I Also Revisited How the West Was Won

This occurred last night, as I explain below: 

In a review a bit longer than usual, I explained how this was experienced in Cinerama… well, a simulation of it, anyhow. In Turner Classic Movies played this motion picture last night and it was only my second viewing. I wrote about the first viewing way back in January 2015, where it was a theatrical presentation from Cinemark. It started late due to projectionist incompetence but instead of dwelling on that, I’ll mention that my giving the movie such a high score at the time was mainly for the theatrical experience and enjoying a movie usually shot at a distance on the big screen.

Of course, the movie was filmed in Cinerama, meaning it was to be displayed on three curved screens at a 146 degree angle; some auditoriums across the world had this from the 50’s through the 60’s although it was a trend that never took off. The 2016 viewing was on one traditional screen with a huge aspect ratio which I understood was just not the same. At the time I had little to no knowledge of how Flicker Alley restored old Cinerama documentaries (featuring both nature and art) & presented those on disc with a simulated experience known as SmileBox where the aspect ratio is curved and the three images are stitched together almost seamlessly. Only last year did I discover that TCM started playing this version of the movie, which can also be found on its Blu-ray. Finally I was able to experience this Western epic in a more accurate simulation.

To copy and paste what I wrote in ’15 about this film which covers over 50 years in the Prescott family: It covers them through the 19th century “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.  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.”

In retrospect, originally giving this such a high rating may have been giving this a bit too much credit. On the other side of the coin, I was still enthralled the entire time by all the entertainment this gave me, from a quartet of directors that included John Ford.

Perhaps I am predisposed to what this movie provided but between the cast, all the visuals, the thrilling action scenes and the serious dramatic moments, the history of the 19th century… it may in fact be like catnip for me. Therefore I feel blessed that there was both the theatrical experience and this faux Cinerama experience.