How the West Was Won (1962)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Directors:

John Ford
Henry Hathaway

Writer:

James R. Webb (written by) (suggested by the series "How the West Was Won" in LIFE magazine)

Release Date:

20 February 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Romance | Western

Tagline:

A FABULOUS ROMANTIC ADVENTURE

Plot:

A family saga covering several decades of Westward expansion in the nineteenth century--including the Gold Rush, the Civil War, and the building of the railroads.

Plot Keywords:

Railroad | Civil War | Erie Canal | Train | Army

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Carroll Baker	...	Eve Prescott Rawlings
Lee J. Cobb	...	Marshal Lou Ramsey
Henry Fonda	...	Jethro Stuart
Carolyn Jones	...	Julie Rawlings
Karl Malden	...	Zebulon Prescott
Gregory Peck	...	Cleve Van Valen
George Peppard	...	Zeb Rawlings
Robert Preston	...	Roger Morgan
Debbie Reynolds	...	Lilith 'Lily' Prescott
James Stewart	...	Linus Rawlings
Eli Wallach	...	Charlie Gant
John Wayne	...	Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman
Richard Widmark	...	Mike King
Brigid Bazlen	...	Dora Hawkins
Walter Brennan	...	Col. Jeb Hawkins

Runtime:

162 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Arapaho

Color:

Color (Technicolor) (credited as Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.89 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm prints) | Cinerama 7-Track (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Canada:G | Portugal:M/12 | USA:Approved (certificate #20143) | USA:G (re-rating) (1970) | West Germany:12 (f) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Chile:TE | Finland:K-16 | Norway:12 | Spain:7 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG (video rating) (1986) (cut) | UK:PG (video re-rating) (1995) (uncut) | UK:U (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Cinerama Productions Corp.

Trivia:

Although James Stewart's character was only supposed to be 28 in the movie, Stewart was actually nearly 54 at the time of filming.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Roger Morgan is testing a new whip, he has it in his left hand and then it magically appears in his right hand.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: [as the camera pans over the Rocky Mountains] This land has a name today, and is marked on maps. But, the names and the marks and the maps all had to be won, won from nature and from primitive man.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Leave It to Beaver: Wally's Practical Joke (#6.35)" (1963)

Soundtrack:

Shenandoah

I can't believe this movie won an Oscar for best screenplay.

"How The West Was Won" was part epic part gimmick. The gimmick being one of the first non-documentary films made in Cinerama. I agree that a story about the opening of the frontier sounds like a terrific idea for this type of gimmick. But the screenplay, and even some of the acting is so ridiculous that the gimmick can't pay off.

Yes it's great to see all of these great actors on screen together. But what were they thinking when they decided to let Debbie Reynold's character be the thread that holds the stories together? She's not bad through most of the movie, but when she is an old woman, this is cartoon time.

She's not helped by the inane script. Unfortunately, I believe Richard Widmark has the worst of it, as a demanding railroad owner. And could someone please tell me what that scene between Henry Morgan (looking like a dwarf as Ulysees S. Grant) and John Wayne was about?

I did think that Karl Malden, as a Quaker from the waterfront, playing Carrol Baker's father was humorous. And James Stewart as her beau (must have been 30 years older than her)was hard to watch. But wonderful Thelma Ritter saved the day.

Beautiful scenery, great cast, lousy writing, uneven acting, different directing styles that don't mesh, and lines running up and down your screen because of the gimmick, add up to a movie that should be seen but not taken seriously.

6 out of 10