How The West Was Won

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How the West Was Won (film)

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How the West Was Won

Directed by John Ford

Henry Hathaway

George Marshall

Richard Thorpe

Produced by Bernard Smith

Written by James R. Webb

Starring 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

Walter Brennan

Andy Devine

Raymond Massey

Agnes Moorehead

Thelma Ritter

Spencer Tracy

Distributed by MGM

Release date(s) November 1, 1962

Running time 162 min.

Language English, Arapaho

IMDb profile

How the West Was Won is an epic 1962 western film which follows four generations of a family (starting as the Prescotts) as they move ever westward, from western New York state to the Pacific Ocean. The film is set between 1839 and 1889.

The all-star cast included 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, and Richard Widmark.

The movie consists of five segments, three directed by Henry Hathaway ("The Rivers", "The Plains" and "The Outlaws"), and one each by John Ford ("The Civil War") and George Marshall ("The Railroad"), with transitional sequences by the uncredited Richard Thorpe. The screenplay was written by John Gay (uncredited) and James R. Webb. Popular western author Louis L'Amour wrote a book based on the screenplay.[1]

Contents

[hide]

* 1 Plot summary

o 1.1 The Rivers (1830s)

o 1.2 The Plains (1850s)

o 1.3 The Civil War (1861~1865)

o 1.4 The Railroad (1860s)

o 1.5 The Outlaws (1880s)

* 2 Cast

* 3 Awards and nominations

* 4 Production

* 5 References

* 6 External links

[edit] Plot summary

[edit] The Rivers (1830s)

Mountain man Linus Rawlings (James Stewart) is returning to civilization to trade his furs when he meets a group of settlers heading west, led by Zebulon Prescott (Karl Malden). His daughter Eve (Carroll Baker) is attracted to Linus, but he isn't ready to settle down and leaves.

Linus stops at an isolated trading post run by a clan headed by "Colonel" Hawkins (Walter Brennan). The frontiersman finds out too late that all is not what it seems; he is knocked unconscious, robbed and left for dead. Fortunately, he escapes and rescues the Prescott party from a similar fate. The bushwacking thieves are dispatched with rough frontier justice.

The settlers continue down the river, but their raft is caught in some rapids, and Zebulon and his wife Rebecca (Agnes Moorehead) drown. Linus, finding that he cannot live without Eve, reappears and marries her, even though she insists on homesteading at the spot where her parents died.

[edit] The Plains (1850s)

Eve's sister Lily (Debbie Reynolds) chooses to go to St. Louis, where she finds work performing in a dance hall. She attracts the attention of professional gambler Cleve Van Valen (Gregory Peck). After overhearing that she has just inherited a California gold mine (and to avoid paying his debts), he joins the wagon train that will take her there. He and wagon train master Roger Morgan (Robert Preston) court her along the way, but she turns them both down, much to the dismay of her new friend and fellow traveler Agatha Clegg (Thelma Ritter).

Surviving an attack by the Cheyenne Indians, Lily and Cleve arrive at the mine, only to find that it is now worthless. Cleve leaves Lily. Lily finds work in a dance hall in a literal "Camp Town", living out of a covered wagon. She encounters Morgan again. When he proposes marriage in a rather unromantic way, she tells him, "No, not ever."

Later, Lily is singing in the music salon of a riverboat. Meanwhile, Cleve has invested his gambling winnings in railroads and other businesses in California. By chance, he is a passenger on the riverboat. When he hears Lily's unmistakable voice, he leaves the poker table to find her. Cleve proposes to her and she accepts. They settle down in the rapidly growing San Francisco.

[edit] The Civil War (1861~1865)

Eve has already lost her husband to the American Civil War. Despite her wishes, their son Zeb (George Peppard) joins the Union army as well. The bloody Battle of Shiloh shows him that war is nothing like he imagined. He