How the West Was Won is a 1962 American epic Western film directed by Henry Hathaway (who directed three out of the five chapters: "The Rivers," "The Plains" and "The Outlaws"), John Ford ("The Civil War") and George Marshall ("The Railroad"), produced by Bernard Smith, written by James R. Webb, and narrated by Spencer Tracy. The film centers on a family and their descendants over the span of decades as they explore and settle the American frontier of the United States.
Originally filmed in true three-lens Cinerama with the accompanying three-panel panorama projected onto an enormous curved screen, the film features an ensemble cast formed by many cinema icons and newcomers, including (in alphabetical order) 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 and Richard Widmark. The supporting cast features Brigid Bazlen, Walter Brennan, David Brian, Andy Devine, Raymond Massey, Agnes Moorehead, Harry Morgan, Thelma Ritter, Mickey Shaughnessy and Russ Tamblyn.
How the West Was Won is widely considered one of Hollywood's greatest epics. The film received widespread critical acclaim and was a box office success, grossing $50 million on a budget of $15 million. At the 36th Academy Awards it earned eight nominations, including Best Picture, and won three, for Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, Best Sound and Best Film Editing. In 1997, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".
Plot The Rivers (1839)
Zebulon Prescott and his family set out west for the frontier on the Erie Canal. They are pulled through the first section on a barge and then build rafts to continue on the Ohio River. Along the journey, they meet mountain man Linus Rawlings, who is traveling to Pittsburgh to trade his furs. Rawlings and Zebulon's eldest daughter, Eve, are attracted to each other, but he is not ready to settle down.
Rawlings stops at an isolated trading post, which is actually a front run by a clan of river pirates. Linus is led into a cave, stabbed in the back, and then pushed down a hole. The pirates steal his furs and sink his canoe. Wounded, Linus follows them. When they are about to rob the Prescott party, Linus intervenes and helps the Prescotts kill all of the pirates.
The Prescotts continue down the river. When the lead raft is caught in rapids, Zebulon and his wife Rebecca drown; Linus arrives to help bury them. Deciding he cannot live without Eve, he asks to marry her and take her to Pittsburgh, but she insists on homesteading at the spot where her parents died.
The Plains (1851)
Eve's sister Lilith chooses to go back east, dreaming of becoming rich, and years later becomes a singer and dancer in St. Louis. While performing at a music hall, she attracts the attention of professional gambler Cleve van Valen, who learns that she has just inherited a California gold mine.
On a wagon train heading west, Lilith partners with an elderly woman named Agatha; Cleve joins them to avoid his debts and to swindle Lilith of her gold. Wagonmaster Roger Morgan and Cleve court her along the way, but she rejects them both. Surviving an arduous trek and an attack by the Cheyenne together, Lilith falls for Cleve. The pair eventually arrive at the mine, but discover that it is worthless. Cleve leaves; Lilith returns to work in a camp town's dance hall, heartbroken. Morgan finds her and again proposes marriage, to no avail.
Later, Lilith performs on a Sacramento riverboat. By chance, Cleve is a passenger. The pair happily reunite, and Cleve proposes to her, telling her of the business opportunities waiting in San Francisco. She accepts his proposal.
The Civil War (1861–1865)
Linus Rawlings has joined the Union army as a captain in the American Civil War. Despite Eve's wishes, their son Zeb enlists as well, seeking adventure and an escape from farming. The bloody Battle of Shiloh shows Zeb the cruel realities of war, and his father dies there.
Zeb encounters a disillusioned Confederate soldier who suggests deserting. By chance, they eavesdrop on Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman. The Confederate realizes he has the opportunity to shoot them, leaving Zeb no choice but to kill him. Zeb continues to serve for the rest of the war.
When the war ends, Zeb returns home as a lieutenant and learns his mother died, having lost the will to live after losing Linus. Zeb gives his share of the family farm to his brother and leaves, deciding to stay in the army.
The Railroad (1868)
In the late 1860s, two competing railroad lines, the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad, open up new territories that attract American and European settlers.
Zeb serves in the U.S. Cavalry, trying to maintain peace with the Native Americans with the help of buffalo hunter Jethro Stuart, an old friend of Linus's. When railroad man Mike King violates a treaty by building on Native American territory, the Arapahos retaliate by stampeding buffalo through his camp, killing many.
Disgusted by Mike's unchecked greed and callousness, Zeb resigns from the army, and then visits Jethro at his mountain cabin before moving on.Pylant, James (2012). In Morticia's Shadow: The Life and Career of Carolyn Jones. Jacobus Books. p. 116.
The Outlaws (1889)
In San Francisco, the widowed Lilith auctions off her possessions to pay off debts. She travels to Arizona, inviting Zeb and his family to oversee a cattle ranch, her last remaining asset.
Zeb (now an Arizona marshal), his wife Julie, and their children meet Lilith at Gold City's train station. There, Zeb runs into outlaw Charlie Gant. Zeb had killed Gant's brother in a gunfight. When Gant makes threats against Zeb and his family, Zeb turns to his friend, Gold City marshal Lou Ramsey. However, Gant is not wanted for anything in that territory, so Ramsey can do nothing.
Zeb suspects Gant plans to steal a train's gold shipment, and prepares an ambush with Ramsey's reluctant help. Gant and his gang are killed in the shootout and resulting train wreck. Lilith and the Rawlings family travel by wagon to their new home.
Cast Spencer Tracy as Narrator
Introduced in "The Rivers" James Stewart as Linus Rawlings Carroll Baker as Eve Prescott Rawlings Debbie Reynolds as Lilith Prescott van Valen Karl Malden as Zebulon Prescott Agnes Moorehead as Rebecca Prescott Walter Brennan as Col. Jeb Hawkins Brigid Bazlen as Dora Hawkins Lee Van Cleef as river pirate (uncredited)
Introduced in "The Plains" Gregory Peck as Cleve Van Valen Robert Preston as Roger Morgan Thelma Ritter as Agatha Clegg David Brian as Lilith's attorney John Larch as Grimes a gambler (uncredited) Clinton Sundberg as Hylan Seabury (uncredited)
Introduced in "The Civil War" George Peppard as Zeb Rawlings Claude Johnson as Jeremiah Rawlings (uncredited) Andy Devine as Corporal Peterson Harry Morgan as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant John Wayne as Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman Russ Tamblyn as Confederate deserter Raymond Massey as President Abraham Lincoln Ken Curtis as Cpl. Ben (uncredited)
Introduced in "The Railroad" Henry Fonda as Jethro Stuart Richard Widmark as Mike King
Introduced in "The Outlaws" Lee J. Cobb as Marshal Lou Ramsey Eli Wallach as Charlie Gant Carolyn Jones as Zeb Rawlings' wife, Julie Mickey Shaughnessy as Deputy Stover Harry Dean Stanton as a member of Gant's gang (uncredited) Jack Lambert as a member of Gant's gang (uncredited)
The film marked then 66-year-old Raymond Massey's last appearance as Abraham Lincoln, a role that he previously played on stage (Abe Lincoln in Illinois and the stage adaptation of John Brown's Body), on screen (Abe Lincoln in Illinois) and on television (The Day Lincoln Was Shot, and two more productions of Abe Lincoln in Illinois).
Production Development MGM had enjoyed a great success with the big screen remake of Ben-Hur (1959) and initiated a number of spectacles, including remakes of Cimarron, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and Mutiny on the Bounty.
In 1960, MGM struck a deal to produce four films in the Cinerama process, and Bing Crosby approached the studio with a proposition. He was developing a television spectacular called How the West Was Won based on photographs of the Old West in Life, with profits earmarked for St. John's Hospital, along with an album inspired by the same article recorded with Rosemary Clooney. MGM purchased the film rights from Crosby.
MGM announced the project in June 1960, originally titled The Great Western Story. The plan was to film a story of six segments featuring 12 stars, with a cohesive overall storyline. Among the historical figures to be featured were Buffalo Bill, the James brothers and Billy the Kid. St. John's Hospital president Irene Dunne and others persuaded the film's stars to accept less than their usual fees. However, the hospital later sued for a share of the film's profits.
Bernard Smith was assigned as producer, and he hired James Webb to write the script. George Peppard was announced as the lead in October 1960, and Irene Dunne and Bing Crosby were originally announced as stars. Laurence Harvey and John Wayne were also slated to appear in one sequence together. Filmink commented Peppard "carries the last three-fifths" of the film, adding "if anyone is the leading man of that movie, it's him."
By April 1961, Wayne and Spencer Tracy had confirmed their plans to play Generals Sherman and Grant for a segment directed by John Ford, and James Stewart had been signed as well. Other roles would go to Gregory Peck, Debbie Reynolds, Russ Tamblyn and Carroll Baker, while Henry Hathaway and George Marshall would also direct from a script by James Webb. Crosby was scheduled to provide narration. Jim Hutton was intended to appear in the Civil War segment. Eventually, Harry Morgan appeared as Grant when Tracy was unavailable.
Ultimately, the film contained five sections: the 1830s westward migration, the 1849 California gold rush, the Civil War, the construction of the transcontinental railroad, and the "taming" of the Wild West, with one family's story over three generations providing the bridge between each time period. The budget was set to at least $8 million. John Ford directed the Civil War segment, George Marshall the railroad segment and Henry Hathaway the rest. "We wanted three old pros, no young geniuses," said Smith.
Cinerama How the West Was Won was one of only two dramatic feature films (along with The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm) produced with the three-strip Cinerama process. Although the picture quality when projected onto curved screens in theaters is stunning, attempts to convert the film to a smaller screen suffer. When the film is projected in letterbox format, the actors' faces are nearly indistinguishable in long shots.
Shooting Filming started in May 1961 by John Ford in Paducah, Kentucky. Producer Bernard Smith said, "It is essential for our purposes that virtually the whole movie be shot outdoors. Throughout the movie, one of the basic themes is to show little people against a vast country – huge deserts, endless plains, towering mountains, broad rivers. We want to capture the spirit of adventure, the restless spirit that led these men and women across the country in [the] face of many difficulties and dangers."
After Ford finished his segment, Hathaway took over on location. Hathaway called Ford's segment "a little stagey".
Parts of the film were shot in Monument Valley, Utah and in Wildwood Regional Park in Thousand Oaks, California, Ohio River Valley, the Black Hills of South Dakota, the Colorado Rockies, the Rogue and McKenzie Rivers in Oregon.