Shot in five sections "How The West Was Won" is a sprawling multi-star epic following the fortunes of one family from 1839 and New York to 1889 and Arizona. 'The Rivers' (dir Henry Hathaway); the Prescotts head west down the Ohio river. 'The Plains' (dir Henry Hathaway); Lily moves to St Louis and on to Caifornia. 'The Civil War' (dir John Ford); Linus and Zeb enlist on the Union side. 'The Railroad' (dir George Marshall); the settlers multiply and cavalry officer Zeb finds himself in a war with find out more...

Running from the law after a bank heist in Mexico, Dad Longworth finds an opportunity to nick the stolen gold and leave his partner Rio to be caught. Years later, Rio escapes from prison and hunts down Dad, now a respectable sheriff in California and living in fear of Rio's return. find out more...

Saloon singer Monroe, violence prone farmer Mitchum and the young son he hardly knows, drift down-river by raft from both immediate dangers and their immediate pasts. They must try the impossible, to restart their broken lives and return to being an ideal family. Mitchum's performance is excellent, but the film holds most interest as an early Monroe performance. There really is no return. A tale of betrayal, revenge and love in the wild Wild West. find out more...

John Ford's 50th and most celebrated silent film demonstrates the ideals of expansion, enterprise and achievement, but condones racism and exploitation. The scale of this film surpassed all of the other silent westerns and put Ford in the history books. Double-dealing, vengeance and romance are all covered with a poetic sense of history as we see the country united by a trans-continental railroad, realized by a great man and brought about through the sweat of the working man. A classic, black an find out more...

This superb swashbuckling, cleverly choreographed, remake of the silent classic stars Tyrone Power as the dashing masked avenger who must single-handedly save Los Angeles from Spanish despots. Don Diego Vega is summoned home from his elite training corps in Spain to California, where he finds his father, the Alcalde, deposed and the people living in tyranny. Disguised as Zorro, a sword-wielding mystery man dressed in black, he works to restore his father to power and return tax money stolen by t find out more...

Wayne was perfectly cast as the dying gunfighter disturbed in his dotage by young tyros out to test their mettle against him. Beautifully shot in cold blues and greys, this classic evolves slowly into one of Wayne's finest and, as it turned out, his last role. find out more...