Nobody’s The Greatest – Tobis Entertainment (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1975
Director: Damiano Damiani
Writers: Fulvio Morsella, Ernesto Gastaldi, Damiano Damiani
Cast: Terence Hill, Miou-Miou, Robert Charlebois, Patrick McGoohan, Raimund Harmstorf, Piero Vida, Rik Battaglia, Mario Valgoi, Mario Brega, Jean Martin, Klaus Kinski, Miriam Mahler, Clara Colosimo

Release Date: March 15th, 2013
Approximate running time: 123 Minutes 25 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: FSK 12 (Germany)
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English, DTS-HD Mono German
Subtitles: English, German
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: 7,55 Euro (Germany)

"Nobody is a genius: quick-witted, cunning and accurate. His best friend, with whom he is constantly at loggerheads, is called "Locomotive". Locomotive is an Indian. Together, Nobody and Locomotive are a resounding success team. This time they have set out to bring down the fraudulent fort commander, Major Cabot. This officer has embezzled 300,000 dollars in government funds that were intended as maintenance allowances for Indians. Government auditor Colonel Pembroke is also already on the way. Without further ado, Major Cabot has the entire Indian tribe for whom the money was intended exterminated. Dead men do not accuse. Then he sends out a bandit. He is to murder the arriving Colonel Pembroke. But Nobody and Locomotive always know which way the wind is blowing. Locomotive disguises himself as a government auditor and wants to secure the embezzled dollars. But Major Cabot is warned and throws Locomotive in prison. Now he has a hostage and can force Nobody to support his criminal moves. In order to checkmate Cabot at the end, Nobody and the locomotive have to blow up an entire mountain." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 3.25/5

Nobody’s The Greatest comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 21.1 GB

Feature: 18.3 GB

For a transfer that is not 11 years old, there is definitely room for improvement. And though the source generally looks great, there are a few moments where quality drops. Colors look good, clarity is strong, and compression is very good. 

Audio: 4/5 (DTS-HD Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in English and a DTS-HD mono mix in German. For this review, I only listened to the English-language track. It sounds clean, clear, balanced, and robust when it should. Included are removable English and German subtitles.

Extras:

Extras for this release include a German TV promo (3 minutes 28 seconds, DTS-HD mono German, no subtitles), a German theatrical trailer (4 minutes 29 seconds, DTS-HD mono German, no subtitles), and an archival interview with actor Terence Hill titled The Star on Nobody and His Career (9 minutes 10 seconds, DTS-HD stereo English with removable English and German subtitles).

Other extras include trailers for My Name is Nobody, A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and They Call Me Renegade.

Summary:

Directed by Damiano Damiani, whose other notable films include The Witch (La strega in amore), A Bullet for the General, The Most Beautiful Wife (La moglie più bella), The Day of the Owl, A Complicated Girl, Confessions of a Police Captain, The Case Is Closed, Forget It, and How to Kill a Judge.

A gunslinger vagabond named Joe Thanks, whose mouth is as quick as his trigger finger, comes up with a scheme that will make him and his two friends $300,000. Major Cabot, a notorious Indian murderer, stands in their way. He amassed a small fortune by staging fake Indian attacks to drive people off their land. Will their plan go off without a hitch, or will they find their necks at the end of a noose?

Nobody’s the Greatest is only a sequel to My Name Is Nobody in Name Only. Though Terence Hill returns in the role of the protagonist, this time around he portrays a different character. That said, Terence Hill’s character, Joe Thanks, bears a striking resemblance to the character he portrayed in My Name Is Nobody.

Despite being known for his work in the Poliziotteschi genre, Damiano Damiani isn’t a complete novice when it comes to directing a spaghetti western. His only other foray in the spaghetti western genre is A Bullet for the General, which stands out as one of this genre's high points. And when it comes to his direction, despite being solid, he does not create the epic moments that are synonymous with Sergio Leone. That said, Sergio Leone reportedly directed the most visually arresting pre-credits sequence in the film.

Though the entire cast is enjoyable in their roles, the main draw is Terence Hill’s (They Call Me Trinity) portrayal of Joe Thanks. This character is essentially the same one he established with the Trinity films and subsequently portrayed in numerous films in the 1970s. He is an actor whose comedic timing is pitch perfect; he easily slides into a persona he has portrayed numerous times.

From a production standpoint, despite Sergio Leone’s involvement, the result is a film that never archives the sum of its parts. Nowhere is this clearer than the convoluted narrative, which never firmly establishes any direction, and at just over two hours, there are a few moments where pacing drags. Besides Terence Hill’s performance, Ennio Morricone’s superb score is Nobody’s Greatest's only other saving grace. Ultimately, Nobody’s The Greatest is a waterdowned version of Sergio Leone that has a few memorable moments.

Tobis Entertainment gives Nobody’s The Greatest, a strong release that comes with a good audio/video presentation and an informative interview, recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer