STEPHEN'S MOVIE GUIDE

It was the combination of Sergio Leone’s sense of both epic vista and the power of astonishing close ups, combined with Morricone’s iconic, unique, and evocative scores that people most associate with the spaghetti Western genre. Plot wise, they normally involve an anti-hero – no clean cut white hats and black hats as was common in that period of American movies. Revenge and avarice are common themes. The look of the movies is defined largely by a region of Spain where the movies were often filmed. The earliest European Westerns were co-produced between Italy and Spain, and they remained co-financers into the genre’s hey-day. The sound as well – apart from Leone’s scores – was unique. Italian studios shot differently to their US counterparts – in the US sound was shot live, and ADR (post dubbing) was more the exception for voices only. By contrast, Italian Westerns did not record the sound live, so all sound, voices, wind, horses, everything, was layered on afterwards with different actors and foley artists. This creates a heightened reality, which allowed the director another tool to heighten a mood or a moment. If you watch a Leone movie you might notice that just as a gun is fired and someone is killed, another sound will happen at just that point to emphasise the drama – a horse neighing, or a breaking window for example. Leone would ask for the music to be composed ahead of shooting, and play the music on set, and cut the scenes to the music, rather than constrain composers to write music for the already shot and cut movie. This created a rhythm of the movie that was uniquely spaghetti Western.

Leone completed his foray into Westerns after his Dollars trilogy by making Once Upon A Time in the West, arguably one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Western of all time, and with Leone’s exit the genre gradually declined through the 70’s. Which brings us to My Name is Nobody.

Leone had written an idea for a movie, but was now focused on producing his magnum opus “Once Upon a Time In America”, a 4 hour epic about the rise of the mob in the US. So directorial duties fell to Tonino Valerii, Leone’s assistant director on “A Fistful of Dollars” who had gone on to have his own career as director. Leone reportedly filled in for a few days when the director came down with an ear infection, and offered to help out on some second unit shots, so one can argue this could be considered a late Leone Western to some degree.

In style, the tone is significantly more comedic – and for Italians, this means slapstick. This was a departure from the more serious Leone movies, and may be part of the reason the movie performed poorly in the US, despite good contemporaneous reviews. So, expect the occasional custard pie, or speeded up film, as well as exaggerated sounds. At the same time as the slapstick, Henry Fonda plays it completely straight, and the relationship between him and Nobody becomes the core of the movie, and the better for it. What’s more, Morricone produces another score which is at once instantly identifiable as Morricone, and yet distinct in its tone from the Leone movies.

In theme, the movie plays up its timing as a late entry to the genre – almost embracing the idea of celebrating the end of a genre, the end of a period of history. Time and legacy loom large, from Fonda looking at his watch, to the ticking in the background of key scenes.. even the ship Fonda is travelling to is called the Sundowner.

So does this film deserve to sink into security, or is it worthy of a place as an enjoyable footnote to the best of the Spaghetti Westerns?

For Terence Hill, at one point the highest paid and most successful Italian actor, this was his favourite of his own movies. For you..? As always, the answer is to watch for yourself, and make up your own mind.