New Book Release

A new book detailing the stories of the "Dollars Trilogy", by Sergio Leone, which was shot in the Cuenca Alta del Manzanares

SERRANO GNACIO

MADRID

01/21/2012 day

 "Son, why did you skip school?"

 'Because I went to see Mr. Clint Eastwood shoot Indians in the meadow ...

The First half of the sixties, again and again, teachers in schools in Colmenar Viejo helplessly witnessed the arrival of unbeatable rivals to capture the attention of their kids: none other than Hollywood superstars Kirk Douglas as Spartacus or Charlton Heston in El Cid made the people crazy with its battles during weeks of filming, and making their own stunts in a freak show for the neighbors.

When it was the “Western’s turn, the classrooms were empty, like a dried bush blowing in the wind. The cowboys and Indians are a favorite of Spanish children, and under no circumstances did pupils want to miss the shooting of "The Man with No Name", also known as "El Manco ', the tough cowboy played by Clint Eastwood in" The Dollar Trilogy", by Sergio Leone.

The spaghetti westerns were shot in Spain with Almeria, as their headquarters. In la Dehesa de Colmenar de Viejo Navalvillar was built the town of Michelena-Lega torn down in 1973 by the construction of a military heliport, a stage for mass duels to the death and tavern fights, which became the towns of White Rocks in "For a Few Dollars More" and Peralta in "the Good, the Bad and the Ugly."

Three shots, Clint!

This illustrious cinematic history of the town will be remembered today in the presentation of "Clint, dispara! La Trilogía del dólar de Sergio Leone" (T & B Publishers), 400 pages with facts, anecdotes, drawings, original photos of the shooting and other graphic unpublished materials relating to the work of Sergio Leone with Eastwood in this and other villages.

The book also includes Eastwood's own reflections on the concept of the westerns filmed in Spain, an idea that seemed too eccentric. "I thought, at the time that the film would make a lot of money, or not do anything. Surely the latter-thought the actor.” I said, "This will be a failure, but I’ll get a free trip to Italy and Spain, and since I've never been to any of the sites, it will be a good experience. And if the dice of fate goes well, it will be a bonus. So I went, and did my job the best I could.”

 The shooting of the whole ‘Dollars’ series led to many encounters between Eastwood and Colmenareños, who told of some of their comic discussions with Leone. "No, no, not like that ...You must shoot three times, Clint! "Shouted the Italian filmmaker in a sequence of a duel to four of the people watching. "I did shot three times, but you must not have seen me," said the actor showing Sergio his gun cylinder, which proved that his trigger finger was too fast for the eye of the camera.

 

The Spanish Manco

This is just one small but very endearing story that occured during the days of Eastwood in the mountain town, many of which will be remembered in today's event (at 12.30 p.m. in the department store El patio de la Sierra) the entire area of Colmenar Viejo was a set of some of the most celebrated films in cinema history, also showing will be an exhibition of original "props" from the same local, and the presence of the actor Paco Valladares, who gave the Spanish voice for Manco's character in the Spanish dubbed version of "the Good, the bad and the Ugly." Also the Spanish assistant director Julio Sempere of these films of "For a Few Dollars More", Julio Sempere and set decorator "For a Fistful of Dollars", Jose Luis Galicia.

The book, written by Víctor ‘Benito’ Matellano García, the grandson  of screenwriter and assistant director Victor Matellano, and who acted as an extra in "El Cid", also reviews other people of the region of Manzanares el Real and Hoyo de Manzanares, where some of the most iconic scenes from the first episode of the series, "A Fistful of Dollars" was shot - and other nearby towns like Aldea del Fresno, where a branch of  Alberche River was turned into the Rio Grande for the sequence of the slaughter of the Mexican soldiers in "A Fistful of Dollars."

This extensive and ambitious work has also received notes from contributors such as Sir Christopher Frayling, the highest authority on the cinematography of Sergio Leone, and the Italian Carlo Gaberscek, Eurowestern specialist on locations, who did not hesitate to participate in the project sponsored by the association "Colmenar Viejo, Film Land."

The book is set for release on January 23, 2012

YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFKHz7m5BL4