I never saw this flick-before i waste $5.00 on a DVD rental-is it a good movie? Seems quite long…any name actors in it? And, how’s the musical score?
was it filed in widescreen format? And, was it a box-office success/ 
Nope, no name actors at all.
I saw this movie during its original theatrical release in a Cinerama theater (Cinerama was an ultra-widescreen format that used three separate projectors). The movie is kinda cheesy, but it has an all-star cast, breathtaking landscapes, and lots of action. If you aren’t expecting great dialogue, you may enjoy it on the small screen.
You’re forgetting Brigid Bazlen. She carried the movie… well… she, the Indians that rode pigmy elephants and the quadraplegic gunfighter.
Absurdly long and boring, and even a widescreen TV won’t do justice to Cinerama.
And the glue that held the movie together was…Debbie Reynolds!
If you want to rent a long, boring movie for great scenery, start with Dr. Zhivago and then go to Lawrence of Arabia.
I assume that you’re talking about the 1962 movie and not the 1977 through 1979 miniseries. All the questions you’ve asked are answered in the IMDb entry for this film:
It was filmed in Cinerama and made $50,000,000 (and only cost $15,000,000). It had a lot of stars.
Also saw it when it originally ran. Long, long, long. Being from NY, I kind of enjoyed the early sequences about the Erie Canal, but at 10 I didn’t have the stamina to focus on the entire thing. I suspect I was in a high Z state for at least some of it.
Didn’t see it in Cinerama, though, just at my local theater. But yes, lots of 1962 vintage stars.
I always get two movies mixed up (because of the word “West” in the titles) – How the West Was Won and Once Upon A Time in the West – so I was wondering about the negative reactions here until I remembered HTWWW was the bad one.
I love westerns and this one was pretty to look at, but that’s about it.
It’s worth seeing, but was more popular with audiences than with critics. It was directed in three segments by three different directors: Henry Hathaway (decent director), George Marshall (great director), and John Ford (the greatest director). The “Civil War” segment, directed by Ford, is the only part worth watching twice.
As far as “name actors,” it was the ***BOBBY * ** of its day: pretty much everyone was in it.
Saw it when I was young at the Cinerama Theater in New York. And I saw it again back in the 80s here in Schenectady in normal widescreen.
Rather dull overall, though the Schenectady audience loved the opening scene set in Albany.