Manco - Tumblr Posts

“boy” “old man” THE ACTORS WERE BORN 5 YEARS APART??? Lee Van Cleef looks 10 years older maybe but Clint Eastwood does NOT look young enough to be called “boy” are they just doing this for fun?? 

Like on the one hand, obvious answer (and this is believable, see comment on Lee Van Cleef above) is that the CHARACTERS have a larger age gap than the ACTORS do 

but you know what would be absolutely fucking hilarious is if the characters were the same age as the actors and are both just very bad at guessing other peoples ages and they lose their shit when they figure out they’re practically the same age actually

Ok so I do not know how to articulate this, but something about Mortimer asking Manco to join him in his revenge (even if he didn't know it was a revenge) and the whole discussion they had actually, gets me like yf8tfcctftfcf8x6fx6f.

So basically, right, at this point of the movie, we've seen Mortimer, we've seen Manco, we know who they are, we know they want to get Indio. And then badabim badaboum, guess what, they meet and they're like that spiderman meme.

And Mortimer says that during a hunt, two hunters going after the same prey risk shooting at each other. That they don't want to shoot at each other, so they should become partners.

Now, the search for Indio is motivated by different reasons. Mortimer wants to get the guy for the harm he caused his sister. Manco just wants money.

But look. Vengeance, revenge, it's like, this big movie thing, the whole 'lone man on a quest to avenge his relative', it's very much something you expect to be, well, a lone quest. One person against the whole world. John Wick. You know?

But Mortimer? Mortimer doesn't go alone. Mortimer's probably been working alone for a while now, but he suggests a partnership.

And that just???? Oh my????

Because he didn't have to. I mean, I know Manco probably really wants the money and retiring, but it's not like there's no way around this issue, and anyways, the movie is built the way it is, it, wants Manco and Mortimer to be partners. And I don't know. Something about two guys that know nothing about each other, but then they become partners and Manco assists Mortimer at the end, letting him have his revenge, it's very satisfying.

About 'A Few Dollars More' (again): wtf did Manco mean by 'what about our partnership?'.

So look, here's what Manco says at the beginning of his and Mortimer's partnership: "when I get my hands on Indio and that ten thousand dollars, I'm going to buy myself a little place, possibly retire".

That's all well and good, and at the end, he gets not only Indio, but the whole gang, so DEFINITELY enough money to retire but he... doesn't want... their partnership to end?

the one thing that keeps throwing me about both dollars trilogy order in general and supernatural man with no name au specifically is that in a way, of all the incarnations of the man with no name, somehow blondie seems the most mature, or at least like he's experienced the most.

i think some of that is that blondie's more of an asshole than the others and therefore seems somewhat more like he's been burned before and hardened over time (though i will admit his specific brand of cynicism does also strike me as a tad juvenile, or at least appealing to my bitter teenage self). i think some of that is also just the order the films came out in and their actor aging (though, granted, not by much).

but also: manco specifically, in comparison to mortimer, just seems so young. he's impulsive, at least more than his partner. he's hotblooded. he's kind of goofy (case in point: the dynamite scene). he has a certain impishness to him, which is also very present in with joe a fistful of dollars, whereas blondie just strikes me as kind of a prick. blondie isn't lighthearted in the same way–he feels weighed down, feels like he's bullshitting. manco, and especially joe, come across to me as having a sincerity that blondie absolutely does not.

and it's weird, because it's that exact lightheartedness that initially struck me as otherworldly, too. blondie, in a way, feels more real, more gritty, more sensible–and in a way more fearful, though he hides it well. more calculated and less instinctive. and yet, with regard to trilogy order, this should be the earliest point, and with regards to supernatural man with no name theory, should be the least human. joe is all folktale, manco skirts the line, but blondie is just...a very skilled guy that's hard to read, or he seems that way to me.

so my next thought is that maybe it's something to do with narratorial control:

joe doesn't have a partner, so there's no one competing to tell the story and we see him as he'd most like to be seen: unreadable, a myth as much as a man (case in point, the ending), always two steps ahead of everybody else, dangerous but at times benevolent. and i think it's important that after he gets beaten up, which given how well everything has been going until that point feels rather jarring, that he has this moment where he peeks out between these two boards and looks nearly into the camera–it's almost a break of the fourth wall, and it feels like this moment of honesty, like he's telling you "and this is what really happened: i got my ass kicked."

meanwhile, manco is still kind of lighthearted and otherworldly, but he's more human, less infallible, somewhere between a folktale and just some kid with a gun. because mortimer is there, and his narrative viewpoint is competing with manco's.

and then blondie feels the least otherworldly, because this is tuco's story more than his, and to tuco he isn't a myth, he's just a man. tuco sees through his bullshit and consequently so do we, at least a little, because they're both fighting to tell the story how they want.

but also–it's a continuous series and also it isn't, and you know, it is what it is.

Col. Mortimer (Lee Van Cleef) saying something like 'when two hunters chase the same prey they end up shooting each other' to Manco (Clint Eastwood) in A Few Dollars More and then in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Angel Eyes (Lee Van Cleef) is chasing after the same money as Blondie (Clint Eastwood) who shoots him-