How the West Was Won
How the West Was Won brings together four of the mid-twentieth century's most revered American directors and a star-studded cast to tell this sprawling frontier tale spanning five decades. Winner of Best Original Story & Screenplay, Sound and Editing at the 1964 Academy Awards.
Setting off on a journey to the west in the 1830s, the Prescott family run into a man named Linus (James Stewart) who helps them fight off a pack of thieves. Linus then marries daughter Eve Prescott (Carroll Baker), and 30 years later goes off to fight in the Civil War with their son, with bloody results. Eve's sister, Lily (Debbie Reynolds), heads further west and has adventures with a professional gambler (Gregory Peck), stretching all the way to San Francisco and into the 1880s.
Filmed in the short-lived, curved-screen three-projector Cinerama process.
- Director:
- John Ford ('The Searchers', 'Stagecoach')Henry Hathaway ('True Grit', 'Niagara')George Marshall ('Destry Rides Again', 'The Blue Dahlia')Richard Thorpe ('Jailhouse Rock', 'Knights of The Round Table')
- Writer:
- James R. WebbJohn Gay
- Cast:
- Carroll BakerLee J. CobbHenry FondaCarolyn JonesKarl MaldenGregory PeckGeorge PeppardRobert PrestonDebbie ReynoldsJames StewartEli WallachJohn Wayne
Reviews & comments
Variety
pressIt’s a story which naturally puts the spotlight on action and adventure, and the three [sic] directors between them have turned in some memorable sequences.
Time Out
pressA vast, sprawling Western, shot in the short-lived three-strip Cinerama process, which chronicles the development of the American West through the adventures of one family over three generations.
The New York Times
press...this star-studded, epic Western adventure is a true cinematic classic.
Variety
pressIt’s a story which naturally puts the spotlight on action and adventure, and the three [sic] directors between them have turned in some memorable sequences.
Time Out
pressA vast, sprawling Western, shot in the short-lived three-strip Cinerama process, which chronicles the development of the American West through the adventures of one family over three generations.
The New York Times
press...this star-studded, epic Western adventure is a true cinematic classic.
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