Tuesday, January 31, 2017

RIP Montserrat Julió



RIP Montserrat Julió. Spanish actress Montserrat Julió died in Madrid, Spain on January 26th. She was 87. Born Montserrat Julió i Nonell in 1929 in Mataró, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. She lived in exile in Chile during the Spanish Revolution and returned to Spain in 1956 where she began  theatrical and film career. Later she appeared in television and wrote several book including her autobiography Chronicle of an Exile to Xile. Montserrat appeared as Cecily Breidlinger in the rare 1975 Euro-western “The Valley of the Dancing Widows”.

Spaghetti Western Locations ~ Flagstone


The set at Calahorra, Spain despite all the progress that surrounds it, the solar panels and the wind machines, is still a magical, romantic place that still captivates many cinema goers from all over the world who make pilgrimages to this place in search Leone film locations.


Only a few steps away, on the other side of the tracks, is where the station at which was filmed the scene showing the arrival of Jill McBain (Claudia Cardinale) at Flagstone, a few ruins remain of the town set as a testimony that there was once a great set from Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West” (1968). It was converted into Dallas the following year for “The Price of Power” (1969) by Tonino Valerii, then used as Cheyenne for “My Name is Nobody” (1973) by Tonino Valerii) and then for  Tucumcari for ‘The Genius” (1975) by Damiano Damiani.

Just four buildings are left with their dilapidated brick walls and footings, within the walls of a livestock farm. It’s very sad end to a great set that saw a parade of Leone and Valerii films and such stars as Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Claudia Cardinale, Terence Hill and Giuliano Gemma.



Go West Young Man!



Go West Young Man! – English title
Idi na zapad, mladi čoveče – Serbian title

A 2002 Dutch production [Pieter Van Huystee Film and Television, Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep VPRO (Amsterdam)]
Producer: Peter van Huystee
Directors: Peter Delpeut, Mart Dominicus
Screenplay: Peter Delpeut, Mart Dominicus
Photography: Stef Tijdnik [color]
Music: Paul M. van Brugge
Running time: 84 minutes

Cast:
John Milius, William A. Fraker, Hartmut Bitomsky, E. Annie Proulx, Adam Jahiel, Dan Israels, Waddie Mitchell (Bruce Mitchell), Tayloe Sophia Fogarty, R. G. Armstrong (Robert Golden Armstrong) [archive footage], James Coburn [archive footage], Brandon De Wilde (Andre De Wilde) [archive footage], Van Heflin [archive footage], Richard Jaeckel [archive footage], Kris Kristofferson (Kristoffer Kristofferson) [archive footage], Alan Ladd [archive footage], Lee Marvin [archive footage], Jeanne Moreau [archive footage], Jack Palance (Volodymyr Palahnyuk Jr.) [archive footage], John Wayne  (Marion Morrison) [archive footage], Natalie Wood (Natalia Zakharenko) [archive footage]  


This documentary takes us back in time, to the time of western movies. With the use of scenes from classical films we visit different locations and the remains of them today (some have remained, but most have disappeared). The film is a trip by car through the rough lands of western America and it is full of beautiful images, interesting locations and the people who inhabit these places. It gives a lot of information about life in the Wild West from the past and today.

Monday, January 30, 2017

European Western Comic Books ~ West Side Story…elle



 The cute range characters recreates the comic stories of Oriali appearing in the appendix of the principal newspapers. The Oriali characters are parodies of Geronimo, Zorro, El Santo and Johnny Manila. The series consists of two numbers (1972/73), and subsequent re-issues  (1974/75) for a total of 4 outputs.