85 reviews
Sales Rank: 529

Format: Anamorphic, Color, Surround Sound, Restored
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: G (General Audience)
Media: Blu-ray
Number Of Items: 2
Running Time: 164
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6

MPN: 1000039748
UPC: 883929026272
EAN: 0883929026272
ASIN: B0018O50VQ

Theatrical Release Date: February 20, 1963
Release Date: September 9, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
With courage sinew and conflict: that?s how the West was won. With three directors five interlocked stories some of movie history?s most legendary action scenes and a constellation of acting talent: that?s how How the West Was Won was filmed. Henry Fonda Gregory Peck Debbie Reynolds James Stewart and John Wayne are among the big names in this big saga following a family?s move West through generations ? marked by the spectacles of a heart-pounding raging river ride a thunderous buffalo stampede and a bracing runaway train shootout. Via technological advances this panoramic winner of three Academy Awards can now be seen with a resplendent restored clarity eliminating its original ?three- panel join lines? and in roof-raising Dolby 5.1 audio. Westward ho!Running Time: 162 min.System Requirements:Running Time: 162 minutesFormat: BLU-RAY DISC Genre: WESTERN/CLASSICS Rating: G UPC: 883929026272 Manufacturer No: 1000039748

Amazon.com
The first feature film to be photographed and projected in the panoramic three-camera Cinerama process, this epic Western is almost as expansive as the West itself, chronicling a pioneering family's triumphs and tragedies in numerous episodes spanning three generations and a half century of westward movement. Divided into five segments directed by veteran Hollywood filmmakers Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, and the legendary John Ford (and including uncredited sequences directed by Richard Thorpe), the film was one of the most ambitious ever made by the venerable MGM studio. Its stellar cast reads like a virtual who's who of Hollywood's biggest stars. Debbie Reynolds plays a sturdy survivor of many pioneering dangers, and the eventual widow of a gambler (Gregory Peck), who is later reunited with her nephew (George Peppard), a Civil War veteran and cavalryman who heads for San Francisco as the transcontinental railroad is being built. Many more characters and stories are woven throughout this epic film, which is dramatically uneven but totally engrossing with its stunning vistas and countless outdoor locations in Illinois, Kentucky, South Dakota, Monument Valley in Arizona, California, Colorado, and elsewhere. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews: Read 80 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

beautiful October 11, 2008
This movie has never looked better! The smile box presentation was fascinating and the letterbox was a joy to watch. The removal of the "overlap" lines was especially welcome! Buy and enjoy!

4 out of 5 stars

I Am Bound For The Promised Land October 11, 2008
James R. Webb's original screenplay for the screen won an Oscar in 1962 and it involves an episodic account of the Prescott family and their contribution to settling the American west in the 19th century. We first meet the Prescott's, Karl Malden and Agnes Moorehead going west on the Erie Canal and later by flatboat on the Ohio River. They have two daughters, dreamy romantic Carroll Baker and feisty Debbie Reynolds. The girls meet and marry mountain man James Stewart and gambler Gregory Peck eventually and their adventures and those of their children are what make up the plot of How the West Was Won.

Three of Hollywood's top directors did parts of this film although the lion's share by all accounts was done by Henry Hathaway. John Ford did the Civil War sequence and George Marshall the sequence about the railroad.

The Civil War piece featured John Wayne and Harry Morgan in a moment of reflection at the battlefield of Shiloh. Morgan did a first rate job as Grant in his brief cameo and Wayne was playing Sherman for the second time in his career. He'd previously played Sherman in a cameo on his friend Ward Bond's Wagon Train series. I'm surprised Wayne never did Sherman in a biographical film, he would have been good casting.

If any of the stars could be said to be THE star of the film it would have to be Debbie Reynolds. She's in the film almost through out and in the last sequence where as a widow she goes to live with her nephew George Peppard and his family she's made up as a gray haired old woman and does very well with the aging. Debbie also gets to do a couple of musical numbers, A Home in the Meadow and Raise A Ruckus both blend in well in the story. Debbie's performance in How the West Was Won must have been the reason she was cast in The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

Cinerama was rarely as effectively employed as in How the West Was Won. I well remember feeling like you were right on the flatboat that the Presscott family was on as they got caught in the Ohio River rapids. The Indian attack and the buffalo stampede were also well done. But the climax involving that running gun battle between peace officers George Peppard and Lee J. Cobb with outlaw Eli Wallach and his gang on a moving train even on a formatted VHS is beyond thrilling.

There is a sequence that was removed and it had to do with Peppard going to live with buffalo hunter Henry Fonda and marrying Hope Lange who was Fonda's daughter. She dies and Peppard leaves the mountains and then marries Carolyn Jones. Lange's part was completely left on the cutting room floor. I was hopeful in this version we'd see Hope Lange and more of Henry Fonda.

Considering you have all those Hollywood legends in one exciting film. They really don't make them like this any more.

5 out of 5 stars

HD Home Theater (HDMI) w/Blu-ray brings CINERAMA Home (explained) October 2, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

Experiencing the 1963 version at a CINERAMA theater was breathtaking and unbelievable with that 146 degree 3 projector screen bigger than life.

Not since then have we been able to re-experience that magical event until NOW. Yes my fellow movie buffs this Blu-ray Hi-def Picture and Hi-Def Sound 2008 version with its pioneering technology can be enjoyed once again. In fact with the true HD Blu-ray HDMI Home Theater you can experience a better "HOW THE WEST WAS WON" visual wonderland!

My qualifying statement: My HD Home theater weighs in at about $2000 plus movies. A break down is; a Mitsubishi Projector(HC-1500) $800 (orig $1495), a Sony 5.1 Sound system (HT-SS2300) $400 (orig $500) and a Sony Playstation 3 with Blu-ray player $400 (orig $500). Sony HDMI cables $150 and HD Screen paint and kit $180 for my 108" viewing wall screen. With this 1080p system I've created a HD Home Theater presentation sight and sound equal to an IMAX (on a smaller scale) experience.

The 1080p Blu-ray showing blows your minds eye, period. Their are 2 discs and 2 versions. Whats incredible is watching the SmileBox transfer replicating the CINERAMA wraparound theatrical experience right in your own home. By curving the flat 2D picture (disc 1) into a smile simulates the 146 degree 3D image (disc 2)of CINERAMA. Whats truly amazing is the people on the edges appear to be in the foreground on opposite sides talking to each other. You have to see it to believe it. The clarity is so clear you think your living the experience today not 1963. Only seeing the youthful movie stars brings you to the realization on the true date of this spectacular epic eye candy. With Blu-ray you are swept off to where ever they take you.

Bottomline: Blu-ray, HD HDMI 5.1 Home Theater is the only way to enjoy this SmileBox version of "HOW THE WEST WAS WON". Bonus extra CINERAMA ADVENTURE is a 96 minute documentary about the CINERAMA process and history. This alone is worth the price of the set NOTE: I suggest you watch this documentary prior to watching the movie for the appreciation of the entire magical process. Have fun and Enjoy!!

5 out of 5 stars

A terrific transfer! September 29, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

I saw this movie in Washington, DC, at the Uptown Theater, the only true Cinerama theater in town. The 3-70mm camera Cinerama experience was far more important than the actual movie but it was fantastic! Actually, I went back and saw this movie three times, all because of Cinerama.

I love westerns, always have, but this one, from a pure movie standpoint, is not great. You can easily see the different director's styles as the film moves from era to era and sometimes the acting and writing is, to be charitable, weak. Nonetheless, the scope and beauty is undeniable.

Now, this digital transfer is here and it's outstanding in every way. Blu Ray really does it justice and anyone who considers older films unworthy for HD release should see this. It's not pristine but it's up there with the best and the "lines" separating the three camera screens, so evident in the original, has been nearly eliminated . Surprisingly, the "Smilebox" format works very well, simulating the original three camera experience. I found myself sitting on the floor in front of my usual sofa seating position and creeping closer and closer to my 60" Sony. It brought back fond memories of the original viewings at the Uptown.

In fact, I'm going back to see it again tomorrow night!

arkiedan

3 out of 5 stars

Ultimate Collector's Edition September 29, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful

I'm afraid that I must agree with some of the less popular and more critical assessments of this newly remastered edition of "How the West Was Won" in that it's just not all that great. While the action sequences are spellbinding, most of this movie is tedious and difficult to watch. Somebody dumped a pile of cash on this picture to demonstrate what can be done with Cinerama but, unfortunately, not much can really be done, outside of the 'roller-coaster' shots.

This is a 'restored' version and it is miles better than previously released renditions of HtWWW; eliminating all dirt and scratches found on the old prints (what some here have described as 'dirt' spots in the opening ariel scene are just water droplets on the window); eliminating the 'join' lines between panels (except for a couple of pan shots where they are hard to ignore); also, color has been corrected and carefully matched between panels. Sound is very good, for the most part, but at times a bit distorted and the dialog volume is uneven and could benefit from some better equalization.

I would have given this 2 stars, except for the inclusion, on the third disc, of Dave Strohmaier's excellent documentary, "Cinerama Adventure".

There are a few big problems with this new DVD collection that bother me: First, there is some kind of digital "smoothing" that has been applied to the finished product, which may help to make visual discrepancies less noticeable during the transfer to disc, but makes the image a little less sharp than it could be, and really needs to be, for this movie. I've seen sharper digital transfers from WB and MGM on many other standard definition videos, and unfortunately, the documentary also suffers this fate. I know because I saw it in a theatre. Secondly; Don't get hung up over the "Smilebox" idea. You can see how it works in the documentary and, although it's suppose to give you an idea of what Cinerama would look like in a theater, it gets to be a bit too much after a while. This brings me to my third complaint: That (as others have already said here) the whole movie looks 'fisheyed' and is very distracting to watch, especially actor's faces where the nose is exaggerated and eyes and mouth are small. Rather unflattering that these gorgeous movie stars look like they're in a bad high school yearbook photo! Everything looks VERY far away, as though you are viewing through a distant keyhole, and I think the Smilebox effect accentuates this, making it look even farther away, as though you are in the back of the audience (which works well for the documentary, but not the feature). I kept reaching for my binoculars, even though I'm 6 feet away from a 120-inch screen! Maybe the Blu-Ray edition is sharper and bigger, but Cinerama was designed to be viewed on a very large, deeply curved screen, and there's just no way to make it look natural on a flat surface. Even close-up shots, which there are not many, feel distant and contribute to the 'big nose' problem. Making this issue even worse, the top and bottom edges of the frame has been cropped a bit (not the sides, as in previous versions) so the aspect ratio is up to 2.9, not 2.55 as it says here, or even 2.7, which Cinerama would be if projected flat. Talk about looking through a keyhole!

Problem #4: It's really a lousy movie. It's way too long; there's very little continuity and can often be rather confusing, even with a narrator to tie it together (somewhat). The script is terrible; the actors are doing the best they can with lousy dialog but are completely wasted in this picture; little is done with the camera compared to any other dramatic film - it just sits there most of the time, as if you are supposed to be a distant bystander ("distant" being the operative word here). Except for the very few extreme closeup shots (big noses) and one or two single-lens-camera shots inserted into the action sequences, it is impossible to see facial expressions. The major action scenes are great, but also suffer in continuity and can be confusing. How did the water tower sequence get into the trailer and not the movie???

The only reason to buy this title is for the documentary, a handful of action sequences, and the picture-postcard panoramas. The commentary tracks offer a lot of nice-to-know information but once you know it, better to turn it off and listen to the music. The booklets offer nothing except forgotten Hollywood hype and can't be read without a powerful magnifying glass! As a dramatic western, most others (like, "The Searchers") outclass this one by light-years. As entertainment, don't waste your money. See it only at a genuine 3-projector Cinerama theatre.

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