How the West Was Won (film)

How the West Was Won
original film poster by Reynold Brown
Directed by	John Ford Henry Hathaway George Marshall Richard Thorpe (uncredited)
Produced by	Bernard Smith
Written by	James R. Webb
Narrated by	Spencer Tracy
Starring	Carroll Baker Gregory Peck George Peppard Debbie Reynolds James Stewart
Music by	Alfred Newman
Cinematography	William H. Daniels Milton Krasner Charles Lang, Jr. Joseph LaShelle
Editing by	Harold F. Kress
Distributed by	MGM / Cinerama
Release date(s)	November 1, 1962
Running time	162 min.
Language	English, Arapaho
Budget	estimated $15,000,000[1]
IMDb

How the West Was Won is a 1962 epic Western film which follows four generations of a family (starting as the Prescotts) as they move ever westward, from western New York state to the Pacific Ocean. Filmed in the Cinerama curving widescreen process, the movie is set between 1839 and 1889.

The all-star cast includes Carroll Baker, Walter Brennan, Lee J. Cobb, Andy Devine, Henry Fonda, Carolyn Jones, Karl Malden, Harry Morgan, Gregory Peck, George Peppard, Robert Preston, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart, Eli Wallach, John Wayne, and Richard Widmark. The introductory, intermediate, and closing narration is voiced by Spencer Tracy.

The movie consists of five segments, three directed by Henry Hathaway ("The Rivers", "The Plains" and "The Outlaws"), and one each by John Ford ("The Civil War") and George Marshall ("The Railroad"), with transitional sequences by the uncredited Richard Thorpe. The screenplay was written by John Gay (uncredited) and James R. Webb. Popular western author Louis L'Amour wrote a novelization based on the screenplay.^[2]

The picture was one of the last "old-fashioned" epic films made by MGM to enjoy great success. In 1997, How the West Was Won was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

The film also marked then sixty-six year old Raymond Massey's last appearance as Abraham Lincoln, a role that he had previously played on stage (Abe Lincoln in Illinois and the stage adaptation of John Brown's Body), on screen (Abe Lincoln in Illinois) and on television (The Day Lincoln Was Shot, and two more productions of Abe Lincoln in Illinois).

The score was listed at #25 on AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores.

1 Plot summary 1.1 The Rivers (1830s) 1.2 The Plains (1850s) 1.3 The Civil War (1861~1865) 1.4 The Railroad (1860s) 1.5 The Outlaws (1880s) 2 Cast 3 Academy Awards and nominations 4 Production 5 Restoration 6 Gallery 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

Mountain man Linus Rawlings (James Stewart) is traveling east to Pittsburgh to trade his furs when he meets a group of settlers led by Zebulon Prescott (Karl Malden) heading west down the Ohio River to the Illinois country. His daughter Eve (Carroll Baker) and Linus are attracted to each other, but he isn't ready to settle down.

Linus stops at an isolated trading post run by a murderous clan headed by "Colonel" Hawkins (Walter Brennan). Linus is betrayed when he accompanies pretty Dora Hawkins (Brigid Bazlen) into a cave to see a "varmint". She stabs him in the back and pushes him into a deep hole. Fortunately, Linus is not seriously wounded, and is able to rescue the Prescott party from a similar fate. The bushwhacking thieves (Lee Van Cleef plays one), including Dora, are dispatched with rough frontier justice.

The settlers continue down the river, but their raft is caught in rapids and Zebulon and his wife Rebecca (Agnes Moorehead) drown. Linus, finding that he cannot live without Eve, reappears and marries her, even though she insists on homesteading at the spot where her parents died.

Eve's sister Lily (Debbie Reynolds) chooses to go to St. Louis, where she finds work performing in a dance hall. She attracts the attention of professional gambler Cleve Van Valen (Gregory Peck). After overhearing that she has just inherited a California gold mine (and to avoid paying his debts), Cleve joins the wagon train taking her there. He and wagonmaster Roger Morgan (Robert Preston) court her along the way, but she turns them both down, much to the dismay of her new friend and fellow traveler Agatha Clegg (Thelma Ritter).

Surviving an attack by Cheyenne Indians, Lily and Cleve arrive at the mine, only to find that it is now worthless. Cleve leaves. Lily returns to work in a dance hall in a literal "Camp Town," living out of a covered wagon. Morgan finds her and again proposes marriage in a rather unromantic way. She tells him, "No, not ever."

Later, Lily is singing in the music salon of a riverboat. By chance, Cleve is a passenger. When he hears Lily's voice, he leaves the poker table (and a winning hand) to propose to her, telling her of the opportunities waiting in the rapidly growing city of San Francisco. She accepts.

Linus joins the Union army as a captain in the American Civil War. Despite Eve's wishes, their son Zeb (George Peppard) eagerly enlists as well, looking for glory and an escape from farming. Corporal Peterson (Andy Devine) assures them the conflict won't last very long. The bloody Battle of Shiloh shows Zeb that war is nothing like he imagined and, unknown to him, his father Linus dies there. He encounters a similarly disillusioned Confederate (Russ Tamblyn) who suggests deserting, to which Zeb agrees.

However, by chance, they overhear a private conversation between Generals Ulysses S. Grant (Harry Morgan) and William Tecumseh Sherman (John Wayne). The rebel realizes he has the opportunity to rid the South of two of its greatest enemies and tries to shoot them, leaving Zeb no choice but to kill him. Afterwards, Zeb rejoins the army.

When the war finally ends, he returns home, only to find his mother has died. She had lost the will to live after learning that Linus had been killed. Zeb gives his share of the family farm to his brother and leaves in search of a more interesting life.

Following the daring riders from the Pony Express and the construction of the transcontinental telegraph line in the early 1860s, two ferociously competing railroad lines, the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad, one building west and the other east, open up new territory to eager settlers.

Zeb becomes a lieutenant in the U.S. cavalry, trying to maintain peace with the Indians with the help of grizzled buffalo hunter Jethro Stuart (Henry Fonda), an old friend of Linus. When ruthless railroad man Mike King (Richard Widmark) violates a treaty by building on Indian territory, the Arapaho Indians retaliate by stampeding buffalo through his camp, killing many, including women and children. Disgusted, Zeb resigns and heads to Arizona.

In San Francisco, widowed Lily auctions off her possessions (she and Cleve had made and spent several fortunes) to pay her debts. She travels to Arizona, inviting Zeb and his family to oversee her remaining asset, a ranch.

Zeb (now a marshal), his wife Julie (Carolyn Jones) and their children meet Lily at Gold City's train station. However, Zeb also runs into an old enemy there, outlaw Charlie Gant (Eli Wallach). When Gant makes veiled threats against his family, Zeb turns to his friend and Gold City's marshal, Lou Ramsey (Lee J. Cobb), but Gant is not wanted for anything in that territory, so there is little Ramsey can do. Zeb decides he has to act rather than wait for Gant to show up someday. Suspecting Gant of planning to rob an unusually large gold shipment being transported by train, he prepares an ambush with Ramsey's reluctant help. Gant and his gang (one member played by Harry Dean Stanton) are killed in a shootout. In the end, Lily and the Rawlings travel to their new home.

A short epilogue shows Los Angeles and San Francisco in the early 1960s, including the famous four-level downtown freeway interchange and Golden Gate Bridge, indicating the growth of the West in 80 years.

Actor	Character
Carroll Baker	Eve Prescott Rawlings
Lee J. Cobb	Marshal Lou Ramsey
Henry Fonda	Jethro Stuart
Carolyn Jones	Julie Rawlings
Karl Malden	Zebulon Prescott
Harry Morgan	Gen. Ulysses S. Grant
Gregory Peck	Cleve Van Valen
George Peppard	Zeb Rawlings
Robert Preston	Roger Morgan
Debbie Reynolds	Lilith 'Lily' Prescott
James Stewart	Linus Rawlings
Eli Wallach	Charlie Gant
John Wayne	Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman
Richard Widmark	Mike King
Brigid Bazlen	Dora Hawkins
Walter Brennan	Col. Jeb Hawkins
Andy Devine	Corporal Peterson
Raymond Massey	President Abraham Lincoln (cameo appearance with no dialogue)
Agnes Moorehead	Rebecca Prescott
Thelma Ritter	Agatha Clegg
Spencer Tracy	Narrator

The movie won three Academy Awards for: ^[3]

• Best Writing, Story and Screenplay — Written Directly for the Screen (James R. Webb)
• Best Film Editing
• Best Sound

It was also nominated for:

• Best Picture
• Academy Award for Best Art Direction — Set Decoration, Color (George Davis, William Ferrari, Addison Hehr, Henry Grace, Don Greenwood, Jr., Jack Mills)
• Best Cinematography, Color
• Best Costume Design, Color
• Best Music, Score — Substantially Original (Alfred Newman and Ken Darby)

How the West Was Won is one of only two dramatic feature films (the other being The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm) made using the three-strip Cinerama process. Although the picture quality when projected onto curved screens in theatres was stunning, attempts to convert the movie to a smaller screen suffer from that process's technical shortcomings. When seen in letterbox format the actors' faces are nearly indistinguishable in long shots.

John Ford complained about having to dress such huge sets since Cinerama photographed a much wider view than the standard single camera process to which Hollywood directors had become accustomed.

Stuntman Bob Morgan, husband of Yvonne De Carlo, was severely injured and lost a leg during an accident while filming.^[4]

The film would later inspire an ABC television series of the same name.

There have been efforts to put the three parts of the image together in a better way, and to make the Cinerama image look better on a flat screen, led by HP.^[5] This has finally been accomplished on the latest DVD and Blu-ray Disc release. The lines at which the three Cinerama panels joined were formerly glaringly visible (one can even see them in the stills reproduced on this page), but this has been corrected on the Warners DVD and Blu-ray Disc, although the joins can still be discerned in places, especially against bright backgrounds . The restoration also corrects some of the geometric distortions inherent in the process; for instance, in the final shot the Golden Gate bridge appears to curve in perspective as the camera flies underneath it, whereas in the CinemaScope version it breaks into three straight sections at different angles.

The aspect ratio of Cinerama was 2:59:1, although Warner's new DVD release of the film claims the ratio was 2.89:1.

The restored Warners release, with those joining lines now almost invisible, has been shown on television beginning in October 2008, on the Encore Westerns channel.

James Stewart	Henry Fonda	Gregory Peck	John Wayne
Carroll Baker	Walter Brennan and Brigid Bazlen	Lee J. Cobb	Carolyn Jones
Karl Malden and Agnes Moorehead	George Peppard	Robert Preston	Debbie Reynolds
Thelma Ritter	Eli Wallach	Richard Widmark

• Cinerama
• How the West Was Won (TV series)

• How the West Was Won at the Internet Movie Database
• How the West Was Won at the TCM Movie Database

v • d • e The films of John Ford 1910s The Tornado • The Fighting Gringo • The Trail of Hate • The Scrapper • Cheyenne's Pal • The Soul Herder • Straight Shooting • The Secret Man • A Marked Man • Bucking Broadway • The Phantom Riders • Wild Women • Thieves' Gold • The Scarlet Drop • Hell Bent • A Woman's Fool • The Craving (with Francis Ford) • Three Mounted Men • Roped • The Fighting Brothers • A Fight for Love • Rustlers • Bare Fists • Gun Law • By Indian Post • The Gun Packer • Riders of Vengeance • The Last Outlaw • The Outcasts of Poker Flat • Ace of the Saddle • Rider of the Law • A Gun Fightin' Gentleman • Marked Men 1920s The Prince of Avenue A • The Girl in Number 29 • Hitchin' Posts • Just Pals • The Big Punch • The Freeze-Out • The Wallop • Desperate Trails • Action • Sure Fire • Jackie • Little Miss Smiles • Silver Wings (with Edwin Carewe) • The Village Blacksmith • The Face on the Bar-Room Floor • Three Jumps Ahead • Cameo Kirby • North of Hudson Bay • Hoodman Blind • Hearts of Oak • Lightnin' • Kentucky Pride • Thank You • The Fighting Heart • The Shamrock Handicap • 3 Bad Men • Upstream • Four Sons • Napoleon's Barber • Strong Boy • The Black Watch 1930s Men Without Women • Born Reckless • Up the River • Seas Beneath • The Brat • Arrowsmith • Airmail • Pilgrimage • Doctor Bull • The Lost Patrol • The World Moves On • Judge Priest • The Whole Town's Talking • The Informer • Steamboat Round the Bend • The Prisoner of Shark Island • Mary of Scotland • The Plough and the Stars • Wee Willie Winkie • The Hurricane • Four Men and a Prayer • Submarine Patrol • Stagecoach • Young Mr. Lincoln • Drums Along the Mohawk 1940s The Grapes of Wrath • The Long Voyage Home • Tobacco Road • How Green Was My Valley • They Were Expendable • My Darling Clementine • The Fugitive • Fort Apache • 3 Godfathers • Pinky • She Wore a Yellow Ribbon 1950s When Willie Comes Marching Home • Wagon Master • Rio Grande • The Quiet Man • What Price Glory? • The Sun Shines Bright • Mogambo • The Long Gray Line • Mister Roberts (with Mervyn LeRoy) • The Searchers • The Wings of Eagles • The Rising of the Moon • Gideon's Day • The Last Hurrah • The Horse Soldiers 1960s Sergeant Rutledge • Two Rode Together • The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance • How the West Was Won (with Henry Hathaway and George Marshall) • Donovan's Reef • Cheyenne Autumn • 7 Women Television "Fireside Theatre" (1949) • The Bamboo Cross (1955) • "Screen Directors Playhouse" (1955) • "Wagon Train" (1957-1965) Productions The Iron Horse (1924) • The Blue Eagle (1926) • Mother Machree (1928) • Hangman's House (1928) • Riley the Cop (1928) • Salute (1929) • Flesh (1932) • The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938) • Young Cassidy (1965) Documentaries Torpedo Squadron • Sex Hygiene (1942) • The Battle of Midway (1942) • December 7th (1943) • We Sail at Midnight (1943) • This Is Korea! (1951) • Korea (1959) • Chesty: A Tribute to a Legend (1976)

v • d • e American films by year Actors · Directors · Animation · Cinematographers · Composers  · Editors · Films A–Z · Producers · Screenwriters 1890s · 1900 · 1901 · 1902 · 1903 · 1904 · 1905 · 1906 · 1907 · 1908 · 1909 · 1910 · 1911 · 1912 · 1913 · 1914 · 1915 · 1916 · 1917 · 1918 · 1919 · 1920 · 1921 · 1922 · 1923 · 1924 · 1925 · 1926 · 1927 · 1928 · 1929 · 1930 · 1931 · 1932 · 1933 · 1934 · 1935 · 1936 · 1937 · 1938 · 1939 · 1940 · 1941 · 1942 · 1943 · 1944 · 1945 · 1946 · 1947 · 1948 · 1949 · 1950 · 1951 · 1952 · 1953 · 1954 · 1955 · 1956 · 1957 · 1958 · 1959 · 1960 · 1961 · 1962 · 1963 · 1964 · 1965 · 1966 · 1967 · 1968 · 1969 · 1970 · 1971 · 1972 · 1973 · 1974 · 1975 · 1976 · 1977 · 1978 · 1979 · 1980 · 1981 · 1982 · 1983 · 1984 · 1985 · 1986 · 1987 · 1988 · 1989 · 1990 · 1991 · 1992 · 1993 · 1994 · 1995 · 1996 · 1997 · 1998 · 1999 · 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007 · 2008 · 2009