I enjoy this film, especially Leone parts like the beginning or cemetery scene. I can’t say anything wrong about cast, it’s some kind of chemistry between Fonda and Hill. Still, it’s not my top15.
[quote=“MunchhausenPL, post:41, topic:71”]I enjoy this film, especially Leone parts like the beginning or cemetery scene.[/quote]Which scenes were actually directed by Leone? These scenes look much like Leone but I have heard that he directed only some comedy scenes, like the bar scene and the urinal scene.
The 1st scene most likely, and probably some more scenes with Hill when he arrives in the town with the fair.
But he was present at some more of the key scenes like Fonda finally facing the wild bunch (with no leading ladies amongst them) and the final duel (shot in New Orleans).
But anyway if he only conceived these scenes or the whole film (like he did for Giu la testa before he took over the direction chair), or if he only was on the set supervising, or if he directed them himself, at least many, many scenes bear his mark so obviously, that the Leone style is mostly omnipresent.
Nevertheless it remains speculative who of the 2 directors was responsible for what (good and bad).
I prefer to see Leone as the creative force behind Nobody, especially as there is nothing in Vallerii’s previous westerns which could match the brillance of the best scenes in My Name Is Nobody.
Vallerii was only an ok director, and he lacks any inspiration of Leone, he was a good copier, no more no less (but in the poor A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die, also scripted by Ernesto Gastaldi, not even this).
Very enjoyable fim. 
Well, let me start of by saying that I’ve been lurking on these boards for a few weeks now after discorvering the site when I decided to go on a Spaghetti kick. Up until recently my only experience with the genre has been the films of Leone(Ive seen all except “Sucker”) and as shocking as this may be, I’m not a big fan. Sure his are obviously some of the most polished Spaghettis and he was more disciplined, dedicated,and possibly more passionate than other directors working in the genre but I still personally find his scripts a bit of a mess, his pacing horrible, and the way he handles emmotion melodramatic to say the least.
But there were enough positives in his films for me to know that the genre could offer some great things, therfore I decided to seek out as many non Leone films as possible. I’ve only seen a handful so far and a couple have been amazing(both Corbucci films, Django and Silence).
Now onto Nobody. Unfortunately it is not one of the great ones in my eyes. As I’ve said I’ve seen some others Spaghettis so far but this is the only one I really felt compelled to write about. I mean I don’t think I really need to tell people why Django or Silence are great, you know? But I did feel a need to express my dislike for this film simply because it dissapointed me more than I could have imagined.
It like most of Leone’s films has a couple of awesome aspects but the rest does not impress. I for one hated Hill’s character and the story on the whole just didnt work IMO. I will say the cemetary scene was by far the best aspect of the film, it was pretty damn awesome actually and the wild bunch shots were pretty cool as well but the script and, even more so, Hills BS really ruined anything positive the film had going for it. All I can say is that this film doesnt make me want to hurry out and see another comedy Spaghetti.
Hi Goodfella, if you didn’t like Nobody, be warned it is probably the best comedy Spaghetti out there. You’d better avoid all of the others! I agree about Hill’s slapstick antics being very annoying and the cemetery scene being awesome. It’s a film I find myself frequently pressing the fast forward button while I watch it. It is both brilliant and utter crap. Leone only “supervised” the direction of it, so I would guess the best parts are his doing.
Welcome to the board
You’re right in your remarks about Leone, but this is his typical style that many appreciate him for.
Personally I think maybe he became a little too obsessed with making drawn-out films with epic proportions.
And his first western Fistful of Dollars is to me at least possibly his best film since it doesn’t suffer from this “overdoing” in any way.
Still he is the unquestionable “father of the spaghetti western genre” and most of his ideas and visions were carried over by other SW directors.
The question of how much input Leone had on this movie has been discussed many times and will probably never be resolved. So, if to many this is tantamount to flogging a dead horse, my apologies. In any case, here’s my take on things…
I submit that just by watching the movie there are several sequences that are unmistakably dominated by Leone’s artistic hallmark and were definitely not directed by Valerii:
- The fairground sequence up to Hill’s entry into the Saloon.
- The train station sequence centered around the urinal scene but also including the gold being loaded on to the train and Hill riding up on his horse before hand, and the train leaving with Hill as the driver at the end of the sequence.
- The shots concerning Hill and the train during and preceding Valerii’s direction of Fonda’s stand against the Wild Bunch.
Two other sequences bear flickers of Leone style which is confirmed by external evidence:
- The Saloon sequence with the shattering glasses (as confirmed by Neil Summers in “Westerns all’italiana” #26).
- The final duel (as confirmed by photographic evidence of Leone helping Valerii in Frayling’s book “Sergio Leone”).
The rest of the movie, I submit was Valerii’s work. In particular, aside from being a send-up of the introduction to “Once Upon a Time in the West”, the introduction at the barber’s shop, which Leone in Simsolo’s “Conversations avec Sergio Leone” claims to have directed himself, bears none of the Leone hallmarks at all. Nevertheless, even when Leone was in Italy while Valerii was shooting in America, Leone was clearly breathing down Valerii’s neck throughout; the situation seems very reminiscent of the role that several people assume Albert Band to have played over Corbucci in “The Hellbenders”.
Strangely enough, I’m not interested at all in Leone’s degree of involvement in this movie. So what?! Does it change anything? Is the movie better if he made 15% or maybe 45%?
He was somehow involved in it, that’s enough for me.
[quote=“Dillinger, post:49, topic:71”]Strangely enough, I’m not interested at all in Leone’s degree of involvement in this movie. So what?! Does it change anything? Is the movie better if he made 15% or maybe 45%?
He was somehow involved in it, that’s enough for me.[/quote]
I concur. Great movie. Good job to both Leone AND Valerii.
Novecento, why do you think the opening scene “bears none of the Leone hallmarks at all”?
For me this scene is pure Leone, even if it would have been out of a film Leone had nothing to do with.
But the directing of this scene has a visual quality which I can’t find in any of Vallerii’s previous westerns. And the film is packed with similar fascinating shots and scenes.
Try watching the scene in Cemetery Without Crosses directed by Leone and see if you would have known it wasn’t Hossein without without being told so.
The CWC scene was made for a Hossein film and could easily have been directed by Hossein himself the same way. I don’t know why Leone did this (if he really did it and it’s not only a rumour), but such a scene for the film of another director doesn’t prove much.
But the opening scene of Nobody is made in a way you only find in the other Leone Spagies.
Nobody is at least a different film with a different atmosphere. But so was OuTW compared to the Dollar trilogy.
The melancholy of the Fonda scenes and the parodying humour and slapstick of the Hill scenes are without a direct example from Leone’s previous films, but they are nevertheless showing the same approach to create a certain atmosphere via directing.
But some scenes are pure Leone, whether they were directed by Leone himself or by Valerri as his clone.
Especially the opening scene. And it’s not only the obvious similarities to OUTW with the scenes of waiting underlaid with the amplified noises. Alone the opening tele lens shot with the 3 riders approaching has a visual beauty I haven’t find in any of Valerii’s previous westerns, not even in a rudimentary form.
I agree with most of the views posted on this movie. While the slapstick stuff is tiring it also makes this a movie that my whole family can watch (our 8 year old loves it as well as the theme which she is listening to as I post). At the same time, the serious angle to this film makes up for the comedic aspect that may take away from making this film enjoyable. This is a movie that should be judged on a different branch of the Spaghetti Western tree.
I’m still interested why of all scenes out of MNIN just the opening scene “bears none of the Leone hallmarks at all”.
Valerii in his interview at http://www.terencehill.it/int_tonval_en.html :
Finally, the first day of shooting the film arrived. Sergio Leone sent me a beautiful telegram, “I’m sure you’ll make a beautiful film” And we were off. In the morning, after 5 hours in the car, we got there. Henry Fonda was already made up, and we had made a barber shop with a net: that was thanks to our wonderful set designer. It was really just a ruin, and he didn’t do anything very complicated, but took an old fishing net that he found, extended it and it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen done by a set designer. Otherwise there was nothing, and we added a chair and the other things.
See the discussion at Il mio nome è Nessuno aka My Name Is Nobody (1973) where understandably there seems to be more interest in this than here.
Edit: Also Western Books
This sw is my fafourite movie. I also spotted the shadows in the valley. My fafourite scenes are:
-Intro (barbershop)
-Credits (fish)
- Graveyard scene
-Nobody’s job to shoot Beauregard - Wild Bunch shooting
- The showdown
-The letter to Nobody
The only scene which I a bit dislike is the drinking scene.
The Opening scene is & should be, without debate, an obviously Leone inspired scene. The slo-mo is the only non-Leone factor but ties it together nicely. I kind of cringe at the shaving sound, but that’s just me.
Yes and no-one would dispute that. The operative word is ‘hallmark’ in its sense of a marker of genuineness. The sentence, in context, actually began: “In particular, aside from being a send-up of the introduction to ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’…”
The music also sounds quite Leonesque 