The Way We Were Page #6

Synopsis: The often unlikely joint lives of Katie Morosky and Hubbell Gardiner from the late 1930s to the late 1950s is presented, over which time, they are, in no particular order, strangers, acquaintances, friends, best friends, lovers and adversaries. The unlikely nature of their relationship is due to their fundamental differences, where she is Jewish and passionate about her political activism both in political freedoms and Marxism to an extreme where she takes life a little too seriously, while he is the golden boy WASP, being afforded the privileges in life because of his background but who on the most part is able to capitalize on those privileges. Their lives are shown in four general time periods, in chronological order when they attend the same college, their time in New York City during WWII, his life as a Hollywood screenwriter post-war, and his life as a writer for a New York based live television show. It is during college that Hubbell finds his voice in life as a writer, and that
Genre: Drama, Romance
Director(s): Sydney Pollack
Production: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
  Won 2 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 7 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.1
Rotten Tomatoes:
63%
PG
Year:
1973
118 min
6,167 Views


Nothing like an early education.

I'd like her to learn

not to be frightened.

Her?

Him.

Why don't you come with us?

We're kind of back

where we started, aren't we?

That's not true, Hubbell.

Okay. Now why don't

we all stay home, hm?

I can't.

And named the names of 14 of his fellow actors.

He described their

various associations

with subversive organisations.

Ten men of the original 19

who refused to testify...

And there he is,

Jack Armstrong,

the all-American boy.

Oh, God.

Hey, you look good.

I hate it!

Oh!

I like it!

Isn't she lovely?

America's sweetheart.

Look at her go. I'd forgotten. She

really was getting to those people.

Take a look at

some of those faces.

Oh, she was a spellbinder.

She was.

I'd forgotten about that.

She's beautiful.

Yeah, Katie!

I'm exhausted.

Do you have any comment

regarding the Hollywood 10?

They're running toward martyrdom

for nothing but their own destruction.

They're standing up

for principle.

If you don't like this country,

get out!

It's my country too!

They could've

denied everything.

They didn't want to.

Can we do this

someplace else?

Why are you here?

You might get put on a list.

I refuse to be intimidated.

Well, those 10 men feel

exactly the same way.

Free speech is all

we're talking about.

They're fighting for your right

to make any movie you want.

And all you can do is strut

around here making simple remarks.

Could we get a statement

from Mrs. Gardiner?

I'd like to ask these people why

they think we just fought a war.

What are you people

afraid of?

Shut your mouth, you commie b*tch!

Hubbell! Hubbell!

Hubbell!

You two wait

here till the crowd clears.

Are you okay?

Yeah.

You're bleeding.

I'm fine.

It's always fun

meeting trains, you know?

I'm sorry, Hubbell.

I really didn't expect this.

You didn't expect to get a chance

to tell off the world either.

Is that what you think I'm doing?

You bet I do.

I'm not telling off the world.

I'm just standing up

for something I believe in.

You're not angry when Bissinger

ridicules those men?

Calling them martyrs

because they have guts

to fight for their Bill of Rights,

his Bill of Rights and yours!

We don't have any Bill of Rights.

We'll never have free speech.

We never will if people

won't take a stand.

We never will have

because people are scared.

This isn't college.

This is grown-up politics, Katie.

And it's stupid and dangerous.

You're telling me to shut up

because it's dangerous?

I'm telling you it's a waste.

And that those men

are only gonna get hurt.

And that nothing is gonna change.

And after jail,

after years of bad blood,

when it's practical for a fascist

producer to hire a communist writer

because his movie's

in trouble, he'll do it.

They'll make movies, have dinner,

they'll play tennis,

make passes at each other's wives.

What did anybody go to jail for?

For what? A political spat?

You're telling me to close my eyes

and watch people being destroyed

so you can work in a town

that doesn't have spine enough

to stand up for anything

but a buck!

I'm telling you that people are more

important than a goddamn witch hunt.

You and me. Not causes.

Not principles.

Hubbell, people are their principles.

Aw...

The heads of the studios

have reversed their positions

and any employee who

is an unfriendly witness

before the committee is, um...

fired.

Oh, Jesus.

So now we have

an official blacklist.

It's an open season

for witch hunters

and stool pigeons.

And now the problem is,

how to convince the public

that a stool pigeon, heh,

is a hero.

You are like

these damn palm trees.

They don't belong here either.

They were brought in and they look it.

I'm sure that

they don't like it either.

What if he does, Paula?

What is more important to you?

He is.

So...

That's your choice, Katie.

Ha-ha-ha.

Give him my love too.

I will.

Thanks, Paula.

It's no reflection on anything

except that you're new to this

film technique.

Especially for the novelist.

He's too close to his own material.

I'm not a novelist.

I'd like to think

of myself...

as a screenwriter.

I wanna be up front with you.

I know what changes

have to be made.

But can you make them?

Nobody else understands that story.

Nobody knows it. It's mine.

Mine.

I know where it came from.

I know what the heart of it is.

I mean, you... Hey.

You remember those few days

before the war started.

Before we had to change... You...

Don't lose what I know about it.

Work with me.

Work with me closely, fine.

And I know the dialogue from

the book is slowing the film up.

But I can fix that.

I learn fast. I always have.

Things come...

Uh...

Christ, I can do it.

I know what you want.

I know what your concept is.

I'll make your changes.

Let me.

With no resistance?

No.

No resistance.

Hi.

Bad times?

Can't be all bad.

How's the picture?

Troubled.

I'm going back to New York.

New York.

When do you leave?

Not until tomorrow.

I'm getting rid of some things

in my apartment.

There's some champagne.

For bon voyage.

Well, it's getting better.

Better...

It's most unusual.

While it is slow,

it seems necessary to be slow.

Of course,

with the audience...

Thank you, Paula, my dear.

I'll have my brandy in bed.

We'll conduct the postmortem

tomorrow. Good night, Paula,

Hubbell, J.J., silent Kate.

Thank you, Floyd. Thank

you very much. Thank you.

Good night, Mr. Bissinger.

J.J., shall we go and have some

wine? You will tell me your problems

and I'll tell you how

the un-American gentlemen

offered to give me some names

to name in Washington.

Take care, darling.

True to life. So true to life.

I'll be up late, case you guys wanna

stop by on your way to the beach.

Okay, Hub?

Yeah.

Well, that was

a gripping experience.

"So true to life, darling."

The only picture she

hasn't knocked is Potemkin.

Probably a dyke anyway.

She is not.

She has two grandchildren.

Katie, the day you die,

you'll still be a nice Jewish girl.

Are you still a nice gentile boy?

I never was.

I only looked it to you.

That's not true.

Oh, yes, it is.

When you love someone, from Roosevelt

to me, you go deaf, dumb and blind.

Not blind, Hubbell.

And certainly not dumb.

Who told you?

A friend.

Hm. Some friend.

Well, it's a friendly town

if you don't mind having

your friends inform on you.

I suppose you'll say

it doesn't mean anything.

It doesn't.

Your picture will be a smash,

Hubbell. Congratulations.

But you didn't like it.

Let's say I appreciated it.

What didn't you like?

Are you finished for the night, sir?

Yes.

Thank you.

Why did you have to

go with her?

Tell me I'm not good enough.

Tell me I talk too much.

You don't like my perfume,

my family, my pot roast.

But you didn't have to go back

to Beekman Place, did you?

Katie, what's wrong with us

has nothing to do with another girl.

Oh, give up.

Please.

I can't. I hate what

you did to your book.

I hate the picture.

Rate this script:3.0 / 1 vote

Arthur Laurents

Arthur Laurents (July 14, 1917 – May 5, 2011) was an American playwright, stage director and screenwriter.After writing scripts for radio shows after college and then training films for the U.S. Army during World War II, Laurents turned to writing for Broadway, producing a body of work that includes West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959), and Hallelujah, Baby! (1967), and directing some of his own shows and other Broadway productions. His early film scripts include Rope (1948) for Alfred Hitchcock, followed by Anastasia (1956), Bonjour Tristesse (1958), The Way We Were (1973), and The Turning Point (1977). more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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