In 1973, the year before Blazing Saddles released, the spaghetti western was dead. Sergio Leone had already made what many consider to be the greatest western of all time. His assistant director on the first two Dollar films, Tonino Valerii, went on to direct Day of Anger with Lee Van Cleef. So it was surprising that Leone arranged to have Valerii direct My Name Is Nobody, a send-up of the subgenre they had defined.
Jack Beauregard (Henry Fonda) is a bit of a legend in the gunslingin’ world, which means he frequently has to dispatch the men who’ve come to kill him for rep. In the aftermath of his latest shootout, a bystander asks, “Is there anyone faster?” The reply: “Nobody.” Enter Nobody, a childlike wanderer played by Terence Hill.
Three bad guys attempt to dupe Nobody into delivering a booby trapped picnic basket to Jack. Nobody agrees. When Jack asks what’s in the basket, Nobody says, “Oh, this? I reckon it’s a bomb.” To which Jack replies, “I reckon you’re right.” Nobody tosses the basket back to the bad guys and yells, “He didn’t want it!” as the basket explodes.
Meanwhile, a group of bandits known as the Wild Bunch (an intentional reference to Sam Peckinpah, whose name also appears on a grave marker) are laundering stolen gold by passing it off as the production of a dummy mining operation. Although Jack assumes Nobody is just another gunslinger who’s come to kill him for a shot at fame, Nobody reveals that he idolizes the gunslinger; he actually wants Jack to take on the gang single-handedly so that his name can go down in history books. Jack just wants to quietly retire to Europe.
Like Two Mules for Sister Sara, My Name is Nobody is not what I’d call a classic, but it’s more memorable than most movies. Then again, maybe it’s only memorable because we’ve seen some of these scenes a hundred times before, only this time Leone and Valerii have turned them into gags. Also in on the joke: Ennio Morricone, whose score plays like a parody of his own works. You get the feeling these guys weren’t mourning the death of the spaghetti western, but merrily digging its grave.
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