# Any good but realistic movies or TV shows about the oregon trail **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 28, 2017, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-but-realistic-movies-or-tv-shows-about-the-oregon-trail/792347 "2017-07-28T21:44:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2017, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-but-realistic-movies-or-tv-shows-about-the-oregon-trail/792347/1 "2017-07-28T21:44:59Z")
I played an oregon trail game with some friends recently and it made me interested in the trail again (I hadn’t played the game since I was a kid). Are there any movies (preferably a documentary, but a realistic drama would work too) about people going on the Oregon trail? Does Ken Burns the west cover this? If so, which episode? ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-but-realistic-movies-or-tv-shows-about-the-oregon-trail/792347/2 "2017-07-29T02:17:48Z")
The 2010 film [Meek’s Cutoff](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1518812/) is a drama loosely based on a true story of settlers crossing the desert on the Oregon Trail. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-but-realistic-movies-or-tv-shows-about-the-oregon-trail/792347/3 "2017-07-29T02:39:15Z")
I guess that [this doesn’t count](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHps2SecuDk)? ---
**Author:** ![Santelia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Santelia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santelia)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-but-realistic-movies-or-tv-shows-about-the-oregon-trail/792347/4 "2017-07-29T09:56:03Z")
I think Bend Of The River[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044413/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044413/) directed by Anthony Mann starring James Stewart was set set in that general era/location, splendid film if you like that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Santelia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Santelia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santelia)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-but-realistic-movies-or-tv-shows-about-the-oregon-trail/792347/5 "2017-07-29T10:03:28Z")
Just noticed you asked for realism or documentary;) I recommend the 4 part Lewis and Clark documentary I think it was by Ken Burns. Maybe it’s a bit earlier than the “Oregon Trail” era but as a Brit I was unfamiliar with the story and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was on something called PBS America over here. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-but-realistic-movies-or-tv-shows-about-the-oregon-trail/792347/6 "2017-07-29T11:13:34Z")
No tips on realistic stories about traveling the Oregon trail, but how about the Teen Titans playing the game? There are various clips of it [on Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=oregon+trail+teen+titans). ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2017, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-but-realistic-movies-or-tv-shows-about-the-oregon-trail/792347/7 "2017-07-30T03:50:15Z")
Filmed on location in glorious Technicolor with the natural scenery in full bloom, _Canyon Passage_ (1946) is set in mid-1850s Oregon and is at least partly concerned with the Trail. Can’t vouch for its “realism,” but compared to most Hollywood Westerns, it is certainly unconventional in a number of ways. > **[Canyon Passage (1946) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038395/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_84)** > > Canyon Passage: Directed by Jacques Tourneur. With Dana Andrews, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward, Patricia Roc. Businessman Logan Stuart is torn between his love of two very different women in 1850's Oregon and his loyalty to a compulsive gambler friend... ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2017, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-but-realistic-movies-or-tv-shows-about-the-oregon-trail/792347/8 "2017-07-30T13:18:35Z")
> [@apollonia](#): > > The 2010 film [Meek’s Cutoff](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1518812/) is a drama loosely based on a true story of settlers crossing the desert on the Oregon Trail. Very, very loosely based. It’s a shame that they tied this story at all to the actual story. For one thing, the actual groups consisted of a thousand people with 200 wagons. Not the handful of wagons used in the film. Should have just changed the name and such. And since the whole point of the story is that they left the Oregon Trail to take an alternate, untried route, it officially doesn’t count as an actual Oregon Trail story.