Prince-P

Legendary filmmaker John Ford hadn't made a Western in over 10 years. But then he bought the rights to "Stage to Lordsburg", a short story published in "Colliers" magazine in 1937. The director wanted to revive a genre that had been relegated to "B" movie status for way too long. Ford was confident that the script he had acquired had solid box office potential. Unfortunately, no one in Hollywood agreed with him. Five studio heads refused to make a picture out of the material, and Darryl Zanuck, 20th Century-Fox's powerful boss, didn't even bother to read the piece.

After several grueling months, John Ford finally found someone willing to invest in his movie. The independent producer Walter Wanger was prepared to finance "Stagecoach" (as the film was now renamed), but with one important stipulation. Wanger demanded that a bankable star like Gary Cooper or James Cagney get the lead role. A request Ford completely ignored. He had already promised the part to a young actor named Marion Morrison. Or John Wayne, as he is better known.

John Ford decided to shoot "Stagecoach" in one of the most rugged spots in the United States. Monument Valley is a desert region notable for its breathtaking sandstone monoliths, buttes and mesas. Located on the Navajo reservation on the border of Utah and northern Arizona, the place was at that time only accessible by car from Flagstaff. A fact that meant that Ford and his crew had to travel over 200 miles of bumpy dirt roads to get to their filming location.

United Artists released "Stagecoach" in early March 1939, and the happy audience turned out in droves. The critical reception was equally enthusiastic, with reviews such as "the best oater ever" and "a rare screen masterpiece". So, with just a single picture, John Ford had managed to revive and redefine the entire Western genre. And in John Wayne, the director had helped create one of the most popular and, ultimately, most influential cultural icons in the United States.

The legendary director Howard Hawks once declared that if you can't get John Wayne to star in your Western, the movie isn't worth making at all. A statement that the not-so-famous Budd Boetticher apparently never had heard. During his short directorial career, he did, among other things, seven modestly budgeted oaters, all starring an ageing Randolph Scott. But then again, Boetticher's movies were so influential that they were still emulated many years later. Just look at some of the excellent work of his Italian admirer, Sergio Leone.

It all started with a promising screenplay that John Wayne's production/distribution company, Batjac, had bought. The text was written by Elmore Leonard (long before the man became a world-famous crime writer) and was initially titled "The Captives". The Duke liked the script a lot, but not well enough to star in it himself. He therefore suggested that his old buddy Randolph Scott should get the leading role, with Budd Boetticher attached to handle the direction.

The production on "The Tall T" (as the movie was now called) began in the spring of 1957. Most of the scenes were shot in Lone Pine, California, which had been a favored location for exteriors in Westerns since the early 1920s. The film also set the stage for how Randolph Scott's character would develop. Here, he was presented as a weathered old cowboy who had seen and heard most things, but still went his own way. A tough nut, even if he wasn't a John Wayne-like superman.

While "The Tall T" was hailed as something of a tour de force in Europe, it initially received only modest attention in the United States. Although the movie did decent business at the box office, it wasn't until several years later, when the auteur theory gained traction in America, that the picture was recognized as the masterpiece it is. And at that point, ironically, even the great John Wayne expressed regret for passing on such a significant piece of film making.

In 1959, Life Magazine published a seven-part series called "How the West Was Won." The reception was enthusiastic, to put it mildly. According to reliable sources, the articles were read by more than 25 million people in the United States. One of them was the singer Bing Crosby, who bought the rights to adapt the material into a TV series. However, when Crosby realized how expensive it would be to produce the program, he sold the rights to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. If anyone could take on such a gigantic endeavor, it was Hollywood's number one film company.

Principal photography of "How the West Was Won" started in Colorado, Kentucky and Arizona in 1961. MGM felt it essential that most of the movie be shot outdoors. After all, the film should demonstrate how people had faced a vast, inhospitable country with endless plains, towering mountains and wild rivers. A true story about the brave men and women who fought their way through the wilderness because they wanted to create a better future for their children and grandchildren.

To handle a production of that size, MGM teamed up with a company called the Cinerama Corporation. They had struggled for years to develop a special widescreen process that utilized a three-lens camera. Using three separate projectors Cinerama could then produce a panoramic image on a curved theater screen in front of the audience. "How the West Was Won" was only the second drama film to be made that way, after "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" from the year before.

"How the West Was Won" had its world premiere at the London Cinerama Theatre in the United Kingdom in November 1962. The film was a huge success, both there and in the United States. However, that wasn't enough to save the expensive Cinerama process. The escalating costs of making three-camera widescreen movies eventually led to the closure of the studio. But luckily, the spectacular IMAX format has continued the widescreen tradition to this day.