Rent Old Henry (2021)

A punchy tale of the Old West destined to become a classic - Old Henry review by Philip in Paradiso

Widower Henry McCarty and Wyatt, his son, live on an isolated farm in Oklahoma Territory at the start of the 20th century (1906). After Henry (the 'Old Henry' of the title of the movie) finds a lost horse with some blood on the saddle, Henry succeeds in finding the man who was riding the horse: severely injured, the man is named Curry. The story develops from there, with an inexorable chain of events unfolding, as Old Henry finds himself confronting a gang of extremely violent outlaws. In the process, the past of Old Henry is revealed.

Within the parameters of the genre, this is a little masterpiece (at 90 mins, taut, punchy and to the point, as reflected in Old Henry's way of speaking). There are no women at all in the story - only men. Rough and potentially violent men, in the middle of the Old West, which is still the Wild West. But the characters are not caricatures: they have depth and their interactions are on several levels, with very good dialogues. If you like Westerns, this feels like an old-school classic in the finest sense of the word. My only reservation would be that the lead actor doesn't quite look the part, but this is deliberate on the part of the director: there is more to Old Henry than meets the eye.

Excellent Western - Old Henry review by GI

This is an entertaining and gutsy little western that has a nice plot twist. It has a period realistic visual style and the action is swift and violent. A widowed pig farmer Henry (Tim Blake Nelson) lives on his small remote farm with his headstrong teenage son in 1906 Oklahoma. One day he finds a severely wounded man and a bag full of cash in the brush and reluctantly takes the man in to help him. But soon a posse of lawmen led by Stephen Dorff arrive looking for this man. Henry suspects all is not as it seems and soon a stand off begins that climaxes into a bloody gunfight because Henry has a hidden past! Tim Blake Nelson excels as the scruffy little farmer with a beady eye who has a 'special set of skills' and soon brings them to the fore. There's a dynamic with his son who thinks little of his Dad but will soon change his mind. Good fun, well acted and worth a watch.