The Old Oregon Trail is a dusty, messy, and totally weird 1928 Western

You should probably only watch this if you have a deep, almost unhealthy love for silent Westerns. Or if you just really like looking at old horses.

It’s not a good movie in the way we usually talk about them. But it’s got this weird energy that kept me watching until the end.

The story starts with some settlers on the trail. They look tired, which is probably because they actually were. 🤠

Suddenly, outlaws show up and steal all the horses. It happens so fast that it’s almost like the outlaws were in a hurry to get to another movie set.

Then, these three cowboys just appear out of nowhere. No backstory. No reason. They just happen to be passing by at the exact moment the plot needs them.

Victor Adamson wrote this and stars in it, and you can tell. He’s got this way of staring at the camera that feels like he’s checking to see if the lens is clean.

I noticed one guy in the background of a camp scene who just stands there holding a frying pan for like two minutes. He doesn’t cook anything. He just holds it.

The action is mostly just guys falling off horses. Some of those falls look painful. There weren't really stunt doubles for these low-budget things back then.

One horse in the back of a chase scene is clearly just done with the whole day. It keeps trying to stop and eat a bush while the outlaws are 'escaping.'

Then the movie does this weird time jump. Years later, it says.

Usually, a time jump shows how characters have changed. Here, it feels like they just ran out of things to do on the trail and decided to move to a farm.

The 'rebellious farmworkers' are the new villains. They aren't really scary. They just look like they want a raise and maybe a nap.

It reminds me a bit of the strange pacing in Winning with Wits. Things just happen because the script says so, not because it makes any sense for the characters.

The three cowboys show up again, of course. They haven't aged a day. I guess the Oregon air is really good for your skin.

There is a lot of dust. Like, so much dust that you almost want to cough while watching it. 🌵

If you've seen The Way of a Girl, you know how these 1920s films can get a bit dramatic. This one doesn't even try for drama; it just tries to finish the scene before the sun goes down.

The title cards are very blunt. 'They are stealing the horses!' Thanks, I can see that.

I liked the chemistry between the three cowboys, though. They have this bickering vibe that feels like they’ve been traveling together way too long.

One scene lingers on a guy trying to get his hat back on his head for way too long. It’s accidental, I’m sure, but it’s the most human moment in the film.

The ending is very abrupt. It’s like the cameraman just stopped cranking and everyone went home to have dinner.

It’s a bit like Just Dogs in how it feels more like a collection of moments than a tight story. But with more guns and less barking.

Don't expect a masterpiece. It’s a dusty, grainy, slightly confusing relic from a time when movies were still figuring out how to be movies.

But if you like seeing how people used to play pretend in the desert, it’s worth a look. Just don't think too hard about why those cowboys were there in the first place.