how the west was won

in the process of watching every jimmy stewart movie, i started watching a lot of westerns. there was a time in my life when i didn't like westerns much. now that i'm older, i have started to appreciate westerns as a pure form of movie, good guys, bad guys, warriors, dames, and so on. how the west was won was not a movie based on character. it's more of a movie, following i think 3 generations of a family, as the west was opened up to exploration, gold mining, settlement, and as there were conflicts with the american indians. there are some memorable moments in the film, which was filmed cinerama or whatever, it's a wide screen film. overall, though, this film is just another western to have seen. i consider myself to be a film student, and there is something satisfying about having seen a film like how the west was won. i talked to someone, a close relative, about the film, and he said he had flipped the tv on and watched part of it, then flipped elsewhere, and did this a couple of times, and so he felt he didn't need to see the whole film. my point, however, is that there is something good about watching a film from beginning to end, not flipping the channel, etc. from beginning to end. a story. from alpha to omega. the whole thing. anyway... yeah this movie is somewhat memorable, but just because of the cast. a lot of big names are in this film. the story itself is basic enough. and it has deep chords to those who are in the midwest already, where just a few hundred years ago settlers came in from the east.