Directed by Potsy Ponciroli, Old Henry is a slow-burn Western that rides the dusty trails of identity, violence, and redemption. Set against the harsh beauty of the Oklahoma Territory, it asks a timeless question: When the past comes calling, can a man ever truly outrun it?
Story Overview
Henry McCarty (Tim Blake Nelson) wants nothing more than a quiet life. A widowed farmer raising his teenage son Wyatt (Gavin Lewis), he tends his land with the hard-earned grit of a man who’s seen too much—and speaks about it even less.
But when they discover a gravely wounded stranger, Curry (Scott Haze), carrying a satchel stuffed with cash, Henry’s world cracks open.
Soon after, a posse led by the cold-eyed Sam Ketchum (Stephen Dorff) arrives, claiming to be lawmen hunting an outlaw.

As tension coils tighter, Henry’s buried past begins to bleed through—revealing gunfighter instincts too sharp, too practiced, to be the work of any ordinary farmer.
With the lives of his son and his own soul on the line, Henry must decide: Will he protect his new life—or finally confront the man he once was?
Why It Rides Tall
- Tim Blake Nelson’s Career-Defining Turn:
Fragile and lethal, haunted and relentless—he crafts one of modern cinema’s great hidden gunslingers. - Classic Western Reimagined:
Tension simmers under wide-open skies, where morality blurs with survival. - Themes of Fatherhood and Redemption:
At its heart, Old Henry is not about drawing a gun—
It’s about the price of keeping it holstered for too long. - Taut, Unforgiving Atmosphere:
With sparse dialogue, brutal action, and moral reckoning, every frame hums with suspense.

Reception & Legacy
Premiered at the Venice Film Festival (September 7, 2021) and released in the U.S. shortly after, Old Henry won critical acclaim for its lean, powerful storytelling and Nelson’s transformative performance.
It was named among the Top Ten Independent Films of 2021 by the National Board of Review—a modern Western destined to become a classic.
