This film does not deliver accurate history. This film does not deliver a “politically correct” message by our twenty-first century standards. But this film certainly does deliver 165 minutes of “epic” entertainment.

My American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines the word “epic” as “surpassing the usual or ordinary, particularly in scope or size”. How The West Was Won was a landmark film when it was released in 1962. Both the scope of the story and the size of the screen clearly surpassed the usual – the word “epic” seems entirely appropriate.

This “epic” film even boasted multiple directors – three credited and one not. Now that is well beyond ordinary. The cast listing was illustrious and long – from the “B” of Carol Baker to the “W” of Richard Widmark. Even the filming process was beyond the ordinary. The effect of “Cinerama” 7-track, Metrocolor, and Spencer Tracy narration combined for a great screen experience.

This masterpiece was nominated for eight Academy Awards including Best Picture. It took home 3 Oscars for “Best Original Story and Screenplay”, “Best Sound”, and “Best Film Editing”. It truly earned them. Other reviewers have explored many of the laudable aspects of this fine film. I will highlight only three – actors, directors, and story line.

Actors And Their Roles

The cast listing of How The West Was Won reads like the membership list for the Screen Actors Guild. This was a vehicle that made room for novice, established, and declining actors alike. Unlike many films of the time, there were several meaty roles for women. In alphabetical order, some of the men and women among the stellar cast were:

Carol Baker’s Eve Prescott headed west as a young woman searching for roots. She could get a man to carve their initials in a tree, carve up an enemy, or carve a farm out of the wilderness.

Henry Fonda plays Jethro Stuart to great effect. He is more than a buffalo hunter with long tresses and a long barreled Sharps. He is a man with a conscience beneath the hair and behind the gun sight.

Carolyn Jones makes us feel the many emotions of Julie Rawlings. The storyline throws many curves Julie’s way. Is it any wonder she feels that events are in control of her rather than the other way around?

Karl Malden is Zebulon Prescott. He is the stalwart patriarch who decides to lead his family from the restrictions of the east to the opportunities of the west. That decision will eventually cost him everything.

Agnes Moorhead turns in a superb performance as the matriarch Rebecca Prescott. She plays the perfect counterpoint to Malden’s Zeb. Her Rebecca is strong when she needs to be and pliant where she can.

Gregory Peck plays out of character with Cleve Van Valen. He is a smooth talkin’, fast dealin’ gambler with no plans to settle. But perhaps one of the Prescott girls can influence him otherwise.

George Peppard is ideally cast as Zeb Rawlings. Here is a man who is forever changed by the violence of the Civil War. What side of the badge would he land on in the post-war years?

Robert Preston’s Roger Morgan is no Music Man leading the band. His wagon master is all business and no frills. He is simply looking to get those settlers west and win the hand of a Prescott woman in the process.

Debbie Reynolds makes the role of Lillith Prescott her own. Whether clinging to a raft in homespun or commanding every eye on the riverboat’s stage, Lillith is her own woman. It will take one heck of a man to match her.

Thelma Ritter plays Agatha Clegg to a tee. To my mind, Thelma is one of the premiere character actors. While she heads west to find a man – her Agatha winds up sharing her wagon seat with a woman.

James Stewart is Linus Rawlings. This solo trapper has been to “see the varmit” – and plans to go again. As a mere wisp of smoke he can go where and when he will. Then he meets the Prescott family. Will one woman be enough for him to trade paddle for plow?

John Wayne is completely “in character” as General William Tecumseh Sherman. But Wayne is not “the star” of this film. Quite the contrary, his Sherman has a very small – but telling – part to play in this film.

Richard Widmark does a great job with the role of Mike King. King is aptly named for Mike sees himself as “king of the railroad”. It remains to be seen whether his rule will be benevolent or dictatorial.


Directors

How The West Was Won had five major segments. Four diverse men occupied the director chair at different times. Each had a well-earned reputation and a unique style. It would seem that putting this film into the hands of a quartet of directors was simply a disaster waiting to happen. Yet somehow this collaborative effort succeeded.

Three of these directors got billing in the credits and one did not. Each had a wealth of Westerns notched on his directorial gun butt. Their individual and collective experiences with this genre – and with a number of the film’s actors – might account for how they were able to pull this joint direction off.

John Ford directed the segment entitled “The Civil War”. Born John Martin Feeney, John Ford had at least 145 films to his life-long credit. [Sailor that I am, I have to mention Rear Admiral John Ford’s 1951 “This is Korea!”.] Ford had a long-standing association with Westerns starting with 1917’s “Cheyenne’s Pal”. How The West Was Won followed right on the spurs of his 1961 “Two Rode Together” and 1962 “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”.

Henry Hathaway directed the three segments entitled “The Rivers”, “The Plains”, and “The Outlaws”. Born Marquis Henri Leonard de Fiennes, Henry Hathaway directed 66 films that we know of. His directional debut, “Heritage of the Desert” [1932], was also his first Western. In 1960, Hathaway directed a comedy/Western entitled “North to Alaska”. This cinematic history was an ideal training ground for How The West Was Won.

George Marshall directed the segment entitled “The Railroad”. Over his career he corralled 116 directors chairs. His first film, 1916’s “Across the Rio Grande” was a Western. Among his other more notable Westerns are “The Sheepman” [1958] and “Destry” [1954] starring Audie Murphy. Marshall also had previous experience working with many of the How The West Was Won cast.

Richard Thorpe – the uncredited director – did the historical sequences that formed the bridge between the segments. Born Rollo Smolt Thorpe, his directorial credits numbered 181. His first film, 1924’s “Rough Ridin’” was a Western. As was his final director’s role with 1967’s “The Last Challenge”. Like the other How The West Was Won directors, Thorpe had earlier worked with a number of the actors.


Story Line

The saga of four generations of a single family is the thread that binds the segments of this patchwork quilt. The Prescott family – their kissers, killers and kin – bring this story alive.

“The Civil War” takes a different look at the conflict that ripped the nation. Cities were leveled, farms burned, and people died – in a charge of thousands or so very alone. How The West Was Won does not concentrate on the grand strategic view of the generals and politicians. Rather this is the one-on-one, bayonet-to-bayonet perspective. This is the battle for a vast country seen in the war for a muddy waterhole. There was little not touched by the war. The war brings both love and loss to the members of the Prescott clan.

“The Rivers” were the fluid agents of westward expansion. Their predetermined routes carried eastern settlers west and the western furs and produce east. These waterways were home to saint and sinner. The trapper with a canoe of prime pelt. The shore side swindler with a caved “varmit”. The riverboat gambler and the silver voiced siren. The surface of the water was barely disturbed – it showed little evidence of the paddle’s dip or the riverboat’s passage. Yet many of the Prescott family are carried on – or over – by the rivers’ waters.

“The Plains” provided a much different highway to and from the west. While some better-known trails emerged, travelers could go where their feet, horses, or wagons took them. Game was plentiful. The small prairie chicken and the huge buffalo shared the grass and the Indians took what they needed and left the rest. Then came the trapper, followed by the farmer, the soldier, and the cattleman. Unlike the river, the surface of the plains showed the scars of boot heel, hoof, and wheel. Like others, the Prescott family depended on the sod to build their homes and bury their dead.

“The Outlaws” were ruthless people. There was no “honor among thieves”. Living was a brutal business. Travelers could forfeit their lives for the horse they rode, the purse they carried, or simply because they crossed the wrong path. The lawless took advantage of man, woman, and child alike. The young, old, male, and female were not solely victims. Sometimes they were the perpetrators. The Prescott family crosses more than one wrong path.

“The Railroad” was said to be the instrument of building this country. Towns sprang up along the tracks. People flocked to the towns and cities emerged. The railroad also accounted for a lot of destruction in the building process. Railroad hunters helped decimate the buffalo herds. Transportation tycoons secured railroad rights-of-way by methods fair and fowl. The “iron horse” displaced Indian, farmer, and herder. Some bearing the Prescott name were uprooted by the tracks. Still other family members found their future on the rails or in the growing cities.

Follow the “epic” saga of the Prescott clan. Find out How The West Was Won.

© 2001


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12