How the West Was Won (1962)

I'd seen this title many times over the years, thanks primarily to its all-star cast. For a profitable epic, it's had a pretty middling reception on rating sites, but it did net some Academy Awards. I chose to watch it not long after my last John Wayne western because I knew no better way to kill 164 minutes last night.

No other western I know takes place over such a long period. It's divided into five chapters, spanning from 1839 to 1889. The focus is on the westward-moving Prescott family, including but not limited to patriarch Zebulon (Karl Malden), matriarch Rebecca (Agnes Moorehead), and daughters Eve (Carroll Baker) and Lilith (Debbie Reynolds). Eve takes a shine to wandering fur trader Linus Rawlings (James Stewart), while Lilith falls for gambler Cleve van Valen (Gregory Peck). Their lives are partly affected by the California Gold Rush, the War Between the States, and other armed conflicts.

State of the Union (1948)

I didn't think I'd care to see a political comedy-drama on screen after getting so much of it in reality lately. But when Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, and 22-year-old Angela Lansbury are being directed by Frank Capra, the subject hardly matters to me.

There appears to be a double meaning to the title. The marriage of airplane industrialist Grant (Tracy) and Mary (Hepburn) Matthews is on the rocks, with Grant having a paramour in newspaper magnate heiress Kay Thorndyke (Lansbury). But Kay is willing to sacrifice her extramarital relationship for political sway as she taps Grant to run for president, which pretty much requires the apparent support of his wife. He warms up to the idea in light of his strong convictions, and so does Mary, despite his continual business-related proximity to Kay. The real trouble arises when his backers talk him into compromises to maximize his chance at election.

Desk Set (1957)

I usually wait longer between comedies, partly because there aren't a whole lot that I want to see. But it's good to have one on hand on a day when you receive sad news, as I had (details not to be described here). This color comedy sat near the front of my streaming list.

A group of library reference clerks takes notice when an eccentric stranger with few people skills, Richard Sumner (Spencer Tracy), starts measuring their work space. Their boss told Sumner not to explain his purpose, but they can guess: The company plans to buy an "electronic brain," which usually means layoffs. Head clerk Bunny Watson (Katharine Hepburn) gradually, accidentally develops some sort of closeness with Sumner, despite her hopes to marry the exec (Gig Young) she's been seeing for years.

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)

AFI's celebration of Dalton Trumbo prompted me to give this some priority, a few months after my last war film viewing. The casting of Robert Mitchum and the direction of Mervyn LeRoy helped intrigue me.

The reportedly mostly true story follows Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle (Spencer Tracy) and his men on the first U.S. Air Force mission of retaliation for Pearl Harbor. The titular period of bombing comes in the middle of the piece, after much preparation. What follows is an effort to stay alive after crashing in China, in an area pretty well hemmed in by the Japanese.