How the West Was Won

Watching How the West Was Won today is nothing like the way it was watching it back in 1963. It was a Cinerama film, which was a special type of film that translates poorly to a flat screen. The way Cinerama works is that the image is projected via three synchronized 35mm cameras onto a huge, deeply curved screen. While this is a truly spectacular way to view a movie, it has some major limitations outside of that setting. To make the image work, actors have to be staged in such a way that when the image is flattened, eyelines don’t line up. Also, images that look straight and correct when on the curved screen appear distorted when that image is flattened, especially when the background is bright. 

Watching it on a modern, flat screen required a lot of effort to try and “correct” the image for home viewing. The current release, the best we can probably ever expect to see anymore, has some clearly viewable image distortion betraying the Cinerama process. There are often obvious lines separating the three panels, smoothed away as best as possible but still present. It’s rarely distracting, but it is there. This three-paneled Cinerama process has many advantages over standard filmmaking, including being able to present sweeping scenery shots that best the other filming styles. In fact, Cinerama was initially used for travelogue-style filming, with the documentary This is Cinerama used to introduce the format. It remained popular for quite some time, but now, few Cinerama theaters still exist. While there are some modern-day equivalents, such as 4DX, the true majesty of Cinerama is mostly forgotten.

How the West Was Won was envisioned right out of the gate as a Cinerama film. It was envisioned to be a five-act film with each act taking place at a different point in the history of a family as they go from settling in the West to the inception of law and order in a land where it had previously not existed. Along the way, segments would deal with the Civil War, relations with the Native Americans, the building of the train lines, the gold rush in California, and, of course, love and death. Settling and taming the West would not be an easy accomplishment, and not everyone set to do so survived the effort. Others were simply content to either wander the wilderness, subsisting on fur trading with the natives, or robbing those pioneers that came along the way with visions of the new frontier.

Filming for true three-camera Cinerama was considered by most to be a nightmare. Actors couldn’t look directly at their co-stars because of the way line-of-sight worked with the deep curved screen. They also had to be mindful of where those dividing lines were because it was difficult to accurately depict objects and people crossing that division. Close-ups were problematic, too. The special cameras used to film in Cinerama, in order to get close-ups, had to be mere inches away from the actors, forcing them to be unable to even see the person they were sharing the scene with. 

It wasn’t just the actors who struggled with the process, either. The special cameras picked up details other cameras didn’t, which forced a complete redesign of the apparel because machine stitching stood out. Everything had to be redone with hand stitching. Likewise, imperfections in the makeup could more easily be seen, a real problem when trying to age up or down the cast. Actors who were used to faking tears couldn’t get away with that, either, and had to use irritating chemicals to induce the tears if they couldn’t well up on command. And the cost to film a movie in this process was at least three times more expensive because every shot had the three 35mm reels running simultaneously to achieve the effect. Film was expensive at the time, and Cinerama was significantly more expensive all around because of that. 

This is a film packed with A-list superstars from the era. Reading the opening credits is like looking at a list of the top actors of the day, and that list just keeps going on and on until you’d think there couldn’t be any more. Having that many top stars does have a drawback, though. Few of them get much more than a scene or two before dropping out of the picture. John Wayne and Harry Morgan, for instance, share the screen for about three minutes total. Walter Brennan steals the show for a few minutes early on before he is dispatched quickly in a bloody fight. Henry Fonda and Andy Devine also pop up for a line or two of dialogue each. Some get even less screentime. Lee Van Cleef and Ken Curtis are barely even on screen long enough to pick them out. 

As mentioned above, this film is told in five separate segments. There are no titles to introduce the segments, only some narration provided by Spencer Tracy. These segments are known as: The Rivers (1839), The Plains (1851), The Civil War (1861-1865), The Railroad (1868), and The Outlaws (1889). Henry Hathaway directed the first two and the final segment, while John Ford handled The Civil War and George Marshall did The Railroad. With three different directors, there runs a risk of the segments not feeling as a whole. John Ford’s segment is the only one that really feels different from the rest, but not because of any fault on his part. The rest of the movie is focused on the Western expanse and the paths of two daughters who were on that trek in the beginning. The Civil War segment shifts gears and follows a third character, the son of one of the two daughters, as he enters the war in the South and his experiences in that war. As a whole, the five segments work together well, though it is often difficult to accept the same actors at different ages, especially George Peppard in the Civil War segment trying to play much younger than his actual age. 

The film covers the story of the Prescott family: Zebulon (Karl Malden) and his wife Rebecca (Agnes Moorehead) have taken the family out west to find new land to tame and farm. That includes their two daughters: Eve (Carroll Baker) and Lilith (Debbie Reynolds). Along the way, they meet mountain man Linus Rawlings (James Stewart) who has no intentions of settling down. All he wants is to roam the wilderness, capture beavers for their pelts, and occasionally head out to Pittsburgh for some women and alcohol. Eve falls in love with him right away, but he doesn’t have any intention of settling down and running a farm. Several dangerous situations later, the family suffers a major mishap when they are riding down the Ohio River and take the wrong fork, heading directly into some dangerous rapids. The treacherous water drowns both parents, and Lilith decides not to continue on the journey west. Eve, along with Linus, buries the parents, and the two end up getting married after all.

Lilith ends up in St. Louis as a dance hall singer and dancer. There, she learns that she has inherited a gold mine in California. Overhearing this is professional gambler, Cleve van Valen (Gregory Peck). He schemes to get close to her, volunteering in the caravan taking her to California. Along the way, they are besieged by Indians, and he nearly dies. When they do finally arrive in California, the mine is tapped out. Disappointed, he abandons her and disappears, but he soon discovers that he really does love her after all, money or no. 

Meanwhile, Linus has left to fight in the war and, believing it will soon be over, his eldest son with Eve, Zeb (George Peppard), chooses to join the army, too. Once the war is truly over, Zeb ends up in the U.S. Cavalry, charged with maintaining the peace while the railroad builds through Indian territory. This peace will prove to be impossible as the railroad keeps changing the agreement with the Indians, bringing in buffalo hunters that will quickly deplete the land. The Indians’ response is brilliant but brutal. 

In the final segment of the film, we see Zeb, now much older and looking to retire. His mother, Eve, has long since died, and he is an Arizona Marshall. He is also married to Julie (Carolyn Jones) and has a young child. In this final segment, he will face off against an angry outlaw who may have it in for him for personal reasons. This man, Charlie Gant (Eli Wallach), may also be planning a train robbery, too. Zeb is also reunited with his aunt, Lilith, who, now widowed is relocating to a ranch in Arizona after selling off all the valuables she and Cleve accumulated in their life together. 

At nearly three hours long, this film is a bit of a commitment. But it never feels too long, even with the lengthy Overture and Intermission in place. In fact, the only misstep that I can attribute to the film is the epilogue where we see the West as it fades into modern day with all the technology, cities and vehicles everywhere. This epilogue steps all over the romanticization of the West, giving us the sense that we took this beautiful country and wasted it. That may be true but it feels out of place in this film. 

The story is well told and directed, and there are plenty of musical moments, written and composed by legendary composer Alfred Newman, which is considered to be one of his best. Indeed, it appears on the AFI 100 Years of Film Scores list. Insanely, it lost at the Academy Awards that year to the score for Tom Jones. Included in the music are several performances by Debbie Reynolds, who was already an established singer. It was her singing voice that was the main plot point for 1952’s Singin’ in the Rain, and she gets ample opportunities to show off that voice in How the West Was Won, too. On top of that, she shows off her physicality, too, with several acrobatic dance numbers. She was only 29 years old in this film but was already a veteran performer. Here, she performs several authentic frontier songs as well as some written specifically for the film.

The film was a success upon its release, staying on Cinerama screens for over two years, more than tripling its budget in returns. Home video was not a thing in the 1960s, and so a special format like Cinerama made films like this a must-see on the big screen. Television could not replicate this experience, even when the first color screens were starting to roll out. Even our modern screens cannot replicate that experience. Nowadays, there are just a small handful of theaters still capable of showing a true Cinerama film, but there are few instances where a film made for it gets a revival. I would love to catch this movie at such a revival. Until then, the newest remaster will have to suffice, noticeable seams and all. The experience of seeing this blown up to full 3x35mm and wrapped around like you are actually there would be absolutely amazing. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture: Bernard Smith

Best Writing (Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen): James R. Webb (won)

Best Music (Music Score - Substantially Original): Alfred Newman and Ken Darby

Best Sound: Franklin Milton (won)

Best Art Direction (Color): George Davis, William Ferrari, Addison Hehr, Henry Grace, Don Greenwood Jr., and Jack Mills

Best Cinematography (Color): William Daniels, Milton Krasner, Charles Lang, and Joseph La Shelle

Best Costume Design (Color): Walter Plunkett

Best Film Editing: Harold F. Kress (won)

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Release Date: February 20, 1963

Running Time: 164 minutes

Not Rated

Starring: Carroll Baker, Lee J. Cobb, Henry Fonda, Carolyn Jones, Karl Malden, Gregory Peck, George Peppard, Robert Preston, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart, Eli Wallach, John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Brigid Bazlen, Walter Brennan, David Brian, Andy Devine, Raymond Massey, Agnes Moorehead, Harry Morgan, Thelma Ritter, Mickey Shaughnessy, and Russ Tamblyn

Directed By: Henry Hathaway, John Ford, and George Marshall