Unique, entertaining all-star Western epic comprised of vignettes is a mixed bag
Released in 1962-63 and written by James Webb, "How the West was Won" is an epic Hollywood Western covering fifty years between 1839-1889 focusing on the Prescott family's move West and narrated by Spencer Tracy. This is a history lesson amped up with melodrama, romance, adventure, violence and song & dance.
The film was done in Cinerama, which was a short-lived cinematic experiment involving three synchronized projectors and a huge curved screen. Only one other film with a traditional story line utilized this process, "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm," released the same year. Cinerama was invented so film could keep ahead of its growing rival, television, but it proved too expensive and cumbersome. Despite this, "How the West was Won" was a huge success at the box office.
There were epic Westerns before and after, of course, like "The Big Country" (1958), "The Alamo" (1960), "Dances with Wolves" (1990) and "Wyatt Earp" (1994). What separates "How the West was Won" is that it's split into five vignettes directed by three different directors, as follows:
THE RIVERS (1839), directed by Henry Hathaway. This opening segment may turn off viewers with its eye-rolling "Disney Goes West" vibe and the corresponding corny dialogue, particularly the lightning fast romance that starts between Linus Rawlings (James Stewart) and Eve Prescott (Carroll Baker). But, if you can endure past such cringe-worthy moments, there's a sudden shift when the travelers run into a malevolent gang of river pirates (Walter Brennan, Lee Van Cleef and cutie Brigid Bazlen). The switch from quaint family-friendly material to nigh shocking violence is notable. One villain gets an ax wung into his back and another a knife into his chest (!). The episode ends with a thrilling fatal rafting sequence. Karl Malden plays the patriarch while Debbie Reynolds plays the less-romantic sister. I must say that the producers knocked it out of the ballpark by featuring Baker, Reynolds and Bazlen in the female department; all three are breathtaking.
THE PLAINS (1851), directed by Henry Hathaway. Lilith Prescott (Reynolds) ends up in St. Louis as a dance hall performer where she learns she's inherited a gold mine in California. A handsome gambler (Gregory Peck) catches wind and tags along on the wagon train, led by a character played by the great Robert Preston. Both guys want the babe, but only the latter seems sincere, which curiously doesn't interest Lilith. This segment is highlighted by Reynold's beauty and her entertaining song & dance sequences and a thrilling Cheyanne attack on the wagon train.
THE CIVIL WAR (1861-1865), directed by John Ford. This segment starts at the Prescott homestead in Ohio where the son of Lilith, Zeb (George Peppard), decides to join the Civil War, after his dad did a couple of years earlier. This is the weakest of the vignettes because the scenes where Ulysses Grant (Harry Morgan) and General Sherman (John Wayne) hang out are obviously studio bound and, worse, the Shiloh battle sequence is almost non-existence. What a letdown!
THE RAILROAD (1868), directed by George Mashall. After the war Lieutenant Zeb gets a gig in the U.S. Cavalry, trying to maintain peace with the Indians while befriending grizzled buffalo hunter Jethro Stuart (Henry Fonda), but Zeb becomes disillusioned when an arrogant railroad mogul (Richard Widmark) violates treaties with the Arapaho by building in their territories. The Natives retaliate by stampeding bison through the railroad camp and killing many. It's an impressive sequence.
THE OUTLAWS (1889) directed by Henry Hathaway. Widowed, Lilith moves from San Francisco to her remaining asset, an Arizona ranch, inviting Zeb (Peppard) and his wife (Carolyn Jones) & kids to oversee it. But Marshal Zeb is threatened by a vengeful outlaw (Eli Wallach). Instead of waiting for the thug to strike, Zeb goes on the offensive with the help of reluctant Marshal Lou Ramsey (Lee J. Cobb). They hide out on a train with an unusually large gold shipment to ambush the outlaw and his gang. The exciting climax is impressive for its time and obviously influential in action-oriented cinema.
As you can see, the movie is a series of thinly-connected stories with a few characters carrying over to other segments (Baker, Reynolds, Peck, Peppard). It's a big film rather than a great one. But you have to respect its uniqueness and the fact that it pulls out all the stops to entertain on so many levels. The score by Alfred Newman, for instance, is one of the all-time best film compositions. While the movie sometimes disappoints — particularly the opening "Disney goes West" vibe and the truncated Civil War sequence — there's just too much good here to give it a bad grade. You just have to be willing to acclimate to its quirks and uniqueness. Needless to say, don't expect a conventional Western because "How the West was Won" is anything but.
The film runs 164 minutes and was shot in Kentucky & Illinois in the East; and South Dakota, Utah, Arizona, California and Oregon in the West .
GRADE: B