How the West Was Won (1963)

Full disclosure: I love westerns. I have only realized this love in the last few years, so I'm not as versed in them as I'd like to be, but darn it, an evening spent with John Wayne is an evening well spent. More disclosure: I love John Wayne. I mean, come on. He's John Wayne. Whenever he's onscreen, I feel safe. He's going to get me through any trouble that may ensue.

So let me just gush about this film. I completely, accidentally stumbled upon "How The West Was Won" 1963 the other day and oh boy, was I thrilled! Here is one of only TWO narrative films in history made with the "Cinerama" process (the other being "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grim" 1962) which had one camera with three strips of film, resulting in an epic surround-scene panoramic view. And if you saw it in a theatre, it would have to be outfitted with a special projection screen that's actually dozens of vertical strips of screen all angled toward the audience to reduce glare and reflection from the curved viewing space. What the very F.

Anyway, this proved an incredibly difficult process, both during filming and during screenings for audiences. There was some kind of widescreen format war going on in the 50s and 60s when the production companies were trying out new ways to draw audiences out of their comfortable easy chairs in front of their shiny new TV sets to see EPIC EVENT MOTION PICTURES. The ultra-wide formats that won out were cameras that used only one film strip with a larger aspect ratio. The 1959 version of "Ben Hur" for example, used 70mm film, as opposed to the standard 35mm film, like in any Marvel superhero movie you see these days. My absolute favorite, "Lawrence of Arabia" 1962 was also in 70mm, as was "The Sound of Music" 1965.

It is more costly to film and project with 70mm, but it is of very high resolution and quality. Home VHS and DVD formats could never dream of offering the true original resolution of these films, but if you picked up a Blu-Ray of "Lawrence of Arabia" and watched it on a nice big TV, you could pretty much expect to see the quality 70mm carries. It's very rarely used now, especially since the advent of digital projection systems. When Sir Ken Branagh's "Hamlet" 1996 was filmed in 70mm, that was only the third time 70mm was used since 1970, and it's only been used four times since "Hamlet." For reals.

Back to THE WEST. This film is essentially five stories told between the 1830s to the 1880s about a single extended family and how they managed to survive one of the most exciting and tumultuous eras of American history. It really has to be seen to be believed, as it is far too complex and beautiful a film to miss. Even on the flatscreen of your TV, you ain't never seen anything like it before, I swear. Just look at it. There's so much real estate on that frame. It's ridiculous.

So, to suck you in, I'll just give you some tidbits. Like, why does Jimmy Stewart have a terrible mullet haircut?

But look! Gregory Peck (GREGORY PECK!) is made of sex!

And fricken Russ "Riff" Tamblyn is a fricken Confederate deserter!

Princess Leia's mom is in fluffy knickers!

Henry Fonda in fringe! Woohoo!

You haven't seen such gripping Civil War footage since that Ken Burns documentary that you watched in middle school that was longer than the war itself! (Ok, sarcasm, but really, as much as I learned to love Ken Burns in my adult life, this is way more fun to see)

Finally, John Wayne is General William Tecumseh Sherman! 

OMG look at all that! Why aren't you finding this on Netflix or something right now?! 

You are wrong NOT to see this.