Going to YouTube to find a fun clip to add to someone’s FB post generally leads down the rabbit hole (thank you Lewis Carroll for inventing Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and therefore inventing the phrase “down the rabbit hole”).
Last week it led me to clips from The Way We Were, written by Arthur Laurents and starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford.
I had re-read Laurents’ autobiography — Original Story — over the summer since I love reading about how writers came up with their best work (and his book had a whole chapter on it complete with explanations for a bad cut by the director and studio execs that destroyed a key reason the couple splits up – spoiler alert).
Iconic is overused but it fits here. That love story with an unexpected but completely organic ending is a classic for a reason – all the parts added up to the perfect whole. I wanted to highlight this scene because of the power it gives the female character and the fear that power can have on the equally powerful male character. I can’t think of too many scenes that can do that – enhanced by the power both of these superstars brought to their performances.
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