How West Was Won

Starring: Gregory Peck, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, John Wayne, Debbie Reynolds, Walter Brennan, Karl Malden, Richard Widmark, Robert Preston, George Peppard, Eli Wallach, Lee J. Cobb, Carolyn Jones, Carroll Baker, Spencer Tracy (narrator)
Directed by: John Ford, Henry Hathaway
Rating: G
Genre: Western
1962

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Through the eyes of the Prescott family, we see the entire Western colonization of the United States.

Review:

Tim: This film set out to show the entire colonization of the American frontier in a little less than 3 hours. This ambitious endeavor is admirable, although it also means less time will be spent on each small story. This film has a dream cast to end all dream casts, but it is somewhat wasted as not enough big names get the opportunity to interact at all.

James Stewart is decent, but gets far too little screen time. Gregory Peck and Henry Fonda both have a chance to show their skills, but leave you desperately wanting more. John Wayne is almost completely wasted, and if you blink, you'll miss him. Debbie Reynolds was outstanding and one of the few actors to make a substantial and lasting impact. The same can be said for George Peppard, who somehow manages to give the best and most memorable performance of the entire cast (besids Reynolds). He astounds me in his tendency to do this, and I love every second of his screen time.

It is interesting to sit and watch the entire history of the West unfold slowly before your eyes. The film is quite epic and wide in its sweeping story. You get to see brief moments of pioneer expansion, the Civil War, Indian battles, railroad expansion, and a train robbery.

One of the film's biggest flaws is that it was filmed in Cinerama. While DVD additions might have fixed this, the VHS version I watched did not, and it was incredibly annoying and distracting. Otherwise, this is worthwhile to see purely for its scope and ambition.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7.5


If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Once Upon a Time in the West, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, My Name is Nobody