My Name Is Nobody
Directed by Tonino Valerii
- comedy
- western
The story
Jack Beauregard, an aging gunman of the Old West, only wants to retire in peace and move to Europe, but a young gunfighter known as "Nobody" who idolizes Beauregard wants him to go out in a blaze of glory. So, he arranges for Jack to face the 150-man gang known as The Wild Bunch and earn his place in history.
What it’s like
Sun-bleached desert under a hard, high light, with wide Techniscope-style vistas of mesas and dusty plains that give the whole film the scale of a painted postcard. Director Tonino Valerii frames his showdowns with a spaghetti-western sense of theatre: slow zooms toward squinting faces, Ennio Morricone-flavoured brass and whistled melodies that swell just before the draw, and then sudden silence. The vibe is wry and warm, a sunny deadpan comedy about the end of an era that drifts between elegiac nostalgia and cheeky mischief. Its rhythm is loose and ambling, with long stretches of talk, horseback travel and tavern banter punctuated by bursts of slapstick and staged gunplay. Gunfire is frequent and stylised, with some bloodless comic deaths and a few sharper moments of violence, but nothing lingers on gore. Terence Hill's bright, irreverent kid and Henry Fonda's weary, dignified old gunman form an affectionate mentor-and-disciple pairing that softens as the film goes on. Best suited to fans of playful westerns and anyone wanting a good-natured, witty adventure with light action and a bittersweet undercurrent.
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