Old Henry

2021, Potsy Ponciroli (Super Zeroes) -- download

1906; huh. 

I did not catch that in the opening sequence where old Henry McCarty explains where he came from, and how he lived his life (not nobly) until he ends up here, in the Oklahoma Territory, where they give you land, and if you can work it, it's yours. The Old West, cinematically, is an astounding period of time and place, that covers so much under such a simple label. As long as you have a land growing out of "nothing" (I am sure the indigenous folk would disagree), some outlaws and at least one gun fight with a revolver, then you have a Western movie.

Tim Blake Nelson (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) is Henry, looking more TBN than he ever has, i.e. tired and yokel. He is digging his farm out of the rocky soil with the help of his son Wyatt (Gavin Lewis, Maximum Ride) and his brother-in-law (country singer Trace Adkins, Deepwater Horizon) when a lone, riderless horse appears, blood on the saddle. 

Wyatt doesn't respect his father, nor the life he is living, but Henry regularly remarks that there are worse ways to be living. You trust him on that, inherently. There is weight of memory under that slack, greasy hair and unkempt moustache. So, when Henry rides out looking for the rider, and finds a shot man and a bag of money, you respect the emitted, "Nope." Alas, he changes his mind and gathers up rider, money and gun to take back to his farm.

Curry is the rider, claims to be the law, claims to be running from Ketchum, who robbed a bank and Curry foiled him, but not before getting shot. When Ketchum (Stephen Dorff, Deputy) appears also claiming to be the law, pursuing a bank robber, we are more likely to trust Curry. But not quite. There are lots of lies and secrets in this movie. There is one truth -- that there will be violence, because old Henry will not let violent men walk onto his land and threaten him & his son, without recrimination.

This movie is all TBN, and he handles it with the ease that equals how Henry handles a pistol, as we unsurprisingly later see. Dark pasts are common in Westerns, but usually not under the guise of a "slack jawed yokel" and Henry doesn't hide from his state, and TBN embraces it. When the reveal happens (not the reveal, that is the end) its like Henry doffs a heavy coat of fatigue, memory and regret, and stands straighter, and shoots even straighter.