Man with No Name
| Man with no name | |
|---|---|
| Dollars Trilogy character | |
 | |
| 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 character portrayed by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone's "Dollars Trilogy" of Spaghetti Western films: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966).
In 2008, Empire chose "The Man With No Name" as the 43rd greatest movie character of all time.[1]
Concept and creation
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] 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 western setting character, Mifune plays a ronin with no name. 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 to have been based on Dashiell Hammett's 1929 novel Red Harvest.[3][5] Kurosawa scholar David Desser and film critic Manny Farber, among others, state categorically that Red Harvest was the inspiration for the Kurosawa film Yojimbo.[6] Leone himself clearly believed this theory, stating "Kurosawa's Yojimbo was inspired by an American novel of the série noire so I was really taking the story back home again."[7]
Although Kurosawa never publicly credited Hammett, Roger Corman claims that Kurosawa privately acknowledged Red Harvest as an influence.[8] The lead character in Hammett's Red Harvest is also nameless, identified only as a Continental Op after the detective agency he works for.[9]
A subsequent film, Last Man Standing (1996) starring Bruce Willis, is a credited remake of Yojimbo.
Actual names or monikers
- 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. He is also "The Good" from which the film receives its name.
- 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
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
- A Dollar to Die For by Brian Fox
- The Devil's Dollar Sign by Joe Millard
- The Million-Dollar Bloodhunt by Joe Millard
- Blood For a Dirty Dollar by Joe Millard
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.[10] The first issue was released in March 2008, entitled, The Man with No Name: The Good, The Bad, and The Uglier.[11] Luke Lieberman and Matt Wolpert took over the writing for issues #7-11.[12][13] 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.[14] The new series is not an adaptation of the movie, despite its title.
Other cultural references
- Max Rockatansky, the titular main character of the Mad Max film series of post-apocalyptic westerns, has been commonly compared to The Man with No Name. In the third film of the series, Beyond Thunderdome, Dr. Dealgood calls Max "The Man with No Name".
- In the Futurama episode "Where the Buggalo Roam", Captain Zapp Brannigan exclaims, "I am the man with no name, Zapp Brannigan, at your service."
- In Rango, the title character meets the Spirit of the West, who he thinks is the Man with No Name. The Spirit replies, "No man can walk out on his own story."
- Jotaro Kujo, protagonist of Part 3 of the long-running 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.[15]
References
- ↑ "The 100 Greatest Movie Characters - 43. The Man With No Name". Empire. 5 December 2006. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
- ↑ "A Fistful of Dollars and Yojimbo". Side B Magazine. 14 April 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ebert, Roger (10 April 2005). "Yojimbo". RogerEbert.com.
- ↑ From an interview conducted for a DVD documentary on Kurosawa
- ↑ Giddins, Gary (9 January 2007). "Kurosawa's Red Harvests". The New York Sun (New York City). Retrieved 2 February 2014.
- ↑ Barra, Allen (28 February 2005). "From "Red Harvest" to "Deadwood"". Salon (San Francisco). Retrieved 2 February 2014.
- ↑ Frayling, Sir Christopher (1 January 1981). Spaghetti Westerns: Cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone. Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd. ISBN 9780710005038.
- ↑ Carradine, David (1993). Spirit of Shaolin. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 9780804818285.
- ↑ Hammett, Dashiell (17 July 1989). Red Harvest. Vintage Books. ISBN 9780679722618.
- ↑ Brady, Matt (15 August 2008). "Christos Gage on The Man With No Name". Newsarama. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
- ↑ Brady, Matt (28 April 2009). "First Look: Dynamite's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly #1". Newsarama. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
- ↑ Brady, Matt (19 August 2008). "The Man With No Name's New Team: Lieberman & Wolpert". Newsarama. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
- ↑ Phegley, Kiel (23 October 2008). "New Writers on The Man With No Name". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
- ↑ Brady, Matt (20 August 2008). "Chuck Dixon to Write The Man With No Name". Newsarama. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
- ↑ Sherman, Jennifer (14 October 2012). "Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Creator Meets Clint Eastwood". AnimeNewsNetwork. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
External links
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