The original ending of The Way We Were

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She does leave him, there was a big political subplot cut, is on the DVD extras

I never heard that she left him. There were scenes which were cut that made it clear that their breakup was because of her strong passion for politics, which he did not share. In the movie as it is, it seems as if it's just over incompatibility, which doesn't make sense because they were always incompatible.

McCarthy came along after the Hollywood Ten.

the movie is confusing. It seems like he suddenly goes back to that girl he was dating in college. Who is also divorcing his best friend. Not such a nice thing for the perfect All American Boy to do.

Steisand has said the movie reads like he just leaves her for another woman.

TWWW would certainly have been worthy of a sequel. Opportunity lost. I read Streisand wanted it; Redford didn't.

Arthur Laurents said Redford commissioned a screenplay for a sequel, which he delivered. Laurents never heard back from Redford, who had decided, "Certain things should be left alone."

Redford and Streisand reunited on Oprah before she went off the air. Redford seemed sort of pompous. He said when he was offered the role he said he'd only do it if Barbra worked hard and agreed to take the role seriously. Streisand made devil horn signs behind his head and said "he's tough!"

I thought that was so smug of Redford. At that point in their careers Streisand was the much more respected performer. She had headlined a bunch of huge musicals and other films. Redford wasn't exactly considered a more serious actor than her.

Streisand did her best work in TWWW, so whatever Redford did or said to her, I'm grateful that she rose to the occasion and delivered her finest film performance. I think they'd have done a sequel if the script were as good as the original. I'm assuming it wasn't.

Topher and Bradford kiss and move to San Francisco.

I haven't seen this film in decades, but my memory of it was it was her (Streisand's character's) activism that was the result of the marriage breakup.

I remember it collapsed around her being involved in the demonstrations re the Hollywood 10, or something like that, and they wind up at an empty restaurant. At that point, they're photographed on opposite sides of the screen, underscoring their incompatibility - namely she being political and he being apolitical. In fact, that's even referenced early in the movie when they're younger, when she reads his book and says that the problem with his writing is that he holds back and doesn't seem to get too close or too involved, or something along those lines.

Conversely, his issue with her was that she's always too passionate about issues and takes those issues way too personally.

The Arthur Laurents book said something like Redford had Sydney Pollack wrapped around his finger. In the original version she is so disappointed in him because of his stance on the Hollywood 10 that she leaves him. Laurnets said Redford got panicky at the last minute about how it would hurt his sex symbol image if an ugly girl like Streisand dumped him so he convinced Pollack (whom Laurnents hints at secretly being in love with Redford) to edit the film and Streisand and Laurents were unable to get it put back to the way it was written.

Laurents convinced Ray Stark, the producer, to hire Pollack as director. Stark later fired Laurents, until, after re-writes by several other writers (including Dalton Trumbo and Alvin Sargent), he re-hired Laurents to polish the final script. Laurents was never one to mince words, and he had nothing good to say about Stark or Pollack after that. From a 2010 interview:

[quote]You wonder how I feel about the late Mr. Pollack? What else do you say but he's an asshole, dead or alive.

"Not such a nice thing for the perfect All American Boy to do."

Of course not! But the thing about being the perfect All-American Boy is that you assume that you'll be forgiven.

For anything. For everything.

Thankfully, THAT will soon go the way of the dinosaur.