Movie Review: 'Old Henry' Starring Tim Blake Nelson

Old Henry is an old school western, gritty and violent filled with dirty, stinking wretches out for blood and money. Henry himself, played by Tim Blake Nelson, is dirty and stinky but he is, at the very least, trying to be peaceful. Henry moved to the middle of nowhere years ago to escape a past of grave violence and death. You will learn a little about Henry’s past as Old Henry unfolds but the story is almost entirely in Henry’s present where a stray horse leads Henry to a wounded man and a satchel full of ill-gotten gains.

The injured man is Curry (Scott Haze) and he’s on the run from three hard men led by Ketchum (Stephen Dorff), a ruthless and cunning outlaw smart enough to recognize a fellow gunman by the way he holds a pistol. Ketchum and his men track Curry back to Henry’s homestead and though Henry claims not to have the man, Ketchum is dubious but recognizes that Henry is not a man to trifle with lightly.

Knowing that Ketchum and his men will likely return, Henry tends to Curry’s wounds with plans to send him on his way with the satchel full of cash and the hope that Ketchum only wants the money. However, when Ketchum returns to Henry’s land with Henry’s brother-in-law, Al (Trace Adkins) roped to the back of a horse and beaten to hell, Henry knows that violent confrontation is the only way this ends.

Henry’s only concern is his teenage son, Wyatt (Gavin Lewis), a hot-blooded and deeply curious young man. Wyatt wants little more than to be a gunslinger but his father has refused to teach him how to fire a gun. This situation however, will place a gun in Wyatt’s hand and force him to grow up far quicker than Henry had hoped. The character of Wyatt is the weakest part of Old Henry as his naivety proves far more irksome than interesting.

Old Henry was written and directed by Potsy Ponciroli, a veteran of television and music video production. His style is strong, he frames shots well and the cinematography, by his regular collaborator and fellow TV veteran, John Matysiak, is appropriately gray, brown and dirty. The look of the movie reflects the harsh and sudden violence of a modern western. The framing is rather basic, squaring up actors in window frames or door frames, but it is effective in its visual simplicity.

The whole film turns, however, on the performance of Tim Blake Nelson and it is a terrific performance. Known for his comic doofus performances, Nelson appears right at home at the center of this hard as nails movie. Henry looks like rawhide and as tough as beef jerky. Nelson’s mastery of old west dialogue and curmudgeonly sense of old west code feels authentic and when his backstory is fully laid bare, you will gain an even greater appreciation for his tough and gritty performance.

Stephen Dorff appears to love hamming it up as Ketchum. He’s a classic man in black outlaw with a penchant for oddball monologuing. Dorff has always been a bit of a ham and it does give some color to this otherwise drab movie. Dorff does test your patience with some of his asides but it does make you hope that his fate will be a bloody one. By the time you reach the climax of Old Henry, you will likely be hoping to see Ketchum in a bloody heap.

Old Henry has been receiving some solid buzz around the festival circuit and while I don’t fully buy into Old Henry as an awards movie, I do buy into it as a heck of a good western. Tim Blake Nelson is hard as nails and incredibly fun to watch work but this is more of a movie to please fans of the modern western than it is any kind Awards bait movie. I could see some Academy members being sympathetic to a great character actor getting a leading man moment but beyond that, I don’t see Old Henry as anything more than a solid and satisfying western.

Old Henry arrives in limited theatrical release on October 1st, 2021.