Many people have asked where they can see the Westerns mentioned here, so going forward I will be adding a section to these articles with that information.
It’s a pig with the wrong ear.
Old Henry McCarty is the ghost of a nobody who lives deep in Oklahoma.
His face is disfigured and his eyelids droop. His wife died of tuberculosis. His son thinks Henry is a nobody, and maybe he is, or maybe there is nothing special about the old farmer. Maybe he is destined to bury the rock. Or maybe there is something more at work behind his quiet, calm demeanor.
The opening scene features a narration from Henry.
“My parents are from New York and I was born there. By the time I was three we moved to Coffeyville, Kansas, then Arizona, New Mexico. I lived in mainland Mexico for a while. I’ve had a variety of jobs, some more minor than others. Eventually I settled into the life of a farmer, and that’s what I am today.”
Is that all he is? We ask ourselves this question when Henry stumbles upon a half-dead, unconscious man and takes him home to recuperate, as the men who did this to him are on their way.
We expect this unnamed character to emerge as a hero in some way, something that is rarely made clear in Westerns.
Before we know it, our hero has shoved the man’s head into the mud, drowning him.
The first time I watched it, for most of it I had no idea what was going to happen next, or even what was happening or why it was happening. There are detective elements so you’re left guessing who’s a cop and who’s a criminal.
“Old Henry” exploits this confusion.
Where to find it
If you haven’t seen “Old Henry” yet, please do so as soon as possible. I would love to watch it again from the beginning.
I also recommend using subtitles, there’s a lot of tweeting going on.
Amazon Prime – Rental fee is $2.99 (this is my pick)
AppleTV – Rental for $3.99
Fandango – Rental fee: $2.99
Roku is freebut I think there are commercials.
If none of this works, send me an email inquiry And I’ll sort you out.
Now with a tractor, the work can be done in a quarter of the time.
As an Oklahoma native, I love fictionalized stories about my state’s history, and there are plenty of options in this genre.
“Old Henry” was filmed in Watertown, Tennessee, but is set in the Oklahoma Territory in 1906, one year before Oklahoma became the 46th state – or more specifically, the wilderness around Chickasha, a two-hour drive from where I live.
In 1906, the area was home to approximately 7,500 people.
It was a simpler time, but simple isn’t always better. The futility of daily servitude left people with no other choice, so what we often see on screen is a form of submission: be tough or be grumpy.
When I watch westerns, I can’t help but worry, “How would I have survived back then?”
The longer you watch the film, the lighter your mood becomes. “I don’t know how we’ll survive, but we can survive.”
As bleak as it may sound, I found this thought experiment to be somewhat liberating, a brief respite from modern life.
Jay and Silent Bob attack the Unabomber
Pozzi Poncirolii, who wrote and directed “Old Henry,” is an interesting character.
His other film work includes “Jay & Silent Bob Reboot” (2019) and “Ted K: Unabomber” (2021), an adaptation of the Ted Kazinsky story. His film “The United States of Insanity” (2021) depicts the Insane Clown Posse.
It’s worth noting that both the “Ted K” film and the ICP film were released in the same year as “Old Henry.”
The latter, Ponciroli’s only Western, is a stunner: the storyline is astounding, propulsive yet subtle, and, unusually for a Western, it premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
It also marks the first of three planned Westerns to be produced by Shout! Studios, the film production division of long-time provider of quality home entertainment Shout! Factory, in association with Hideout Pictures.
“Old Henry” has a small cast. There are no women. Seriously, there are no actresses in this movie.
Scott Haze is excellent as Curry, who may or may not be the lawman he calls himself, and Stephen Dorff plays the villain Ketchum, looking just like John Marston, the protagonist from Red Dead Redemption, a true work of video game art.
It’s clear that Pontilori has expertise in other genres as well.
The camera moves fluidly around the scenes, matching the expert pacing of the story and action. There is definitely a mystery/crime aspect to Old Henry, and at times it feels as though it might vault into the horror genre. However, as a new horror, the soundtrack at times recalls the score to Disasterpeace’s It Follows.
Andrew Patrick Nelson pointed Westerns, after all, belong to the fantasy genre.
The cinematography and set design of “Old Henry” is generally stunning with a modern western color palette. Different parts of the film use different color schemes, shadows and lenses. In one scene it glows green, in another it glows red, but in daylight the entire plain and sky look completely pure. Then an avalanche of blue appears. It’s a new reality of sharp color.
Tim Blake Nelson
Kevin Costner may be the Western hero of our time, but some would say Tim Blake Nelson.
He’s a talented actor, and his performance in “Old Henry” will have you shaking your head and saying, “Oh my goodness,” and that alone is worth the price of admission.
In an interview, Nelson described Old Henry as a “micro-western,” defining it as “small, simple stories set in an alternate timeline, with real historical figures acting out in a fictional world.”
He was learning to film “The Ballad of Buster,” a soon-to-be-released Wednesday Western, and “I practiced with my gun every day for about five months to get good at it.”
nightmare
The nightmarish scenes are beautiful and chilling, made even more intense by the music of Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist and composer Jordan Lehning.
Training catalog is impressive: in addition to four solo albums, he boasts producing, engineering, performing, and orchestral arranging for musicians such as Kacey Musgraves, Kenny Rogers, Caitlyn Rose, and Justin Towne Earles.
His entire body of work, not just the soundtracks. Explained It is essentially cinematic.
There’s a shifting gravity to the songs behind the nightmarish scenes, which he captures hauntingly on “Fever Dream – Part 1” and “Fever Dream – Part 2.”
The distinct ambiguity of the sound leaves the viewer uncertain as to the ultimate message of the dream sequence, which goes beyond the usual ambiguity films use in dealing with dreams, especially nightmares.
These scenes don’t quite reach the grandeur of “The Sopranos”‘s dream sequences, but only because they’re absent from other TV shows and movies. But like the frenetic realism that peppers Tony Soprano’s nighttime scenes, “Old Henry”‘s nightmare sequences achieve a fog of revelation.
Their power comes from their sudden appearance, a magical haze that descends on us when we least expect it. These hallucinatory dream sequences make the film superior to Westerns of an earlier era, which lacked the opportunity for technical sophistication or artistic breakthroughs. Pontiloli made “Old Henry” with the cheat codes of every previous innovation.
This is not meant as a disparagement: there are plenty of filmmakers with similar authority who still can’t make a film as brilliant, memorable, and powerful as “Old Henry.”
I love the bold creative choices Western directors make. Any The director makes it. And experiments always produce a lot of failures.
Who cares? We watch Westerns because they have always — even at the height of their popularity — pushed the boundaries of control.
Blessed are those whose hearts are set on pilgrimage
Believing in the existence of God is not rational. Look around at the world around you and see the sun-filled sky, the endless star-studded darkness, the magnitude of things beyond our ability to comprehend. At the very least, the concept of God is based on this sensation, a sense of smallness relative to the infinite vastness.
This fight appears in the first scene of “Old Henry,” which also introduces us to Old Henry’s son, Wyatt. The exchange takes place under a sky over which herds roam, while Henry and his brother-in-law Al are pounding rocks with shovels and pickaxes. Wyatt is sulky, bored, and hostile.
The relationship between Henry and Wyatt is the real focus of the film and is beautifully portrayed, beginning with a conversation using Bible verses.
The first quote comes from the “Words of the Wise Men” section of Proverbs, King Solomon’s masterpiece of morality. One night, God appeared to Solomon in a dream and said, “I will give you whatever you desire.” Solomon chose a “wise heart” to help him discern good from evil.
When Wyatt insults the farm, Henry recites Proverbs 24:3-4: “By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.”
Look at the verses just before them: “Do not be envious of wicked people, nor desire to be with them, for their heart devises violence, and their lips speak evil.”
Wyatt, in a sulky tone, responds with Psalm 86, a prayer for times of pain and distress: David’s song begins with a plea.
“Lord, listen and answer me
For I am poor and in need.
Save my life, for I am faithful to you.
Save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; have mercy on me, O Lord.
I cry to you all day long.”
When Wyatt asks Henry, “Who are you?”, Henry responds with the familiar line: “I am me.”
Wyatt’s response: “Don’t you always preach about honesty? The truth will set you free?”
From here, Henry’s past begins to unfold rapidly, but in the end, his advice to Wyatt is simple: “Stay calm.”
Beyond the fact that keeping the head bowed is a prayerful posture, this teaching carries a certain loving foreboding.
As is the case throughout the Psalms, the mood of Psalm 86 changes as it nears the end, with David declaring, “Give me a sign of your goodness, that my enemies may see and be ashamed; for you, O Lord, have been my helper and comforted me.”
As Roy Rogers used to say, “Goodbye, good luck, and may God love you. See you next week.”
