How the West Was Won



How the West Was Won is a 1962 motion picture by Metro Goldwyn Mayer. It was the last major feature filmed in the classic 3-strip Cinerama format.

This film contains examples of:
"Zeb Rawlings: Why did you make me do that?"
 * All-Star Cast
 * Cassandra Truth: Ultimately subverted concerning Gant; the town marshal initially doesn't believe Zeb when he claims that Gant is trying to cause trouble but later agrees to help his attempt to ambush Gant during a planned train robbery.
 * Due to The Dead: Being a pious man, Zebulon believes that everyone deserves some sort of funeral and a spot in Heaven, no matter what they did in life, so after he and his party (including Linus) defeat the Indian rustlers that tried to ambush them, they burn the casualties in a funeral pyre made from the rustlers' portable trading post and, at the end of a brief prayer led by Zebulon, intercede for the rustlers. Later, after he himself dies trying and failing to save his wife, their remains, upon recovery, are buried under a nearby tree.
 * Hell-Bent for Leather: The trope name is used as a Precision F-Strike in the title song.
 * Epic Movie
 * My God, What Have You Done?: Zeb to the Confederate "deserter" he had befriended before being forced to kill him to protect Generals Grant and Sherman.

"Hell-Bent for Leather, that's how the West was won."
 * Out Gambitted: Gant didn't know Zeb's friend would agree to help ambush his gang during the attempted train robbery.
 * Precision F-Strike: In the title song, yet!


 * Sophisticated As Hell: "And now, let us pray: O Lord, we thank Thee for our salvation. We commit the souls of our dead to Thy gentle keepin'. We pray for the speedy recovery of our wounded. And now, another matter: O Lord, without consulting with Thee we have sent Thy way some souls whose evil ways passeth all understanding. We ask Thee humbly to receive them... whether You want 'em or not. Amen."
 * Title Drop