Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Old Henry movie on Netflix.
Old Henry, a 2021 western starring Tim Blake Nelson, has been dominating the top of the Netflix top 10 movies in the U.S. chart all week.
Written and directed by Potsy Ponciroli (Greedy People, Motor City), Old Henry is a gritty western starring Tim Blake Nelson as a simple Oklahoma farmer named Henry back in 1906. But when a mysterious injured man seeking help wanders onto the farmer, setting off a series of unfortunate events, Henry’s son, Wyatt (Gavin Lewis) starts to suspect there is more to his father than meets the eye.
According to The Numbers, Old Henry opened to about 30 theaters in the U.S. in October 2021, and made less than $50,000 at the box office. (This was shortly after the height of COVID, to be fair, when very few audiences were going to the movies.) But the movie found a second—and now third—life via home entertainment. The movie was released on VOD on November 9, 2021, where it enjoyed an eight-week run in the top 10 on the iTunes movies chart in the U.S. Now, after getting added to Netflix on July 4, it’s been No. 1 on the streaming website for three days. As more people watch Old Henry this weekend, more people are discovering how the true story of Billy the Kid inspired the story.
Read on to get the full breakdown of the Old Henry movie plot summary and the Old Henry movie ending explained.
Old Henry movie plot summary:
Henry McCarty (Tim Blake Nelson) lives with his son Wyatt (Gavin Lewis), in the Oklahoma territory in 1906 on a farm. Wyatt thinks his dad is a boring old farmer who won’t let him do anything cool, like fire a gun. One day, a horse with a bloodstained saddle wanders onto the farm. Henry finds the injured rider near death, with a satchel full of cash and a pistol. After some deliberation, Henry brings the man home to nurse him back to health. Henry hides the cash and gun behind a loose board in a closet.
Henry leaves Wyatt along with the man while he goes to get a doctor. While he’s gone, Wyatt breaks into the closet and steals the man’s gun to practice shooting. When he gets back to the house and returns the gun to the closet, he discovers a box with a newspaper article about the Lincoln County War, with the headline “Garrett Gets His Man.” Hmm.
The injured man wakes up, gets loose, and attacks Wyatt. Luckily, Henry gets back in time to subdue the man. The man says his name is Curry (Scott Haze) and claims he is the law. He warns Henry that three men on horses are looking for him. They will claim to be sheriffs but in fact are criminals who stole that satchel of cash. They are after Curry, the real sheriff, who confiscated their cash.
Just as Curry says, the three men claiming to be the law show up at Henry’s house. They ask if he’s seen the man they are after. Henry denies seeing any man. The men seem very interested in Henry’s last name and family background (Hmmm!), but ultimately leave in peace. For now.
After they leave, Curry tells Henry a story from his childhood, about how he was present for the day the infamous outlaw Billy the Kid was shot and killed. Curry was a boy and doing stable work for a man named Peter Maxwell, who was letting Billy the Kid hide out on his property. But Peter Maxwell betrayed Billy by tipping off the sheriff Pat Garrett. Curry witnessed Garrett and his men go up to Maxwell’s house, while working next to Billy in the stable. Curry recalls Billy telling him, “Keep your head down. You’ll be alright.” Curry says he followed Billy into the house, where he witnessed Garrett shoot Billy the Kid in the chest and kill him.
After hearing this story, Henry decides to let Curry go free. But before he can, they are attacked by one of the men who was after Curry. Henry strangles the man to death right in front of his son. After, Wyatt reveals he saw the article in the closet, and point-blank asks Henry what he’s hiding. Henry refuses to answer.
The leader of the men after Curry, Ketchum (played by Stephen Dorff), kidnaps Henry’s brother-in-law, Al (Trace Adkins). He returns to Henry’s house and demand they hand over Curry. Ketchum shoots and kills Al, enraging Wyatt to try to shoot Ketchum. Curry, Wyatt, and Henry manage to survive the ensuing shoot-out.
Is Old Henry Billy the Kid?
Yes, Old Henry’s true identity is Billy the Kid. Henry warns his son to “keep his head down, you’ll be alright.” Hmmm! Hearing those familiar words, Curry realizes that Henry’s true identity is Billy the Kid. That day Curry thought Sheriff Garrett killed Billy, he actually only pretended to kill him, and helped Billy escape.
Old Henry movie ending explained:
Henry/Billy goes outside by himself and does his Billy the Kid thing: He talks down all of Ketchum’s men one by one, eventually killing Ketchum himself.
Back home, Henry tends to an injured Curry, who was shot in the scuffle. Henry discovers an “A” branded on Curry’s skin. Curry shoots Henry in the stomach. Curry reveals he is a former sheriff who was recruited to work as an outlaw for Ketchum’s gang, and took Ketchum’s brand. But when Curry found out that Ketchum planned to kill him after the next job, he beat Ketchum to the money and ran away.
Curry did not know Henry’s true identity, and regrets that he had to kill him, because he remembers Billy was kind to him as a kid. But apparently, he’s worried Henry would turn him in, now that he knows the truth.
Before Curry can shoot Henry for a second time, Wyatt shows up and shoots Curry in the chest. Maybe that means Henry still has a chance to survive?
Nope! Henry dies. With his dying breath, he tells his son to go out and see the world, just like Wyatt always wanted to do. Wyatt buries Henry next to his mother. Then he takes the gun, the satchel of cash, and heads off into the world. With that, the movie ends.
Is Old Henry based on a true story? How did the real Billy the Kid die?
Even though Billy the Kid was a real outlaw who lived in the Old West in the late 1800s, Old Henry is not based on a true story. Instead, Old Henry is speculative fiction, inspired by the unfounded rumors that Billy the Kid was not actually killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett on July 14, 1881. Over the last century, many have tried to claim they are the real Billy the Kid. However, all evidence seems to point to the fact that the real Billy the Kid was shot and killed in 1881.
According to Robert Utley’s 1989 biography, Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life, Billy the Kid was imprisoned for the murder of Lincoln County Sheriff William J. Brady during the 1978 Lincoln County War, a gang war that broke out between rival groups in the New Mexico Territory, which would later become New Mexico state. Billy escaped jail and was on the run for two months. However, he was tracked down by Sheriff Pat Garrett and was shot and killed in Fort Sumner on July 14, 1881.
Rumors persisted after his death that he was secretly still alive, but there is no real evidence to support that. Old Henry is just a fun “what if” story, building on those rumors.
Is Billy the Kid’s real name Henry?
Yes, this part of the movie is true. Billy the Kid’s real name was Henry McCarty. When he began a life of crime as a teenager, he started going by the alias “William H. Bonney.” His birth name, Henry McCarty, was not publicly known until the 1950s, when historian Robert N. Mullin uncovered the family name in church records of McCarty’s mother’s marriage.
Still, don’t expect an accurate history lesson from Old Henry. But do expect a good time! If you’re a Netflix subscriber, you can watch the Old Henry movie streaming on Netflix right now.