Join us for a virtual discussion with Robert Hofler, to discuss his new book! (A film discussion of the movie will take place the week before, on 1/26/23 at 7pm via Zoom. To join that program, register here).

Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of The Way We Were, this intriguing and impeccably researched book is the first ever account of the making of the classic film starring Barbara Streisand and Robert Redford, revealing the full story behind its genesis and continued controversies, its many deleted scenes, its much-anticipated but never-filmed sequel, and the real-life romance that inspired this groundbreaking love story…

It’s one of the greatest movie romances of all time. Fifty years on, the chemistry between Barbra Streisand as Jewish working-class firebrand Katie Worosky and Robert Redford as all-American golden boy Hubbell Gardiner remains potent. Yet the friction and controversy surrounding The Way We Were was so enormous, the movie was nearly never made at all.

Screenwriter Arthur Laurents wrote the role of Katie with Streisand in mind. Casting Hubble was another matter. Redford, already a superstar, was reluctant to play what he perceived as the “Ken doll” to Streisand’s lead, and demanded his role be changed and expanded. Laurents resisted, telling director Sydney Pollack, “You’ll ruin the movie if it ends up being about two people. It’s Katie’s story, not Hubbell’s.” Despite his protests, ten writers—among them Francis Ford Coppola—were brought on to rework the script.

Laurents’s fears were well founded, and the first preview was disastrous. Producer Ray Stark and Pollack, with Redford’s approval, cut several scenes, upsetting Streisand and Laurents. Yet the edits worked. Such was the movie’s success that Redford was open to making a sequel, though Laurents’s script was never greenlit. Some of those “lost” scenes are now being restored to the film for its 50th anniversary.

It’s also the deep, surprising love story at the heart of The Way They Were that makes it so memorable, and Robert Hofler explores its inspiration—the relationship between Laurents, a Jewish Brooklyn-born college leftist, and his longtime partner, Tom Hatcher. Drawing on a vast trove of Laurents’s and Pollack’s unpublished writings, as well as interviews with Streisand, Redford, and other key players, this is the definitive account of a film that changed the rules of moviemaking and defined romance ever since.

The event will be moderated by Tina Panik, Avon Library, and Bob Kagan, Chair of the Communication Department at Manchester Community College for 30 years, and our library’s film discussion leader for 6+ years.

Robert Hofler is the author of: The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson, a 2005 biography of agent Henry Willson; Variety’s “The Movie That Changed My Life: 120 Celebrities Pick the Films that Made a Difference (for Better or Worse), published in 2009; Party Animals, a 2010 biography of producer Allan Carr that was a Los Angeles Times best-seller and is being turned into a documentary by Jeffrey Schwartz; and Sexplosion: From Andy Warhol to A Clockwork Orange, How a Generation of Pop Rebels Broke All the Taboos, published in 2014 and nominated for a 2015 Lambda Literary Award.

Hofler has served as entertainment editor at Life, executive editor at Us, managing editor at Buzz, and a senior editor and theater reporter at Variety. He’s currently the lead theater critic at TheWrap. He lives in New York City.

Please register; Zoom links will be sent out before the event.

Program is sponsored by the Friends of the Avon Library.