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How the West Was Won (1962) - 8.5/10
A larger-than-life Western that follows the saga of one strong-willed family in their arduous search for land describes this epic film. Occurring over the course of several decades during the 1800’s, How the West Was Won depicts several historical events throughout its featured family’s life-journey such as the California Gold Rush, the Civil War, and the building of the railroads. This movie oozes to its neck with fantastically likable characters, extraordinary set pieces such as Western wagons and Indian tomahawks; and beautiful landscapes of the “Old West” presented with excellent cinematography.
Despite the wonderful scenery that totally immerses you and the story of the characters that leaves you captivated, the main attraction here is the cast. Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Lee J. Cobb, Debbie Reynolds, and John Wayne (among other notable actors) make up the front lineup here. Although their parts aren’t particularly large in the film, Henry Fonda and Lee J. Cobb deliver excellent performances as they did together in 12 Angry Men, and James Stewart is as wonderfully delightful as ever. Debbie Reynolds also acted brilliantly and left me in a sense of awe from time to time due to her alluring beauty. Carroll Baker, second lead woman to Debbie Reynolds, was—as Reynolds was herself—a sight for soar eyes.
(Debbie Reynolds)
The directors of this film: John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, and Richard Thorpe, are certainly not to go without mention. The legendary John Ford currently holds the record for "Best Director" oscars, that record being four. He and the three other men who gave direction to this film all conspired together to create a truly unique, segmented movie (I'll go into the details of that later) that proved to be the catalyst of getting me into the Western genre of film.
The story of the film begins just as rivetingly as it ends. The Prescott family, a strong-willed family travelling from the East in search of prosperous land in the West, begins the film by venturing down the Erie Canal only to have tragedy quickly befall them. Two of their family members are left dead in a horrible accident while venturing through the rapids of the rushing river, leaving Eve (Baker) and Lilith (Reynolds), the family’s two oldest sisters, to continue the journey with their younger brother and surviving comrades who had travelled alongside them down the Erie. It isn’t long until they are confronted by a mysterious Mountain Man (Stewart) who turns out to be more a friend than a foe; he comes to fall in love with Eve and have children with her who play an important role later in the movie.
The epic chronicles of the Prescotts and their journey West goes on to be told through “segments”; separate mini stories containing the same central characters and narrative, but each one features a different time period during the 1800’s, showing how Eve and Lilith progress in their life’s journey. The segments portray encounters with new characters as well, such as the fearsome Buffalo Hunter (Fonda) and Marshal (Cobb), and how they interact with the main characters and how they progress the story of how the West was won. Large-scale events are also depicted within the film’s numerous segments, such as how the California Gold Rush actually began and the origin of the grand battle between the white men and the Indians over the fight for the Indians’ territory. Each of these things depicted in this film--the remarkable characters and the larger-than-life events--are presented in a way that leaves you captivated and attached to the story throughout, despite a couple of bumps (confusion and slight awkwardness) down the road, which I'll explain moreso momentarily.
Now, this next bit may just be because I experience How the West Was Won in Blu-ray technology, but the scenery, landscapes, and cinematography were all simply breathtaking. The large-scale shots of everything from the desert-like Western frontier to the snowy icecaps of the North to the activity-bustling towns of the West were all vibrant with color and beautiful beyond most modern-day films I’ve seen to date (on the same Blu-ray format, no less). While watching the film, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing was released in 1962. I’m guessing that the combination of the Blu-ray format and the natural excellence of the film’s cinematography make the beautiful shots what they are.
What contributes to the visual splendor of this film most of all, perhaps, is its unique Cinerama presentation. What that means is that each scene was filmed with three cameras, placed at an appropriate length apart, so that the film would be able to be projected at Cinerama theatres with three projectors, thus displaying it in the widest, clearest, most-curved aspect ratio possible. Only a select few theaters had the capability to play the movie in this way back when it was originally in cinemas, but years later when it was released on DVD and Blu-ray, How the West Was Won was released in a standard wide-screen format, the two lines from the Cinerama way of filmmaking still able to be seen when watching the movie. Later, the original "Smilebox" presentation was released on DVD and Blu-ray as well to give the film a more original feel as it was seen in theaters.
All of this seemingly alarming praise is not to say that the film isn’t without its slow points or scenes of abrupt confusion or awkwardness, however. Bits and pieces of my least-favorite segments I found bordering on boring and some scenes between two or more characters felt awkward in some way. Also, toward the film’s end, things got rather complex, and maybe a second viewing will help, but I found myself a little confused as to what exactly was going on.
Overall, How the West Was Won—being only my second big-time Western film-viewing experience (Once Upon a Time in the West being my first)—came just short of blowing me away, and I must say that I’m off to a roaring start with this genre. I look forward to seeing more of Henry Fonda’s work pertaining to it, and more Westerns in general. And for this, I have this movie to thank.
Thanks to mark f for help throughout writing this review with providing insight and information.
A larger-than-life Western that follows the saga of one strong-willed family in their arduous search for land describes this epic film. Occurring over the course of several decades during the 1800’s, How the West Was Won depicts several historical events throughout its featured family’s life-journey such as the California Gold Rush, the Civil War, and the building of the railroads. This movie oozes to its neck with fantastically likable characters, extraordinary set pieces such as Western wagons and Indian tomahawks; and beautiful landscapes of the “Old West” presented with excellent cinematography.
Despite the wonderful scenery that totally immerses you and the story of the characters that leaves you captivated, the main attraction here is the cast. Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Lee J. Cobb, Debbie Reynolds, and John Wayne (among other notable actors) make up the front lineup here. Although their parts aren’t particularly large in the film, Henry Fonda and Lee J. Cobb deliver excellent performances as they did together in 12 Angry Men, and James Stewart is as wonderfully delightful as ever. Debbie Reynolds also acted brilliantly and left me in a sense of awe from time to time due to her alluring beauty. Carroll Baker, second lead woman to Debbie Reynolds, was—as Reynolds was herself—a sight for soar eyes.
(Debbie Reynolds)
The directors of this film: John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, and Richard Thorpe, are certainly not to go without mention. The legendary John Ford currently holds the record for "Best Director" oscars, that record being four. He and the three other men who gave direction to this film all conspired together to create a truly unique, segmented movie (I'll go into the details of that later) that proved to be the catalyst of getting me into the Western genre of film.
The story of the film begins just as rivetingly as it ends. The Prescott family, a strong-willed family travelling from the East in search of prosperous land in the West, begins the film by venturing down the Erie Canal only to have tragedy quickly befall them. Two of their family members are left dead in a horrible accident while venturing through the rapids of the rushing river, leaving Eve (Baker) and Lilith (Reynolds), the family’s two oldest sisters, to continue the journey with their younger brother and surviving comrades who had travelled alongside them down the Erie. It isn’t long until they are confronted by a mysterious Mountain Man (Stewart) who turns out to be more a friend than a foe; he comes to fall in love with Eve and have children with her who play an important role later in the movie.
The epic chronicles of the Prescotts and their journey West goes on to be told through “segments”; separate mini stories containing the same central characters and narrative, but each one features a different time period during the 1800’s, showing how Eve and Lilith progress in their life’s journey. The segments portray encounters with new characters as well, such as the fearsome Buffalo Hunter (Fonda) and Marshal (Cobb), and how they interact with the main characters and how they progress the story of how the West was won. Large-scale events are also depicted within the film’s numerous segments, such as how the California Gold Rush actually began and the origin of the grand battle between the white men and the Indians over the fight for the Indians’ territory. Each of these things depicted in this film--the remarkable characters and the larger-than-life events--are presented in a way that leaves you captivated and attached to the story throughout, despite a couple of bumps (confusion and slight awkwardness) down the road, which I'll explain moreso momentarily.
Now, this next bit may just be because I experience How the West Was Won in Blu-ray technology, but the scenery, landscapes, and cinematography were all simply breathtaking. The large-scale shots of everything from the desert-like Western frontier to the snowy icecaps of the North to the activity-bustling towns of the West were all vibrant with color and beautiful beyond most modern-day films I’ve seen to date (on the same Blu-ray format, no less). While watching the film, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing was released in 1962. I’m guessing that the combination of the Blu-ray format and the natural excellence of the film’s cinematography make the beautiful shots what they are.
What contributes to the visual splendor of this film most of all, perhaps, is its unique Cinerama presentation. What that means is that each scene was filmed with three cameras, placed at an appropriate length apart, so that the film would be able to be projected at Cinerama theatres with three projectors, thus displaying it in the widest, clearest, most-curved aspect ratio possible. Only a select few theaters had the capability to play the movie in this way back when it was originally in cinemas, but years later when it was released on DVD and Blu-ray, How the West Was Won was released in a standard wide-screen format, the two lines from the Cinerama way of filmmaking still able to be seen when watching the movie. Later, the original "Smilebox" presentation was released on DVD and Blu-ray as well to give the film a more original feel as it was seen in theaters.
All of this seemingly alarming praise is not to say that the film isn’t without its slow points or scenes of abrupt confusion or awkwardness, however. Bits and pieces of my least-favorite segments I found bordering on boring and some scenes between two or more characters felt awkward in some way. Also, toward the film’s end, things got rather complex, and maybe a second viewing will help, but I found myself a little confused as to what exactly was going on.
Overall, How the West Was Won—being only my second big-time Western film-viewing experience (Once Upon a Time in the West being my first)—came just short of blowing me away, and I must say that I’m off to a roaring start with this genre. I look forward to seeing more of Henry Fonda’s work pertaining to it, and more Westerns in general. And for this, I have this movie to thank.
Thanks to mark f for help throughout writing this review with providing insight and information.