'Love Story' was better. - The Way We Were (1973) Discussion

[–] filmbuff87 19 years ago

Spoiler:
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Love Story is a great movie also. I hate to say it (b/c i'm such a fan of babs) but i agree w/ you. Love Story is a bit better. Both movies are great romances but Love Story is sweeter and they had an unhappy ending b/c jenny died. whereas TWWW had an unhappy ending b/c they couldnt get past their differencs.

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[–] noveltylibrary 18 years ago

Couldn't disagree more. Ali MacGraw made me nauseous. Worst famous actress ever.

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] SyrupAndCheese 18 years ago

Well, Love Story is sadder for obvious reasons but The Way we Were has better acting, I think.

http://imdb.com/name/nm1046097/ Check it out.

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[–] jgravely 18 years ago

Loving the Way We Were more than Love Story means never having to say I'm sorry. You're movie is lovely Hubbell. LOL

"Marge, you like everybody." Dickie Greenleaf

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[–] emakii 18 years ago

I utterly disagree. I saw Love Story once, never had much desire to see it again, it was a tearjerker, trendy at the time, not much else. Most of the emotion in it comes from the untimely death of the lead character, as opposed to the substance, plot, characters, themes, etc. Neither of the leads were very great actors, neither went on for much of a career.

I've seen TWWW dozens of times over many years. It has themes that are universal and afflict many relationships, with many layers of depth and insight. A much more subtle, nuanced and complex film that has stood the test of time.

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[–] jg67 18 years ago

"Neither of the leads were very great actors, neither went on for much of a career."

In Ryan's case I'd have to say it's more about quality than quanity. After all he did make What's Up Doc,Paper Moon and Barry Lyndon.

It's a dirty job,but I pay clean money for it.

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[–] HaniaLee 18 years ago

Ali and Ryan in Love Story, in my opinion, had a more tender, delicate relationship than Babs & Redford in The Way We Were. But I liked the former much more for the same reason; it was REAL. I also agree w/ a previous poster about how the tragedy in Love Story was just from Ali's death. The Way We Were made me cry because it wasn't a big fat tragedy, it was subtle in its sadness, it was also well done.

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[–] mtterry 18 years ago

"Love Story" was as shallow as its opening line -- "What do you say about girl who loved Mozart and the Beatles and died" as well as its signature line, "Love means never having to say you're sorry."

TWWW was about difficult love, about wanting to change for your love, about not being able to change, about wasted potential, about recognizing that waste. Much better movie.

But the soundtrack from Love Story is good.

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] Plawrencegrn 18 years ago

Did you know there was one it was called (Oliver's Story) I don't know if you now that aren't

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[–] ecarle 17 years ago

Interesting comparison of exactly the right two films, probably the two most popular "pure romance" films of the 70's.

I'm totally on the side of "The Way We Were."

First: Ali MacGraw could not act. End of story. Even her death scene didn't work for me. And Ryan O'Neal was not as good an actor as Robert Redford in terms of vulnerbility, humor, inscrutability, etc. Streisand was always an acquired taste, but "The Way We Were" may be her most heartfelt and affecting performance. Her ex-husband, Elliott Gould, said of the role of Katie: "That role WAS Barbra."

Second: "Love Story" went for the big, direct tragedy: the girl dies. "The Way We Were" played for something more people could relate to: the couple breaks up. It reached out to more people.

Third: Totally personal, but I think the theme music of "The Way We Were" is more moving and sophisticated than the heavy sturm-und-drag of the "Love Story" theme.

Fourth: "The Way We Were" has that great, great ending.

Fifth: On the whole, "The Way We Were" is more intelligently written; some of the dialogue between Redford and Streisand is really good (particularly their train station argument.)

This is just a personal opinion of course, but I gotta say, its no contest with me. And I know: "Love Story" was a much much bigger hit.

P.S. At the end of "What's Up, Doc" Barbara Streisand ("The Way We Were") tells Ryan O'Neal ("Love Story"): "Love means never having to say you're sorry." O'Neal replies: "That's the stupidist thing I ever heard."

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] KatieFinchHatton 18 years ago

The way we were goes so much deeper than Love Story.

Don't get me wrong, I liked Love Story a lot - but in there everything is spelled out and obvious.
Twww has so many different levels, involves family history but also politics and history.
The relationship between Redford and Streisand is ended - not because they don't love each other or because one of them died, but for several reasons that every watcher has to figure out for himself.

Don't get me started on how much more handsom Redford looks compared to O'Neil. :-)

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[–] barbrastreisandfan1 18 years ago

I own both movies. I could only sit through "Love Story" one time. I really didn't like it very much. I have seen "The Way We Were" tons of times, at LEAST one hundred times and I don't get sick of it. I think the acting is better, the story is better, and the music is better. I also get so much more depressed and I honestly cry REAL when I watch TWWW.

I love being an 18 year old girl!

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[–] movie80 17 years ago

I like both of them, both are great, but I prefer TWWW. I can understand why Hubbell said he couldn't come to have a drink with Katie.

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] shell_31 15 years ago

I used to love "Love Story". Not anymore. I think Oliver was selfish and only thought about Jenny's music as an afterthought, even though that was her major in College and she was good at it. And I know that Jenny did voluntarily give it up to be with him, but I think it was just wrong.

I think I'm beginning to like "The Way we Were" because I'm older and, when you get older, you start to think about the way things were and how it seemed that your life was uncomplicated and easy when you were younger. I can understand it now. It's sad that Hubbel couldn't "step out on a limb" and look outside of just himself and see that the world isn't easy. Katie could see that easily. He couldn't.

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] ck1-5 15 years ago

If I were to be forced to watch either TWWW or Love Story once a week for eternity, I'd take TWWW.

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[–] Howlin Wolf 14 years ago

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066011/usercomments-108

At least the well-to-do lovers in "The Way We Were" actually had THOUGHTS & IDEAS, and weren't just cardboard caricatures!

Love United. Hate Glazers.

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[–] Luxn 14 years ago

Ooh - huge difference of opinion alert. I cannot stand Love Story. I read the book and enjoyed it but then made the mistake of watching the movie. Ugh! What a contrived, self-conciously 'cool' waste of time. And Ali McGraw...no. Just no.

Ryan ONLY gets away with it in my book because he pokes fun at it in What's Up Doc? (which is a far superior film to Love Story).

TWWW is wonderful. I seriously cannot know that it is on tv and not watch it. It never gets old.

Don't argue with idiots-they'll bring you down to their level and beat you with experience

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[–] cjdancegirl 12 years ago

The way we were is better since its not as corny and "love means never saying your sorry" is the dumbest quote ever. I agree with the poster that said " your movie is lively Hubble." even though strisand was annoying in this movie...

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