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The Man with No Name is a stock character in western films, but the term usually applies specifically to the character (or possibly characters) played by American actor Clint Eastwood in what is often called "The Dollars Trilogy" directed by Sergio Leone.

Contents 1 Characteristics 1.1 Image 2 Is it the same character? 3 Does the character have a name? 4 Japanese origin and evolution 5 Other media 6 Similar characters 7 Filmography as “The Man with No Name” 8 Filmography as "The Stranger" 9 References 10 External links

The "Man with No Name", as personified by Eastwood, embodies the archetypical characteristics of the American movie cowboy — toughness, independence, and skill with a gun — but departed from the original archetype in his moral ambiguity. Unlike the traditional cowboy, exemplified 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 obligation to, such as freeing a couple held captive in A Fistful of Dollars and comforting a dying soldier after the bridge explosion in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

He is generally portrayed as an outsider, a mercenary or bounty hunter, or even an outlaw. He is characteristically soft-spoken and laconic, speaking only when necessary, with as few words as possible. The character is an often-cited example of an anti-hero, although he has a soft corner for people in deep trouble.

Due to low budget considerations, Eastwood made the initial investment for his character's appearance and demeanour. Most of the clothing was purchased second-hand in California (with the exception of the serape, which was provided by Leone); the gunbelt and holster were from Eastwood's previous TV series Rawhide. The Man's trademark cigars were also from California; their harshness put Eastwood in what he called a "scratchy mood," which aided in his characterization.

In the "Dollars" Trilogy, Eastwood plays a character with the same mannerisms, wearing the same poncho, lambskin vest and hat, and sporting a silver rattlesnake-shaped plate on the handle of his gun. The question whether the intention was to portray the same individual character in all three films is debatable, but many fans believe that the last film in the trilogy, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is a prequel of sorts to the earlier two,^{[citation needed]} since it is set during the American Civil War and before the period thought of as the "Wild West.' Furthermore, Eastwood's character gradually acquires the clothing that he wears throughout the other films in the series, getting his hat, vest and other clothing from the assassin "Angel-Eyes" and taking his signature serape from an anonymous, dying soldier, in exchange for his duster. It can also be noted that the actor portraying the undertaker from the first film shows up in the second as someone Eastwood's character is familiar with. Whether this points to the old man playing the same person or not is unknown as many of the same actors played roles in the three films of characters who were obviously unrelated (such as Lee Van Cleef, who appeared in both For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as different characters). An expanded version of the movie soundtrack from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly released in 2004 featured a previously unreleased piece titled Il Bandito Monco, i.e. the "The Bandit Monco" (Monco is the nickname of Eastwood's character in the preceding movie and means "one handed" in Italian), lending support to the theory that Eastwood is intended to portray the same character in the three movies.^[1] Another interesting note is that towards the end of the first film, one of The Man With No Name's hands is badly injured in a torture scene, and is never shown to totally heal: this might be a connection to the second movie, in most of which he uses only one hand, the other one being saved for shooting only. However, Christopher Frayling has pointed out in his Leone biography, Sergio Leone: Something To Do With Death, that the three films were not intended by Leone or his various script collaborators to be seen as a history of the exact same individual and that it was United Artists, not the filmmakers, who came up with the idea of specifically linking the three films together as a series by referring to the Eastwood character as The Man With No Name in all advertising materials for the movies.^[2]

The credits for A Fistful of Dollars list Eastwood's character as "Joe" and though the undertaker in the movie calls him by that name, he is the only character to do so (and it is further worth noting that "Joe" can be used as a generic nickname). In For a Few Dollars More, a minor character and villain Indio and his partner Nino refers to him as "Monco" ^[3], which is very similar to the Spanish word "manco"^{[original research?]} (someone that lacks a hand or an arm). This nickname may allude to the fact that the character appears to save his right hand (for which he wears a supportive leather brace) for shooting only.^{[original research?]} Thus, during the entire incident in the beginning of the movie, he uses only his left hand when lighting his cigar, dealing the cards and striking the man he is hunting (keeping the right hand on his gun the whole time). However, he uses both hands equally throughout the rest of the film. Critic Richard Schickel states in the special edition release of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly that Eastwood's character did have a name as the character is sometimes referred to as "Blondie", although Tuco Ramirez is the only one to do so. Given that Eastwood's character never states his own name and shows no evidence of having visited any of the locations in the three films previously, a possible conclusion from viewing the films alone is that all of the above ("Joe", "Monco" and "Blondie") are nicknames given to him by the other characters simply for the sake of having some means of addressing him.

A Fistful of Dollars was directly adapted from Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo. It was the subject of a successful lawsuit by Yojimbo's producers.^[4] The film's protagonist, a gruff, unconventional ronin played by Toshiro Mifune, bears a striking resemblance to Eastwood's character: both are quiet, gruff, eccentric strangers with a strong but unorthodox sense of justice and superhuman proficiency with a particular weapon (in Mifune's case, a katana; for Eastwood, a revolver).

Like Eastwood's character, Mifune's ronin is nameless. When pressed, he gives the pseudonym Sanjuro Kuwabatake (meaning "thirty-something mulberry field"), a reference to his age and something he sees through a window. The convention of saving an arm to kill is shared as well with Mifune's character typically wearing his arms inside his kimono, leaving the sleeves empty.^[5] Prior to signing on to Fistful, Eastwood had seen Kurosawa's film and was impressed by the character.^[6] During filming, he did not emulate Mifune's performance beyond what was already in the script. He also insisted on removing some of the dialogue in the original script, making the character more silent and thus adding to his mystery. As the trilogy progressed, the character became even more silent and stoic.

Yojimbo is itself, however, believed to have been based on Dashiell Hammett's novel Red Harvest. Leone himself clearly believed this theory; he said:

"Kurosawa's Yojimbo was inspired by an American novel of the serie-noire so I was really taking the story back home again." (Spaghetti Westerns,Frayling,1981)

Kurosawa never credited the author, despite acknowledging the source.^{[citation needed]} The name of the lead character in Red Harvest is also unrevealed, referred to only as the Continental Op after the detective agency he works for.

In July of 2007, American comic book company Dynamite Entertainment announced that they were going to begin publishing a comic book featuring The Man With No Name. Set after the events of "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly," the comic will be written by Christos Gage.^[7]

Other films featuring characters very similar to the Man with No Name include Leone's later Once Upon a Time in the West featuring Charles Bronson in a role somewhat akin to Eastwood's (known in the movie as "Harmonica" since he plays one); Eastwood's own films, High Plains Drifter and Pale Rider; The Tonino Valerii film My Name Is Nobody starring Terence Hill as Nobody; and the more recent Yojimbo remake Last Man Standing, starring Bruce Willis (directed by Walter Hill). Tony Anthony (actor) played "the Stranger" in a trilogy of spaghetti westerns produced by Allen Klein and released by MGM.

The Man with No Name concept was used in the El Mariachi series. Throughout the series he is known only as "The Mariachi", the "Guitar Player", or in Once Upon a Time in Mexico simply as "El," for "Him". In Desperado Bucho, the antagonist, calls him "Manito," a nickname from when they were children. However, because in Spanish, manito is also short for hermanito, little brother, it was probably not his true name. El Mariachi comes to share many of the same characteristics of other Nameless gunmen, as the Mariachi movies share many characteristics with Western movies.

In the movie version of Paint Your Wagon, although Eastwood's character bears little resemblance to the traditional Man with No Name, he still lacks a name and is referred to simply as "Pardner" throughout the movie. At the end he reveals that his name is Sylvester Newel.

The Man with No Name was the inspiration for Roland Deschain, the protagonist of Stephen King's epic, seven-volume Dark Tower series. Character Eddie Dean even notes "He's some sort of Clint Eastwood."

The Man With No Name is also the inspiration for the main character in the computer game Red Dead Revolver.

Director Quentin Tarantino appears also to have been inspired by this idea, intentionally not naming the central character in his Kill Bill movies until well into the second movie, otherwise referring to her as simply "The Bride," even bleeping out her name when characters use it until it's finally revealed near the end of the second movie. He also achieved an interesting effect with this stylistic choice, seeing as how Bill calls The Bride "Kiddo" several times, even in the first half of the film. Seeing as how the term is also a term of endearment, audiences were likely to overlook the possibility that it was, in fact, the character's name, which turned out to be Beatrix Kiddo.

George Lucas attributes the character of Boba Fett to The Man with No Name in the DVD commentary on The Empire Strikes Back. His armour is reminiscent of Eastwood's poncho used throughout the trilogy.

In one episode of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Tigger featured in a Wild West parody as an outlaw wanted for stealing a train. He called himself "The Tigger with No Name", while his sidekick, Pooh, called himself "The Pooh with A Name (if only [he] could remember what it was)".

One episode of Animaniacs featured Chicken Boo disguising himself as "The man with no personality."

Mel Gibson's Mad Max character could be said to have a strong archetpyal resemblance to the Man with No Name, and many of Eastwood's Old West characters for that matter. And while he does actually point out once that his name is indeed Max in the second and third films in the Mad Max trilogy, Gibson's character is never referred to by name and his past a mystery to those he encounters. In the third Mad Max film, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, during the Thunderdome fight scene, the MC introduces Max to the crowd: "He's bad, he's beautiful, he's crazy, he's...he's the man with no name!"

Solid Snake and Gray Fox, from the Metal Gear series, are both "men with no names," citing the comment Gray Fox makes to Snake during a battle, "I am like you, I have no name." These characters fit the archetype in that they are self-reliant and incredibly tough. Soild Snake takes this a step further with his raspy voice and slight facial resemblance the Eastwood in later games. Although in Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, Gray Fox's real name is revealed to be Frank Jaeger, whereas in Metal Gear Solid, Solid Snake's given name is David. In Metal Gear Solid 2, Solid Snake calls himself "Iroquois Plissken" during the Big Shell incident (a reference to his code name, and to the original inspiration for the character Snake Plissken, the protagonist of the film Escape from New York).

One-Eyed Garth in the Magic: The Gathering series of novels, specifically "Arena", bears a strong resemblance to the character, in that he doesn't reveal his name until the end of the book (and then it is someone else who reveals it) and he has a mysterious purpose. Furthermore, the plot of the book loosely follows that of A Fistful of Dollars, with One Eye playing warring organizations against each other and profiting off all of them.

Nameless characters also exist in the 2002 film Hero and the 2005 film Serenity. In the latter, the nameless Operative, is a ruthless enforcer serving The Alliance.

In the cartoon series Time Squad, an episode featured the team time traveling to cause Billy the Kid to become an outlaw. The team was successful enough that a Man With No Name, bearing a great resemblance to Eastwood, was sent after them. The bounty hunter pursued them throughout the episode, even after they had returned to the future.

The antagonist Timp Sharon, of Combat Mecha Xabungle, bears a heavy (visual) resemblance to The Man With No Name.

The Prince in the Prince of Persia Trilogy is also never given a name. Farah (one of the characters in the Trilogy) does ask the Prince what his name is but the prince only tells her to call him "Kokolukia", a secret word Farah had told him in the first game.

A graphic novel named Dead West features a protagonist who bears a great resemblance to Eastwood, including the serape. The unnamed protagonist, a bounty hunter, chases a bandit to the town of Lazarus, where the dead have risen as Zombies. The bounty hunter eventually burns half the town and kills the leader of the zombies, though his mark manages to escape.

Zatoichi, the blind swordsman, of the Zatoichi series plays a similar role to the Man With No Name. Zatoichi's skill is rarely known and, generally, at any given time, he is either mysterious or on the run from mercenaries. He also follows his own self-defined sense of justice.

In the Japanese eroge ( adult computer game ) Satsuriko no Jango by NitroPlus, one of the protagonists is a female gunslinger named Donne Anonime, meanining "a woman with no name". The game itself is based on those spaghetti westerns where the man with no name was popularized.

• A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
• For a Few Dollars More (1965)
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)

• High Plains Drifter (1973)
• Pale Rider (1985)

• Fistful-of-Leone.com
• Sergio Leone Web Board
• Clint Eastwood.net
• Clint Eastwood Forums
• Man With No Name comic book announced for late 2007