Mon nom est Personne

I am a huge Leone fan and just had to see this one which I had never run across until now. I don't know if I got a hold of a bad copy or what- it looked legit from a real company, but kind of cheap. I wasn't sure what to make of it as I wasn't expecting a comedy and therefore was a little uncomfortable at first with its subtle humor and bizarre soundtrack from the awesome Morricone. I got more into it as it went along and like others have mentioned, the scene in the bar is a standout. All in all it was pretty fun with Fonda and Hill excellent, but perhaps because of the print or maybe the dubbing there were parts that were just plain weird- as if done by amateurs. Very strange and as such a big fan of the people involved I will look for a better copy and watch it again- perhaps on dvd when that comes out. Hopefully upon a second viewing I will have the same feeling that so many others seem to have had. Still, for the guy who said this is better than Once Upon a Time in the West- I'm afraid that's quite a stretch since I don't know if anything is that good.

All that gunslinger Jack Beauregard (Henry Fonda) wants to do is retire while he's still alive. But Nobody (Terence Hill) wants to see Beauregard go out in blaze of glory. Nobody dogs him across the West insisting that if Beauregard will just face one more enemy, he's sure to go down in the annals of history. But Nobody's idea is for Beauregard to have it out with the 150 man strong Wild Bunch - all alone.

The shortest and most to the point description that I can come up with for this movie is "Sergio Leone Meets the Three Stooges". On the one hand, you've got Henry Fonda in the traditional Western role (albeit Spaghetti Western). On the other hand, you've got Terence Hill performing some of the best slapstick and pantomime since the era of the silent film. It sounds like an unlikely combination, but Valerii successfully marries the two styles into a very enjoyable experience. The scenes with Fonda and Hill together are as good as you'll see in a Spaghetti Western.

While some of Hill's comedy seems goofy and doesn't work that well, most of it is very funny. There are moments of pure genius. The shooting scene in the saloon is a particular favorite of mine.

Morricone's score is amazing. He draws inspiration from and pays homage to some of the earlier scores he did. I was reminded several times of Once Upon a Time in the West, the Dollars Trilogy, and other Spaghetti Westerns. Writing positive comments on a Morricone score is becoming a bit redundant. Did he ever write a score that you could call bad?

For those of us who have only seen My Name is Nobody on VHS with bad transfers and missing footage, the new Image DVD is a real treat. It was a lot like watching the movie for the first time. I never thought this movie could look so good. My only complaint is the lack of extras. The disc doesn't even have a trailer.

My Name is Nobody is in a way a very odd kind of western. It mixes seriousness reminiscent of previous spaghetti westerns with slapstick humor which is reminiscent of the silent era ( Also includes a lot of fast forwarding low framerate which is what all the camera's consisted of in those days ), and the end result is surprisingly stunning and charming at the same time.

Terence Hill plays the comical over confident superhumanly quick apprentice like no other, with the bar glass-shooting scene being an absolute high for his character. The acting inside the acting going on in this particular scene is fantastic, and Hill's mannerisms succeed in making this silent era-like slapstick humor succeed. Fonda represents the more serious half of the film which focuses more on scale and paying homage to past classics, primarily Once Upon a Time in the West which is also starring Henry Fonda. Some obvious examples are Morricone's identical near copy of Harmonica's theme in a couple of scenes involving Fonda in My Name is Nobody, or an intro that features three gunman silently observing and pacing around a certain area only to get blown away. His character is quite similar to the one he plays in Once Upon a Time in the West, except for the fact that his morality seems to lean a lot more towards 'Good' in this one. With Fonda's usual intensity he captures the serious half of the film extremely well and delivers a great performance.

Except for the slapstick humor this mostly truly feels like a serious film, because the depth and symbolisms in the film are all there. The story that Hill mentions about the bird, cow & coyote are an obvious example of this. Everything seems to be a metaphor for something else, and the depth in this screenplay is truly impeccable. This in turn makes this motion picture more than just a comic escapism flick. It is an in-depth examination of the death of the west and covers this up well in a comedy homage/parody kind of setting on all the films that made westerns so great. ( Especially spaghetti westerns ) There are not just references to Once Upon a Time in the West since there is also a scene for example in which main characters exchange shots on eachothers hats which is an homage of For a Few Dollars More (1965)

The cinematography is superb with a varied color palette and stunning mixes of close-ups and widescreen shots much in the same manner as the legendary Sergio Leone ( Who also produced this film ). The shots of the Wild Bunch ( Another homage to another western ) riding in the distance while slowly moving closer to the camera while Morricone's odd but brilliant 'The Wild Horde' plays is just cinematic perfection. The greatest use of this is obviously the one in which Jack ( Henry Fonda ) faces the Wild Bunch alone while the camera slowly pans back and upwards. It is such a majestic and elegant way of visual storytelling because the further back the camera pans the more you get the sense of the enormous scale of the numbers of the Wild Bunch, making them more intimidating and heightening Beauregard's feat if he truly manages to defeat them on his own.

My Name is Nobody is a weird mix of comedy & metaphor filled seriousness, but it succeeds like no other because it tells a genuinely humane message about progress and the dying of an old world ( Which is ofcourse the west ) through subtle metaphors & symbolisms. It truly feels like the closing chapter of a fantastic era.

The title "My name is Nobody" was, I think, taken from a text in Homer's Odyssey which Odysseus said to Cyclops, the one-eyed giant. And, indeed, if one considers that fact one could better see what this film's message is: While old Jack Beauregard could, after a long voyage, at last go home to Europe, "Nobody" was destined to continue his odyssey far from home in countries that were never his cultural homeland.

Albeit the film itself is a parody of other westerns, of 'C'era una volta il West' and/or 'The wild bunch' for example, and therefore should be (and is in fact) comical and funny, one nevertheless hears a slightly melancholy song sung by/about Odysseus(= Nobody) who had forgotten his homeland. Owing to that (please let me dare say)'depth', 'Il mio nome e nessuno' succeeded in being far more than a simple parody and in appealing not only to 'genre fans' but also to 'general' movie lovers: Fonda's brilliant performance, Fonda and Terence Hill's unique combination, Morricone's perfect score. It's all really tasty.

I still remember that a Japanese film critic at that time has rated this film low, because 'it was a spaghetti western made by an assistant of Sergio Leone'. But when I myself saw the film later, I (please excuse me for being cheeky and cocky) doubted his eye of a film critic: Why hasn't he seen that this film clearly stood out from other Italian westerns? Why has he ignored the fact that Tonino Valerii could make excellent westerns without Leone and without Morricone? (I of course mean 'Il prezzo del potere' and 'I giorni dell'ira'.)

A fun parody of Western clichés that never becomes stale and gibing Spaghetti genre. There is plenty of action in the movie , guaranteeing shootouts or stunts every few minutes. There are also many fine technicians and stunning direction and excellent production design with magnificent scenarios. It deals with a young, soft-hearted gunfighter (a cocky Terence Hill) who worships and competes with a veteran outlaw named Jack Beauregard (awesome Henry Fonda), once the greatest gunslinger of the Old West who only wants to retire but instead they band together . He arranges for Beauregard to take on the 150-man band known as The Wild Bunch . Both of them oblivious to dangers and hopeless odds endure mishaps and adventures and they attempt to right wrongs . At the end takes place a spectacular duel earning his place in history between the easygoing gunslinger and the famous retired outlaw he reveres .

It's an exciting SW with breathtaking showdowns between the protagonists and their enemies full of shots , explosions , thrills and deaths . Spoofs every Western clichés with relentless comedy , parodying ordinary Spaghetti elements . The main premise results to be the confrontation between Old West represented by Henry Fonda and new West mirrored on Terence Hill character. The storyline has some embarrassment and ridiculous , silly situations but also has its agreeable moments here and there. It's a Spaghetti western with humor and develops the usual issues : invincible antiheroes, spectacular gun-down , violent taking on but united to slapstick and simple humor. It's an entertaining Italian western with overlong runtime in which there are irony, tongue-in-cheek, shootouts, numerous showdowns and is quite funny and amusing . This bemusing picture with Spaghetti all-star-cast contains an entertaining plot , action Western , shoot'em up and bits of campy and refreshing humor . It's an improbable blending of standard Western, irony and continuous duels with no sense . An enjoyable premise and interesting casting full of usual Spaghetti make this oater well worth the watching . Delightful Western satire in which two gunmen using his wits , break all the rules and kicking virtually every cliché in the pants . Amiable but sometimes lumbering Western satire goes on and on about the same premise , as a lot of minutes are superfluous ,it has fifteen minutes in excess , as it packs overblown jokes and antics and some moments turns out to be a little tiring . Fonda and Hill steal the show as two improbable heroes , they are very fine, they ravage the screen, , hit , shoot and kill .There is even a homage to ¨Orson Welles's The lady from Shangai¨ when at a Mirror Fun House takes place a duel between Hill and his enemies . Terence Hill is nice as a good guy , hilarious and likable , known only as "Nobody", idolizes Fonda and wants to see him go out in a blaze of glory. Here Hill plays a similar character to ¨They call me trinity¨ and ¨Trinity is still my name¨. Henry Fonda is first-rate as a rough, two-fisted old gunman but with good heart. There appears customary Spaghetti actors as Piero Lulli , Mario Brega , Benito Steffanelli , Antonio Molino Rojo and notorious American secondaries as Geoffrey Lewis , Steve Kanaly , Leo Gordon and R.G. Armstrong . Lively but commercial musical score by the great Ennio Morricone . Colorful cinematography plenty of barren outdoors , sunny landscapes under a glimmer sun and fine sets on the action scenes shot by excellent cameraman Giuseppe Ruzzolini , filmed in US and Spain as La Calahorra, Granada, Andalucía, (railway scenes) , Almeria ; USA : Colorado New Orleans, Louisiana, White Sands National Monument, Alamogordo, New Mogollon, Acoma Mexico, USA .

The motion picture lavishly produced by Fulvio Morsella and Sergio Leone , being well directed by Tonino Valeri . Tonino 's so-so direction is well crafted, here he's mostly cynical and humorous and less inclined toward violence and too much action especially on its ending part . Valeri is an expert on Western as proved in ¨The hired gun ¨ , ¨A reason to live , a reason to die¨ with James Coburn and Telly Savalas , ¨The price of power ¨ with Giuliano Gemma and Van Heflin , ¨The day of anger ¨ with Lee van Cleef and ¨ Taste of Killing¨ with Craig Hill and George Martin .