Spaghetti Western Locations – Colmenar Viejo

Poblados del Oeste - Dehesa de Navalvillar & Lega y Michelena

Colmenar Viejo is the name of the town set which is located about 40km north of Madrid. When the Spaghetti westerns were being filmed this was a vast open plain. It was the first western set built for filming in Spain featuring “The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw”.

Now it is the location of a Spanish Air Force used for helicopters called FAMET, which covers half of the western townsite. The other half is part of a private cattle ranch. Today only scattered remains of some crumbled foundations and partial walls which are covered over with black betty bushes and other shrubs.

Quite a few western films used the townsite over the years. It competed with Hoyo de Manzanare (aka Golden City) as one of the most filmed townsites in the early days of the Spanish and Italian westerns. 

A complete list of the westerns filmed here is almost impossible but some of the better known Euro-westerns were:

The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw - 1958

Billy the Kid - 1963

Pistols Don’t Argue – 1964

A Coffin for the Sheriff - 1965

For a Few Dollars More – 1965

Hands of a Gunfighter – 1965

The Big Gundown - 1966

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – 1966

Navajo Joe - 1966

A Few Dollars for Django - 1966

Up the MacGregors - 1966

And for a Roof a Sky Full of Stars - 1968

The Desperadoes - 1968

The Mercenary – 1968

Dead Men Don’t Count – 1968

Prey of Vultures – 1972

A Train for Durango – 1969

Sundance Cassidy and Butch the Kid - 1969

More Dollars for the MacGregors - 1970

Gunman in Town – 1970

Sonny & Jed – 1972