MOVIE · 1962

How the West Was Won

ActionAdventureWarWestern164 min

Across decades of westward expansion, one pioneer family moves from the 1830s frontier through the Civil War and into the railroad age, as parents, children, and grandchildren are pulled into the sweep of a changing country. Spencer Tracy’s narration links river travel, wagon routes, outlaw trouble, and conflict on the frontier into one long family chronicle. Carroll Baker and Debbie Reynolds are among the women carrying that line forward, while Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Gregory Peck, and John Wayne turn up in major episodes along the way.