Customer Reviews

How the West Was Won

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Great film, nearly perfect, just the odd frame that shows some lines, but this did not spoil the viewing experience.

This is a big movie in almost every respect. A big cast of big names, covering a big sweep of US history. The vistas are big across the extra-wide-screen Cinerama process. It has big ambitions, and it mostly succeeds. This movie about history is itself an imporant piece of history.
It's not a perfect movie, and the home video experience is significantly diminished from the theatre presentation. Still, it's surprising how well it holds up. On the surface, there's a "white man brought civilization to a primitive land and primitive people" spirit. But the actual story is much more nuanced, showing the spread of that "civilization" was a decidedly mixed bag. The "Civil War" chapter is a particularly good example of using drama to explain political issues.
A major achievement of this edition is the almost-completely-seamless integration of the Cinerama image into a single wide frame. The Cinerama experiment is an important chapter in the development of film as an art form. That story is well told in this disk's supplemental feature "Cinerama Adventure," a worthy documentary in its own right. The story behind the Cinerama process is a fascinating piece of film history.
An important Blu-ray bonus is the "Smilebox" presentation of the film. It gives a pretty good hint of what it was like to see the film on the original curved Cinerama screen.

This is the kind of epic film-making that has all but disappeared. Three of the top western directors each took on a major segment (Henry Hathaway The Rivers and the Plains, John Ford The Civil War, George Marshall The Railroad) of this huge sprawling family saga. Made to be appreciated on the Cinerama screen (a wide screen process involving three seperate projectors that created the "you are there" illusion by encompassing your peripheral vision) but modified for DVD viewing, it still remains hugeky impressive in its sweep by any standard.
With an enormous cast of stars most of whom are Hollywood legends (John Wayne,Henry Fonda,James Stewart,Gregory Peck...etc), breathtaking photography and a majestic score,it is the "Gone With The Wind" of Westerns. It has all the major elements of westerns come and gone but still acts as a good historical primer as to how the American west was settled. Deservedly winning three Oscars and nominated for five others this is a film that for once can live up to that most overused of words: awesome!

Nothing need be said about this movie, blu-ray enhances the experience as we would expect but to fully appreciate the smilebox you will need the 50' screen.

Then it truly becomes the masterpiece it was meant to be.

I like westerns. My favorite entries in the genre are spaghetti westerns, those cheap, ultra low budget Italian takes on the American West. I always try to fit some of these movies into my viewing schedule, and when the day came where I considered it time to watch Sergio Leone's epic "Once Upon a Time in the West," I headed out to rent it. Imagine my surprise when I got home and saw that I inadvertently checked out "How the West Was Won" instead. I scratched my head, not familiar at all with the title. After all, I like westerns but I don't know a lot about the genre or the films I have yet to see. When I saw the cast list for this 1962 movie, I decided not to take it back without watching and seeing if I liked it. I think I would be remiss to have skipped this one on initial impression alone; the cast list reads like a "who's who" of mid twentieth century Hollywood. You've got Carroll Baker, Lee J. Cobb, Agnes Moorehead, Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda, George Peppard, Debbie Reynolds, Eli Wallach, John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Walter Brennan, Karl Malden, Carolyn Jones, Harry Morgan, Raymond Massey, and Robert Preston filling the roles. Spencer Tracy voices the narration. Howard Hawks and John Ford directed specific segments of the film. What a list of talent! Couldn't go wrong with a movie like this one, right? Wrong.

As amazing as it seems, "How the West Was Won" is not a very good experience. The movie runs for an eternity as it attempts to describe the different experiences in settling the American West. At the beginning of the film, the Prescott clan heads out to the West in search of farmland and a new beginning. Zebulon Prescott (Karl Malden), his wife Rebecca (Agnes Moorehead), and two daughters Eve (Carroll Baker) and Lilith (Debbie Reynolds) travel down the recently completed Erie Canal and travel out into what Illinois or Missouri. Along the way, they encounter a traveling fur trapper named Linus Rawlings (Jimmy Stewart), who stays with the family for a day or so, just long enough to fall in love with one of the daughters. After Zeb and Rebecca perish in an unfortunate rafting accident, Rawlings reemerges to take care of Eve and eventually establish a farm at the sight of the accident. These two will have children-one named Zebulon Rawlings (George Peppard)-who will eventually fight in the Civil War. Zeb Rawlings then leaves the family property to his brother as he moves further west fighting Indians for the railroads and working as a law officer. He ends up thwarting a nasty train robbery in Arizona some fifty years after his grandparents expired on that raft.

The other daughter, Lilith, ends up in St. Louis working as a dancer and actress when she learns that she inherited a gold mine in California. As she prepares to head west, a slick card shark named Cleve Van Valen (Gregory Peck) convinces Lily to take him along. There's a minor competition for Lily's affections between Van Valen and Roger Morgan (Robert Preston), another guy on the wagon train. The gold mine doesn't pan out in the end, so Lilith and Cleve end up falling in love and marrying, eventually going on to build and lose several huge family fortunes. Of course, Lily's travels to the coast are fraught with perils, such as an Indian attack on the wagon train and a song and dance number at a campsite. I kept hoping the filmmakers would insert a Donner Party type situation that would require Gregory Peck to consume either Robert Preston or Debbie Reynolds, but no such luck. In any event, the movie seems to focus more on the Rawlings clan than it does on Lily's experiences.

Sadly, many of the great actors in the movie rarely appear. Raymond Massey plays Abraham Lincoln, John Wayne and Harry Morgan are General William Tecumseh Sherman and General Ulysses S. Grant respectively, and Lee J. Cobb is a Marshal in Arizona. Even Eli Wallach as an outlaw is a ghostly shadow of the villain he played in Leone's "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly." The huge cast list highlights the central problem of the film, namely that the filmmakers tried to do too much. Very few of the characters we see receive proper development. The focus here is on shock and awe photography and scenery, not the individuals taking part in the events. "How the West Was Won" was the first film shot in Cinerama, and, I think, a prime example of how Hollywood abuses a new technology. We see the same thing going on today with the CGI effects in those top-heavy special effects bonanzas. Everyone wants to use a new cinematic technique, so much so that they rely solely on the effect and lose sight of the human element. A bit less spectacle and a lot more interaction between the cast would have helped this movie succeed.

I hate to say it, but the DVD version of this film could use a lot of work. You can literally see the two lines dividing the picture into three segments in the transfer. Not only is this enormously annoying, it's completely unacceptable. I can't believe the studio techs couldn't release a seamlessly restored version of this film. The disc does contain a short documentary detailing the Cinerama process along with a few bits about the stunts in the film, but the shoddy picture quality of the movie will dampen your enthusiasm for any extras. I imagine some people would like the actual movie better than I did though no one should settle for the poor transfer. I suggest waiting for a special edition disc.

I saw this film in one of those Cinerama theaters in 1963 as a kid and was mightily impressed, but was disturbed by the lines which appeared on the huge screen created by the use of 3 cameras working in sync. They also produce distortion to some images esp. when subjects move quickly from one segment of the screen to the adjacent ones.

For close to 50 years I had been waiting to see this significant problem resolved and I am happy to say with the latest digital transfer to BR, this problem virtually disappears.
Well, 95 % of it. The lines still exist in the Mexican army scene and create some distortion in the pony express scene. That having said, the picture quality is now truly breath taking, all images are sharp and brilliant, better than many many films done in recent years.

It is as if National Geographic had a hand on its production....

It's just too bad the film with an aspect ratio of 2.89:1 has not been enhanced to fit wide screen TVs and one is left with huge bars on the top and bottom. Minor complaint really. This movie is impressive.

And on disc 2, a Smilescreen version simulates the Cinerama experience of a "curved" screen. A digital modern day gimmick, one needs a real Cinerama screen to experience the thrill.

The story and characters are probably familiar to those who love westerns, so sit back and enjoy some of the best cinematography (and music) ever put on screen......

If all Blu-ray movies were presented as well as this one, I'd own quite a few more. This is how it should be done.

The packaging, for once, actually adds to the value. The two discs are held inside the covers of a hardback book. The book itself is beautifully printed, and filled with fascinating background info about the film. It could be thicker, but it's really a strong asset to the entire experience.

The movie has been impeccably restored. Where the three camera images have been joined, the marks have been erased to the point that you only rarely notice them. The image is bright, clear and almost supernaturally sharp. And the ENTIRE image is here: the full 4x3 TIMES three of the original Cinerama version.

On top of all this there's the unique SmileBox presentation. This re-creates the Cinerama experience about as well as you'll ever see it on a flat screen. The left and right edges are taller than the middle, and the image has been subtly stretched as well, essentially presenting a perspective representation of the original curved screen. I was impressed, but if you don't care for it, fear not, the conventional 'flat' version is here too, on a separate disc, so neither is compromised by compression.

After seeing this movie, I understand just how abysmally bad other Blu-ray releases have been. (A notable offender is 2001: A Space Odyssey, which has had its ultra-widescreen single-strip Cinerama image brutally cropped!!) [EDIT- comments re 2001 suggest that this is not true. I await further evidence either way. Still, a lackluster Blu-ray, to my mind...]

My only complaint about How the West Was Won is the pricing. I bought it on Amazon.ca at $17.99. I see it's now over ten dollars more. Close to $30 is WAY WAY WAY TOO MUCH to pay for ANY movie. Distributors and studios need to realize that you can only milk the same cow so much. At under $20, I give this Blu-ray five stars. Anything over $20, I subtract at least one. But the inescapable fact is that forty-year old movies, even as beautifully restored as this one, should be selling down in the $10-12 range, and the sooner the Hollywood machine learns this, the better.

Warner Home Video has announced a 2-disc special edition of How the West Was Won which stars John Wayne, Henry Fonda, and James Stewart. The set will be available to own from the 9th of Sept 2008, and should retail at around $20.97. As well as a remastered,anamorphic and restored widescreen presentation, the 2-disc release will include a Film Historian Commentary, Dave Strohmaier's critically-acclaimed, feature-length documentary Cinerama® Adventure, Making of How the West Was Won (Archival featurette), and the original theatrical trailer. An Ultimate Collector's Edition will also be available for $59.92, $61.99 cdn. This will include a 3-disc special edition, as well as a 20-page theatrical press book reproduction, 10 behind-the-scenes photo cards and 10 postcards, and an exclusive movie poster offer.

Streeting simultaneously will also be a Blu-ray(tm) Hi-Def ($34.99 SRP) version. Again, all the 2-disc features will be included, along with special Digi-book packaging featuring 32-pages of rare press materials and behind-the-scenes photos. Also, exclusive to STD DVD & Blu-ray is the "SmileBox" version of the film which presents the image with a unique curvature that virtually recreates the true Cinerama® experience in a home theater. Aspect ratio?? 2.89:1 which is approx 5% wider than Ben Hur.
Due to HP technology they and Warner Bros restoration experts have removed the two bars that was in previous wide screen versions and have also removed and cleaned up the images that overlap the three screens divided by these two lines. It will also be Anamorphic widescreen for aspect ratio of 2.35 to maybe 2.55 for the main feature, as the smile box is the third disc.

In a remarkable coincidence, the same day I saw "How the West was Won" at the Seattle Cinerama (03/01/03), the History Channel aired a program on the history of the wheel. One of the talking-head experts opined that the wheel's invention marked a fundamental change in human thought -- not only was there a technological solution to every problem, but nature could be bent to human will, forced to reveal her secrets and serve us.

This is the theme of "How the West was Won." It starts with the title, and extends to nearly everything in the film. The narration tells us that the land had to be wrested from nature and from the "primitive people" who inhabited (and by implication, infested) it. The chorus is continually singing about how "we're headed for the promised land" and those who are willing to work hard will be richly rewarded (except the Chinese railroad laborers, of course). We were justified in overrunning the continent because we are actually "doing something" with it -- as opposed to the Indians, who merely lived there in harmony with nature. Not having invented the wheel, they saw no further possibilities.

James Webb's script <does> acknowledge the culture clash between the Americans and the native peoples, recognizing that the latter will have to eventually change or be destroyed. But this is peripheral to the celebration of the industry, hard work, and sacrifice of the Americans, who "tamed" the wilderness. The film ends with a nausea-inducing flyover of the California freeways (I sat next to a guy who'd taken Dramamine in anticipation of such scenes), followed by a flight under the Golden Gate bridge, firmly and unambiguously driving the point home.

"How the West was Won" is social propaganda, plain and simple. It's the kind of film that could change Osama Bin Laden's mind about destroying the US. (Maybe the State Department could arrange a screening...)

As a movie, there's no denying "How the West was Won" is wildly entertaining. Simply as cinematic spectacle, it works magnificently. There are films (such as "2001" and "Lawrence of Arabia") that even the finest video transfer cannot do justice to, and this is one of them. Sitting in the first few rows, you're so close to the screen that you can't take in all of it at once. When the camera tracks into a scene, the sense of physical motion is uncanny. (Can you say "stimulation of peripheral vision"? Sure you can.) And if you haven't seen a buffalo stampede, or a train crash, or a row of cannons firing in sequence on a (roughly) 30' by 90' screen -- well, you haven't lived, cinematically-wise.

Story-wise, there's so much material to cover the script cannot begin to do it justice, even in a film lasting 2 hours. Characters are more types than individuals, and almost every performer is cast to type. (Eli Wallach, in particular, gets to do his "crazy Mexican outlaw" shtick, though without an accent.) It's only the efficiency and focus of the script that keeps the actors from looking altogether foolish. Other than (perhaps) Karl Malden, no one gives what would be considered a "real" performance.

The plot (which follows the Prescott family and its descendents over 50 years) is concocted to make Debbie Reynolds' character the sort of farm girl who wants to run off to the big city to become rich, so we're treated to several (mercifully brief) song-and-dance numbers. Her sister is played by Carol Baker, who falls head over heels in love with Jimmy Stewart's "aw-shucks" mountain man, and later "tames" him (as the film's conceit requires). The rest of the film rehashes just about every cliché of westerns and Civil War movies -- though entertainingly. The final sequence posits the "conquest" of the West as occurring when "the law" (in the form of George Peppard's marshall) arrives, to establish justice. But Peppard -- who says he wants to bring the bad'un to justice in court -- shoots him to death, anyway.

My five-star rating acknowledges this is a classic film -- not necessarily a great one.

I can't pass up the opportunity to trash Pauline Kael, who was not so much a hard-nosed-but-movie-loving critic as she was an empty-headed, loudmouthed [female canine]. Note how she uses the artistic limitations of a single sentence to craft a thoughtful, insightful commentary that will help the reader better understand this film...

"'How the West Was Lost' would be a more appropriate title for this dud epic, since, as conceived by the writer, James R. Webb, the pioneers seem to be dimwitted bunglers who can't do anything right."

Hello? Were we watching the same movie? "How the West was Won" might be politically incorrect, dramatically shallow, and little more than agit-prop -- but it's no dud. The Seattle audience -- which included many people sporting "No Iraq War" buttons -- just ate it up. "How the West was Won" is Hollywood middlebrow-populist entertainment at its best.

One final question... Where did they find a stunt man who looked like Agnes Moorhead?

I kind of figured television was responsible for this... movie. HOW THE WEST WAS WON dvd comes with a featurette on the making of the movie, in which we learn that the movie studios developed the Cinerama process (three cameras shot the movie which was projected onto three specially designed screens. Think IMAX) to present an alternative "viewing experience" to compete with television.
Watching this on television, even in a letterbox edition, is excruciating. There are visible bars where the three screens meet. Often the color in one screen doesn't jibe with that of the adjoining screen.
Those defects could be corrected by digital manipulation, I suppose, but what's the point? The Cinerama screen was meant to wrap around the audience and a television screen is flat. What can't be corrected is the lack of close-ups and a surplus of dead space.
Almost all the action takes place in the center panel, and the closest we get to the action is in a medium shot. Most of the time there's nothing happening on the edge panels. Two-thirds of the screen is dead. The only time Cinerama seemed to shine was when chaotic action was swiftly coming at the audience, which is why we are so often treated to onrushing trains and galloping horses and stampeding buffalo shot from a camera in the ground. I think it would have taken a visual genius the likes of a Busby Berkeley to exploit Cinerama's potential without having to open the paddock.
The featurette also tells us HTWWW had a cast of 12,000. I guess maybe a dozen of them weren't miscast, but that's just a guess. The movie opens with Jimmy Stewart, out of character as mountain man Linus Rawlings, canoeing along a river while Spencer Tracy narrates over the action: '(The land) known only to the lonely trappers wandering its vastness in search of beaver...' One and a half scenes later Linus skids his bark next to the Prescott campsite and gives Carroll Baker a pelt to stroke....
Okay. I was bored. What can I say? At least I was paying attention. When Debbie Reynolds delivers a rousing rendition of 'Raise a Ruckus' for the despondent members of the wagon train I wasn't paying much attention at all. By the time Eli Wallach was glaring daggers at George Peppard's kids I was wondering whether or not one should fill in that little hole in the middle of a dvd when you make it into a coaster.