The Thicket is a 2024 American Western thriller film directed by Elliott Lester and written by Chris Kelley. It is a film adaptation of the 2014 novel by Joe R. Lansdale. It stars Peter Dinklage, Juliette Lewis, Esmé Creed-Miles, Levon Hawke, Andrew Schulz, James Hetfield, Leslie Grace, and Gbenga Akinnagbe.
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Plot
The murderous outlaw Cut-Throat Bill rides into town on the same morning Lula and Jack Parker's father dies of smallpox, leaving the siblings orphaned. Their grandfather, Caleb, entrusts Jack with his new will - deeding all of Caleb's land in Montana, 700 acres, to Jack and Lula upon his death. On their way to their aunt's farm in Kansas, the trio are accosted at a ferry by Cut-Throat Bill and her gang of miscreants. After a tense stand-off, Caleb shoots Bill (though she is barely wounded) and Bill murders him in turn. Bill then abducts Lula, whom she had expressed an interest in, and leaves Jack for dead.
Fleeing from the scene of the kidnapping, Bill and her gang hold up a dry-goods store in Sylvester. Lula, regaining consciousness, attempts to warn the store owner's son and run away, but is recaptured as gunfire erupts. Bill clears out in a hurry, having killed both the store owner and his son, but leaves a man behind in the chaos of the scene.