The famous explorer Máximo Cristóbal Valdespino affirms
that the North American border "is a beautiful land, it reminds me a lot
of Almería"
During the decade of the 1960s, Almería was the scene of
many westerns. The deserts of the area offered the perfect landscape to
recreate the adventures of the American West. At the end of the 1950s the first
films began to be recorded, but it was during the following decade and thanks
to Sergio Leone when the location became especially popular. The Italian
director charged there the trilogy of the dollar: A Fistful of Dollars, For a
Few Dollars, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
In total more than 300 westerns were taxed in the desert
of Tabernas, Almería. But it has also been the set of great films like Indiana
Jones and the Last Crusade or Lawrence of Arabia. Currently, the sets that used
to be the villages of the Westerns have become a theme park that attracts
tourists from all over the world and in which some advertisements and video
clips are recorded.
This crucial part of the history of the American western
and the Spaghetti Western appear in Red Dead Redemption 2, the new title of
Rockstar Games. Concretely it happens in a secondary mission in which Arthur
Morgan knows Máximo Cristóbal Valdespino, a famous explorer who is looking for
treasures for the North American border. During the conversation, Máximo
affirms that the border "is a beautiful land, it reminds me a lot of
Almeria".
This detail is just one of the many hidden references in
Red Dead Redemption 2, which is added to, for example, the homage to the
biographer of Unforgiveness or to the opposing families of For a Fitful of
Dollars.
As an American from the West who has lived in Almeria, Spain, I had to look for this. At first I was confused because the game's landscape is not very similar to the Almeria I know, but the culture absolutely is a brilliant reference. Great article!
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