How the West Was Won (movie)

How the West Was Won is an epic 1962 western film which follows several generations of a family as they move ever Westwards, from western New York state to the Pacific Ocean. It was displayed in Cinerama. It stars 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[?], Brigid Bazlen[?], Walter Brennan[?], David Brian[?], Andy Devine, Raymond Massey, Agnes Moorehead, Harry Morgan[?], Thelma Ritter[?], Mickey Shaughnessy[?], Russ Tamblyn[?] and Spencer Tracy.

The movie was written by John Gay (uncredited) and James R. Webb[?] and directed by John Ford (segment "The Civil War"), Henry Hathaway[?] (segments "The Rivers", "The Plains" and "The Outlaws"), George Marshall (segment "The Railroad") and Richard Thorpe[?] (uncredited) (transitional historical sequences).

The movie won Academy Awards for Best Film Editing, Best Sound and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen (James R. Webb) and was nominated for Academy Award for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color, Best Cinematography, Color, Best Costume Design, Color, Best Music, Score - Substantially Original (Alfred Newman[?] and Ken Darby[?]) and Best Picture.

How the West was Won is one of only two feature films (the other being The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm) made using the three-strip Cinerama process, and suffers from that process's technical shortcomings.

The film has also been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.