Characteristics

"The Man with No Name", as personified by Eastwood, embodies the archetypical characteristics of the American movie cowboy — toughness, self-reliance, and skill with a gun — but departed from the original archetype in his moral ambiguity. Unlike the traditional cowboy persona, 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.

Is it the same character?

In three of Leone's most popular films, A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Eastwood plays a character with the same mannerisms, wearing the same poncho, hat, and cobra-studded six-shooter. The question whether the intention was to portray the same individual character in all three movies is debatable, but many fans believe that The Good, the Bad and the Ugly plays as a prequel of sorts to the earlier two — as it appears to be set in an earlier time than the other two movies (i.e. during the American Civil War). Furthermore, Eastwood's character gradually acquires the clothing that he wears throughout the other films in the series, taking his signature Serape from an unknown dead soldier (in exchange for his duster), who could symbolically be seen as a "Man with no name", thus suggesting Eastwood has exchanged identities with him and has finally become a nameless bounty hunter and the character from the earlier two movies. 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 but the fact that Eastwood indicates that he knew who to ask for specific information gives a stronger argument for the second film being a follow-up.

Does the character have a name?

While the credits for A Fistful of Dollars list Eastwood's character as "Joe" and the undertaker in the movie calls him by that "name", he is the only character to do so. In For a Few Dollars More, a minor character refers to him as "Monco."^[2] This nickname likely alludes to the fact that the character appears to save his right hand (for which he wears a supportive leather brace) for shooting only. 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). 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, which is however at best a stretch. While it is true that the character is sometimes referred to as "Blondie" in said movie, the character's partner Tuco Ramirez is the only one to do so, and this may be due only to the fact that the man was white.

Japanese origin

A Fistful of Dollars was directly (and illegally) adapted from Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo and which was the subject of a successful lawsuit by Yojimbo's producers. The film's protagonist, a gruff, unconventional ronin played by Toshiro Mifune, bears a striking resemblance to the character later played by Clint Eastwood. Each is a quiet, eccentric stranger 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).

Similar characters

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 (Eastwood turned down the part) in a role somewhat akin to Eastwood's (known in the movie as "Harmonica" since he plays it); Eastwood's own films, High Plains Drifter and Pale Rider; and the more recent Yojimbo remake Last Man Standing, starring Bruce Willis (directed by Walter Hill).

Filmography of “The Man with No Name”

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