Meu Nome é Ninguém

Sergio Leone picked a good director to helm his production of My Name is Nobody, as Tonino Valerii brings a sensibility that wouldn't of been the same had Leone taken the helm. It's not that Valerii steers too far away from certain trademarks of the quintessential spaghetti western director: expansive close-ups, beautiful master-shots showing the sprawling landscapes of the deserts and small towns of the old west, and of course Ennio Morricone. But this time there's a change of the guard in terms of homage- now it's not just going for an epic quality, but full-on comedy stylings.

There's room to compare this to old westerns with Henry Fonda just as much as there's comparison to the Three Stooges. Or Buster Keaton. Because nothing is taken too seriously, it ends up having some strong underlying statements about gunslingers in the old west, the young catching up with the old, and the old 'times they are a changing' logic that comes with the territory.

The tone is light, though at the same time there's still that level of ultra-cool suspense that can be found in Leone's work. Valerii takes it up a notch in the direction of something a little less violent, however (the film is technically rated PG, despite quite a few dozen deaths at one point). Terrence Hill is the title character, a guy who's strikingly handsome but perpetually goofy, who takes on as a big challenge Jack Bouregarde (Fonda, his last western, a good one to go out on, if not as great as his previous role as Frank), who's a hero gunslinger. Nobody has fixed a 'Wild Bunch' to come after him, and to what end? Much of the film focuses on Nobody, until the second half when Nobody keeps prodding on Jack with his vague threats in the guise of 'fairy tales' his grandfather used to tell him.

And all the while it's consistently hilarious material, particularly if you know Leone's stuff well (eg the gag from For a Few Dollars More where shooting a hat holds as much danger as comic timing), and tries at least to plug into the viewer who's in on the joke of not just an homaged western and homaged Leone western (Morricone's score has tones from Once Upon a Time in the West, but comes close to sounding like a coffee commercial at times), but an homage to silent comedies and slapstick.

Where else, for example, will you see a gunslinger such as Nobody fight off a potential assailant in a bar by just continually slapping him around as if Moe Howard possessed him for a full minute? How about the gun being slung up at 16 frames-per-second? Or a montage within an action sequence with Jack versus the 'Wild Bunch' where freeze-frames of reactions from Nobody and pages from 'history' showing Jack killing off the posse pop up? And there's a fun-house/mirror scene that comes about as close to The Lady From Shanghai as the most memorable in all cinema.

Some of it might just be all silly-by-proxy; it's a big belly laugh to see Hill with a serious face hold a stick still in the air waiting for a bug to go underwater to catch a fish. In fact Hill is strangely enough a huge part to the success of the film by sticking to his two-dimensional profile with just the best bits of subversion: looking at his eyes one can't always tell whether he's being serious, crazy, or just plain joking around, like in the saloon. He wouldn't work as the typical bad-ass, stoic Leone anti-hero/villain, but Valerii understands how to handle his abilities. Same goes for Fonda, only he doesn't have to go too far to be effective: all he needs to do is to keep a silence going, a look that says everything that needs to be said (albeit he lays it on heavy in the final letter, something that definitely would not be in a typical Leone film).

And yet even with all of Valerii's kidding moments and high-spirits (watch out little guy on stilts!), there is some genuine artistry at work too, as when the Wild Bunch is seen coming ahead through the desert (the wide-reaching over-head angle is the best shot in the film), and it reveals that there could be some worth in checking out other obscurer efforts of his. As it stands, I could watch it anytime it's on TV, if only as a pick-me-up if it's a soggy day. For fans of the western it is a must-see, if only for the fun of it all, and to get a pure in-joke regarding Sam Peckinpah.

This spaghetti-in-cheek western from Sergio Leone and crew (direction credit went to Leone protégé Tonino Valerii) opens with déjà vu. Haven't we seen Henry Fonda getting shaved before, wondering if the barber's going to slit his throat?

Referencing his own "Once Upon a Time in the West" of five years earlier, idea-man Leone also pays satirical homage to perhaps the bloodiest western in history by inserting "the wild bunch" into this film as a band of one hundred, fifty men who appear only and repeatedly as a thundering herd in Leone-signature panoramas, accompanied by another impressive Ennio Morricone score, a herd which would-be greatest gunslinger, Nobody, proposes that Fonda's character face single-handedly to get him into the history books before Nobody draws him down. (Making the reference explicit, Nobody reads "Sam Peckinpah" off a grave marker in the scene leading to the first appearance here of "the wild bunch.")

As derivative as this movie may be, it's still enjoyable for its performances, its photography, its score, its style, its "twist" ending, its speed-up scenes which give Nobody's antics a silent Chaplin hearkening, and its one-off take on the spaghetti western which Leone made popular.

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 .

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'.)

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.