How the West Was Won (1962)

Director: Henry Hathaway, John Ford, George Marshall
Starring: James Stewart, John Wayne, Gregory Peck

Synopsis:
An epic tale of a family's trials and travails throughout the West from the earliest settlement to the closing of the frontier.

Impressions:
How the West Was Won is a showcase for the Cinerama widescreen process that shot on three reels of film and they really play this up, especially on the gorgeous aerial shots that act as bookends for the film. Like so many of these big epic films, there's a star-studded ensemble cast and a lot of big names have rather small roles. Perhaps fitting for the theme of the film, the many actors' performances are like patches in a big quilt. If you're a fan of Westerns or even just films of the 50s and 60s, you'll find a lot of familiar faces. The score is rightly renowned and the main theme is quite memorable. There are some rather impressive sequences. The buffalo stampede is particularly good. Now, if you take your PC programming to heart, the manifest destiny triumphalism will rub you the wrong way, but if you don't let that get in the way, you'll have one of the better epics of the era to enjoy.

Rating:
Watch It