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Man with No Name

For other uses, see Man with No Name (disambiguation).

The Man with No Name (Italian: Uomo senza nome) is the antihero character portrayed by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy" of Italian Spaghetti Western films: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). He is recognizable by his poncho, brown hat, tan cowboy boots, fondness for cigarillos, and the fact that he rarely speaks.[1]

Man with No Name
Dollars Trilogy character
Clint Eastwood as the Man with No Name in a publicity photo for A Fistful of Dollars
First appearanceA Fistful of Dollars (1964)
Last appearanceThe Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Created bySergio Leone
Portrayed byClint Eastwood
In-universe information
Aliases
  • The Stranger
  • The Hunter
  • The Bounty Killer
  • The Good
  • Americano
  • Mister Sudden Death
  • Señor Ninguno
  • Nameless
  • No Name
  • Blondie
  • Manco
  • Joe
OccupationBounty hunter
NationalityAmerican

The "Man with No Name" concept was invented by the American distributor United Artists. Eastwood's character does have a name, or nickname, which is different in each film: "Joe", "Manco" and "Blondie", respectively.[2][3]

When Clint Eastwood was honored with the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996, Jim Carrey gave the introductory speech and said: "'The Man with No Name' had no name, so we could fill in our own."[4] In 2008, Empire chose the Man with No Name as the 33rd greatest movie character of all time.[5]

Appearances

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Concept and creation

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A Fistful of Dollars was directly adapted from Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961). It was the subject of a lawsuit by Yojimbo's producers.[6] Yojimbo's protagonist, an unconventional rōnin (a samurai with no master) played by Toshiro Mifune, bears a striking resemblance to Eastwood's character: both are quiet, gruff, eccentric strangers with a strong but unorthodox sense of justice and extraordinary proficiency with a particular weapon (in Mifune's case, a katana; in Eastwood's, a revolver).[7]

Like Eastwood's western setting character, Mifune plays a rōnin with no name. When pressed, he gives the pseudonym Sanjuro Kuwabatake (meaning "30-year-old mulberry field"), a reference to his age and something he sees through a window. The convention of hiding the character's arms from view is shared as well, with Mifune's character typically wearing his arms inside his kimono, leaving the sleeves empty.[8] Prior to signing on to Fistful, Eastwood had seen Kurosawa's film and was impressed by the character.[9] During filming, he did not emulate Mifune's performance beyond what was already in the script. He also insisted on removing some of the dialogue in the original script, making the character more silent and thus adding to his mystery.[2] As the trilogy progressed, the character became even more silent and stoic.[citation needed]

The "Man with No Name" sobriquet was actually applied after the films were made, and was a marketing device used by distributor United Artists to promote the three films together in the United States film market.[2][10] The prints of the film were physically trimmed to remove all mention of his names.[2]

Actual names or monikers

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In A Fistful of Dollars (1964), he is called "Joe" by the undertaker, Piripero, and Eastwood's role is credited as "Joe".[11]

In For a Few Dollars More (1965), he is called "Manco" (Spanish for "one-armed"; in fact, in the original Italian-language version he is called "il Monco", a dialectal expression meaning "the One-armed one"), because he does everything left-handed, except for shooting.[12]

In The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), Tuco calls him "Blondie" ("il Biondo", meaning "the Blond one", in Italian) for his light hair. He is also "the Good" ("il Buono"), from which the film receives its name.[13]

In the Dollars book series, he is also known as "The Hunter", "The Bounty Killer", "Mister Sudden Death", "Nameless", "No Name", and "Señor Ninguno" or its literal translation "Mr. None".[citation needed]

Literature

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The popularity of the characters brought about a series of spin-off books, dubbed the "Dollars" series due to the common theme in their titles:

  • A Fistful of Dollars, film novelization by Frank Chandler
  • For a Few Dollars More, film novelization by Joe Millard
  • The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, film novelization by Joe Millard
  • A Coffin Full of Dollars by Joe Millard
  • A Dollar to Die For by Brian Fox (a pseudonym for Todhunter Ballard[14])
  • The Devil's Dollar Sign by Joe Millard
  • The Million-Dollar Bloodhunt by Joe Millard
  • Blood For a Dirty Dollar by Joe Millard

A Coffin Full of Dollars provides some background history; when he was young, The Man with No Name was a ranch hand who was continually persecuted by an older hand named Carvell. The trouble eventually led to a shootout between the two with Carvell being outdrawn and killed; however, an examination of Carvell's body revealed a scar which identified him as Monk Carver, a wanted man with a $1,000 bounty. After comparing the received bounty with his $10-a-month ranch pay, the young cowhand chose to change his life and become a bounty hunter.

In July 2007, American comic book company Dynamite Entertainment announced that they were going to begin publishing a comic book featuring the character, titled The Man With No Name. Set after the events of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the comic is written by Christos Gage. Dynamite refers to him as "Blondie", the nickname Tuco uses for him in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.[15] The first issue was released in March 2008, entitled, The Man with No Name: The Good, The Bad, and The Uglier.[16] Luke Lieberman and Matt Wolpert took over the writing for issues #7–11.[17][18] Initially, Chuck Dixon was scheduled to take over the writing chores with issue #12, but Dynamite ended the series and opted to use Dixon's storyline for a new series titled The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.[19] The new series is not an adaptation of the movie, despite its title. After releasing eight issues, Dynamite abandoned the series.[citation needed]

References and homages in other works

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Animation

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  • Flint Shrubwood, the bounty hunter hired by Duke Igthorn in an episode of Adventures of the Gummi Bears, called "For a Few Sovereigns More", is a parody of both The Man with No Name and Clint Eastwood.[20][21]
  • An episode of Time Squad called "Billy The Baby" features The Man with No Name as a ruthless sheriff chasing the Time Squad, who is teaching Billy the Kid to be a proper bandit.[22]

Anime and manga

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  • Jotaro Kujo, protagonist of Part three of the manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, "Stardust Crusaders", was inspired by The Man with No Name. Author Hirohiko Araki met Eastwood in 2012 as part of the series' 25th anniversary celebration and presented him with an original framed Jotaro Kujo illustration; in return, Eastwood recreated one of the character's signature poses of pointing at the viewer.[23] The pose was directly inspired by Eastwood's character pointing his gun at the camera.

Film

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  • Boba Fett, an antagonist from George Lucas' Star Wars film series, was based on the Man with No Name, according to Jeremy Bulloch, the actor who portrayed him, from his mannerisms to his green-on-white armor that has the same colour scheme as the Man's poncho.[24]
  • Vincent Canby described Fred Williamson's character in the blaxploitation film Boss Nigger as "an immensely self-assured parody" of the Man with No Name character.[25]
  • The 2011 animated Western film Rango mentions multiple times a character named "the Spirit of the West", a mythical figure among the inhabitants of the town of Dirt, who conducts an "alabaster carriage", protected by "golden guardians". Near the end of the film, the titular character meets the Spirit (voiced by Timothy Olyphant) who appears to him as what is implied to be an elderly version of either Eastwood or the Man with No Name (although that is not explicitly stated, except for Rango mentioning that was once the Spirit's appearance's moniker), with the carriage being a golf cart and the guardians being Academy Awards-like statuettes.[26]
  • The movie Willy's Wonderland features The Man with No Name as a drifter, played by Nicolas Cage, who is coerced into a dangerous situation requiring heroic and violent action.

Literature

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Television

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Video games

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  • In the 1992 video game The Town with No Name, the player character is referred to as "the Man with No Name". However, his appearance and personality are different from those of the film character, with his voice resembling that of John Wayne. An unnamed man with a cigarette who resembles the original Man with No Name appears as a non-player character.
  • Solid Snake, protagonist from Hideo Kojima's video game Metal Gear Solid, was visually based on the Man with No Name.[30]
  • A cosmetic item by the name Hat With No Name is available for the Soldier, Demoman, Engineer, and Sniper in Team Fortress 2.[31]

Other

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References

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  1. ^ "Christos Gage on The Man With No Name". 8 September 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d Farino, Ernest (August 2020). "A Fistful of Pasta: The Italian Westerns of Sergio Leone". RetroFan (10). United States: TwoMorrows Publishing: 61–67.
  3. ^ Curti, Roberto (2 August 2016). Tonino Valerii: The Films. McFarland. p. 208. ISBN 9781476626185. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
  4. ^ Ditka, Elaine (2 March 1996). "In the Line of Clint's Praises at AFI Salute". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  5. ^ "The 100 Greatest Movie Characters". Empire. 5 December 2006. Archived from the original on 30 June 2015.
  6. ^ "A Fistful of Dollars and Yojimbo". Side B Magazine. 14 April 2011. Archived from the original on 7 January 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  7. ^ Cumbow, Robert C. (2008). The Films of Sergio Leone. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 12–19. ISBN 978-0-8108-6041-4.
  8. ^ Ebert, Roger (10 April 2005). "Yojimbo". RogerEbert.com.
  9. ^ From an interview conducted for a DVD documentary on Kurosawa
  10. ^ Prickette, James (2012). Actors of the Spaghetti Westerns. Xlibris Corporation. p. 287. ISBN 9781469144290.
  11. ^ McGilligan, Patrick (19 August 2002). Clint: The Life and Legend. Macmillan. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-312-29032-0.
  12. ^ Hughes, Howard (31 March 2006). Once Upon A Time in the Italian West: The Filmgoers' Guide to Spaghetti Westerns. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-85773-045-9.
  13. ^ Wong, Aliza S. (15 December 2018). Spaghetti Westerns: A Viewer's Guide. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 64. ISBN 978-1-4422-6904-0.
  14. ^ Carty, T. J. (2000). A Dictionary of Literary Pseudonyms in the English Language (2nd ed.). Chicago, Ill., USA: Fitzroy Dearborn. p. 272. ISBN 1579582095.
  15. ^ Brady, Matt (15 August 2008). "Christos Gage on The Man With No Name". Newsarama. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  16. ^ Brady, Matt (28 April 2009). "First Look: Dynamite's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly #1". Newsarama. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  17. ^ Brady, Matt (19 August 2008). "The Man With No Name's New Team: Lieberman & Wolpert". Newsarama. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  18. ^ Phegley, Kiel (23 October 2008). "New Writers on The Man With No Name". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  19. ^ Brady, Matt (20 August 2008). "Chuck Dixon to Write The Man With No Name". Newsarama. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  20. ^ "Disney's Adventures of The Gummi Bears: Volume 1 DVD Review". DVDizzy.com. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  21. ^ Michal (14 August 2017). "A Retrospective on Disney's Gummi Bears". The Fandomentals. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  22. ^ "Time Squad Talkback: "Billy The Baby/Father Figure of Our Country" (Spoilers Here!)". Anime Superhero. 28 March 2003. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  23. ^ Sherman, Jennifer (14 October 2012). "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Creator Meets Clint Eastwood". AnimeNewsNetwork. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
  24. ^ Young, Bryan (18 December 2012). "THE CINEMA BEHIND STAR WARS: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY". StarWars.com. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  25. ^ Canby, Vincent (27 February 1975). "'Boss Nigger,' Black Western, Proves a Surprise". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 February 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  26. ^ Breznican, Anthony (6 March 2011). "Johnny Depp's 'Rango': Its top six riffs on classic movies". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  27. ^ King, Stephen (2004). Song of Susannah. Anderson, Darrel. (1st trade ed.). Hampton Falls, N.H.: Donald M. Grant, Publisher. ISBN 9781416521495. OCLC 55492007.
  28. ^ Pascal, Pedro (22 November 2019). The Mandalorian recap: Mando makes a terrible mistake. Entertainment Weekly. Event occurs at 3:19–4:17. Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2020. The Mandalorian is a character I would say built on these icons of film history that we find in some Akira Kurosawa samurai movies, Sergio Leone cowboy westerns, spaghetti westerns, the lonely guy who won't tell you his name, in this case won't show you his face, and a lot of moral ambiguity, and I would say expressed more so in this series and with all of our characters, you know, I think the moral universe of Star Wars can be very specific and kind of black and white, there's good and there's evil, and in this one we start to play with the boundaries of that more, and that is dealt with very interestingly with this character. He's not your typical hero.
  29. ^ O'Rourke, Ryan (2 December 2023). "'Fallout's Walton Goggins Reveals Which Classic Westerns Inspired The Ghoul". Collider. Archived from the original on 5 December 2023.
  30. ^ "Yoji Shinkawa Interview: Segment 4". Konami. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
  31. ^ Valve. "Hat With No Name - Team Fortress 2 Wiki". Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  32. ^ Hill, Jim (8 February 2020). "Why Clint Eastwood was a last minute addition to Disney-MGM's "Great Movie Ride"". jimhillmedia.com. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
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