Spaghetti Parodies Taste Funny (My Name Is Nobody (DVD))

Member Name: berlioz II

Product:	My Name Is Nobody (DVD)
Date:	29/03/09 (95 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Charming and lighthearted comedy with a lot of heart

Disadvantages: The humour may not work for all, and Terence Hill is an acquired taste (though not too bad here)

The greater boom of spaghetti westerns by the mid-1970s had already began to approach their demise, and many consider 1973's My Name is Nobody to have been the last, great spaghetti western, with the exception of 1976's controversial Keoma, which splits people's opinions quite decisively. For Sergio Leone, who'd arguably made the whole genre of film popular to the degree that it enjoyed, was busy trying to set up what was to become his last film, Once Upon a Time in America, and in the interim worked as a screenwriter and producer. Many of these products were westerns, even if Leone himself had no real interest in them anymore, or at least in directing them. Even Giù la Testa landed as his responsibility simply because nobody else would do it and the stars demanded it. In the mean time, the Italian western genre in general had largely become almost a parody of itself, with comedies faring all the more better than the largely trashy type of violent and cheap serious westerns. One of the most popular of these were the Terence Hill and Bud Spencer starred Trinity films, They Call Me Trinity and Trinity is STILL My Name, both films making Terence Hill in particular a popular star in Italy, and both Hill and Spencer were to star in many such films (westerns and non-westerns) that essentially were the same films only dressed in different packages. Leone was not blind to this popularity, and identifying the possibility of making fun of the spaghetti western genre he helped make popular, and even making fun of the actual parodying of westerns Leone, along with writers Fulvio Morsella and Ernesto Gastaldi, came up with the idea of their own parody that would at one part be a wacky comedy, but at the same time be a tribute to the old western mythology that he had already extensively explored in Once Upon a Time in the West.

My Name is Nobody deals with a young, wannabe gunfighter with an easy outlook on life, and his desire to see one particular legendary gunfighter named Jack Beauregard, who is planning on retiring, to leave his mark in the history books by facing the 150 men strong group of vicious bounty hunters called The Wild Bunch on his own. The result is a fun and more-successful-than-usual comedy western that mixes in the popular slapstick Italian comedy styles with an authentically Leonean style of construct. The film as a parody is evident in almost everything it does. Terence Hill has now taken the place of the ultra-serious "man with no name" as he is never given a specific name, and only refers to himself as being a "Nobody". Nobody, however, is not a serious character like Clint Eastwood and Franco Nero, and is extremely happy-go-lucky, essentially not a million miles away from his popular Trinity character, and he draws a unique blend of no-care-in-the-world attitude mixed with a certain cunning sense to make him a fairly charming fellow, and considerably less irritating than Trinity. Juxtaposed to this is the world-weary old gunfighter Jack Beauregard, played by Henry Fonda in his last western role, eager to once more have something to do with Leone. Unlike his turn as Frank in Once Upon a Time in the West, though, Fonda's Jack is here considerably less psychotic, yet still is an old school gunslinger with a reputation to suggest he's not one to take lightly, which is only emphasised by his cool and knowing air brought about by life experience.

The two disparate characters actually end up working quite well together, with some witty repartee coming across quite nicely, while Fonda very well balances the film down from becoming too absurd a comedy due to Hill's overt personality. The plot itself is all in good fun and makes a lot of fun of the genre without letting it get too silly. Particularly the aspect of the aging gunfighter wanting to just go away and hang up his gun makes the film heavily entrenched in the Leone mould, perfectly recounted in a long epilogue on how the world has changed. These considerations also come to play a lot in how Beauregard tries to stay away from trouble as much as possible, and is plotting on sailing off to Europe, while Nobody constantly tries to coax him into facing the Wild Bunch. This reticence on Jack's part, however, isn't easy to achieve as there are many people after him due to his dead brother having been a part of a money laundering operation that the Wild Bunch head, and who see Beauregard as a dangerous risk. But still Jack rather buys his way out of the trouble instead of trying to avenge his brother or ending up dead while gunning down everybody who comes his way. It is the Leone wanting to find peaceful solutions and not just rely on simple gun toting in order to get things done unless it really comes down to it. In that aspect, My Name is Nobody is more than just a comedy that parodies the western... it becomes a film that carries on its back a large amount of more depth than just an exercise to make fun of familiar western tropes.

The film was directed by Leone's long time second unit director Tonino Valerii, with Leone himself directing a couple of choice scenes that are easily recognisable in being authentically Leone. And even if Valerii doesn't really have the same kind of epic touch of Leone, and his building of tension isn't anywhere near as tense as in a Leone film, he does a good job at making a Leone-lite film that is charming and largely tastefully executed. For his direction as befits a second unit director that Leone also originally was, one must specifically mention that the grouping of tens of horse riders to comprise the Wild Bunch, who always ride together with a thundering noise of hoofs and pillows of dust, makes for quite an awe-inspiring sight whenever they appear in the film and make for some very powerful shots. There are also a lot of little details that make for fun observations, such as the various little references to Sam Peckinpah, who's name appears on one grave ("a fine name in Navajo"), the name of the desperado group "The Wild Bunch" references to the famous film of his of the same name, and the long duster coats can be seen everywhere, which he popularised in his own films. The music was done once more by Ennio Morricone and, just as the film, he certainly went all out in providing a flamboyant and weird score, which is alternately amusing, eclectic, parodying of his own work, and nostalgic. The Wild Bunch's music in particular is worth to note as they are defined by Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries performed with a harmonica and the use of voices is very odd, though the score generally is applied somewhat more editorially than normal.

In the final analysis, My Name is Nobody is one of the last great Italian westerns, and considerably better than a lot of the other comedy westerns produced during this time thanks mostly to the people involved in the production. The humour can be a bit of an acquired taste, which at times is very slapsticky, but is considerably more palatable than what it is in say the Trinity films. Terence Hill can be annoying, and to a certain extent he is so here as well, but again the inclusion of an icon like Henry Fonda balances this out enough to not be a major detriment, particularly when one keeps in mind his previous turn as Frank. So, if the humour aspects don't bother you... or if you do actually find this type of humour funny, then My Name is Nobody is a great film to see. It is a classic example of the spaghetti western genre, and even if it is not directed by Leone, it still has his thumbprints all over it. In a way this is the last great Leone western, and as such is required viewing to any of his fans. A fun comedy with a heart... what else do you need?

© berlioz, 2009

Summary: Spaghetti Westerns Vol.6