grypnhmr I saw this in the theater when I was 8 years old, with my clearest memory being how long it was. As an adult rewatching it, I can say length isn't its problem. The screenplay, script, and casting, and more are subpar. The movie, unfortunately, comes across as a deliberate vehicle for Cinerama and Debbie Reynolds, who hogs the first half of the film and is pretty unbelievable as a mid 1800s woman. A few past-their-prime actors, James Steward, Robert Preston, and Gregory Peck (the latter two looking older than their years) are the romantic interests. Likewise, George Peppard is too old to be the son of Eva Prescott. You'd think there were no young talented actors yearning for work in 1961 when the film was made.In one scene in the film, Julie Rawlings, played by Carolyn Jones (who appeared the most authentic of all the women, with the exception of Agnes Moorehead as an early pioneer woman), cries at the prospect of her husband losing his life, but in barges Debbie Reynolds with her bad imitation of an old lady, ruining one of the few emotionally genuine bits of the whole movie.Besides the big name stars---Henry Fonda, Richard Widmark, and John Wayne, to name a few of the biggest---there's some hefty historical name dropping: "Sherman..." says Sgt. Friday's sidekick to John Wayne, to which Wayne replies, "Grant...."This was an ambitious idea that ends up being squeezed into 2 hours and 45 minutes---actually less because surprisingly large segments of time are taken up with a static western scene and just music, and then there's the credits that also eat us some of that time. So, you are getting about 2 hours and 15 minutes of the supposed story of how the U.S. expanded its territory westward. It's pretty silly watching the California Gold Rush and the Civil War given such short shrift. My favorite scene was the buffalo stampede because a running herd of buffalo is awesome. I secretly wished it had gotten out of control of the animal handlers and destroyed the whole production company and put an end to this cinematic endeavor.

kz917-1 Really, all these rave reviews?! Did I watch the same movie?Apparently this was a grand spectacle at the time it was released. Twenty Four amazing actors and the filming of all the broad vistas were meant for the audience to ooh and ahh...But the story, oh the story is a mish mosh of plot points that in the end don't add up. Yes the writers and directors manage to pull the film full circle revolving mostly around one family.But ugh. Parts of the film were downright painful. Three to four different directors does not make for the most cohesive film!

dpaterson-2 What is wonderful about the cinema is that it leaves a trail of US fascist mythology for all to see. I remember when this came out, I was 16 and the smoke put up the national intestines was everywhere. Like all of its western ilk, it took the criminal policy of taking indigenous land through lies, deception, and violence and turned it into Greek mythology -- with none of the poetry or depth. This film truly should have been titled, "How to Put Lipstick on the Pig of US Imperial Genocide."

bbmtwist HOW THE WEST WAS WON was the 8th and final Cinerama film. Six travelogues preceded it, as well as MGM's only other feature in the process, THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM (1962), released the year prior.MGM had taken a chance on the process to be able to satisfy the widescreen and stereophonic craze for epic films, but abandoned it due to its unsatisfactory performance next to its rival, Ultra Panavision 70, in which MGM produced MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, also in 1962. The use of one camera, one strip of film and no curvature, and the ability to bring back close ups and medium shots sealed Cinerama's fate.This was a grand way to go out though. Five periods of the taming of the West: The River, The Plains, The Civil War, The Railroad, and The Law, and a roster of stars (13 leading, 10 supporting, plus a narrator). It had everything; story, cohesion, thrills – and all in enormous curved screen and Technicolor glory. At two hours and 44 minutes, it was the longest of the 8 Cinerama films and with its final shots (taken from or re-taken as a tribute to the America The Beautiful sequence ending THIS IS CINERAMA (the initial film in the process), it brought the Cinerama story full circle.Sad though that Cinerma cameras had a tendency to be covered with splotches of dirt in its aerial shots. This is rampant throughout the travelogues and here we can see it during Spencer Tracy's initial narration and at the end montage. How digital clean-up for Smilebox DVD presentation could have ignored these obvious defects is beyond my imagination.The image still needs some color correction and the images need sharpening, but the Smilebox DVD release is the best we have so far. The superlative score by Alfred Newman (one of his very best) is in turns stirring and sentimentally moving. Probably the most wrenching scene is Zeb's departure for the war, in which direction, score and the subdued performances of Carroll Baker and George Peppard bring tears.It is recommended to every lover of western films and to those in love with wide screen photography. The locations are gorgeous and always there to look at if one gets bored with the acting, direction or story line. All the actors do a creditable job, with the exception of Debbie Reynold's "old Lilith" at the end of the film. She did go on the next year to earn her only Oscar nom – for THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN (which used the same mansion exterior as her San Francisco house in WEST, by the way).It is interesting also to note upon reading these almost 150 reviews on the IMDb pages, that there seems to be no middle ground. Either reviewers loved the film or hated it. It's up to you to decide for yourself, but you must not miss it.