My Name Is Nobody / Il mio nome è Nessuno (Tonino Valerii, Sergio Leone, 1973)

Mprricone was parodying his scores there.

And to such great effect.

Must be cool to be important enough pay homage to yourself.

Just posted my latest thoughts on this over at the SLWB if anyone is interested:

Quote from: Sonny on April 29, 2009, 09:54:14 AM
:smiley: so, in other words, you’re saying Leone was lying?

Have had a bit of free time recently (as exemplified by my numerous postings which will decline again in number soon) and have been reconsidering this topic. This is particularly due to Simsolo’s comments in his interview regarding other authors putting Leone in a bad light.

Leone’s words in Simsolo’s book are “J’ai mis en scène le début, la bataille et le duel final.” Notably he uses the verb “mettre (en scène)” here rather than “tourner” which he uses regarding the introductory scene of “Genius”: “j’ai tourné le prégénérique où l’on voit l’attaque des faux Indiens”.

Now I need Noodles_Leone’s help here regarding my interpretation of the French but I am thinking that the photographic evidence of Leone helping Valerii with the battle and the final duel is solid support of this “mise en scène” but this does not necessarily imply to whom the verb “tourner”, regarding the camera, can be applied and when. Consequently, I think that Leone must have been breathing very heavily down Valerii’s neck during the introductory sequence (particularly due to it being a send up of OUATIW) which would allow him to classify himself as having done most of the “mise en scène”. This does not, however, necessarily mean he was ever behind the camera.

So no, I do not think Leone was lying but I think his statement is easily open to misinterpretation.

Quote from: Sonny on April 29, 2009, 09:54:14 AM
So I just want to know more about Valerii’s style and how it’s so distinct in My Name is Nobody… in other words, how can you be sure that he directed the barber shop scene?

I am watching the barber’s shop scene right now. I know Jenkins wants me to elaborate here too, but I’m not sure how to express it. I may well be fooling myself into believing I can see something which I cannot, but I really do not find it to look like a Leone directed scene. The camera just doesn’t seem to me to move in the way it does when Leone is at the helm. I am, of course, quite possibly wrong in all of this but like to think I’m not :).

There is a French DVD of MNIN[url]http://www.spaghettiwesterndvds.com/movies/my-name-is-nobody-il-mio-nome-e-nessuno/[/url] which has an audio commentary track by Valerii (in Italian…) where he tells what scenes were directed by Leone.

Of course you can choose not to believe him. ;D

A director is called ‘metteur en scène’ in French, direction is 'mise en scène (You may read things like Mise on scene : Claude Chabrol, which is the French equivalent of the English on-screen text Directed by Claude Chabrol)

The logical conclusion is that mettre en scène means ‘to direct’; it does, but it may also mean ‘to design, to develop, to conceive’. So “J’ai mis en scene le début, la bataille et le duel final” may be translated as “I have directed the opening scene, the battle and the final duel”, but also by “I have designed the opening scene, the battle and the final duel”. Like Novecento already stated, mettre en scène does not necessarily imply that Leone was behind the camera all the time.

“J’ai tourné le prégénérique où l’on voit l’attaque des faux Indiens” can only be translated by “I have directed the pre-credit sequence with (literally: in which you see) the attack of the false Indians”

Tourner is the equivalent of the Italian “girare” or the Spanish “girar” (German: drehen); I don’t think there’s an English word that is used in a similar sense. (Although sometimes tourner can be translated by 'to shoot: Ce film a été tourné en Espagne - This film was shot in Spain)

[quote=“Sundance, post:65, topic:71”]There is a French DVD of MNIN which has an audio commentary track by Valerii (in Italian…) where he tells what scenes were directed by Leone.

Of course you can choose not to believe him. ;D[/quote]

Can you tell us which scenes according to this audio track are the ones directly directed by Leone?

At least the question is, like Scherp’s translation suggests, not so much which scenes were directed by Leone, but how much he had controlled the making of the film.

I tend to think that he almost completely controlled the film, that Leone is in fact the real “film maker” of Nobody, but I also think that if he had directed the complete film, he would have changed maybe a lot.

For me still the 6th Leone western.

I can’t, sorry. :stuck_out_tongue: I don’t understand the languages well enough. I have seen the scenes (and other stuff) written somewhere long time ago but it seems I didn’t save that information anywhere.

IF my memory is correct, there were 8 scenes in total, mostly the comedy ones with Hill, and Leone directed part of the scene of Fonda facing the wild bunch. I also remember something about Valerii not liking the “pissing scene” with Hill and the train driver but Leone forced it into the film… although now I’m not sure if it was mentioned in the commentary or somewhere else.

I guess could at some point try to rip the audio track and the french subtitles for it, so anyone understanding those languages could listen to or read the commentary.

Other extras worth mentioning on the disc are (this is actually taken from a message I saved years ago from SWWB :stuck_out_tongue: ):

“Nobody… is Perfect” (55 minutes)–Valerii, Gastaldi, Hill and others talk about the movie, its genesis and shooting. The Terence Hill footage is not new–I already saw it on the British DVD.
“Tonino Valerii et le western” (12 minutes)–Valerii talks about his other SW movies.
“Autour de Sergio Leone” (50 minutes)–Vincenzoni and Donati talk (in French) about Leone.

It would be nice if we had a scene by scene breakdown of who we think directed each scene.

Would be really great if you could!

[quote=“Sundance, post:68, topic:71”]Other extras worth mentioning on the disc are (this is actually taken from a message I saved years ago from SWWB :stuck_out_tongue: ):

“Nobody… is Perfect” (55 minutes)–Valerii, Gastaldi, Hill and others talk about the movie, its genesis and shooting. The Terence Hill footage is not new–I already saw it on the British DVD.
“Tonino Valerii et le western” (12 minutes)–Valerii talks about his other SW movies.
“Autour de Sergio Leone” (50 minutes)–Vincenzoni and Donati talk (in French) about Leone.
[/quote]

Wow, that is an excellent sounding set of extras! Almost worth buying the DVD for those alone.

It’s funny how everyone always complains about that scene. Sure it’s a little stupid but it is so well shot by Leone that I absolutely love it. The whole sequence with the loading of the gold on to the train through to Nobody stealing the train is really well filmed.

Colonel, I thought you and Dilinger didn’t care much for this issue…

[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][quote=“Col. Douglas Mortimer, post:50, topic:71”]I concur. Great movie. Good job to both Leone AND Valerii.[/quote]

I do not.

Yeah I really don’t. I like the movie regardless of who directed it. But it still would be nice to know who directed what.

It’s an interesting question cause there are so many different sources about who directed what, but everybody tells different things. Whom can we trust? Nobody, maybe.

Of course, it won’t change the film a bit if we knew for sure. For me it would be the same quality film if god would join our forum and says e.g.: boys, it was Valerii alone, nobody else.

Until that happens I will still have fun to think about the inputs of Sergio and Tonino. And I don’t expect ever to get a definite answer.

LOL

Yea, I still don’t give a danm about it! And I think I didn’t write anything in this thread that states the opposite, Novocento.

And I think I didn’t write anything in this thread that states the contrary, Dillonger :wink:

Then I read something wrong into your post. Sorry. :wink:

I spotted a reference to this film in the movie Dark Water when a mother’s daughter has a imaginary friend’s name is, the daughter says “nobody”. the mom then says “thats a strange name ‘My Name is Nobody.’” A great movie referenced in a borderline shitty film.