The Redemption of Henry Myers (2014)

Drew Waters plays Henry Myers, one of three bandits in a bank robbery gone bad.

A clerk and a pastor wind up dead, the money winds up hidden in a church and Henry finds himself separated from partners Clay and Mac as they run for their lives.

A year later, Clay and Mac track down Henry, looking for the stolen loot he no longer has.

Henry is severely wounded in the scrap that follows, but gets away.

He’s near dead when his body is discovered by a widow and her two young children, who nurse him back to health.

The woman (Erin Beathea as Marilyn) and her two children — Laura and Will — help nurse Henry back to health. They show him a family life he never had growing up. He begins to wonder if there’s something to the faith they have in God. And he begins to wonder if he really can change.

The big questions: Can they forgive him for what he’s done in the past? And what will happen when those old partners — still searching for the stolen loot — find him again?

Drew Waters as Henry Myers, a former outlaw trying to turn around his life in The Redemption of Henry Myers (2014)

Erin Bethea as Marilyn, trying to convince Henry Myers that anyone can change in The Redemption of Henry Myers (2014)

Review:

Yeah, it comes off as a bit preachy in spots. But this is the way you make a low-budget Western work, with a believable cast and a storyline that will tug at your heart.

Drew Waters, a veteran of the acclaimed TV series “Friday Night Lights,” and Erin Bethea are particularly effective. So too is Jaden Roberts as Laura, the young girl who takes an immediate liking to the grizzled stranger the family has rescued.

Some originality helps, too. Like when two of the bandits sneak into town inside caskets on a wagon driven by the third. And lighter moments, like when the still badly wounded Henry gets stuck in a widow trying to slip away from his rescuers in the middle of the night and winds up telling Laura he was just trying to get some fresh air.

All in all, very well done.

Jaden Roberts as Laura, stumbling into trouble in The Redemption of Henry Myers (2014)

Ezr Proch as Will, reacting to a troubling situation in The Redemption of Henry Myers (2014)

Directed by:
Clayton Miller

Cast:
Drew Waters … Henry Myers
Erin Bethea … Marilyn
Jaden Roberts … Laura
Ezre Proch … Will
Beau Smith … Clay
Rio Alexander … Mac
Luce Rains … Sheriff Tom
Dylan Kenin … Bob
Michael McCabe … Pastor Shane

aka:
Redemption

Runtime: 101 min.

Beau Smith as Clay, making a point prior to a bank robbery in The Redemption of Henry Myers (2014)

Rio Alexander as Mac, a bank robber searching for missing loot with his partner Clay in The Redemption of Henry Myers (2014)

Memorable lines:

Townswoman to the sheriff: “Now you know me. I am not one to judge. But I told that scalawag to leave my granddaughter alone. And now she’s got a wart on her eye.”

Laura to Henry Myers: “You were bloody as a squashed skeeter when we found you.”

Marilyn: “I guess we’ve forgotten how to trust strangers.”
Henry Myers: “You shouldn’t go trustin’ strangers so much, ma’am. You never know what they got lurkin’ in their past.”

Marilyn, offering words of wisdom to her son: “There’s a lot of evil people in this world, Will. You don’t let them take away the good.”

Laurie: “What’s wrong, Mr. Henry?”
Henry Meyers, gazing off in the direction of a chicken coup: “Nothin’. I’ve just been thinkin’.”
Laurie: “Thinkin’ ’bout chickens?”

Luce Rains as Sheriff Tom, the lawman determined to find his son’s killer in The Redemption of Henry Myers (2014)

Drew Waters as Henry Myers, delivering two coffins for a bank robbery in The Redemption of Henry Myers (2014)

Ezr Proch as Will, reacting to a troubling situation in The Redemption of Henry Myers (2014)

Drew Waters as Henry Myers, sensing trouble on the horizon in The Redemption of Henry Myers (2014)

Erin Beathea as Marilyn confronts Henry Myers (Drew Waters) about a troubling development in The Redemption of Henry Myers (2014)

Jaden Roberts as Laura with Drew Waters as Henry Myers in The Redemption of Henry Myers (2014)