Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Claire Dunne One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

gimmesumcandy Stars upon stars upon stars. Rarely does a movie come around with this many established stars. Packed with star power and amazing camera filming locales. The buffalo stampede is pretty amazing as well. I'd have loved to see this in its original Cinerama presentation with today's sound. Then n now need to be experienced.

xpat-55192 I first saw this movie when I was nearly 13 when it was released.Then, I was disappointed and bored to distraction.Now I am nearly 68 and I recently bought the special 3-DVD set to see if time had changed my opinion of this cavalcade of stars.It had! It filled me with admiration for my earlier accurate assessment of it!No "Dances with Wolves" or "Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee"; what should have been spectacular and historically accurate entertainment was a tedious, specious, disjointed mess.Cons: A waste the of top acting talent of that time. Pros: Better used as an alternative to chemical sleeping inducements.

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."

Michael_Elliott How the West Was Won (1962) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Epic and landmark Western has three directors telling the story of a group of travelers heading from the East and marking on a journey through the West. Throughout the decades we see them heading out West and then taking part in a variety of stories including those dealing with the railroad, The Civil War and a grand voyage down a dangerous river.An epic such as this could only be filmed in the then hyped up Cinerama and of course you needed epic directors like John Ford, Henry Hathaway and George Marshall to bring it to the screen. Throw in the all-star cast and you're really left with a film that has to be seen and, if you can, see it on as large as a screen as possible. Thankfully I got to view the film in the theater and it's certainly unlike many other adventures on the screen. I think a lot of the credit has to go to the Cinerama. Yes, you get two black lines down the screen and it's easy to see why this gimmick didn't last but at the same time, looking back at these films today, they're just something unique about such a wide image.There's no question that there are some flaws to be found in the film and this includes the actual stories. Even though we've got a running time of 166-minutes, that's still not long enough to really tell the history of the West so what we've got is small stories set during these historic events. The first two stories before the intermission deals with love stories, which might sound corny but it actually works quite well and just think how many years this was before TITANIC. The stories themselves are all "B" material but you're still highly entertained thanks to the director's work behind the scenes as well as the excellent cast members. You can look up the cast yourself and just see how many legends are on one screen. Some like John Wayne just make cameo appearances but there's still some very good work here by the likes of James Stewart, Debbie Reynolds, Gregory Peck, Carroll Baker and Richard Widmark.The Cinerama is something that's hotly debated by film buffs but I think the locations are beautifully captured here. The scenery just leaps off the screen and especially early on. The sequence dealing with the family moving down the river is full of adventure and excitement. Once the twist in the story happens and Stewart must seek revenge, there's no question that it packs a punch. The wagon trail sequence with Peck is also extremely entertaining and features some great action. I actually found Ford's stuff with The Civil War to be the weakest element of the picture but things pick up for the climax and a wonderful shoot out on a train.HOW THE WEST WAS WON certainly has a fair amount of flaws but there's still no question that it's one of the most beautiful films to look at and it features a terrific cast so there's no getting bored through the long running time. If you're going to see the film it's certainly best that you try to seek it out on as big as a screen as possible, the way it was meant to be seen.