Saturday Night at the Movies - An All-Star cast transforms "How the West Was Won" into an epic western for all time
SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES – I love MGM’s 1962 Cinerama release, “How the West Was Won.” From the first rousing bars of Alfred Newman’s robust score, this promises to be big studio entertainment at its best. MGM always boasted it had more stars than heaven and this film has a bushel of them. The core story centers on the Prescott family’s westward journey, led by patriarch Zebulon (Karl Malden in zealous form) his wife Rebecca (Agnes Moorehead) and their two beautiful daughters Eve (a luminous Carroll Baker) and Lilith (a radiant Debbie Reynolds). Heading west on a river raft, they meet mountain man/trapper Linus Rawlings (James Stewart), who of course falls for Eve. This epic western helmed by three top Hollywood directors - John Ford, George Marshall and Henry Hathaway - covers history in five sections: The River, the Plains, the Civil War, the Outlaws and the Railroad - all tied nicely together with Spencer Tracy’s perfect narration, co-written by James R. Webb, a history specialist who won an Oscar for this script - (he previously wrote films like “Vera Cruz,” and “Pork Chop Hill” and an early draft of “Patton” when Willam Wyler was set to direct that epic). My fave character in the film is George Peppard’s Zeb Prescott who transforms from a fresh-faced, aw’shucks farm boy to traumatized Civil War infantryman to veteran U.S. Cavalry officer to grizzled, aging sheriff in the wild west – who’s matched against Eli Wallach’s gritty outlaw chief Charlie Gant. Other favorites are Gregory Peck’s Cleve Van Valen, a gentleman gambler, and Robert Preston’s wagon train trailboss who is so into Debbie’s Lilith Prescott. And so many others portrayed by Henry Fonda, Richard Widmark, Russ Tamblyn, Carolyn Jones, Walter Brennan. It goes on and on. Stay safe everyone
Executive Vice President at CBRE
3 年Great movie! One of my favorites!
Partner | Tax Advisor to HNW individuals and C-Suite executives | Audit and other representation
3 年Nice -we were planning on watching this tonight. What timing..
Physical Security Consultant
3 年Because of the filming process, when it was originally released, the quality of the movie was best viewed in a Cinerama theater, which best captured the locations like Monument Valley. Over the years the print qualities and restorations (from the original negatives) have been properly enhanced, making quality viewing on home television screens.
Economic and energy affairs specialist ???? ?? ???????? ??????
3 年If I remember rightly, Walter Brennan was a sinister villain in this Western.