How the West Was Won

An epic look at one family’s trials and tribulations over the course of four generations as they seek their fortune in the American west through the middle of the 19th century.

How the West Was Won is an ambitious, mostly well-executed adventure film that elevates many of the B-movie western plots to grand status. You’ve got bandits, mountain men, gamblers, civil war soldier, marshals, outlaws, railroad tycoons, and, of course, Indians, all rolled into one sprawling narrative that manages to encompass an epic, if fantastical, look at American expansion into the west through the eyes of a single family, from generation to generation.

This was one of only two feature films shot in Cinerama, which involved using three synchronized cameras and a single shutter, the joined image was then projected onto a huge, arcing screen at an aspect ratio of about 2.65:1. When viewed on home video, the joins between the strips are visible, and sometimes distracting, but the film must have been something to see in a true Cinerama setup back in 1962.

Despite a gimmicky filming process, three directors, and a huge all-star cast, How the West Was Won still manages to tell a solid story. Much of this is due to the way the film is laid out, with different director’s handling different “segments” that each focus on a different aspect of westward expansion. Henry Hathaway does a good job with the bookend pieces directing a perhaps too-old James Stewart as a mountain man, while George Marshall does his best with an ill-cast Henry Fonda in the railroad segment, but it’s John Ford who steals the film with his civil war segment, which includes a nice cameo from John Wayne.

How the West Was Won isn’t for everyone, as its 162-minute running time is nothing to sneeze at, but western fans will definitely want to give this one a look.