How the West Was Won
by John Ford, George Marshall, Henry Hathaway, Richard Thorpe
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Carroll Baker, Gregory Peck, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, John WayneDirector: George Marshall, Henry Hathaway, John Ford, Richard Thorpe
Producer: Aubrey Solomon
Producer: Bernard Smith
Writer: James R. Webb
Writer: John Gay
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
DVD Release Date: 1998-07-28
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: MGM (Warner)
Movie Reviews of How the West Was Won
Movie Review: Still a rousing epic...
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, it's July 4th weekend and I decided to put on a bunch of "Americana" type stuff. First that came to mind was "How the West Was Won". It's loads of fun, and was Oscar winner for Sound and Editing and...er...Best Original Screenplay (?). That silly Academy. Who knows who voted for what back then, or why... Still, it's very entertaining. Acting, I guess was supposed to be hammy, but I did enjoy George Peppard and Carroll Baker. Debbie Reynold had moments of ingenuity, perhaps she was auditioning for "Molly Brown" when she made this. Gregory Peck, just off his Oscar win as Atticus, approached Debbie in a love scene like he was still in the courtroom, pleading his case. That was silly, too. Who cares?! I saw this in the Cinerama theatre back in 1963 as a teenager, and I was moved and entertained. One previous reviewer compained about the splicing of the 3 cameras, but it was a small distraction. This version (1998) has a 2.65:1 ratio which shows almost all of the Cinerama screen. Perhaps the wise men at the Academy didn't understand Fellini's "8 ½"; I didn't either, back then. Everyone hated Kazan, so "America America" had no hope of winning. The other nominees were the Italian "Four Days of Naples" and the very good "Love With the Proper Stranger". Hmm. The film is there to enjoy; I'll watch it often, and I expect I will be as entertained as ever, despite its flaws. UPDATE (10-1-08): I just got the new 3 disc version, and it's great; good price. The "seams" of the Cinerama camera have been digitally erased.
Summary of How the West Was Won
The first feature film to be photographed and projected in the panoramic three-camera Cinerama process, this epic Western is almost as expansive as the West itself, chronicling a pioneering family's triumphs and tragedies in numerous episodes spanning three generations and a half century of westward movement. Divided into five segments directed by veteran Hollywood filmmakers Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, and the legendary John Ford (and including uncredited sequences directed by Richard Thorpe), the film was one of the most ambitious ever made by the venerable MGM studio. Its stellar cast reads like a virtual who's who of Hollywood's biggest stars. Debbie Reynolds plays a sturdy survivor of many pioneering dangers, and the eventual widow of a gambler (Gregory Peck), who is later reunited with her nephew (George Peppard), a Civil War veteran and cavalryman who heads for San Francisco as the transcontinental railroad is being built. Many more characters and stories are woven throughout this epic film, which is dramatically uneven but totally engrossing with its stunning vistas and countless outdoor locations in Illinois, Kentucky, South Dakota, Monument Valley in Arizona, California, Colorado, and elsewhere. --Jeff ShannonSimilar DVD Movies
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