Spanish Ghost Sets (Part 3)

Daily Mail

By Gareth Davies

June 1 2017

The Spanish Spaghetti Western ghost town where abandoned Hollywood film sets are still standing in the desert almost 50 years on

Despite forming huge chunk of Western film history, these amazing photographs show the iconic spots in ruin

Spaghetti Western was initially handed down as a derogatory term for low-budget films directed by Italians

Over time it became a badge of honour thanks to conveyor belt of talent like Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood

But despite its iconic status within the Western film world, many deserted sets have been left to rot in Spain

Mini Hollywood

The Spanish Spaghetti Western ghost town where abandoned Hollywood film sets are still standing in the desert almost 50 years on

Despite forming huge chunk of Western film history, these amazing photographs show the iconic spots in ruin

Spaghetti Western was initially handed down as a derogatory term for low-budget films directed by Italians

Over time it became a badge of honour thanks to conveyor belt of talent like Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood

But despite its iconic status within the Western film world, many deserted sets have been left to rot in Spain

Following the success of A Fistful of Dollars (1964), Sergio Leone commissioned Carlo Simi to construct an entire Western town for the second title in the trilogy, For a Few Dollars More.

Two rival bounty hunters, played by Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef, both in pursuit of the fugitive El Indio, eye each other suspiciously from their hotel windows on opposite sides of the street.

The building now labeled The Yellow Rose housed Van Cleef's hotel and the town saloon.

The town now operates as a Western theme park, with daily stunt shows, can-can dancing, and a zoo. 

Sheriff building at Western Leone. In Once Upon a Time in the West, local gunmen fight for control of the Sweetwater Ranch, which is defended by the widow Jill McBain (Claudia Cardinale) with some help from a mysterious harmonica-playing gunman (Charles Bronson). The only building at the ranch site is a two-story log cabin with a distinctively angled roof. The set was later expanded for subsequent films and is now open for tourists under the name Western Leone.

Remains of the town of Flagstone from Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West. For the town of Flagstone in Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), production designer Carlo Simi constructed a Western street set at the La Calahorra train station near Guadix. Little remains today but the brick structures of the Phoenix Bank and the hotel, which have been partially absorbed into an adjacent chicken farm.