Movie · 1962 · Western, Action · 2h 44m · G · English
Curator score: 3.6/10 (25.7K ratings)
It's here! The mightiest adventure ever filmed!
Overview
The epic tale of the development of the American West from the 1830s through the Civil War to the end of the century, as seen through the eyes of one pioneer family.
Ratings
Curator score: 3.6/10
IMDb: 7.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 85%
Metacritic: 56
TMDB: 7.0/10
Director
John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall
Production
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Cinerama Productions
Cast
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, Richard Widmark, Spencer Tracy, Brigid Bazlen, Walter Brennan, David Brian, Andy Devine, Raymond Massey, Agnes Moorehead
Curator Review
Verdict
A big, old-school Western spectacle that’s as much about scale and studio-era craftsmanship as it is about story. It’s uneven in places, but the Cinerama presentation, starry cast, and sweeping generational structure make it a rewarding watch for classic Hollywood and epic-movie fans.
Best for
classic Hollywood epics
widescreen and technical-showcase enthusiasts
viewers who like anthology-style historical sagas
fans of prestige Westerns with a nostalgic tone
Skip if
you want a tightly focused, character-driven Western
you’re allergic to sentimental, mythmaking Americana
you prefer modern revisionist or gritty Westerns
you don’t have patience for episodic structure and long runtime
Overview
How the West Was Won is a grand, slightly unwieldy monument to the studio-era epic. It follows one family across decades of American expansion, moving from frontier hardship to Civil War upheaval to the closing of the century, and it treats that sweep with genuine scale and confidence. The result is less a single narrative than a procession of set pieces, moods, and eras tied together by a strong sense of national mythmaking.
Worth noting
What still makes it compelling is the sheer craft. The Cinerama presentation is the headline attraction, but the film also benefits from a deep bench of classic-era performers and a polished, high-gloss visual style. It can feel schematic or overly romantic, and some sections are stronger than others, but the ambition is hard to dismiss.
Bottom line
If you enjoy Westerns as historical pageantry, or you want to see Hollywood at its most expansive and self-assured, this is an easy recommendation. If you need moral complexity, narrative tightness, or a modern view of the frontier, it may feel more like an artifact than a revelation.
Top Letterboxd reviews
theriverjordan (3★) · 182 likes
“How the West Was Won” is “Soarin: Over the Frontier.”
The Disney parks people out there know what I’m talking about.
For everyone else — “Soarin’” is a ride that simulates glider flight over major world landmarks using a giant screen, coordinated movement of a ride vehicle, and (most famously) piped-in smells of locations — to include an African stampede and orange groves. It’s also emceed by Patrick Warburton.
“West” subs Warburton in for Spencer Tracy (fair... I suppose), but… more
Ben Hibburd (3.5★) · 139 likes
"How the West Was Won" is a schmaltzy love letter to the mythos of the "Old West". Accompanied by an overture and an intermission, this is classic filmmaking on a grandiose scale. It's just a shame that the multiple stories are inconsistent in their relative qualities and are littered with cliches.
"How the West Was Won" is directed by three different filmmakers who worked on different segments that loosely connect with each other. The segments are focused on different, but… more
ScreeningNotes (3★) · 123 likes
Properly epic and endearingly romantic. The whole movie has this high-gloss sheen to it that makes it never feel as dangerous or problematic as some of its moments want to be, and it's so sprawling that some of the smaller moments feel lost in the grand scheme of things, but it goes almost effortlessly from Plymouth Rock to four-lane highways in a way that I really enjoyed and admired.
The most fascinating element of it by far, though, is the… more
Andy Summers 🤠 (4.5★) · 78 likes
It's hardly surprising that a film of this scope and magnitude would have three directors. 164 minutes long, with Henry Hathaway, John Ford, and George Marshall helming different sections, this has an early 1960's cast that some directors would have killed for. You can tell how good the cast is when they got Spencer Tracy to narrate, and the five chapters all offer a different era and progression for the Old West, from 1839-1889, with Hathaway directing three, and Marshall… more It's hardly surprising that a film of this scope and magnitude would have three directors. 164 minutes long, with Henry Hathaway, John Ford, and George Marshall helming different sections, this has an early 1960's cast that some directors would have killed for. You can tell how good the cast is when they got Spencer Tracy to narrate, and the five chapters all offer a different era and progression for the Old West, from 1839-1889, with Hathaway directing three, and Marshall… more
📀 Cammmalot 📀 (3.5★) · 68 likes
Cinematic Time Capsule1962 Marathon - Film #80
”Settled down for a year, once. Took ten years off my life!”
Welcome to a sprawling experiment in three camera Cinerama.
In the ongoing struggle to lure viewers away from the television and back into the theaters, Cinerama was a bold new exercise in filmmaking. It utilized three synchronized cameras to capture the action.
In the theater, there were three synchronized 35mm projectors that all combined to create a single massive image… more