The epic 1962 film is told in five parts, all following the Prescott family.
The Rivers (1839): Zebulon Prescott (Karl Malden) has decided to move west. He sold his farm in the east, packed up his family, and boarded a boat on the Erie Canal in Albany, NY. Soon, the family is rafting down the Ohio River in search of land to farm. On the way, they meet mountain man Linus Rawlings (Jimmy Stewart) and have a run in with river pirates. Zebulon and his wife drown in the river and their elder daughter, Eve (Carroll Baker) decides that this is where she will settle with Linus. Her younger sister, Lilith (Debbie Reynolds), has no desire to farm and plans to return to the East.
The Plains (1851): Lilith, who showed a knack for singing, dancing, and just being entertaining during The Rivers, is now a professional entertainer in St. Louis. She receives word that an admirer has left her a gold strike in California. She decides to claim her gold mine and joins a wagon train headed to California. The wagonmaster, Roger (Robert Preston), finds her attractive and pursues her. Cleve Van Valen (Gregory Peck), a down on his luck gambler, had heard of her gold claim and is following to take advantage. The journey makes him a better man and he weds Lilith.
The Civil War (1861 to 1865): Zeb Rawlings (George Peppard) wants to join the army and follow his father to war. Eve tries to convince him to work for her sister in California but he's determined. He joins and soon finds that war has no glory. His father dies at Shiloh in 1862. When the war is done, he returns to the farm to find his mother has died. He declines his brother's offer for half the farm and stays in the army to go further west.
The Railroad (1868): The railroad is being built to join the east and the west. Mike King (Richard Widmark) cares not a whit about anything but getting the railroad constructed as fast as possible. It is left to Lt. Zeb Rawlings to try to keep the peace with the Arapaho. He is helped in that task by Jethro Stuart (Henry Fonda), a man who used to trap with his father. Eventually, King presses the Arapaho too far and Zeb can take it no more. He resigns the army and rides out west.
The Outlaws (1889): Lilith is forced to sell most of her belongings in San Francisco as she is broke and Cleve has died. However, she still has a ranch in Arizona and she knows just the man to run it: her nephew Zeb. Zeb spent much of the intervening years as a marshal. He has married and has 3 children. A settled life appeals to his wife. However, an old enemy, Charlie Gant (Eli Wallach) happens to be in Arizona and is keen on revenge for his brother's death at Zeb's hands. Deducing that Gant has arrived to stage a train robbery, Zeb plans to be on that train to catch him in the act with the help of Sheriff Ramsey (Lee J Cobb).
At 2 hours and 44 minutes, it's a long film. Some casting choices are goofy. According to his tombstone, Linus Rawlings was born in 1810, meaning he was 28 or 29 when he met Eve in The Rivers. In fact, Jimmy Stewart was 53! Agatha Clegg has joined the wagon train to find a man in the west but is played by 60 year-old Thelma Ritter. Optimistic. Though I like Harry Morgan, he is totally overshadowed by John Wayne in their scene together. General Grant should not be so overshadowed by a subordinate, even Sherman. Someone with more star power should have been cast as Grant to balance out John Wayne.
This is a Western that covers all the bases: mountain men, buffalo stampede, railroads, Indian attacks, wagon trains, gambling on steamboats, train robbery, gun fights, romance, dancehall girls, and on. Five movies in one which tie together neatly. Entertaining from start to finish. Thumbs up.
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