My Name is Nobody (1973) is sometimes silly, sometimes clumsy, often brilliant, but always entertaining. The basic story line is about a young gunfighter who manipulates his idol into a final grand act that would make him a legend. My Name is Nobody is a remarkable unique addition to the Spaghetti western genre, although maybe that uniqueness grew of circumstances. The film is much more complex than just another comic film with Terence Hill. It is four types of the westerns rolled into one:
1) A classic American John Ford western represented by Henry Fonda. 2) A revisionist western from the late sixties/early seventies with references to Sam Peckinpah and The Wild Bunch (complete with slow motion deaths, not standard in Italian westerns). 3) A Sergio Leone western with another memorable score by Ennio Morricone. 4) A Trinity-style western with Terence Hill (but without Bud Spencer) parodying the Italian "Man-With-No-Name" icon.
John Ford was from Irish descent and is considered the most important director of westerns in American cinema. He did not invent the genre but he certainly defined it. Maybe one of Leone's fantasies was that he would produce the last western of his idol John Ford. My Name is Nobody ends with a long monologue which is very unusual for a western and even more unusual for a Sergio Leone production. The monologue is delivered off screen by regular Ford-actor Henry Fonda. It could be that this monologue was Leone's wish of how he wanted to be remembered and appreciated by his idol: continuing the western genre in "his own funny way" and becoming a Somebody like his idol. Which is the basic theme of the film. Of course in reality the last film John Ford directed was released in 1966 and by then the old master had long lost interest in the movie business. So he probably never heard of Sergio Leone. Also in the monologue Henry Fonda calls himself a National Monument (which Fonda certainly had become at that point), during that line behind Fonda a boat passes with the name: President. The point being in case we still didn't get it: one of the early starring roles for Henry Fonda was Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) directed by John Ford.
The uneven tone of My Name is Nobody can also be contributed to the fact that the film had two directors. After Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Duck You Sucker (1971), Leone wanted to continue producing Sergio Leone-westerns, but mainly directed by one of his assistants/admirers. The name of Sergio Leone appears three times during the credits of My Name is Nobody, just to make it clear who is the true author. It is still unclear who directed what, but the input of Tonino Valerii should not be underestimated. He had previously proved to be a good director with the Italian westerns Day of Anger (1967) and especially The Price of Power (1969), the first film ever that supports the theory that the President Kennedy assassination was a conspiracy. So Valerii was much more than a glorified assistant.
In 1964 A Fistful of Dollars put unknown director Sergio Leone, Italian composer Ennio Morricone and American TV actor Clint Eastwood on the map. The sequel For a Few Dollars More (1965) defined the Italian western and broke all box office records in Europe. It became the most successful Italian film ever made. Even the third sequel and more famous The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966) released a year later did not break this record. The main reason was that in 1965 Leone had little competition, but because of the juggernaut success of For a Few Dollars More, everybody in Italy was making westerns the following years. Among them was Django of Sergio Corbucci, which was also a big smash at the box office.
Five years after the release of For a Few Dollars More, two comic spaghetti westerns pushed the two Sergio's from their number one spot: They Call Me Trinity (1970) and the even more successful sequel Trinity Is Still My Name (1971).
The Trinity films were comic spaghetti-westerns for all ages and they are considered to be the death of the serious spaghetti western. But in truth the genre had already peaked in the years 1967-1968. After Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Corbucci's The Great Silence (1968) there was nowhere to go but down. So if the genre had to be killed, then there was no better way than to do it with big belly laughs. The Trinity films broke all box office records in Italy and would hold that record for more than a decade. It made international stars of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer and although it was already their fourth and fifth collaboration, this was the first full time comedy they did. They would repeat this formula mostly in modern day settings with 10 more movies, until 1985 when the Trinity formula had played itself out. Spencer and Hill would have one more reunion in 1994 with the disappointing Troublemakers.
Sergio Leone in the early seventies must have thought: "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em". So he produced a film with the star of the Trinity films in the lead. It kind of worked, since My Name is Nobody made more money than the first Trinity film, but did not break the record of the sequel. So Leone did not reclaim his throne at the box office. But appropriately My Name is Nobody was the last western Henry Fonda did and was released in the same year Leone's idol John Ford died. It was not the last Italian western released, but My Name is Nobody should be considered as a remarkable epitaph to the spaghetti western.
1) A classic American John Ford western represented by Henry Fonda. 2) A revisionist western from the late sixties/early seventies with references to Sam Peckinpah and The Wild Bunch (complete with slow motion deaths, not standard in Italian westerns). 3) A Sergio Leone western with another memorable score by Ennio Morricone. 4) A Trinity-style western with Terence Hill (but without Bud Spencer) parodying the Italian "Man-With-No-Name" icon.
John Ford was from Irish descent and is considered the most important director of westerns in American cinema. He did not invent the genre but he certainly defined it. Maybe one of Leone's fantasies was that he would produce the last western of his idol John Ford. My Name is Nobody ends with a long monologue which is very unusual for a western and even more unusual for a Sergio Leone production. The monologue is delivered off screen by regular Ford-actor Henry Fonda. It could be that this monologue was Leone's wish of how he wanted to be remembered and appreciated by his idol: continuing the western genre in "his own funny way" and becoming a Somebody like his idol. Which is the basic theme of the film. Of course in reality the last film John Ford directed was released in 1966 and by then the old master had long lost interest in the movie business. So he probably never heard of Sergio Leone. Also in the monologue Henry Fonda calls himself a National Monument (which Fonda certainly had become at that point), during that line behind Fonda a boat passes with the name: President. The point being in case we still didn't get it: one of the early starring roles for Henry Fonda was Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) directed by John Ford.
The uneven tone of My Name is Nobody can also be contributed to the fact that the film had two directors. After Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Duck You Sucker (1971), Leone wanted to continue producing Sergio Leone-westerns, but mainly directed by one of his assistants/admirers. The name of Sergio Leone appears three times during the credits of My Name is Nobody, just to make it clear who is the true author. It is still unclear who directed what, but the input of Tonino Valerii should not be underestimated. He had previously proved to be a good director with the Italian westerns Day of Anger (1967) and especially The Price of Power (1969), the first film ever that supports the theory that the President Kennedy assassination was a conspiracy. So Valerii was much more than a glorified assistant.
In 1964 A Fistful of Dollars put unknown director Sergio Leone, Italian composer Ennio Morricone and American TV actor Clint Eastwood on the map. The sequel For a Few Dollars More (1965) defined the Italian western and broke all box office records in Europe. It became the most successful Italian film ever made. Even the third sequel and more famous The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966) released a year later did not break this record. The main reason was that in 1965 Leone had little competition, but because of the juggernaut success of For a Few Dollars More, everybody in Italy was making westerns the following years. Among them was Django of Sergio Corbucci, which was also a big smash at the box office.
Five years after the release of For a Few Dollars More, two comic spaghetti westerns pushed the two Sergio's from their number one spot: They Call Me Trinity (1970) and the even more successful sequel Trinity Is Still My Name (1971).
The Trinity films were comic spaghetti-westerns for all ages and they are considered to be the death of the serious spaghetti western. But in truth the genre had already peaked in the years 1967-1968. After Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) and Corbucci's The Great Silence (1968) there was nowhere to go but down. So if the genre had to be killed, then there was no better way than to do it with big belly laughs. The Trinity films broke all box office records in Italy and would hold that record for more than a decade. It made international stars of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer and although it was already their fourth and fifth collaboration, this was the first full time comedy they did. They would repeat this formula mostly in modern day settings with 10 more movies, until 1985 when the Trinity formula had played itself out. Spencer and Hill would have one more reunion in 1994 with the disappointing Troublemakers.
Sergio Leone in the early seventies must have thought: "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em". So he produced a film with the star of the Trinity films in the lead. It kind of worked, since My Name is Nobody made more money than the first Trinity film, but did not break the record of the sequel. So Leone did not reclaim his throne at the box office. But appropriately My Name is Nobody was the last western Henry Fonda did and was released in the same year Leone's idol John Ford died. It was not the last Italian western released, but My Name is Nobody should be considered as a remarkable epitaph to the spaghetti western.