Redford's Funny and Skeptical Political Stances in This Film

The Way We Were is eventually about how the Hollywood blacklist came to shadow the marriage of screenwriter Robert Redford to former(current) Communist left-winger Barbra Streisand.

But en route, Redford's character, Hubbell Gardiner, tends to take a healthy attitude towards politics in general that can only enrage the "totally committed' Streisand and ..rather capitivate someone like me.

We get this exchange:

Streisand: You think politicians are funny, do you?
Redford: Yeah, sure. Funny. You make fun of them. What else are you supposed to do with them?

(Streisand gets increasingly humorless and angry about Redford's lack of commitment.)

Redford: Well, OK...comes the revolution, maybe we'll all have a sense of humor.

Later in the film, in an argument about Hollywood blacklist politics:

Redford: Its grown-up politics, Katie, and its stupid and people can get hurt. And when some Fascist producer wants to hire some Communist writer to make a movie with a lot of money, they'll do it. They'll do it, and they'll sleep with each other's wives, and what did it all mean?

Around the same time:

Redford: You're going to have to stop focussing on principles, and focus on people.
Streisand: Hubell, people ARE their principles!

(Redford roars in anger and knocks a butch of items off a table in frustrated rage.)

All pretty good positions to take, you ask me...