Man with No Name
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This article only describes one highly specialized aspect of its associated subject. (December 2012) |
| Man with no name (Italian: Uomo senza nome) |
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| Dollars Trilogy character | |
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| First appearance | A Fistful of Dollars |
| Last appearance | The Good, the Bad and the Ugly |
| Created by | Sergio Leone |
| Portrayed by | Clint Eastwood |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | "Joe" (A Fistful of Dollars) "Manco" (For a Few Dollars More) "Blondie" (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) |
| Aliases | The Stranger, The Hunter, The Bounty Killer |
| Occupation | Bounty hunter/bounty killer |
| Nationality | American |
The man with no name (Italian: Uomo senza nome) is a stock character in Western films, but the term is usually applied to the character portrayed by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's Spaghetti Western films: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), also known as the "Dollars Trilogy."
In 2008, Empire chose "The Man With No Name" as the 43rd greatest movie character of all time.[1]
The character also appeared in the 2011 film Rango, but was not voiced by Clint Eastwood.
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Concept and creation[edit]
A Fistful of Dollars was directly adapted from Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961). It was the subject of a successful lawsuit by Yojimbo's producers.[2][dead link] The film's protagonist, an unconventional ronin 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; for Eastwood, a revolver).
Like Eastwood's character, Mifune's ronin is nameless. When pressed, he gives the pseudonym Sanjuro Kuwabatake (meaning "Thirty-year-old Mulberry-field"), a reference to his age and something he sees through a window (although regarding the age he jokes 'Closer to forty actually'). 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.[3] Prior to signing on to Fistful, Eastwood had seen Kurosawa's film and was impressed by the character.[4] 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. As the trilogy progressed, the character became even more silent and stoic.
Yojimbo is itself believed[5] to have been based on Dashiell Hammett's 1929 novel Red Harvest.[6] Kurosawa scholar David Desser and film critic Manny Farber, among others, state categorically that Red Harvest was the inspiration for the Kurosawa film Yojimbo.[7] Leone himself clearly believed this theory, stating:
| “ | Kurosawa's Yojimbo was inspired by an American novel of the serie-noire so I was really taking the story back home again."[8] | ” |
Although Kurosawa never publicly credited Hammett, he privately acknowledged Red Harvest as an influence.[9] The lead character in Hammett's Red Harvest is also nameless, identified only as a Continental Op after the detective agency he works for.[10]
A subsequent film, Last Man Standing (1996) starring Bruce Willis, is a credited remake of Yojimbo.
Actual names or monikers[edit]
- In A Fistful of Dollars, he is called "Joe" by the undertaker, Piripero, and Eastwood is credited as "Joe".
- In For a Few Dollars More, he is called "Manco" (Spanish: "one-armed") because he does everything left-handed, except for shooting.
- In The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Tuco calls him "Blondie" for his relatively fair complexion.
- In the "Dollars" book series (see below), he is also known as "The Hunter", "The Bounty Killer" and "Señor Ninguno" or its literal translation "Mr. Nobody".
Appearances in literature[edit]
The popularity of the character brought about a series of spin-off books, dubbed the "Dollar" 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 - No Name joins a traveling circus as a means of luring out wanted gunmen and is forced to team up with ruthless bounty killer Shadrach to take on Apachito and his gang to recover a bank's stolen money.
- A Dollar to Die For by Brian Fox - While helping a French nobleman fleeing from the fall of Mexico's French government, No Name runs into Tuco from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and the three must work together to recover a fortune in missing gold.
- The Devil's Dollar Sign by Joe Millard - A mysterious sign on the wall of a canyon may lead to a fortune in gold, but No Name finds himself the target of a plan by bounty-hunting Rev. Leemon Fairfeather to collect a bounty on HIM!
- The Million-Dollar Bloodhunt by Joe Millard - While tracking a minor outlaw, No Name's horse and rifle are stolen and he is forced to team up with a bounty-hunting balloonist to both get them back and track down the brilliant but bumbling outlaw leader Pachuco and his gang.
- Blood For a Dirty Dollar by Joe Millard - Finding two missing scientists may lead No Name to a huge government reward, and not even a dangerous insurance agent and the inhabitants of a mysterious castle will stand in his way.
In July 2007, American comic book company Dynamite Entertainment announced that they were going to begin publishing a comic book featuring 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.[11] The first issue was released in March 2008, entitled, The Man with No Name: The Good, The Bad, and The Uglier.[12] Luke Lieberman and Matt Wolpert took over the writing for issues #s 7-11.[13][14] Initially, Chuck Dixon was scheduled to take over the writing chores with issue #12,[15] but Dynamite ended the series and opted to use Dixon's storyline for a new series titled The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. The new series is not an adaptation of the movie, despite its title.
References[edit]
- ^ The 100 Greatest Movie Characters| 43. The Man With No Name | Empire. www.empireonline.com (2006-12-05). Retrieved on 2012-04-15.
- ^ Moving Image program notes for Yojimbo
- ^ Roger Ebert review
- ^ From an interview conducted for a DVD documentary on Kurosawa
- ^ Roger Ebert's review of Yojimbo: "Kurosawa's inspiration was Dashiell Hammett's 1929 novel Red Harvest, in which a private eye sets one gang against another."
- ^ Kurosawa's Red Harvests - January 9, 2007 - The New York Sun
- ^ Allen Barra, 'From Red Harvest to Deadwood', Salon (2005)
- ^ Frayling, Spaghetti Westerns (1981)
- ^ David Carradine, Spirit of Shaolin, 1993, Tuttle Publishing, ISBN 0-8048-1828-2. Carradine's memoirs in which Roger Corman recounts Kurosawa acknowledging Red Harvest as his source.
- ^ Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest, 1989, Vintage Publishing, ISBN 0-679-72261-0.
- ^ Christos Gage on Dynamite's The Man with No Name, July 12, 2007, at Newsarama
- ^ Man With No Name: The Good, The Bad And The Uglier #1, Newsarama, March 25, 2008
- ^ The Man With No Name's New Team: Lieberman & Wolpert, Newsarama, August 19, 2008
- ^ New Writers on The Man With No Name, Comic Book Resources, October 23, 2008
- ^ Chuck Dixon to Write The Man With No Name, Newsarama, August 20, 2008
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