Texas Pioneers: A Rough Ride Through Old Western Tropes

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, only if you’re a die-hard fan of the B-movie western grind. If you’re looking for a tight script or anything that hasn't been done a thousand times before, you should probably skip this one. But if you like the smell of celluloid and don’t mind characters who exist solely to move from Point A to Point B, pull up a chair.

The whole premise of an undercover officer acting like a disgruntled reject feels like it was written on the back of a napkin in about five minutes. Bill Cody spends a lot of time looking intense while staring at horizons. Sometimes I wasn't sure if he was acting or just trying to remember his lines.

There is this one scene where a conversation happens in a tent that goes on for, I swear, an eternity. It’s supposed to be high-stakes drama about smuggled guns, but it feels more like two people trying to figure out where the camera is. It’s painfully stiff, but there’s a weird charm to how nobody seems to know what to do with their hands.

The pacing is all over the place, too. It’s either people riding horses at a casual trot or someone suddenly firing a gun for no apparent reason. It reminds me a bit of the frantic energy in The Broncho Buster, though this one lacks that film’s specific kind of dust-caked charisma.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Texas Pioneers (1932) through its definitive frames.

Watching Iron Eyes Cody is always a bit of an experience. He brings a presence that the rest of the cast just doesn't have, even when he’s just standing there looking stoic. He’s the only one who looks like he’s actually spent a day in the sun, while the others look like they just stepped out of a studio dressing room.

The villains are exactly what you’d expect—sneering guys with hats pulled low. They aren't menacing so much as they are just… loud. It’s funny how they think the hero is a total loser, yet they let him into their inner circle almost immediately. Suspension of disbelief is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.

• The horses look like they’re having a better time than the actors.
• The dialogue is mostly just people telling each other what they’re about to do.
• I’m pretty sure one of the extras in the background of the saloon scene is just trying not to laugh.
• The sound editing is… well, it’s definitely there.

It’s not a movie that cares about being "good" in the traditional sense. It’s just a movie that needs to finish its story so everyone can go home. Sometimes that’s enough. Other times, you just want to reach into the screen and tell the director to speed it up. 🤠

If you’ve seen The Fight for the Water Hole, you’ll recognize the same sort of bare-bones approach. No frills, no deep themes, just guns and guys in vests. It’s not great, but it’s definitely a movie that happened.