What a peculiar Western. Sergio Leone produced it and directed some of it, so there are a few familiar trappings, particularly Ennio Morricone’s score. Oddly, it’s probably his worst. But the film also stars Henry Fonda and it’s a sort of a follow-up to Once Upon a Time in the Western, except Nobody manages to be incredibly preachy. It’s about the changing West and goes so far as to hammer that point in quite a few times.
But that hammering isn’t what makes it odd… While Fonda is the main character, the lead is really Nobody, played by Terence Hill–who’s got blonder hair and bluer eyes than Clint Eastwood ever did. Hill is affable (I was going to say likable, but affable is better) and it’s obvious he’s having a good time and Nobody is a comedy to some degree, but there’s so much wrong with it. In some ways, it’s a nice close to Fonda’s Western career–particular My Darling Clementine–since he’s playing a lawman again. But that’s not enough to carry it and the plotting is plodding. It’s a Leone Western without gunfights. There’s one sequence in which the editing ranges from beautiful to unspeakably bad (if you’ve seen it, you know what I’m talking about).…
The film’s not bad, however, and at times, it’s a lot of fun to watch, it just pisses you off. There are goofy little scenes meant to be goofy and long, intricate red herrings. There’s no payoff to Nobody. Once it establishes itself, it becomes predictable–then there are the murmurs that it might not be quite so predictable, but then it veers right back on the original course.
Leone just made too many Westerns. He really should have quit after Once Upon a Time in the West.
CREDITS
Directed by Tonino Valerii; screenplay by Ernesto Gastaldi, based on a story by Gastaldi and Fulvio Morsella, from an idea by Sergio Leone; director of photography, Giuseppe Ruzzolini; edited by Nino Baragli; music by Ennio Morricone; production designer, Gianni Polidori; produced by Morsella; released by Titanus Distribuzione.
Starring Terence Hill (Nobody), Henry Fonda (Jack Beauregard), Jean Martin (Sullivan), R.G. Armstrong (Honest John), Karl Braun (Jim), Leo Gordon (Red), Steve Kanaly (False barber), Geoffrey Lewis (Leader of the Wild Bunch), Neil Summers (Squirrel), Piero Lulli (Sheriff), Mario Brega (Pedro), Marc Mazza (Don John) and Benito Stefanelli (Porteley).
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