How the West Was Won (Ultimate Collector's Edition) Reviews

• Deceptive Cover: Not Enhanced for Widescreen TVs

  
  By A1OT4PZSMSCLR8 on 2007-05-25
  I took a chance on buying this DVD because it said it was enhanced for widescreen TVs, in other words, it was supposed to be anamorphic. It definitely is not. It is non-anamorphic, letterboxed on all 4 sides if you have an HDTV. It is also a very poor print. I took it back to Best Buy, arguing that the advertising on the box is a lie, and they gave me my money back with no questions asked - as if they had heard this story before. A shame, a real classic like this and it receives, once again, shoddy treatment.
  Please note: This is a review of the 2007 standard edition version of this film, NOT the 2008 Blu-Ray version.
  
  
  

• Poor Edition

  
  By A3UEK1302ECDAB on 2007-06-01
  This review is about the 2007 'John Wayne Collection' DVD edition of the film. New packaging, same sorry edition contained on other DVD (even Laserdisc) editions and further more the packaging claims "Enhanced for widescreen TVs" not true! The picture quality is terrible. Considering the DVD technology that exists today there is no reason the print couldn't have been cleaned up. Also, the two lines that appear in the middle of the screen (from being filmed in the Cinerama process) could have been eliminated. This is a great classic film that deserves a deluxe DVD edition. I expect more from WB with their long line of quality product not this horrible DVD transfer repackaged for an unsuspecting public! Avoid this until a better DVD edition comes along.
  
  

• Review on DVD set for August 2008

  
  By A1781J6FHG6YED on 2008-06-04
  I keep running into negative reviews for a DVD film or set that hasn't been released yet. I am not sure why Amazon feels in necessay to move reviews over to a DVD that has yet to be released but it's a bit like shooting yourself in the foot. Everyone waiting for a decent release of this film - without the lines on film - should be aware they need to wait for reviews of the set AFTER it has been released and ignore the negative reviews of previous versions.
  
  Everyone knows this film, it is the reviews of the DVD and not the film that is important to most of us. Wake up, Jeff. This is very frustrating. Quit posting reviews of DVDs that have yet to be released.
  
  Richard
  
  

• Deceptive Advertising

  
  By A218F8F54E7749 on 2007-05-25
  If you have been anxiously awaiting the release of HTWWW in anamorphic wide screen - as I have been - the wait continues. The box for this latest (5/07) release claims the film is "Enhanced for widescreen TV's". Not true!! False advertising. In fact it's merely "letterboxed", and better yet, it's the same transfer used for the Laserdisc version years ago - including the old "Turner Home Video" tag when Turner controlled the MGM library. I'm returning my copy to Amazon for a refund!
  
  

• AMAZON: THESE REVIEWS NOT FOR BLU RAY VERSION PLEASE FIX!!!

  
  By A3H9JSM1SUTE4O on 2008-07-07
  This hugely entertaining film has been restored to full aspect ration and the annoying panel lines from the three 35MM prints have been removed. Warner Bros has spent a ton of dough getting this right but the reviews on this page are almost all for previous versions. Amazon: please correct!!!
  
  
• If only they could smooth out the picture...
  By A3N8RZSXKN1OR2 on 2003-02-05
  ...I'd give it five stars. As other reviewers have mentioned, the onscreen "seams" left over by the three-camera Cinerama project are distracting, and of course the film loses something by transfer to a small TV screen. But otherwise it is both a classic and a family epic. (If you can find the souvenier program book, it's well worth a look; mine, among other things, tells me that the costumes--literally thousands--were all sewn by hand because the Cinerama cameras picked up on machine sewing. And Louis L'Amour's novelization, which may still be available secondhand, both follows the script closely and expands upon some of the information given on-screen.) Beginning c. 1830 with Zebulon Prescott (Malden), his wife and four children (two nubile daughters, a near-grown son and an ailing smaller one) on their way "down the O-hi-o," it continues through elder daughter Eve's (Baker) love-at-first-sight meeting with eastbound mountain man Linus Rawlings (Stewart), younger sister Lilith's (Reynolds) trek West during the Gold Rush and her eventual union with gambler Cleve Van Valen (Peck), the service of Eve's elder son Zeb (Peppard) in the Civil War and later in the Cavalry guarding the transcontinental railroad a-building, and finally his reunion with widowed Aunt Lilith, who wants him to take over as foreman of her ranch in Arizona Territory, and a confrontation with old nemesis outlaw Charley Gant (Wallach) that climaxes in a heart-in-your-mouth gun duel aboard a runaway train. Indeed, each of the five major divisions of the movie includes one or more edge-of-the-seat sequences--a brawl with river pirates and a deadly raft trip through rapids in the first, a running battle between Cheyenne raiders and a westbound wagon train in the second, battle sequences full of cannonades and cavalry charges in the third, and a buffalo stampede through the railroad construction camp in the fourth. Like "Around the World in 80 Days," another favorite of mine, it also seethes with Big Names in cameo roles, among the best of them being Fonda as buffalo hunter and ex-mountain-man Jethro Stuart, Ritter as the man-hungry lady blacksmith Aggie Clegg, Brennan as the leader of the pirate gang, Preston as wagonmaster Roger Morgan, and Widmark as heartless rail construction boss Mike King. (Spencer Tracy's rich-voiced narration is another plus.) By relating the westward movement to the experiences of a single family, it succeeds as a drama (though necessarily an episodic one) and makes the history seem more accessible. The whole family should enjoy it.
  
  
• Wrong Reviews
  By AG6UYD56VHOG1 on 2008-05-24
  Like the previous reviewer said, Amazon has really messed up by allowing reviews not related to this product. I emailed Amazon asking them to only post reviews of Blu-Ray and HD DVD's. Amazon does not want to listen to their Customer.
  
  
• I can't wait for this new edition.
  By AZAEJB1ECT9HC on 2008-06-28
  I purchased the original MGM/UA dvd of "How the West Was Won" years ago when originally released on DVD. I've watched it twice over the years and continue to be amazed by the utterly mediocre quality of the picture. If I wanted such poor quality, I might as well watch a butchered-up version on tv. That is why I was so overjoyed to discover a new edition to be released this August. As this is one of my 10 favorite films and a film that continues to bring warm memories of my childhood, as I originally saw the film at age 13 with my father, I had hoped for years for a new release of this film. I will be purchasing it on Blu-ray.
  This film case out duting a wonderful time of movie epics that we will never see again (at least without the use of CGI.) I remember walking down Broadway in Manhattan with my parents in 1962. At the Criterion theater "Lawrence of Arabia," the Demille "The Longest Day," the Loews State "Mutiny on the Bounty." A few months later at the Cinerama "How the West Was Won." This was followed by "Its a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." Yes those were great days.
  For years I was always puzzled by the great John Wayne's relatively small role in my favorite western. I was advised by someone in the know that this was due to the Dukes wanting to work with John Ford on the civil war segment and this was the only real role in that segment that the Duke was well-cast for.
  In conclusion, I love this film and can't wait for its re-release on DVD (and blu-ray) this August.
  
  
• at last the one and only cinerama
  By A2AW69R6SVUXOD on 2008-05-24
  this will be a wonderful version of this one of a kind movie. saw it in its original form at the windor cinerama theatre in texas in 1963 and at the pacifics cinerama theatre a few years ago. one posted a comment thats absolutely correct i wish folks would not comment on something about it before it even comes out without the facts. this version is the restored version that was shown at the cinerama theatre in 2003 ( along with " this is cinerama") recently by paul allen. it was wonderful and as beautiful as it was when first released. and folks keep in mind for those that are complaining about the aspect ratio....this was the widest of all wide screen formats....so there is only so much they can fit on our tv screens.... O.K.? so im sure it will be spectacular and im looking forward to the documentary " cinerama adventure " and anything like this movie to put out in our day and time on dvd is right on. lets be grateful and enjoy. i think they are going to show this wonderful piece of americana in cinerama at the cinerama dome to coinside with the release of this great movie. i wish they would still make cinerama movie's like they used too... thank you warner bros.
  
  
• great remastering job on a great film...........
  By A25C6UL3BX7EPD on 2008-09-01
  Forget all the discussion about poor picture quality. That may legitimately apply to earlier versions of this film. But this remastered edition, just screened on the encore western Channel, is superb. Glorious color, great sound and the joining of the three camera angles all but totally erased. Job well done on a movie that warranted the effort. Buy with confidence but be advised there is a severe letterbox effect because of how wide the CINERAMA picture extends.
  
  
• Incorrect info
  By A277MYG7MQTKYW on 2008-08-21
  As an admirer of the original film since seeing it in the original three-screen Cinerama process when I was a kid, I hate to inform you all that, although released in Europe first, it was NOT the first feature film in the three-screen Cinerama process (although it was the last). George Pal's "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" was the first -- released in 1962 in the three-screen process. I still have the original road-show souvenir book and it states it clearly. "Bros. Grimm" was the first, "How the West was Won" was the second -- then, because of so much revenue being generated from its "ordinary theatrical release" the company was forced to make a compromise: A single-lens, single-curved screen process for future Cinerama productions. This was initiated with Stanley Kramer's "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" and followed by such films as Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" and John Sturges' "The Hallelujah Trail". I just needed to get the facts straight here.
  Incidentaly, this three-lens, three-screen process of "Bros. Grimm" and "How the West Was Won" is why the DVD release has unavoidably two lines running down the middle, and the strange effect of, say, a wagon rolling horizontally seeming to be constantly riding in a warped circle. This is because of the three screens being flattened back onto a straight surface.
  One more thing: Alfred Newman's great score for "How the West Was Won" is truly one of the greatest western film scores in history (even quoted in other films as a quintessential western score) and to hear it in true 5.1 sound is worth the price alone!
  
  
• The western of all westerns!
  By on 1999-04-26
  This picture has the: Largest number of stars. Some of the best music. Excellent photography. And a great plot/story line. If you have one western in your collection, this should be the one.
  
  
• What Has Happened to Warners?
  By A216UEAU8Z263G on 2007-06-04
  I didn't buy this, thank goodness, because I was suspicious after being burned by another recent Warner release. The double feature disc of "Kelly's Heroes/Dirty Dozen" has a similar issue with "Dirty Dozen" being incorrectly labeled as being a 16x9 transfer and containing special features that are not actually on the disc. It is also an old master with the Turner logo at the beginning.
  
  
• I too was deceived
  By A2XFXC782OXT1Q on 2008-01-21
  I also picked up this disk looking for an enhanced 16x9 picture. Wrong! There is nothing new here but the picture on the package. If you already have a copy of this movie (great though the movie itself is) don't waste your money on this.
  
  
• You'll love this film if you like westerns
  By on 1999-12-13
  This film was a great box office draw at the time of its theatrical release in the early sixties. Those of you familiar with the history of nineteenth century America will really appreciate how the all-star cast presents the settling of the frontier from the Erie Canal in New York State to the southwestern states. Most of the cast appears in rather short segments in different time-eras; the principal player who appears throughout the picture is Debbie Reynolds. However, the DVD doesn't really present the full effect that the cinerama in the theater did.
  
  
• It needs to be seen on the giant screen
  By A220FJEQNGMSRN on 2007-11-13
  How the West Was Won seems to become more of an endurance task every year. While it throws in everything - injun attacks, shooting the rapids, stampedes, train wrecks, the Civil War, wagon trains - except a good old fashioned gunfight, the characterization and linking narrative wrapped around Richard Talmadge's impressive action scenes are a long way from the best of the West. Whether it's Karl Malden, Carol Baker, Robert Preston or Gregory Peck hamming it up or Debbie Reynolds raising yet another ruckus in another painfully gratuitous musical number, the squirm factor is high. Although John Ford's Civil War section (aided by plentiful stock footage from Raintree County) is the best remembered, the film doesn't really pick up until Reynolds is sidelined out of the picture and George Marshall takes over the directorial reins for the impressive railroad section, where it really starts to confront a few of the darker aspects of the price of progress and allows George Peppard, Richard Widmark and Henry Fonda to shine. Unfortunately by then fatigue is beginning to set in, and for all the beauty of the color the transfer from three-panel Cinerama to letterboxed DVD leaves the film with some very jarring distortion problems that leaves much of the film looking like it's being played in a semi-circle. And the film's exultant ending that sees the magnificent scenery buried under miles of highways and skyscrapers now seems more tragedy than triumph. At the end of the day it's pure popcorn fodder, but it has its moments and Alfred Newman's score at least has the dynamism that the majority of the film lacks.
  
  As others have mentioned, the quality of the disc leaves quite a bit to be desired - this is simply a repackaging of the old release rather than a remastered edition.
  
  
• how the west was won
  By AGHZ5T9CPJMSJ on 2000-04-02
  I would like to review the movie cause i have a major project to do and i have to re watch the movie
  
  
• My Piano Dream (The Music)
  By AOR8PZEKZONJV on 2000-05-15
  I just love this movie. The music is my favorite thing to play on my instrument, the piano. The characters stand out as very striking. The setting is beautiful and I have learned a lot about history from this movie.
  
  
• Segmented screen
  By A2NYJC1YP3RH4L on 2008-01-29
  This is a great movie, it is a shame that the edition amazon is selling appears to have been sewn together. When seen on a regular tv set, there are three movie segments, badly patched into a panoramic view. This is poor technology in our age, and it detracts enormously from the film's enjoyability. It looks like they used a "photo stitch" program to make the copy, and the results are poor indeed. Not recommended.
  
  
• Wait For a Better Version
  By A351LP4K84ZEZG on 2008-04-07
  This print was very poor. They used letterbox to duplicate the "Cinerama" widescreen effect of the original film. The result is very bad, with the screen partitioned into three folds; the middle one being darker. It's unacceptable.
  
  
• Is the Blue-ray version region free.??
  By A3MWP9C5CIUOI9 on 2008-05-27
  How the West Was Won (Special Edition) [Blu-ray] (1963) Is this all regions, ABC?? If so I'll order it now otherwize I'll have to wait until next year when it's released in my country.
  
  
• Amazon does this with all films
  By A3MCD82QVBLWRX on 2008-08-22
  For those pointing out the reviews of older DVD versions of HWWW being here and much inappropriate, this is ,in my long Amazon experience, normal. Every time I look up a film and read the reviews (if more than one version has been put out) it is pretty much always easy to see the reviews are for all the versions - not just the one specifically listed. Good reviewers might want to be sure to note releasing company and release date in their review to help avoid this problem.
  
  Would, though help if Amazon would simply attach only the reviews of a specific release page to that page and not move them to any other release page - but maybe it's more than their computers/program operators can handle.
  
  
• unintentionally hilarious
  By on 2000-03-08
  How The West was Won is a big turkey of a movie shot in cinerama on a three camera process that was terrible years ago, and its various manifestations on Tv are bad too because you can see the seams of the three cameras from the Cinerama attempt at wide screen largeness, and you could see them in Cinerama in 1963. I was there. Ah d=for the days of Cinemascope on curved screens at 50 feet in length!

  This is a really embartassing movie for its size and its cast; Jimmy Stewart who is always good can do little but visibly hold back the laughter as he talks western twang to Carroll Baker, his love interest, and he wears leather pants and a coon skin cap.

  Debbie Reynolds tries hard to fight the awful script and the make up that makes her look grey rather than old.

  Gregory Peck needed To Kill A Mockingbird after this. Thelma Ritter sounds like a New York Cab Driver, and Agnes Moorehead etal on the death dealing raft is a sight to see, with hands waving and screams emitting from her. You wanted the Indians to deal their deadliest blows to these folks.

  An always highly overrated film, while films like They Came to Cordura with Cooper and Rita Hayworth go unnoticed, or The Hanging Tree with Cooper and Malden are on VHS for a year or so..

  For a great western spectacle with intelligent things in it and a great cast and lovely letterboxing, get The Big Country. If you hate westerns, buy Whatever happened To Baby Jane?

  But How the West Was Won? Bad , but funny..rent, do not buy for the laughs.
  
  

• A unique story and video
  By ABB7REEXZF4DU on 2001-09-07
  5 stars for the story. A little less for the seams that may show. This is an excellant western from the early 60's. The story is sweeping and beautifully shot. If you got this video in a pan-and-scan version I feel sorry for you though. As the first "Cinerama" movie shot with a story this video can only be viewed in widescreen. Due to the age of the movie there are parts that the "3-frame" windows are quite obvious. Don't let the seams distract you from a marvelous story and spectacle of this near classic movie. You will not be disapointed. JUST GET THE WIDESCREEN OR THE DVD. REMEMBER NO PAN AND SCAN.
  
  
• Nice, but not the best ever...
  By AZ1YLZGNDS40I on 2001-10-21
  This movie is pretty good overall, but still there's minor action, like a few gunfights, one Apache encounter, and so on. I'm not saying this is bad, but I'm saying: if you really think about it, it's not the best ever made. For example, "Chisum" and "Stagecoach", which are both John Wayne movies, have way more action. Besides, why did Wayne play such a small part in this video? It would have been much better had he played a longer part. Also, if you want better movies, there are two "Stagecoach" movies. Watch the John Wayne one, because of the singer in the color movie. Another example is "True Grit", and "Rooster Cogburn". I won't give any more examples, because I wouldn't have a well written review. But what I can say is that you should watch this movie, and there are better ones, but this is a neat one. Enjoy!
  
  
• HOW THE WEST WAS LOST!
  By A1PDCD9O9PXN7V on 2007-11-11
  Can anyone tell me is there a DVD copy out there "HOW THE WEST WAS WON" in Dolby Digital 5.1 sound???? not 2.00 stereo.
  
  
  
• Many thanks
  By ASXYJWZVD8WGL on 2008-01-19
  Thank you for carrying such oldies! This is one of my all time favorite movies, and I am happy to have it. Also I appreciate that I received it so quickly. Thanks again!
  
  
• How the West Was Won Review
  By A3US52TS07JNGW on 2008-01-19
  I bought this for my dad(83), who can never get enough of westerns with plenty of action. This filled his bill nicely. It was wonderful to watch the old actors, many of who have passed on. I had seen it as a child on the big screen in 1963. It was made for the big screen and I wish we had watched it on a screen larger than the small TV. It begins with a family in Pennsylvania who are headed west and go down the Ohio River for Ohio/Indiana to new farm land. Then the venue changes to the Civil War, The railroad, and finally the opening and settling of the Arizona Territory. This movie has it all in about 3 hours of rapids, knife fights, gun fights, blood, horses, dancing girls on river boats, gambling, a wagon train, and shoot outs with outlaws and Rangers. The music was fabulous, as was the directors (3 of them) in this amazing feat of a film. I spent the end of 2007 watching this with Dad. Happy New Year 2008!
  
  
• How The West Was Won
  By A36EGF8X3B6ZID on 2008-01-31
  Along with the failures in the picture quality, I am surprised no reviews mention the time length of only 155 minutes. The original was 162 mins. I suspect they shortened or completely left out the great soundtrack music in the Opening, Intermission, and closing orchestrations. Since I read the other reviews, I did not buy this version. Can someone help me as to where the missing minutes are?
  
  
• A fine example of a History text book on film
  By A1UE0S75O9F3WX on 2008-03-30
  This is definitely a movie worth watching. There are many good things about this film,maybe great, but it has a few major flaws. The movie is so appealing because of it's MAJOR CAST of STARS....but that's also VERY misleading. It's almost a movie just full of cameos, some which are VERY short! For example, this movie is sold as part of the "JOHN WAYNE COLLECTION", but his role is only that of a cameo so I don't feel that it qualifies as a John Wayne movie!
  I do compare this movie to a history textbook. A film trying to fit TOO MUCH in it that in the end comes up short, like a history textbook, tries to explain too much but shortens everything just leading you to want more. An example in this movie is the "Civil War" portion. It's almost not needed. They could have done without it to beef up the other portions of the movie.
  Don't get me wrong though,there are some GREAT things about this movie. The soundtrack is amazing! Debbie Renoylds also has the most important role in the film,the one actor who is featured throughout the entire film. The sets & characters are also done well, even if the majority are shedded down to just mere cameos. Like I said earlier, Wayne has about 3 minutes total screen time. That's almost how it is for all the others,but not that short.
  Also,one more thing I have to add is the Cinerama process. During the film, 2 lines are very much visible throughout the movie which could be very bothersome to some viewers,it really bugged me at first,but I kinda got used to it being that this movie is almost 3 hours long.
  
  

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