My Name Is Nobody

Lonesome Gun. Remember folks, just because it's not my bag doesn't mean it's a bad film... Il mio nome è Nessuno (My Name Is Nobody) is directed by Tonino Valerii and Sergio Leone and co-written by Leone, Fulvio Morsella and Ernesto Gastaldi. It stars Terence Hill, Henry Fonda and Jean Martin. Music is by Ennio Morricone and cinematography by Giuseppe Ruzzolini. It’s a Spaghetti Western comedy that is highly thought of in like minded circles, but for the casual observer it’s too damn quirky for its own good and gets caught between two worlds. The action quotient is high, the direction, performances and visuals are very good, and the humour, if you like it spoofery flavoured, is never in short supply. While Morricone provides an unusual musical score that ultimately befits the odd nature of the beast as it were. Thematically it has something to say on the changing West, and in fact on the changing of the Western movie as well. While structurally the makers never miss an opportunity to lift and homage from Western movies of the past. It’s very much one for fans of the medium only. 5/10

Having been there and done that, ageing gunslinger “Beauregard” (Henry Fonda) just wants to collect a certain $10,000 he is owed and set sail for a life of luxury in Europe. He has a problem. He has an early example of a super-fan (Terence Hill) who has other plans for his hero. Namely, to take on a “Wild Bunch” consisting of one hundred and fifty of the baddest of the bad. He doesn’t quite come out with this challenge up front; more like manoeuvre his increasignly more aware quarry through a series of scenarios that ultimately lead to a conclusion with a train, a rifle and some very meticulous planning. The “nobody” from the title is determined that whatever happens, there will not just be a blaze but a conflagration of glory but against so many heavily armed men what are the chances? Now there are plenty of threads to this plot that will look familiar to fans of this genre, but with Morricone at the musical helm; Fonda proving convincingly that it’s not just Eastwood who can deliver the dialogue-light, less-is-more, role and then the bright-eyed and mischievous Hill neatly holding it all together, we get quite an intriguing, lively and entertaining couple of hours that depicts the end of an era, oddly enough, for both men.