Is the Man with No Name the High Plains Drifter a.k.a. William Munny?
Does anyone know of any official (Squinty Clint) comments on the relationship between these similar characters?
Me, I like to think he is.
And that he is the Old-West ancestor of Harry Calahan.
No. For the simple reason that his character in HPD does have a name. Or at least the strong implication that he has both a name and a past. Though it is also strongly implied that he is dead (not unlike the Preacher in Pale Rider).
More to the point - the character he plays in HFD also differs radically from the character(s) in the Leone films in terms of motivation. In high plains drifter, he is the avenging angel, dealing out very poetic justice to the killers of the Marshall, as well as the townsfolk who let him die.
The Man With No Name is far more an archtype. He has no past. All we know of him other than what is on screen is that in a Fistfull of Dollars he once knew someone like Marisol. That would be it. The MWNN’s motivation is pure and simple: Money. You will note that in the Leone films, with very few exceptions, when some one dies, money changes hands. In fact, The Man suffers quite a setback in the one instance where he kills for reasons other than money.
What it comes down to then, is that the Man With No Name is amoral in the sense that little seperates him from the “evil” men he kills. About the only difference is that he kills only the “evil” ones. The Character in HPD, on the other hand, is clearly dealing out a very moral set of judgements, some of which include death. Very different characters.
Munny, the character from Unforgiven is yet a different, and far less supernatural, slant on this character type.
They are certainly similar, but I would place the MWNN seperately from these other characters. Your point regarding his similarity to Callahan is well taken however.
deathawk,
Wow! You rule.
Thanks!
I recently saw The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly on (I think) AMC. They were quite explicit that The Man With No Name was in but three Spagetti westerns: Good, Bad, Ugly; A Fistful of Dollars; and A Few Dollars More*.
Of course, that probably qualifies as an argument from authority, so take it with a grain of salt.
I had also heard that William Munny was, to a certain degree, supposed to represent TMWNN later in life. No reference there. I guess I’m no help at all. Sorry about that.
Deathhawk, great insight: I’ll have to watch for that non-pecuinary killing.
*Or is it For a Few Dollars More?
Thanks for the compliments.
The title of the second film is For A Few Dollars More
Just to clarify as much as possible with out spoiling it - it is a set of killings, but all commited as one act.
Like that is a rare occurence in these films…