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Originally Posted by Baz
How did this one slip through the crack......
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When I was in Grade School we had a Field Trip to go and see "How The West Was Won" at Grauman's Chinese Theater in LA. It was educational....teaching us history.
It was a big budget extravaganza larger than life movie with practically every A list actor in it...a panoramic view of Manifest Destiny. It was a SOLID movie. It could have made the list? Maybe it was too ambitious...
The last vintagent with Eli Wallach as outlaw Charlie Gant was the one I liked best. Wallach had the Bandito down in the Magnificent Seven and reprised it in two other movies, one being "How" and the other Tuco "The Good The Bad And the Ugly."
It seems that as the Post War era* progressed the BIG BUDGET Blockbuster larger than life movie was born (as a reflection of American wealth and power..think of the 59 Caddy). ...Ben Hur, The 10 Commandments, Bridge On The River Kwai, and Around The World in 80 Days (with an all star cast). In 1960 Darryl Zanuck made "The Longest Day" which was a telling of the D Day invasion of France story..with a huge all start cast..gasp including John Wayne..OMG! It's success spawned other big budget and cast movies (most WW2 war movies) including "How" that were larger than life..."The Great Escape", "It Is A Mad Mad Mad World," "Cleopatra" "The Battle Of the Bulge," "A Bridge Too Far," "The Battle Of Britain" You might say many of these movies were done 20 years after, when memories were not so fresh and thus still painful and were putting the war into perspective.
* 1939's "Gone With The Wind" can be included as the prototype..Yes there were earlier big budget movies...BON, Greed, Ben Hur, Wings etc.