Susan Granger’s review of “Old Henry” (Shout! Studios)
If you enjoy Westerns, you should see “Old Henry” a redemption fable, set in 1906, about a gruff, Scripture-quoting widower, haunted by his past while trying to raise a restless teenage son Wyatt (Gavin Lewis) in peace and tranquility.
Known as Old Henry (Tim Black Nelson), this crusty gunslinger is tending his modest homestead in the Oklahoma Territory when, after spotting a riderless horse with a bloody saddle, he rescues a gravely wounded young man who has been left to die in the grasslands.
Clutching a badge and a saddlebag of cash, he claims to be Curry (Scott Haze), a sheriff who was blindsided by bandits trying to reclaim their loot.
Then, accompanied by a deputy (Richard Speight Jr.) and a Mexican tracker (Max Arcienega), a black-hatted scoundrel, Sheriff Sam Ketchum (Stephen Dorff) shows up, claiming he’s from Woods County, searching for an escaped thief, explaining “Some call him handsome, but the most I credit to him is devilry.”
Caught between these tense two – ready for a shootout – skeptical Henry McCarty isn’t quite sure who to believe. At the same time, both his adversaries realize he’s not holding a pistol like any ‘farmer’ they’re ever seen before.
“Who are you?” Wyatt asks impatiently.
“I’m who I am,” stoic Henry replies.
“But you’re always preaching about being honest,” Wyatt probes.
“I’ve done things I wish I could take back – a long time ago – before your mom – things that you’ve got no business hearing.”
Writer/director Potsy Ponciroli engages with his taut, yet deliberately poignant pacing, aided by John Matysiak’s evocative backwoods cinematography and Jordan Lehning’s ominous score.
But the film belongs to wiry character actor Tim Blake Nelson, whose stubbled face with a long mustache is topped by long, greasy, stringy hair and a large hat; he looks as if he hasn’t bathed in weeks. He’s compelling and, obviously, not quite what he seems.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Old Henry” is a gratifying, surprising 7 – in theaters and streaming on Apple TV and Fandango.
