How the West Was Won (B or 3/4 stars)
Hollywood big-hitters such as Henry Fonda, James Stewart, John Wayne, Gregory Peck, Richard Widmark, Lee J Cobb, Karl Malden, & Eli Wallach lend good work in 'How the West Was Won' (directed by Henry Hathaway, John Ford, George Marshall & Richard Thorpe), a sprawling action-laden epic Western which follows the Prescotts (led by Karl Malden, also including Carroll Baker & Debbie Reynolds), an emigrant family through four generations, from the Erie Canal in the 1830's to their settled home out in the West some 50 yrs. later. Spencer Tracy our trusting narrator.
And each director has a hand in helming different episodes of the narrative. Hathaway does a good job in his 3 sequences (The River, The Plains & The Outlaws). He tells of the escapades of America's westward expansion. John Ford's 15 min. sequence during the Civil War is a highlight of the film -- telling the coming-of-age story of a farm boy (George Peppard) saving Gen. Grant from a Confederate assass. attempt during the bloody, tragic Battle of Shiloh; outstanding segment. George Marshall ably directs The Railroad sequence; where a dispute develops over whether to cut through Indian Territory to expand the railroad at the bosses' behest.
There are many other segments, but those I just mentioned are the ones that punch through; ones with a great buffalo stampede & the terrifying white water rapids scene, etc. It is all packaged neatly & executed into a nearly 3 hour run time. To that, the run time would be my biggest gripe with the film. Yes, there are amazing moments, nice character interactions, STUNNING Cinerama {for the 1st time!} cinematography, great pioneer music etc. ... but the length nearly did me in; there are just a few too many sections that lag in pacing in between something really interesting going on.
This film was the highest grossing movie of the year & received 8 Academy Award nominations, winning 3: Best Story & Screenplay (by James R. Webb), Best Sound (by Franklin E. Milton) & Best Film Editing (Harold F Kress is talented, but I would NOT have given this sometimes laborious film any sort of editing recognition, ha). As mentioned, the 1st-class color photography is achieved by 4 crack cinematographers; Joseph LaShelle, Charles Lang, William H. Daniels, & Milton R. Krasner). I loved Alfred Newman & Ken Darby's music. And the period designs (sets, costumes) felt authentic.
And how can you go wrong with this enormous cast? None of them give their 'best' work, but when ya got the aforementioned Fonda, Stewart {as a fur trapper}, Wayne, Peck {as a professional gambler}, Widmark, Cobb, Malden, Wallach, and you also got Walter Brennan, Carolyn Jones, Raymond Massey (as Abraham Lincoln}, Agnes Moorehead, Harry Morgan, Robert Preston, Thelma Ritter, Harry Dean Stanton, Russ Tamblyn and more ... that's A LOT of acting talent up on the big screen. The worst you can say about this film is that it is too long, with belabored stretches. I experienced some of that, but overall, I loved the big, brash scope of the story, the breathtaking location work, that cast & the spectacle of How the West Was Won.
And each director has a hand in helming different episodes of the narrative. Hathaway does a good job in his 3 sequences (The River, The Plains & The Outlaws). He tells of the escapades of America's westward expansion. John Ford's 15 min. sequence during the Civil War is a highlight of the film -- telling the coming-of-age story of a farm boy (George Peppard) saving Gen. Grant from a Confederate assass. attempt during the bloody, tragic Battle of Shiloh; outstanding segment. George Marshall ably directs The Railroad sequence; where a dispute develops over whether to cut through Indian Territory to expand the railroad at the bosses' behest.
There are many other segments, but those I just mentioned are the ones that punch through; ones with a great buffalo stampede & the terrifying white water rapids scene, etc. It is all packaged neatly & executed into a nearly 3 hour run time. To that, the run time would be my biggest gripe with the film. Yes, there are amazing moments, nice character interactions, STUNNING Cinerama {for the 1st time!} cinematography, great pioneer music etc. ... but the length nearly did me in; there are just a few too many sections that lag in pacing in between something really interesting going on.
This film was the highest grossing movie of the year & received 8 Academy Award nominations, winning 3: Best Story & Screenplay (by James R. Webb), Best Sound (by Franklin E. Milton) & Best Film Editing (Harold F Kress is talented, but I would NOT have given this sometimes laborious film any sort of editing recognition, ha). As mentioned, the 1st-class color photography is achieved by 4 crack cinematographers; Joseph LaShelle, Charles Lang, William H. Daniels, & Milton R. Krasner). I loved Alfred Newman & Ken Darby's music. And the period designs (sets, costumes) felt authentic.
And how can you go wrong with this enormous cast? None of them give their 'best' work, but when ya got the aforementioned Fonda, Stewart {as a fur trapper}, Wayne, Peck {as a professional gambler}, Widmark, Cobb, Malden, Wallach, and you also got Walter Brennan, Carolyn Jones, Raymond Massey (as Abraham Lincoln}, Agnes Moorehead, Harry Morgan, Robert Preston, Thelma Ritter, Harry Dean Stanton, Russ Tamblyn and more ... that's A LOT of acting talent up on the big screen. The worst you can say about this film is that it is too long, with belabored stretches. I experienced some of that, but overall, I loved the big, brash scope of the story, the breathtaking location work, that cast & the spectacle of How the West Was Won.