Old Henry

Tim Blake Nelson excels in a rare leading role in Potsy Ponciroli’s critically acclaimed Western.

Potsy Ponciroli who wrote and directed Old Henry is clearly a lover of westerns. His earlier features were a comedy and a documentary respectively, but this third full-length film of his finds him using a format that brings out the best in him. Set in Oklahoma territory in 1906, the titular figure is Henry McCarty, a widower who, after much roaming, had settled down there and become a farmer. Henry is played by Tim Blake Nelson and for once this admired actor has been cast in a leading role. He is as good as you would expect, but his is not the only admirable performance here. Gavin Lewis as Henry’s teenage son, Wyatt, is very well cast and the father-son relationship is the one aspect present that is rarely featured in a western. The boy is keen to become a good shot but his father is anxious to keep him away from firearms and this causes friction between them. A song heard behind the end credits confirms that their relationship is indeed intended to be a central theme in the film.

In other respects, however, Old Henry enthusiastically embraces the kind of western tale that we have seen many times before. Early on Henry comes across a seriously injured man, Curry (Scott Haze) and aids him by bringing him to the farmhouse. The nature of the plight that has overtaken Curry is not immediately clear but with him was a bag containing banknotes and, after hesitating, Henry has opted to collect it up. Before long Henry is questioned by Ketchum (Stephen Dorff) who introduces himself as a sheriff who had been pursuing Curry but Henry makes no admission about Curry’s presence. Nevertheless, Ketchum suspects that he is in Henry’s house and, once we realise that it is Curry who is a sheriff and Ketchum the outlaw he had been trailing, we understand that it is only a matter of time before Henry and his son will find that their lives are in danger.

Familiarity is no drawback here: Ponciroli consciously encourages us to enjoy once again all the traditional western ingredients. His love of the genre gives us a film that is directed with real confidence and one that is finely photographed in colour and ’Scope. Admittedly there are times when in the modern mode Old Henry is rather more bloodthirsty than the westerns of earlier eras, but there is a fond awareness and replication of the tropes at their heart. The climax to this film is, indeed, that old chestnut in which the central figure looks set to survive a shootout despite being outnumbered. Naturally, one is eager to accept it regardless but, in fact, two elements add to the credibility in this case. One is the delayed development of earlier hints that Henry’s past might not have been as peaceful as his present existence suggests. The other is a revelation that almost counts as a plot twist, but it’s one that justifies the film’s outcome even more. Most viewers who love westerns will relish Old Henry not just for that twist but for the opportunity that the film gives us to savour afresh the genre features that we have grown to love.

MANSEL STIMPSON

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

Dir Potsy Ponciroli, Pro Shannon Houchins and Michael Hagerty, Screenplay Potsy Ponciroli, Ph John Matysiak, Pro Des Max Biscoe, Ed Jamie Kirkpatrick, Music Jordan Lehning, Costumes Briana Quick.

Hideout Pictures/Shout! Studios-Signature Entertainment.
99 mins. USA. 2021. US Rel: 1 October 2021. Cert. 15.