Kim Charney

How the West Was Won -- Academy Award-winning epic follows the trials and tribulations of three generations of a frontier family as they embark to tame the wild American West.

Academy Award-winning epic follows the trials and tribulations of three generations of a frontier family as they embark to tame the wild American West. Narrated by the great Spencer Tracy, it features an Oscar-laden cast that includes John Wayne, Gregory Peck, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Debbie Reynolds, Richard Widmark, Lee J. Cobb, George Peppard, Raymond Massey, Robert Preston, Karl Malden, Eli Wallach & Carrol Baker. Helmed by three acclaimed directors, including Oscar-winner John Ford ("Stagecoach," "Mogambo," "The Grapes of Wrath"). Inducted into the Library of Congress National Film Registry.

This epic follows the trials and tribulations of three generations of a frontier family as they embark to tame the wild American West. Narrated by the great Spencer Tracy, it features a cast that includes John Wayne, Gregory Peck, James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Debbie Reynolds, Richard Widmark, Lee J. Cobb, George Peppard, Raymond Massey, Robert Preston, Karl Malden, Eli Wallach & Carrol Baker. Helmed by three acclaimed directors, including John Ford. Inducted into the Library of Congress National Film Registry.

"This is raw country... gun country," grumbles ornery freight magnate Beau Santee (Frank Wilcox). And sure enough, the irons start blazin' when lawman-on-the-lam Dan Beattie (George Montgomery) ambles into the sleepy town of Sundown. Beattie's looking for war buddy Curt Warren (House Peters, Jr.) - but finds only a beaten, broken man who's terrified of big boss Beau. No stranger to danger, Beattie poses as a reviled railroad agent ("You might as well paint a target on your back," the sheriff quips.) and dallies with Warren's dame to dig up the dirt on Santee. In no time, the two Civil War comrades are face to face on Main Street - but Sundown's big showdown sparks an even bigger shootout. This taut, exciting Western shows that even God's Country has a dark side.