It's been quite a while since my last movie review in July 2019, but after an illicit walk in the New Forest yesterday, we settled down to 'one of the best Westerns ever made'. It's a star studded cast including Henry Ford, Henry Hathaway, James Stewart, John Wayne, Gregory Peck, George Peppard, Debbie Reynolds, Caroline Jones. Both women particularly fine examples of great looking actresses.
The musical score won an Oscar and demonstrates why a cracking score can uplift a great movie to another level.
"How the West Was Won", was one of the last movies shot in 3-camera Cinerama and is a screen ratio I enjoyed although we watched it in 16:9 ratio as we needed a bigger screen for older eyes to enjoy the detail and in a cinema it's designed for a curved screen, that projects sensational picture quality.
There are some scenes that are almost inexplicable in terms of special effects. I'm familiar with front and back screen projection techniques. The bison stampede is like nothing I've ever experienced on the big screen without CGI and lastly the train wreck scene uses back screen projection to a degree I don't think has ever been matched.
The principal nature of the plot is about the kind of doughty spirit that went westward finally settling in some of the most amazing scenery in the United States after many travails and tribulations. One family in the narrative is more city dwelling and the other has a more rural mindset. It's clear the genes of both these groups is evident in today's USA genome pool.
I never used to but since Q, I've believed in American exceptionalism for reasons that are relevant to this post but outlined elsewhere.
