My buddy Melissa and I watched "Old Henry" for our 2021 movie pick this week. It comes from the same school of Westerns as Clint Eastwood's "Outlaw Josey Wales" and "The Unforgiven", that being gunslingers who reached middle age, changed their ways, became family men, and then are forced by circumstance to unpack their guns again and do a heap of killing for our enjoyment. Only in this case it is Billy the Kid and exploits the many tall tales that abound that he was never killed by Par Garrett on that fateful night in Fort Sumner, NM. Being a Billy buff, I picked up in the first few scenes as to who he was supposed to be. Tim Blake Nelson did a fine job as a 40 something Billy and was a perfectly aged version of the one verified photograph of the Kid.

An indie film that is beautifully filmed and paced. So many of the frames could be a painting. Brings home the hardships of life in the Oklahoma Territory in the early 1900's too. As a newly minted gun nut, one of my hobbies is counting the shots coming out of the vintage six-shooters in movies before they have to reload and the effects of wounds from old school 45's. This movie was historically accurate. We did not have the endless rounds emitting from the Colt 45's from the bigtime classic Hollywood Westerns of yore. Old time cowboy stars never had to reload. Eastwood and Sergio Leone put an end to the never empty pistol in Westerns. Highly recommended if you like a good oater. It is like 'Young Guns' for seniors.