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How the West Was Won

How the West Was Won

1962
Drama, Adventure
2h 44m
Sprawling epic which follows the Prescotts, an emigrant family through four generations, from the Erie Canal in the 1830's to their settled home in the West a half a century later... (imdb)
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How the West Was Won

1962
Drama, Adventure
2h 44m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 49.93% from 352 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(352)
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Rated 17 Jan 2009
70
41st
Certainly interesting for the spectacle, the film suffers from cliche-ridden dialogue and some strange casting choices (Stewart as a mountain man and Fonda as a buffalo hunter). The music is fun though, there are some nice set pieces (train wreck, raft on the rapids, cheyenne attack), but only Ford's short Civil War segment offers any real depth of feeling. His segment is probably the most simply shot of the whole film, but that simplicity contributes to several engaging moments.
Rated 30 Sep 2009
77
37th
Great cast, good story, good score, but something felt lacking.
Rated 20 Aug 2010
84
81st
Blu-Ray made it possible to watch it in the intended Cinerama depiction. Stunning and gripping movie! Not one second was it boring. An awesome image is hunted by the next. A feast for the eyes!
Rated 07 Feb 2009
80
19th
good basic western but would have done better as a mini-series. too wide a story to fit into one movie. Loved the spencer tracy naration
Rated 05 Oct 2007
4
13th
Intended for a giant movie screen, this Cinerama epic looks bizarre on home video.
Rated 31 Jul 2013
52
27th
Holy crap, it's gorgeous. Almost so gorgeous I can overlook the flat dialogue, the standardised plot(s) often copied straight from better movies (High Noon?), the miscast actors, the parodic voice-overs that make it all sound like a commercial... It's just too big and too gorgeous to fail completely, but that only goes so far.
Rated 29 Dec 2010
45
25th
Pretty, very pretty. Both ladies and scenery. But too. Long. From the minute James Stewart is no longer on the screen it just gets worse and worse. Depressing with such a cast. Eli Wallach, Henry Fonda, etc. are all very good, but are in the film for like 5-10 minutes each. Hell, Lee van Cleef isn't even credited and has no lines. The late John Ford really wasn't going anywhere.
Rated 29 Nov 2011
60
39th
Lame! Points for cinerama and the seconds showing Lee van Cleef.
Rated 28 Jul 2011
72
42nd
Cinerama looks incredibly ugly on a TV screen.
Rated 17 May 2020
62
23rd
Because of the Cinerama aspect-ratio the scenery shots and actions scenes are way better than those with actors, who constantly have to be in the middle of the screen. Like Scorsese said about superheroes movies; this is more theme park ride than cinema. But it so gorgeous it makes you fall in love with the American landscape.
Rated 09 Nov 2020
68
47th
The vistas are fantastic and there are some absolutely gripping action pieces. While a multi-generational ensemble all star cast has some built in appeal, some of of it feels like ill fitting stunt casting. The performances are fairly rote, but overall it moves along and captures some sense of how tumultuous the time period was.
Rated 27 Oct 2017
55
47th
Karl Malden's beard is a highlight in a film where the stellar cast is unapologetically misused. Joke aside, but apart from Debbie Reynolds and especially her wonderful sing/dance sequence, James Stewart and Malden the rest of the cast progressively blends in what is a bland and stale film that grows more forgettable by the minute. Sure looks pretty, but barring the first sequence and aforementioned dance scene, the rest can easily be skipped.
Rated 26 Jun 2014
79
61st
Em honra de Eli Wallach. Ó céus, este filme é plasticamente maravilhoso e tem tudo para ser uma obra prima, mas não é. E que fique bem claro que este é um filme mais do Henry Hathaway do que de qualquer dos outros diretores envolvidos.
Rated 14 Jun 2015
43
43rd
Worth viewing as an artifact, I suppose, especially of 1924-64 American attitudes. I counted one African-American person, a bartender on a steamboat IIRC, plenty of American Indians and a few Chinese. Hispanic people were represented briefly by the Mexican army, and there were probably a few I missed. Knowing what I know of post-annexation California, I would like to know who held title to Robert Preston's ranch before he did.
Rated 03 Nov 2014
10
96th
Ford's segment is a masterpiece for all time; the rest... no comment.
Rated 05 Feb 2009
40
26th
I have a very imperfect recall of this epic Western, which I saw many years ago.
Rated 22 Nov 2017
94
82nd
Applies to Ford's "The Civil War" only
Rated 17 Mar 2016
100
94th
Beautifully shot and scored, though the politics are largely what you would expect for the early 60s.
Rated 24 May 2016
56
7th
Long and horribly boring ,...
Rated 20 Jul 2009
60
33rd
Not such a great movie as it was propagated by the media to be
Rated 06 Dec 2009
50
35th
A waste of great talent.
Rated 29 Jun 2007
70
55th
Behold: an experimental film that just happens to have a huge budget and an all-star cast. Not entirely successful but you have to actually see it in Cinerama somehow
Rated 21 Sep 2016
35
25th
Was made to watch this in school as if it was educational or something. I don't remember the film at all, but surely there is no way that can reflect well on whoever was determining the curriculum. Whomever? They used Stallone films to teach grammar so who knows...
Rated 07 Aug 2011
8
79th
About the prettiest pictures, better use of locations ever, biggest production and 2nd unit efforts ever, and Alfred Newman heaven. And what a beautiful country. You can do worse.
Rated 17 Jul 2011
40
2nd
Terrible. I don't know if this is a parody or not but it stinks.
Rated 23 Feb 2019
81
10th
80.50
Rated 11 Sep 2020
60
57th
Beautiful locations, and some great action scenes. The ending montage of modern roads and cars was an unfortunate choice though.
Rated 12 Apr 2021
95
88th
This epic retelling of the settling of the American west is as patriotic as the Star-Spangled Banner itself and whether you think it works most likely depends on where you fall on the political spectrum. The world-building is on par with Star Wars and LoTR trilogies and the film is grand in scope. Debbie Reynolds, Jimmy Stewart and Gregory Peck all give bravo performances as the three directors paint a masterful portrait of post-war America's view of its own lore. A triumph of the medium.
Rated 26 Sep 2021
70
9th
an epic retelling of the american west, from the rosey america-approved perspective of course. not really a lot of depth or connective tissue, meh script, and some mediocre performances.
Rated 12 Jun 2022
65
42nd
An unremarkable technical marvel boasting some great names. First half is less "How the West Was Won" and more "How the Girls Were Won" since it's more concerned with less than suitable suitors and their unromantic romantic excursions with two sisters. The second half is much more engaging, following the next generation during the Civil War. The final segment feels detached from the rest of the film, but it nonetheless involves a fun train-robbery sequence with some nutty practical carnage.
Rated 01 Mar 2023
69
48th
Starring just about everyone, this interweaving anthology gives an idea of how the West was...taken. I'll put it that way.

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