Barbra turned 30 in 1972 and her maturity also brought on a keen interest in politics and social issues other than her passion for Jewish issues and support for Israel. The beginning of the decade was also the beginning of America's women's movement. Believing her reputation of being difficult was a result of blatant sexism, she told one reporter, "I had ideas, and I expressed them. But because I was a woman, I was disregarded. There's this prejudice against actresses. They're supposed to look pretty and read their lines, then shut up and go home." At the same time, she could not identify with women's groups who advocated a complete abandonment of traditional women's roles. Barbra continued, "Many women today are in conflict with their role in society. They feel they should be allowed to do more, yet they still have that primal urge of mothering. Most of all, a woman should be allowed to do what she wants."

Barbra combined her clout as a professional with her views on women's roles when her company, Barwood Films, produced her next film, "Up The Sandbox". In 1969, along with Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier, she formed First Artists, which was designed to produce each actor;s pictures and allow them creative control of the finished product. "Up The Sandbox" would be Barbra's first film distributed by First Artists. In "Up The Sandbox", Barbra played Margaret Reynolds, a young housewife who questions her role as a mother as she contemplates whether or not to have a second child. "Up The Sandbox" did not do well at the box ofice, making Barbra's first effort at producing a failure.

Her next film was "The Way We Were," which chronicled the ill-fated marriage of a communist activist to a WASPy hunk during the 1930s. Ray Stark had signed Barbra on, but they needed someone to play the leading man. "God, if only we could convince Redford!" said Barbra. There was much speculation that Barbra wanted to work with Redford more because of her personal infatuation with the actor than with any professional desire to work with him. Stark had worked with Redford before in "This Property Is Condemned", which was directed by Sidney Pollack. Pollack had also recently directed Redford in "Jeremiah Johnson", so Stark's thinking was to get Pollack so that Redford would also come.

Redford was mainly concerned that while Streisand's character, Katie Morosky, was a passionate activist, the character they wanted him to play, Hubbel Gardiner, was colorless and lacked any goal whatsoever. "Who si this guy?" he complained to Pollack. "He's just an object. A nothing." Pollack hired respected screenwriters Alvin Sargent and David Rayfiel to do rewrites on the original script by Arthur Laurents. Based on his relationship with Pollack and his faith in the writers, Redford finally signed on.

During production, it was onvious Barbra was in awe of her leading man. She admired Redofrd's commitment to his craft and his professional attitude towards his character. However, their acting methods culd not have been more different. While Barbra was exacting and controlling, Redford was more spontaneous. Despite his personal affection for Barbra, Redford found doing the film like "doing overtime in Dachau." Pollack was under constant pressure from Columbia (which was having financial difficulties) to keep production costs down and finish on time. Plus neither Pollack nor Redford got along paricularly well with Ray Stark. So it was not surprising that neither remember the making of the film with any fondness. "Truthfully, nobody had any faith in the picture."

Pollack hired Barbra's old rehearsal pianist from her Broadway days in "Funny Girl", Marvin Hamlisch, to score "The Way We Were" and write the title song, with lyrics by Mariliyn and Alan Bergman. Barbra did not like the song, which was designed to go over the closing credits of the movie. Barbra asked Hamlisch to write another tune, which he grudgingly did.Pollack suggested they play both versions at the end of the film and vote on which was best. Hamlisch's original version won out. "I had to beg her to sing it," said the composer later. The soundtrack's title single became a number one hit and was named Billboard's top pop single of the year. It was Barbra's first hit single in 3 years.

The Way We Were opened in October 1973, and although reviews were mixed, it was an outright smash. Her onscreen chemistry with Redford and the film's tearjerker ending proved irresistible to a public that hadn't seen this kind of movie sinve "Love Story". Barbra was again nominated for an Academy Award, while Redford was nominated for his role in another of that year's smashes, "The Sting".

Competition for Best Actress in that year's Oscars were not nearly as string as Barbra had faced for her nomination for 'Funny Girl", and Barbra was confident of her performance. However, it was not to be. In a surprise vote, Glenda Jackson won out for her performance in 'A Touch of Class." Many people believed Barbra lost out on the award because her Hollywood peers did not like her.

Click Here for a book review of her biography "Streisand --- Her Life" written by James Spada (Review by Victoria Manley).

Click Here for Flicks Interview with Barbra.

Click Here for "The Artist as Citizen", the speech given by Barbra Streisand at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts on February 3, 1995.