How the West Was Won (1962)

How the West Was Won is a 1962 American epic Western film directed by Henry Hathaway (who directed three out of the five chapters: "The Rivers," "The Plains" and "The Outlaws"), John Ford ("The Civil War") and George Marshall ("The Railroad"), produced by Bernard Smith, written by James R. Webb, and narrated by Spencer Tracy. The film centers on a family and their descendants over the span of decades as they explore and settle the American frontier of the United States.

Originally filmed in true three-lens Cinerama with the accompanying three-panel panorama projected onto an enormous curved screen, the film features an ensemble cast formed by many cinema icons and newcomers, including (in alphabetical order) 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 and Richard Widmark. The supporting cast features Brigid Bazlen, Walter Brennan, David Brian, Andy Devine, Raymond Massey, Agnes Moorehead, Harry Morgan, Thelma Ritter, Mickey Shaughnessy and Russ Tamblyn.

How the West Was Won is widely considered one of Hollywood's greatest epics. The film received widespread critical acclaim and was a box office success, grossing $50 million on a budget of $15 million. At the 36th Academy Awards it earned eight nominations, including Best Picture, and won three, for Best Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen, Best Sound and Best Film Editing. In 1997, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".