OLD HENRY

US, 2021, 99 minutes, Colour.

Tim Blake Nelson, Scott Haze, Gavin Lewis, Trace Adkins, Stephen Dorff, Richard Speight Jr, Max Arciniega.

Directed by Potsy Poncirolli.

There is an interesting and entertaining reveal at the end of this film for those who do not recognise Henry McCarty. For those who do, the film is an interesting piece of creative history.

This is the changing west. It is 1906. Three men with sheriffs’ badges torture and hang a man for information and then pursue another. And then we are introduced to Henry McCarty, a wonderful performance by long-time character actor, Tim Blake Nelson. His voice-over explains his background (though a lot more to be revealed by the end of the film). He is widowed. He has a teenage son who is angry with him, wanting some independence from his rather stern and commanding, hard-working father.

They discover the pursued man, wounded, a gun, a sack full of money. They tend to him. But, as expected, the posse turn up, confrontations, the abduction of Henry’s brother-in-law, the posse hiring guns from the local town.

The odds seem impossible. The pursued man joins in the defence. So does the son. However, quite spectacularly in its way, Henry is able to dispose of the whole posse. And, then the reveal.

A small Western, not so well-known, emerging and the Covid era, but well worth seeing, a continuation of Western themes.

1. The title, Henry McCarty, the final revelation of his identity?
2. The mood of the opening, the posse, sheriffs, the torture and hanging of the fleeing man? The continued pursuit?
3. The contrast with the introduction to Henry, his wife’s grave, with his son, Wyatt, the continued work, the son’s rebellion, the impositions of his father? The detail of the farm work? The boy wanting his independence?
4. The wandering and bloodstained horse, Henry and his search, finding Curry, the money, decisions? Bringing him back, tending his wound, hiding the stolen money, Wyatt spying on his father? Henry going to the doctor, Wyatt taking the gun and shooting practice? The posse and Henry’s return?
5. The membership of the posse, Ketchum as leader, brutal, the Spanish scout and his skills, the confrontation with Henry? Backing off?
6. Tending Curry, consciousness, explanation who we was, the law? The others as bank robbers? His telling the story of his background, Henry believing him, feeding him, freeing him?
7. Dugan, impatient, scouting the house, the shooting, Henry outwitting him, feeding him to the pigs?
8. Preparation for the siege, Ketchum returning with the posse, the confrontation, the talk, the plot? The shooting? Curry wounded, Wyatt wounded? Henry going out, single-handed, destroying each member of the group, the scout and his surrender, death, Henry running, Ketchum in pursuit, confrontation?
9. The phone with Curry, revealing his true self, the memories of Billy the Kid, stories, he shooting Henry?
10. A saga of the west? And the tie in with the stories of Billy the Kid?