Questions about Blondie and Angel Eyes

[Dragon]

I got to watching the GBU last night, and that old question of mine keeps popping up: why did they call Eastwood's character "Blondie"? He's about as blonde as Van Cleef ("...a golden-haired angel watches over him.")!

[Dragon]

(apologies if this is the wrong forum for this)

And speaking of the GBU, how did Angel Eyes go from being a hired gun to a "bluebelly"?

Thanks.
 

[KC]

I think he's called "Blondie" because he's relatively fair, by Latino standards. I've never heard any other explanation for it, anyway. And did you notice that Tuco is the only one who calls him that (or refers to him by any name at all)?

As for "a golden-haired angel," that's just Angel Eyes exaggerating this "fair-haired" quality with ironic intent. He seems to know very well that Blondie is no angel.

As to how Angel Eyes joined up with the Union Army ... one of the recently restored scenes shows him at a ruined Confederate fort, where he learns that the man he's after, if he's alive, is likely to be a prisoner of war at a notorious Union prison camp. He then steals a uniform and identification from a dead Union sergeant and impersonates him in the camp (this last detail isn't in the film, but it is to be found in the novelization of the screenplay and was presumably in the original script).

[KC]

I remembered we recently had a question about how Angel Eyes became a sergeant, in the Questions & Answers forum. I answered in a little more detail there. Here's the link:

http://www.clinteastwood.org/forums/index.php?topic=4748.0

[vik]

its interesting as you say tuco says it - because of their relationship a strange one at that you would wonder what sort off nickname might come out of it besides blondie and tuso does come out with expletives at times

but blondie yeh makes him seem americano, like whitey etc.

[ItsForYou]

Another reference Tuco makes is when he catches up to Blondie in the Hotel when Sibley's men are marching through. He puts a gun to the proprietor's head and ask for the owner of a certain horse. The description he gives;

"He's tall, he's blonde, he smokes a cigar and he's a pig."

It seems that it may not be a only nickname but something that was in the original story/script? Dunno, but this girlfriend of mine has a real problem when they call him a blonde. It doesn't bother me any but everytime she hears Blondie, fair haired angel, or he's a blonde, she has to speak up.

[ItsForYou]

Also on the bombed street when Angel Eyes tells his companions;

"I want that blonde alive.”


It really is a good question. He is not blonde. I tend to have agreed with KC over all the years, that he is more fair by Latino standards (perhaps some sun streaking aournd the temples) but would be willing to bet that there is more to it.

[KC]

Well, I don't think there is any doubt that this script (unlike the script for A Fistful of Dollars) was written with Eastwood in mind, so presumably the screenwriters knew what his hair was going to look like. 

[D'Ambrosia]

I don't know, looks like some blonde highlights in there to me?  Dirty Blonde, Dishwater Blonde, Dark Blonde, Chestnut Blonde.

The word blonde comes from the Latin blondus which means yellow...

Granted it's not bleached blonde or anything but to me there is a fine line between light brown and dark blonde.

I had blonde hair as a kid and it is definitly brown now but I went through a phase were I had blonde/brown hair much like the color above...

Anyhow, just my two cents worth...

[Racer X]

I
As to how Angel Eyes joined up with the Union Army ... one of the recently restored scenes shows him at a ruined Confederate fort, where he learns that the man he's after, if he's alive, is likely to be a prisoner of war at a notorious Union prison camp. He then steals a uniform and identification from a dead Union sergeant and impersonates him in the camp (this last detail isn't in the film, but it is to be found in the novelization of the screenplay and was presumably in the original script).

I think that Angel Eyes didn't steal his union uniform. How could have that happened ? That union captain in the  POW camp who was about to die soon, seemed to know Angel Eyes very well already and warned Angel Eyes not use his brutal tactics anymore. It means that Angel Eyes had been an union sgt for a long time.

But somehow Angel Eyes was able to/allowed to leave his uniform and his post as a sgt of the POW camp whenever he wanted.

 

[KC]

As I said, the detail of the stolen uniform is from the novelization of the screenplay and presumably reflects the screenwriters' ideas. Angel Eyes certainly isn't in uniform when we encounter him in the early scenes of the movie. He doesn't have to have been operating at the prison camp for very long for the captain to know what his interrogation tactics were like.

[harley]

     Come on guys, Its just a movie. And it really doesn't matter if he was blonde or not.....it just plain sounded good huh? And people did frequently change idenities in the civil war era, it was not uncommon for soldiers to switch back and forth or sideways.   

[The Highlander]

I agree with the others.  Even during the movie, Angel Eyes tells his henchmen, "I want that blonde alive."

I think it's merely the fact that Clint's hair was brown as opposed to most everyone else having black hair.

To a black head of hair, brown (especially a lighter shade of brown) is close enough to be loosely referred to as blonde.

[icnmedia]

I think "Blondie" was just a nickname (I'd like to believe that he IS the 'man with NO name!), just like 'Joe' & 'Manco'.