The fine western Old Henry is centered on Henry (Tim Blake Nelson), a widowed settler in the wilds of 1906 Oklahoma. Henry is content with being a solitary sod buster, but he has serious skills from a violent past, and both the past and the skills are unknown to his teen son (Gavin Lewis). The son is brash and impulsive, and desperate to escape the drudgery and isolation of the homestead.
A man badly wounded by a gunshot (Scott Haze) turns up with a satchel full of cash ( (obviously contraband). Henry nurses him, and chooses to hide him when three armed men show up, led by Ketchum ( Stephen Dorff), who claims to be a sheriff. Ketchum knows that his target is in Henry’s cabin, and he recognizes that Henry is more than a dirt farmer. When Ketchum returns with reinforcements, a climactic gun battle is inevitable.
One wild card is the wounded man, with his uncertain identity and motives. Another is the son, rigorously sheltered by Henry and ignorant of the cost of real violence. He’s spoiling to get into a fight – and that is not helpful.
Tim Blake Nelson, with nary a wasted word or action, commands the screen as the ever steely Henry. I saw Old Henry in personat the Nashville Film Festival, where Nelson revealed that his performance was informed by “restraint and stillness” because, for Henry, “any exposure means vulnerability”. So, Blake made Henry “laconic in actions as well as words”.
Nelson is a magnificent actor, who has elevated many a character role (Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?). Here he gets the lead role in a movie that premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Good for him.
Old Henry is the the first feature written and directed by Potsy Ponciroli. And it’s a well-crafted film. The filmmakers get the period right. The art direction and the production design are flawless, and the weapons have the necessary heft. Old Henry was filmed on a cattle farm in Tennessee, but it sure looks like Oklahoma.
If you appreciate a good western, then Old Henry is your movie. The big shootout is thrilling, and Tim Blake Nelson is so good as a man who knows he can’t have redemption and only seeks some solace. Old Henry is now playing nationally, including for one-week run at San Francisco’s Roxie.