MOVIE REVIEW: How the West Was Won (1962)

Normally, I'm not one to go leaping at the sight of a western on the movie shelf, but How the West Was Won attracted me for one reason on the box: "Cinerama". What is Cinerama, you may ask? It was, in my opinion, the IMAX of it's day: Basically, take three cameras shooting perpendicularly at 45-degree angles and stitch the three shots together on a tri-paneled, curved, screen - the result was an immersive experience that, according to the documentary on the DVD that I watched, helped bring TV-fixated post-war Americans back into the movie theatres, and gave birth to "Widescreen". You can read more on Cinerama, here.

So when I got around to watching How the West Was Won, I wasn't sure what to anticipate, in terms of presentation. But when presented on my 50" 16x9 LCD, I got something like this:

Now THAT'S wide! I don't think I'd seen actual letterbox on my TV in nearly eight years since we got a widescreen TV. I can only imagine what the film looked like in it's Cinerama heydey...

But onto the film itself - this is more or less so an episodic odyssey of a number of different vignettes somehow tying into the film's namesake of how American colonists carved a name out for themselves in the American west. It's a slice of classic Americana, done in true Hollywood style, and (if I may stand on my soapbox) complete with typical disregard to Native Americans by reducing them to stereotyped "savage" women and children-killers (as if white people didn't do any worse?). The stories are nice, but they're rather featherweight, lacking any realistic dramatic weight. In fact, the whole movie feels more like one of those elaborate travelogue films you go see at Disneyland, only this one at least tries to make an attempt at legitimizing it's Cinerama gimmick by going the distance with production value.

Aside from the story and acting, the overall production is very much impressive. Since I've already harped on the cinematography, I will say there are some nice action pieces, and the attention to detail as well as the attempt to at least drive somewhat of a cohesive narrative through the imagery is admittedly admirable. How the West Was Won is really more of an entertaining museum piece in my eyes, but it's a nice, visually splendid take on how Hollywood once used to run the show with panache.

7/10

Peace,
- Jon