This is a BIG (B-I-G. big) and wonderful Western, however it really can't be compared to other films because of the very odd style. In many ways, it's very reminiscent of THE LONGEST DAY, THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD, THE MUPPET MOVIE and many of the Irwin Allen disaster films (such as THE TOWERING INFERNO and EARTHQUAKE) because the story itself seems a little less important than stuffing the screen full of "guest stars"--i.e., every actor they could afford and then some! For this type of film, it's very good--much better than most star-studded movies. However, like all these films there is so much emphasis on cameos that the story itself tends to sag just a bit. Sure, the film had a huge amount of money spent on budget, filming in Cinerama and music, but given all these things it's no wonder that it's a good film!! A chimp probably could have directed this film and it still would have been a good film!

As for the story itself, it isn't bad but seems to try to take on too much American history for just one movie. It probably would have been better as a mini-series or two or more films. That's because characters come and go so quickly it practically makes your head spin!!

So with me sounding so hard on the film, I may have confused you. This was not my intention as I did like the film and have seen it three times. It's just that given a $40040404040427349834.84 budget, it should have been even better and maybe it's proof that the number of stars isn't related to the greatness of a film.

I still remember seeing How the West Was Won in Cinerama when it made it into general release back in 1962. A motion picture theater equipped for Cinerama is the only way this one should be seen. The formatted VHS copy I watched tonight can't come close to doing it justice.

James R. Webb's original screenplay for the screen won an Oscar in 1962 and it involves an episodic account of the Presscott family and their contribution to settling the American west in the 19th century. We first meet the Presscotts, Karl Malden and Agnes Moorehead going west on the Erie Canal and later by flatboat on the Ohio River. They have two daughters, dreamy romantic Carroll Baker and feisty Debbie Reynolds. The girls meet and marry mountain man James Stewart and gambler Gregory Peck eventually and their adventures and those of their children are what make up the plot of How the West Was Won.

Three of Hollywood's top directors did parts of this film although the lion's share by all accounts was done by Henry Hathaway. John Ford did the Civil War sequence and George Marshall the sequence about the railroad.

The Civil War piece featured John Wayne and Harry Morgan in a moment of reflection at the battlefield of Shiloh. Morgan did a first rate job as Grant in his brief cameo and Wayne was playing Sherman for the second time in his career. He'd previously played Sherman in an unbilled cameo on his friend Ward Bond's Wagon Train series. I'm surprised Wayne never did Sherman in a biographical film, he would have been good casting.

If any of the stars could be said to be THE star of the film it would have to be Debbie Reynolds. She's in the film almost through out and in the last sequence where as a widow she goes to live with her nephew George Peppard and his family she's made up as a gray haired old woman and does very well with the aging. Debbie also gets to do a couple of musical numbers, A Home in the Meadow and Raise A Ruckus both blend in well in the story. Debbie's performance in How the West Was Won must have been the reason she was cast in The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

Cinerama was rarely as effectively employed as in How the West Was Won. I well remember feeling like you were right on the flatboat that the Presscott family was on as they got caught in the Ohio River rapids. The Indian attack and the buffalo stampede were also well done. But the climax involving that running gun battle between peace officers George Peppard and Lee J. Cobb with outlaw Eli Wallach and his gang on a moving train even on a formatted VHS is beyond thrilling.

There is a sequence that was removed and it had to do with Peppard going to live with buffalo hunter Henry Fonda and marrying Hope Lange who was Fonda's daughter. She dies and Peppard leaves the mountains and then marries Carolyn Jones. Lange's part was completely left on the cutting room floor. Hopefully there will be a restored version of How the West Was Won, we'll see Hope Lange and more of Henry Fonda.

And it should be restored. All those Hollywood legends in one exciting film. They really don't make them like this any more.

HOW THE WEST WAS WON is perhaps John Ford's biggest and most epic-feeling western, featuring a sprawling storyline that depicts the building of the Old West and the violent events that shaped America in the earlier centuries. It also features an incredible ensemble cast of no less than 24 big names, a lot of them indelibly linked to the genre like Gregory Peck, James Stewart, and John Wayne. The film is awash with gorgeous cinematography, good, old-fashioned values, and romantic sub-plots which are funny and fast-paced. There's love, war, treachery, betrayal, and comradeship, and it all comes together in a way which feels surprisingly neat and concise despite the lengthy running time.