Old Henry

• Written and Directed by Potsy Ponciroli
• September 7, 2021 (Venice) / October 1, 2021 (US)

An aging farmer with a secret must protect his young son from outlaws looking for a wounded man.

Not sure why I was drawn to Old Henry. It was being mentioned on social media but I was hearing nothing concrete beyond the presence of Tim Blake Nelson as aging farmer Henry McCarty. What I encountered was one of many Westerns that uses the plot of a relatively inconspicuous man with a mysterious past who must confront it in some way.

The mysterious past is hinted at all through the movie. Not to ruin anything but the first clue is Henry’s name. Characters-particularly the villains-comment on how Henry doesn’t act like a farmer and his intelligent decisions and evasive language imply something he is desperately trying to stay away from. To their credit, they don’t let the mystery go unanswered. Once the reveal comes, I think they did a good job in casting someone who could pass for an older version of that person.

I’ve heard this called an action movie and the beginning half of this film did not give me much hope for ANY action. Based on that I assumed maybe one brief moment with the majority of the story being about an old farmer with a deep, dark secret. Yet there is plenty of action and it’s all handled very well by Tim Blake Nelson as an unexpected action star.

Nelson turns in a fantastic performance as Henry who is trying to raise his son Wyatt (Gavin Lewis) as best he can after the mother died. He’s tough and stern but not mean or spiteful or hateful. It’s a nuanced thing that he pulls off quite well. But the most important part of a Western is walking on screen and feeling dangerous without doing anything and he does that in a way that many actors cannot. I am was truly impressed by how well he did here. He’s not a bad actor, but this showed a whole new side of him to me. He has a grit I did not know was there.

He’s a stern and hard father, but not an unloving one. Through dialogue and actions, you only really know for most of the movie that Henry’s life beforehand was quite hard and he’s trying to keep his son from having a hard one himself. The son for his part bristles under the father’s protection but doesn’t hate him for it. He just feels he’s ready for whatever even though the father does not.

When I see a restless youth like Wyatt in a Western, I brace myself to hate a stupid character. Wyatt does make a few stupid decisions, but those decisions are not because he’s a stupid kid so the writers can make things happen. Wyatt’s actions are driven by an understandable mix of curiosity and trying to help making him human.

Trace Adkins has a small supporting role in this as Henry’s brother-in-law. I’ve seen a few Westerns with him and he almost consistently plays the center of the action. Here he engaged in virtually nothing at all beyond fine acting. And he delivered a prelude line to the action that really helps set the stage.

Western regular Stephen Dorff plays Ketchum, the villain of the story. There’s a sinister intelligence to his performance. Every line and move is vastly more dangerous than what taking it at face value would imply. He is clearly dangerous. Dorff is unsettling.

What is interesting is that Blake’s performance as Henry indicates the character senses no genuine threat from Ketchum. He directly confronts the man and stands at the ready with a weapon rather than speaking from behind cover. It effectively conveys just how dangerous Henry believes himself to be.

Henry and Ketchum are not in conflict just because. Ketchum was brought to Henry’s farm looking for a man named Curry (Scott Haze) who has a satchel with money. Curry claims to be a lawman with an unknown connection to Henry that neither realize until the pieces fall together.

One may notice not a single female character present. Not sure how that would have worked. This is 99 minutes and adding an additional character of minor significance would have drawn it out further and perhaps made this much less focused or dramatic. This movie does not overstay its welcome with its small cast and somber color palate.

This is a very nicely shot film. No great cinematic achievement but it is. That’s a certain rough beauty to look at while it achieves a rare visual authenticity. It is a lived in farm that is dirty and the men on horseback have dust upon them and so forth. It is the antidote to the spotless look of modern movies.

Old Henry is the rare newer Western I can’t find anything really wrong with. It’s exciting and dramatic and a very good viewing. Worthwhile for movie and Western fans.