My Name is Nobody

By Nornia Nitschke, Lisa Walter, Johannes Wilhelm

"My Name is Nobody" is one of the famous Italo-Western (Spaghetti Western) movies. It was released in 1973 in Italy and directed by Tonino Valerii. The idea for the movie was by Sergio Leone who mainly built this sub-genre of Western films.

The story centers on the young ‘Nobody’. A young blond and blue eyed cowboy living from one day to another. He is a gambler and thus sees life as a whole big game. He comes across the so-called ‘Wild Horde’, a gang of thieves. This is where ‘Beauregard’ comes into play. He is an old and tired man, but was once considered a legend among the cowboys and the populace of the south-west. Nobody idolizes him, but quickly recognizes that his idol is a man which does no longer live up to his legend. But since he came across the Wild Horde he now has a solution for Beauregard in order to depart in glory. He is supposed to die in combat with the Wild Bunch, facing them alone and taking them out, but dying along the shootout. That is when Nobody begins to tail Beauregard throughout New Mexico (1898) and by that encountering many of Beauregard’s old enemies and learning of his plan to set out for Europe from New Orleans. During this voyage Nobody sets in motion his plan through a certain turn of events that gets him engaged with the leader of the Wild Horde ‘Sullivan’. There he learns of the equipment of Sullivan’s gang and how Beauregard is related to them. He finally accomplishes his goal of the final showdown between the lone Beauregard and the whole Wild Horde. Nobody tells Beauregard of dynamite inside the saddle bags of the Wild Bunch and thus enables him to disable many enemies with a few precise shots. At the end of the showdown they escape in a stolen train and Nobody helps his idol one last time. They both fake a showdown within a city in which Beauregard is killed by Nobody, for the audience. Beauregard then slips away in silence and is able to depart to Europe. Where Beauregard was supposedly killed the movie then shows a sign that reads: ‘Nobody Was Faster On The Draw’

In this movie we can find several of the most dominant themes when it comes to the American West. First of all are the cowboys. Terence Hill is the perfect actor for portraying the cowboys. He is handsome, witty and cunning. He displays every aspects that everyone expects of the cowboys. Even the later glorification can be found, displayed onto the character of Beauregard. He takes his glorified last-stand and even survives that in order to depart with dignity, memorized by everyone. They are the knights of their time. But with losing their armor, they found their freedom and where able to explore the land. But we can see another part of the American West portrayed here.

New Mexico consists mostly of an arid and desert-like landscape and therefor stands for the hardships which the people of the west had to tackle every day. Hard labor, marauding bandits and the hard climate which they had to face. The relentless sun and the constant wind ad to all what made life hard in this area and the movie shows some significant insight into all that.

But the movie also tells us of a very important part of the life in the Wild West. Nobody can survive alone. Everyone depends on one another in order to survive all the struggles they are put through. The harsh environment, landscape and people alike, demand the most of everyone. Just through unity they can overcome such villains like Sullivan, which existed sure enough. The west was a dangerous place, but the movie shows in several ways how this was overcome.

Through the humoristic attitude added to the character of Nobody, the movie was less grave then it could have been. That makes it a very fine example of European culture, which portrays the American West.

The movie surely is an older example of the European popular culture since it is nearly 30 years old. But at least in Germany it is one of the most famous Spaghetti Western films and enjoys cult status. Therefore we thought it worth to be mentioned.