New Book Release

A book gathers the locations of Sergio Leone's filming in Spain

The Almerian José Enrique Martínez Moya includes photographs, maps and anecdotes in the work 'Se busca ... Tras la pista de Sergio Leone'

Diario de Almeria

By Diego Martínez

May 3, 2018

Se busca ... Tras la pista de Sergio Leone

Author: José Enrique Martínez Moya

Country: Spain

Publisher: Circulo Rojo

Language: Spanish

Pages: 302

ISBN: 978-84-9194-034-0

José Enrique Martínez Moya has just published the book Se busca ... Tras la pista de Sergio where he describes absolutely all the locations of the five films that Leone filmed in Spain between 1964 and 1970. Without doubt, it is the Bible about the filming carried out by the Italian filmmaker in Almeria and other places in Spain.

"Much has been written about Leone, but if he wanted to offer in detail the exact places where the film director filmed his films," confesses Martinez Moya. "It's a guide I've been working on for many years, it's a definitive guide to finding out about the locations of Leone's films."

"I want anyone who loves Leone's cinema to become an adventurer with this book, going through all the stages that the Italian director chose for his five great films: an initiatory journey that will recall each of his scenes and become a special spectator, "says José Enrique Martínez Moya.

"Leone created a school and can be considered the great precursor of the great avalanche, for me it has been the most important director who has gone through Almería, because after his passing here, he generated the arrival of more than 200 film westerns shot here".

José Enrique Martínez Moya is a lover of Leone's cinema, although he is very clear that his best film is “The Big Gundown”. "It's the most complete and I love it, I've seen it hundreds of times and I do not get tired." The book has two prologues. One has been made by Diego Fernández The taxi driver and another written by Carlo Gaberscek.

In the introduction of the work, Martínez Moya points out that "since my childhood, cinema has been a very important condition in my life: the relationship with the movie people in the popular neighborhood of El Zapillo, the movie games in a neighborhood that I could go through a movie set and endless experiences formed in me a special love, a love that led me to travel the nearby land of the capital riding a bicycle to find those places that were seen in the movies.

"The great Sergio Leone to whom I dedicated this work is closely related to my experiences: his life, the relationship with Almeria and the landscapes that were the great asset of his success," says the author of the book, who also comments on the work it was a pique that took place between Aldo Sambrell and Eli Wallach in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”, as Sambrell was about to play Wallach’a role, although he ultimately accepted and relegated Sambrell to a role in the band of Sentenza (Angel Eyes).

"In Leone, the common denominator is the death of one of the main protagonists at the end of each story, either for revenge or justice and always in a duel where each protagonist leaves with the same advantage, except for going down, damn, where is it occurs with treason, without any warning, "says Martínez Moya.

As curious facts that are provided in the work highlight that during the filming of “For a Few Dollars More” was baptized in the same church of the Virgin in the capital where the son of Spanish actor Aldo Sambrell was, and the godfather was Sergio Leone himself. Jose Enrique Martinez also addresses the complaints of Leone for the lack of film studios in Almería during the filming of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”.

"The producers of the world are very stupid, because they have not made a film studio here yet, it's a wonderful place for filming, which can be done at all times and in the best conditions. As it happens in these moments, although the saturation of filming sometimes causes problems, "said Leone in 1966, during his stay in Almería.