The Man With No Name

No other character of Clint Eastwood's is imitated, and parodied, as much as "The Man With no Name".

"When the man with a 45 meets the man with a rifle, you said the man with a pistol is a dead man. Let's see if it's true."

Just The Facts

  1. Known as "Joe", "Monco", "The Good", and "Blondie" (only by Tuco though).
  2. His actions speak louder than his words.
  3. Badass motherfucker.
  4. Was in "A Fistful of Dollars", "For a Few Dollars More", and "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly".

CRACKED ON: THE MAN WITH NO NAME

 

Little is known about The Man with No Name, only that he is played by resident badass motherfucker Clint Eastwood. The character is based off Kuwabatake Sanjuro ("Thirty five year old Mulberry field) from Yojimbo. 

Yojimbo means "bodyguard" in Japanese. 

The Man with No Name represents the classic characteristics of the American movie cowboy — sturdiness, brilliant physical strength or size, independence, and skill with a gun — but departed from the original model due to his moral haziness. Nothing like the long-established cowboy, embodied by actors John Wayne, Alan Ladd, and Randolph Scott, the Man with No Name will fight dirty and shoot first, if required by his own self-defined sense of justice. Although he tends to look for ways to benefit himself, he has, in a few cases, aided others if he feels an obligated.

He is commonly depicted as a stranger, a mercenary or bounty hunter, or even an outlaw. He is typically soft-spoken and to the point. The character is an oft-cited example of an anti-hero, even though he has a soft spot for people in deep trouble. 

The character's distinguishing look consists of a scruffy brown hat with a telescope crown, a pale blue shirt, black jeans, tan boots, a sheepskin vest, and a patterned poncho. He is usually equipped with one revolver with an ivory rattlesnake on the grip, which is holstered on a gun belt. In difference with other Western heroes of the early- to mid-1960s, The Man is unshaven, almost to the point of sporting a full beard. He customarily smokes a cigarillo while working.

The Man with No Name first stars in A Fistful of Dollars, and as Moviefone puts it: 

"Clint Eastwood plays a cynical gunfighter who comes to a small border town and offers his services to two rivaling gangs. Both gangs aren’t aware of his double play, and each thinks it is using him, but the stranger will outwit them both."

Following the success of the first movie, a second movie was quickly made, For a Few Dollars More. Engaged in an ongoing battle with bounty hunter Col. Douglas Mortimer, the Man joins forces with his enemy to capture homicidal bandit Indio.

The third, and the best one, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, pits The Man (called Blondie in this movie) against Tuco (the Ugly) and Angeleyes (The Bad) for gold worth $200,000.