot but because he’s a good actor/director as well. I enjoy Barbra Streisand’s vocal abilities, and her acting is quite good too, so I had high hopes for this movie. It was better than I could’ve hoped. Barbra plays Katy with such fire and passion I can hardly believe it. Katy is an amazing woman who stands firm in her beliefs and convictions and doesn’t care who knows it.

Redford plays Hubbell Gardner with great subtlety. You can see that he’s slowly falling for Katy yet doesn’t want to be falling for her because he knows it’ll be too hard. She doesn’t fit in with his friends, she challenges him intellectually and she doesn’t need him to define herself. But he finally gives in and they live happily for many years. They’re in California, she’s being political, he’s writing screenplays. My favorite scene in the movie is when she ever-so-slyly tells him that she’s pregnant. They’re a magical couple together.

But when the Red Scare starts and Katy begins speaking out against the McCarthy Witchhunts, Hubbell can’t take it anymore. He thinks his career should come before her beliefs and her outspokeness will get him black-balled in Hollywood. She won’t back down and so he leaves her. Years later they see each other on the streets of New York, Katy demonstrating about something and Hubbell with his new woman. They do a little catching up, he asks about how his daughter is doing. Finally Katy brushes his hair away from his eyes and says, “Your girl’s lovely, Hubbell.” It’s heart-wrenching.

The movie is a magnificent, heart-breaking look at a star-crossed relationship between two people. It’s the exact opposite of the typical romantic comedies that I can’t stand because it dares to say that sometimes love isn’t enough to make it work. It shows how real life goes. How in the end, the strong, independent, bold, outspoken, challenging woman is never going to win out over the safe, meek, dependent, compliant one.

It’s become one of my favorite movies and I highly recommend it, especially if you think you might be a Katy Girl.