HOW THE WEST WAS WON

 "HOW THE WEST WAS WON" (1962)

"How the West Was Won" is an American epic Western film directed by Henry Hathaway (who directs three out of the five chapters involving the same family), John Ford and George Marshall. It was produced by Bernard Smith and written by James R. Webb. Spencer Tracy did a great job as the narrator. To say it has an all-star cast would be an understatement. Its cast list reads like a Who's Who of Hollywood in the early 60's. It stars John Wayne, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck, Debbie Reynolds, George Peppard, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, Eli Wallach, Thelma Ritter, Carolyn Jones, Robert Preston, Agnes Moorehead, Harry Morgan, Walter Brennan, Raymond Massey, Dub Taylor and Claude Akins. They all do a wonderful job. It was nominated for 8 Academy Awards and won 3 for "Best Writing Story and Screenplay," "Best Sound," and "Best Editing," for which it is included in the schedule. American Cinema Editors awarded it for "Best Edited Feature Film." It won a special award, the "Golden Laurel" from the Laurel Awards. It was nominated for 4 more various awards and won them all. In 1997 it was selected for preservation by The National Film Registry.

SYNOPSIS: "Setting off on a journey to the west in the 1830s, the Prescott family run into a man named Linus (James Stewart), who helps them fight off a pack of thieves. Linus then marries daughter Eve Prescott (Carroll Baker), and 30 years later goes off to fight in the Civil War with their son, with bloody results. Eve's sister, Lily (Debbie Reynolds), heads further west and has adventures with a professional gambler (Gregory Peck), stretching all the way to San Francisco and into the 1880s