100 Greatest Movie Characters: 42

"'When the man with a 45 meets the man with a rifle', you said 'the man with a pistol is a dead man.' Let's see if it's true."

42. The Man With No Name
A Fistful of Dollars

Clint Eastwood's character which revitalized the Western genre (thanks also to Sergio Leone's direction and Ennio Morricone's brilliant scores), The Man With No Name, actually does have a name. Well, aliases, at least. In "A Fistful of Dollars," he's Joe. In "For A Few Dollars More," he's Manco. And in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," he's Blondie (even if he's not blonde).

No matter what name he goes by, it's obviously the same character. The same steely gaze, same gruff voice, same southwestern outfit, and, most importantly, same speed on the gun. By the time you even think to reach for your gun, he's already shot you twice. Often imitated, never duplicated, The Man With No Name is a modern-day gunslinging badass of the West. Be glad he's (technically) the good guy and hope that you're not the bad guy.

Defining moment:Scrawling his name into a rock before the final standoff in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"