How The West Was Won

How the West Was Won (1962)

Runtime: 162 minutes

Directed by: John Ford/Henry Hathaway/George Marshall/Richard Thorpe

Starring: A cast of many famous faces, including Gregory Peck, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, and Debbie Reynolds

From: MGM

First off, my apologies for not posting anything at all yesterday. Tuesday and Wednesday wasn't the best of days for me; I won't delve deep into it, except that Tuesday various things just did not go right, including watching a film (the disc I was watching, it literally stopped working about a quarter of the way through; I was not happy) and Wednesday, there was even an issue with this film when I saw it on the big screen, but I'll get to that in the Letterboxd review, which is below. I will return Saturday night and I'll make that date.

After it seemed like fate conspired against me and prevented me from watching a film this week so far, last night I was finally able to see something, and it was a classic film... on the big screen, via the Cinemark chain. Of course I wish it would have started on time but it didn't due to their incompetence. But at least I got to see this classic film for the first time, and it happened to be in a theatre, where I could enjoy seeing such an epic movie with huge vistas and large scenes in a big manner. No, it wasn't a Cinerama showing but who has a giant curved Cinerama screen in 2015?

If you don't know, this is a Western which tells several tales revolving around the Prescott family in a timespan of about 50 years, from them originally planning to move out West, to the California gold rush, the Civil War and the building of the Transcontinental railroad to a look at how dangerous life can be in the Old West.

Viewing it on the big screen was a treat. Due to the original process much of the film was shot from a distance rather than using close-ups. Thus, watching the film this way seems like the most logical thing to do, and it's unfortunate that most people now won't have the chance to see it except on a TV screen or heaven forbid, their laptop screen.

As for me giving it such a high rating, there are several reasons why. I was genuinely entertained by the long-encompassing story and the various snapshots at how people wanted to migrate to that area of the country and all the troubles that happened due to this desire. It's long but I was certainly never bored. Also, it has many different elements: action/adventure (there are some great scenes which represent this), some comedy, romance, drama, tragedy, melodrama, and even some songs are sung. There's something for everyone, and a tale that required 4 directors to direct all those segments.

And of course, what an incredible cast. Among the names are Henry Fonda, Debbie Reynolds, Karl Malden, Gregory Peck, James Stewart, John Wayne, Eli Wallach, Harry Dean Stanton, Lee Van Cleef, Richard Widmark... what a collection of talent and even if their roles may be small they are all at least fine. As expected you can't go wrong with such a lineup.

While I understand those who don't think too highly of the movie it was something I really dug, a spectacle that Hollywood just doesn't make anymore.