12 April 2026 – I saw ‘Old Henry’ (2021) by myself at home.

This was an American Western set in 1906 in the Oklahoma Territory.  The film centres on a widowed farmer, ‘Henry’, and his teenage son ‘Wyatt’, whose quiet, isolated life is disrupted when they discover an injured stranger named ‘Curry’, beside a horse, with a gunshot wound, and a satchel full of money.

Henry takes him to the family farm to tend to his wounds. Soon afterwards, a group of men led by ‘Ketchum’ arrive, claiming to be lawmen searching for Curry, whom they describe as a dangerous outlaw. Their probing questions and threatening demeanour quickly suggest that they themselves may not be who they claim to be.

The film was written and directed by Potsy Ponciroli. He is also known for ‘The Place’ (2017).  The principal cast members are: Tim Blake Nelson, Gavin Lewis, Scott Haze, Stephen Dorff and Trace Adkins.

The film is essentially about not being able to escape one’s past, whilst also attacking the romantic myth of the ‘old west’ in America.  There are questions raised, too, about the morals of violence as a solution to most situations and a questioning of the levels of corruption present in those representing the upholding of the law.

The film was full of tension and progressed very rapidly, with good performances given by the cast.  Whilst the times of the old west were being challenged, this was ultimately still a ‘western’ film and, revisionist or not, it still had much of the negativity present in most films of this type, from my personal viewpoint.  Nonetheless, the tension and performances carried the film forward, for me, despite any reservations I might have had.

As such, I gave it a score of 7.5, whilst ‘IMDB’ gave it 7.3 and the ‘Rotten Tomatoes’ score was 9.4 (94%).

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