Synopsis
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.
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Cast
- Carroll BakerEve Prescott Rawlings
- Lee J. CobbMarshal Lou Ramsey
- Henry FondaJethro Stuart
- Carolyn JonesJulie Rawlings
- Karl MaldenZebulon Prescott
- Gregory PeckCleve Van Valen
- George PeppardZeb Rawlings
- Robert PrestonRoger Morgan
- Debbie ReynoldsLilith Prescott
- James StewartLinus Rawlings
Recommendations
- 91
Entertainment Weekly
Despite wooden performances, the final feature filmed in true Cinerama is great fun and holds a wiiiiiide spot in cineasts’ hearts. - 70
Variety
It's a story [suggested by the series How the West Was Won in Life magazine] which naturally puts the spotlight on action and adventure, and the three directors between them have turned in some memorable sequences. - 60
Empire
A grand folly, but lots to love. - 60
Time Out
The main problem remains the impossibility of subjecting a film that is fundamentally about landscape and history to the demands of such a coarse dramatic form. - 40
The New York Times
With little or no imagination and, indeed, with no pictorial style, despite the fact that the three directors were Henry Hathaway, George Marshall and John Ford, they have fashioned a lot of random episodes, horribly written by James Webb, into a mat of outdoor adventure vignettes that tell you nothing of how the West was really won. - 40
The New Yorker
How the West Was Lost would be a more appropriate title for this dud epic, since, as conceived by the writer, James R. Webb, the pioneers seem to dimwitted bunglers who can't do anything right.
