Sunday, July 9, 2017

Spanish Ghost Sets (Part 5)



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

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

El Condor

Originally an elaborate fortress constructed in 1969 for the film El Condor, this site was reused over the years for a variety of films, usually involving lots of dynamite.

Titles include Blindman (1971)-with Ringo Starr as a love-struck Mexican thief-A Reason to Live, a Reason to Die (1972), Get Mean (1975), Conan the Barbarian, and Dollar for the Dead (1998)-a Sergio Leone tribute starring Emilio Estevez.

The painted signs that appear-'Pension Coyote'-are leftovers from the making of Italian film Honolulu Baby (2001), set in a nameless South American town populated entirely by beautiful women.

The Pension Coyote originally served as the general's house in El Condor, where actress Marianna Hill strategically undressed in front of a second-floor window to distract the fortress guards, while Jim Brown and Lee Van Cleef quietly climbed the fortress walls.

The crumbling fort sits on private land, accessible only by hiking from a nearby access road.


Casa del Paraiso was used in The Wind and the Lion, where Eden Pedecaris (Candice Bergen) and her children are kidnapped during a raid on their luxurious manor home. The manor house scenes were filmed at the Casa del Paraiso, now long abandoned, on the outskirts of Almería city. Director John Milius was to return a few years later and use some of the same locations for Conan the Barbarian (1982).


The interior of Casa Santa Isabel. John Lennon rented this villa while he spent three months in Almería in 1966 during the filming of Richard Lester's black comedy How I Won the War. Reportedly, it was here that Lennon began writing the verses to Strawberry Fields Forever. The house was abandoned for many years, but now houses a museum of Almería's film history.


Iglesia de las Salinas. The Iglesia de Las Salinas de Cabo de Gata is a Catholic church constructed in 1907 to serve workers from the nearby salt refinery. Just meters away from the Mediterranean Sea, the building has become weather-beaten by wind and sea salt over the years. In Patton (1970), the church appears in the background when British Commander Field Marshal Montgomery, battling the Germans on the east coast of Sicily, learns that General Patton plans to take Messina and vows to beat him to it. More recent films have also passed through here, including Half of Oscar (2010) and Living Is Easy with Eyes Closed (2013).


Some of the cave scenes from Conan the Barbarian were filmed inside a large cavern in the quarries of La Molineta on the outskirts of AlmerÌa city. The cave also appeared in Fort Apache (1972) and other Westerns, and later housed an underground set for the film Solarbabies (1986). In 2011, the site was slated for redevelopment as the site of a future shopping mall. Demolition crews began to tear away at the rock while a group called ìSalvemos La Molinetaî held demonstrations to have the site declared a cultural treasure. But the economic crisis brought work to a halt, leaving the quarry in its current half-demolished state.


In Lawrence of Arabia (1962), Lawrence and his small band of fighters stop at an oasis before crossing the Nefud desert to attack Aqaba. The oasis was constructed in a dry riverbed, the Rambla Viciana, with a man-made pond and palm trees shipped from Morocco. The palm trees remained and the site appeared in other films over the years, including For a Few Dollars More and The Valley of Gwangi (1969).


Abandoned western facades along the road to Tabernas. Photographer Mark Parascandola said: 'As a photographer, I was initially drawn to the locations for similar reasons filmmakers have been drawn here over the years,' said Mr Parascandola, whose grandparents lived in Almeria before moving to New York in 1930s.





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