There’s a behind-the-scenes detail from The Way We Were that keeps resurfacing, because it captures Barbra Streisand’s presence on set. In the bedroom scenes with Robert Redford, he reportedly asked to wear two pairs of underwear, a tiny rule with a big meaning. It is less about discomfort and more about the charge that happens when an icon walks into the frame fully herself.
Streisand brought elegance, intensity, and total confidence, and that combination could make even the calmest co-star stay alert. Redford was famously composed, yet he still seemed to want an extra layer of control before the camera moved in close. He even asked for one line to be softened, which shows how carefully the production protected his real-life image.
That is what makes the story funny and revealing, because it hints at how seriously everyone took the moment. Director Sydney Pollack reportedly kept the set steady, adjusting small choices and keeping the focus on the characters’ truth. Streisand also carried the film’s heartbeat, pushing for emotional clarity until the romance felt real instead of polished.
The title song later became an Oscar winner and a signature hit, which only deepened the film’s lasting aura. So when fans share the “two pairs” rule, they are really talking about star power, not underwear.
He needed to wear 2 PAIRS OF PROTECTION to calm her infatuation with him during “THE WAY WE WERE”
You can laugh at the rule, but it also hints at why The Way We Were still feels so intense and unforgettable. The same power that could make a co-star feel the moment more sharply is the power that made the movie’s theme song hit like a memory you did not ask for. If you want the purest, simplest proof of what she brought to that film, this is it.
Barbra Streisand “THE WAY WE WERE” |1973
And if that “two pairs” detail shows Streisand’s power in the room, the next layer shows what she was really fighting for on screen. The Way We Were is not only a romance. It is a story shaped by McCarthyism, the Hollywood Blacklist, and the cost of speaking up when it is easier to stay silent.