How the West Was Won (TV series)
| How the West Was Won | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Also known as | The Macahans |
| Genre | Western |
| Directed by | Bernard McEveety Irving J. Moore (one episode) and others |
| Starring | James Arness Bruce Boxleitner Fionnula Flanagan Kathryn Holcomb William Kirby Cullen Vicki Schreck |
| Composer | Jerrold Immel |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 28 + movie (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Production company | MGM Television |
| Original release | |
| Network | ABC |
| Release | January 19, 1976 – April 23, 1979 |
How the West Was Won is an American Western television series that starred James Arness, Eva Marie Saint, Fionnula Flanagan, Bruce Boxleitner, and Richard Kiley. Loosely based on the 1962 Cinerama film of the same name, it began with a 2-hour television film, The Macahans, in 1976, followed by a mini-series in 1977, and a regular series in 1978 and 1979.[1]
The show was a great success in Europe, apparently finding a larger and more lasting audience there than in the United States. It has been rebroadcast many times on various European networks, e.g. in France, Germany, Italy, Norway and Sweden, and has built a cult following.[2] It was released on DVD in Europe in November 2009.
A sequence of paintings by Charles Marion Russell was shown during the end credits.
Episodes
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| Movie | January 19, 1976 | |||
| 1 | 3 | February 6, 1977 | February 20, 1977 | |
| 2 | 14 | February 12, 1978 | May 21, 1978 | |
| 3 | 11 | January 15, 1979 | April 23, 1979 | |
Plot
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (May 2021) |
Zebulon Macahan is a well known mountain man and scout working for the U.S. Army in the Indian Territories. As the Civil War is beginning, he travels to see family in Manassas, Virginia. As war comes too close to home, Zeb's sister in law, Kate convinces her husband Tim to move their two sons (Luke and Josh (named Seth and Jed in the pilot episode)) and two daughters (Jessie and Laura) out west.
Out west the family learns that the first battle of the war is likely to occur at Bull Run, near Zeb and Tim's parents' home. Tim argues that he should go east to fetch their parents because Zeb knows the west and can care for his family while he is gone. Tim heads to Virginia while the family winters in the Indian Territories. Zeb is told by a frontiersman that a friend has been murdered by a renegade named Dutton, who escaped from an Army Guardhouse Zeb originally helped put him in for murdering innocent Indians.
Zeb knows that Dutton swore vengeance on him. Fearing for his family's safety, Zeb attempts to intercept Dutton before he can reach the Macahan homestead. He intends to be gone only a short time. When he and Tim are gone too long, Luke heads east to look for his father and grandparents. Luke returns home to find his grandparents were killed by artillery fire that struck their home during the First Battle of Bull Run.
Luke learns from a family friend that his father was conscripted into a Union Army unit headed towards Tennessee. Luke arrives in Tennessee as the Battle of Shiloh begins. During the battle, Luke is conscripted into the Union Army by an officer whose unit has taken heavy losses. Luke is wounded and taken to a field aid station where he finds his father has been mortally wounded.
All of Luke's platoon is killed and he decides to return west to his family. Traveling through Missouri, he finds an abandoned horse and rides until nightfall. A southern sheriff with two men find Luke and accuse him of being a horse thief. Because Luke is wearing Union army trousers, they try to lynch him. While escaping, Luke grabs a pistol and wounds the sheriff’s arm.
Zeb tracks down Dutton and kills him in a gun battle. Luke and Zeb return to their family which has been temporarily homesteading near the Platte River in Western Nebraska.
Things are quiet for a time; but a bounty hunter named Captain Grey arrives. Grey is an Army Provost Marshal empowered to pursue Union soldiers accused of desertion. He arrives at the Macahan homestead to arrest Luke. Zeb threatens to kill Grey, but Kate objects to violence and asks Zeb to lower his rifle. Grey draws his pistol to arrest Luke and Zeb slashes Grey's arm with a knife. Luke restrains Zeb, while Kate orders Grey to leave, who swears to return.
Luke leaves to avoid Grey, who pursues Luke for months. Meanwhile, the U.S. Government grants amnesty to all alleged deserters. Grey resigns his Army commission and continues to track Luke because of a reward issued in Missouri over the incident with the sheriff. Grey breaks into the Macahan house to ambush Luke and Kate shoots him dead to protect her son.
The first season ends with the family leaving the homestead to travel west to Oregon as originally intended.
The second season starts with Kate dying in a barn fire. Kate's sister Molly Culhane, a wealthy widow, arrives from Chicago to reunite with her only remaining family.
Martin Stillman, the former southern sheriff, is now a wealthy businessman. The arm where Luke wounded him is partially crippled. Obsessed with revenge, he hires gunmen who torture Luke's brother Josh. Eventually Stillman is killed by Zeb in a gunfight. During his travels Luke gains a reputation as a skilled gunfighter and is forced to spend most of the rest of the series fleeing pursuit (not having been cleared of the charges even at the series finale). The remainder of the series involves the remaining family as they build up their ranch in the Tetons region of Wyoming, with Zeb as their patriarch.
Cast
- James Arness as Zebulon "Zeb" Macahan
- Bruce Boxleitner as Luke "Seth" Macahan
- William Kirby Cullen as Josh "Jed" Macahan
- Fionnula Flanagan as Molly Culhane
- Kathryn Holcomb as Laura Macahan
- Richard Kiley as Timothy "Tim" Macahan
- Jared Martin as Frank Grayson
- Eva Marie Saint as Katherine "Kate" Macahan
- Vicki Schreck as Jessica "Jessie" Macahan
- Harris Yulin as Deek Peasley
In first season, Tim's sons have different names than in the rest of the series. Bruce Boxleitner's character was renamed "Luke", and William Kirby Cullen's character renamed "Josh".
Guest stars included Ricardo Montalban as Satangkai, a chief of the Sioux Nation, Ron Hayes as Sheriff Pinter, Med Flory (three episodes as a sheriff), Rodolfo Hoyos, Jr., Harry Lauter as Sheriff Charlie Benton, Gregg Palmer as Loman, Tom Simcox as Marshal Logan, Read Morgan as Morton in "The Slavers", and John M. Pickard as Colonel Caine, James Stephens as C. L. Bradley (the pilot and two episodes), and Jim Turner (three episodes). Actors Richard Basehart, Ken Curtis, Michael Conrad, Christopher Lee and Jack Elam also guest starred.
Home media
How the West was Won has been released in Scandinavia as Familjen Macahan (Macahan Family) in 5 boxes: Box 1 - November 25, 2009 (4 episodes including Pilot); Box 2 - February 24, 2010 (5 episodes); Box 3 - May 12, 2010 (5 episodes); Box 4 - September 8, 2010 (5 episodes) and Box 5 - December 1, 2010 (6 episodes). The series were released remastered during 2012, also in 5 boxes (Box 1 – August 31; Boxes 2-5 - September 25), as well as a complete box November 21, 2012.
Warner Home Video has released the first two seasons on DVD in Region 1; season 1 was released on July 9, 2013,[3] followed by season 2 on July 15, 2014.[4] The third and final season was released by Warner Archive as an MOD DVD on April 19, 2016.[5]
A more accurate list of the 14 episodes from season 2 can be found inside the Season 2 DVD case released in July 2014. This new DVD episode list fixes errors found in most web sites.
Novelization
In January 1978, a nearly 400-page "epic length" paperback novelization of a number of early episodes, written by Lou Cameron, was published by Ballantine Books. A prolific and versatile paperback scribe whose credits include winning a Western Writers of America Spur Award for his novel "The Spirit Horses", Cameron's novelization adapted teleplays and screen stories by Calvin Clements, Colley Cibber, Howard Fast, William Kelley, John Mantley, Katharyn Michaelian, Jack Miller and Earl W. Wallace. The novel, sharing the title of the series, is not to be confused with the identically titled 1962 feature film which was itself adapted into a novel by Louis L'Amour.
See also
References
- ^ Jackson, Ronald; Abbott, Doug (2008). 50 Years of the Television Western. Bloomington: AuthorHouse. pp. 288–89. ISBN 978-1-4343-5925-4.
- ^ Nordström, Andreas (11 February 2010). ""Familjen Macahan" är en storsäljare". Expressen (in Swedish). Retrieved 28 June 2010.
- ^ 1st Season DVDs with James Arness, Eva Marie Saint, and Bruce Boxleitner Archived 2013-03-23 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ DVD Date, Cost and Info for 'The Complete 2nd Season' Archived 2014-03-30 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Possible Date, Early Cover Art for the Final Season on DVD ***UPDATED*** Archived 2016-06-27 at the Wayback Machine