Nursing home residents write and star in hilarious comedy ‘Western’ film

By Douglas Whitbread via SWNS

Care home residents have created a hilarious comedy ‘Western’ featuring shoot-out scenes and references to Yorkshire puddings.

The 11 OAPs - who have a collective age of 948 - wrote and starred in the movie titled ‘The Tale of Robin of Otley’ while living at the Old Vicarage residential home.

They captured their whimsical dialogue using a smartphone and a green screen before bringing it to life with AI animation.

Their final script was a humorous take on the tale of Robin Hood - but is set in the Wild West and has references to West Yorkshire.

James Dixon, the home’s activities coordinator, came up with the idea for the 40-minute flick and then held creative writing sessions for the residents.

He said: “We started to write as a group, and we decided that we’d have a go at making a comic strip made from photographs, so we did two four-part comic strips.

“They wrote the stories, I took the pictures and edited it together.

“I then showed one of our residents, Tony, a short film that I had made on my phone with a new app I’d got, and he said ‘Well, we’ll have to make a film next.’

“So the story for the next comic strip became the basis for the film.”

The youngest cast member in the production was 70 while the oldest was nearly 100.

Residents took turns delivering their lines in front of the green screen, set up in a room of the care home, in Bakewell, Derbs., belonging to Tony Jackson, 84.

James said he was thrilled with the finished product, which was screened exclusively to a crowd of around 100 family and friends at a movie premier event recently.

But he also said the process of making the film had helped residents with their mental health.

He said: “The co-director and co-writer, Tony, said when he came into the care home he had just given up. He was a big fan of doing DIY which was his hobby.

“He was diagnosed with Parkinson's and he said he just felt lost and useless which is something that happens to a lot of residents.

“This film has given them a purpose and I hadn’t fully realized just what a positive effect it had had on their mental health.”

Homes manager Natalie Pearce said: “Myself and the company felt as though they deserve a really good night to celebrate what they have made and to showcase it.

“It started off as a very small event that we were going to do at the care home, but quickly it has turned into a very large event.

"We felt the best place to house this was the town hall. We thought why not, the bigger the better.”