Spaghetti Western Location ~ Poblado Lega y Michelena

In the Dehesa de Navalvillar area of Spain, a few kilometers north of Colmenar Viejo, and a few hundred meters from the M-625 road, is a small western village that was built for the British-produced western “The Sheriff of Fractured jaw” (1958). Five years later, at the same site with the initiative of Felix Michelena and partner of Augusto Lega, another village was created, generically called "Poblado del Oeste", which originally consisted of only six wooden buildings, which could also be used internally, located on the sides of the main road ("Main Street"), sheriff's office and jail, saloon, general store, barber shop and stable. Subsequently this village, managed by the company Lega-Michelena S.L. Decorados Cinematograficos, expanded the town in relation to the needs of the numerous films shot there: a church, cemetery, another larger stable, a new saloon, a train station, a new street with Mexican-style buildings and another street characterized by a large two-storey building with porch and terrace.

This set was used in the films: “Billy the Kid” (1964); “Two Violent Men” (1964); “Bullets Don't Argue” (1964) (in which it looks like a ghost town); “Relevo para un pistolero” (1964); “Son of a Gunfighter” (1965); “Finger on the Trigger” (1964); “For a Few Dollars More” (1965) (the scene of the arrival of Clint Eastwood at White Rocks on a rainy evening); “Seven Guns for the MacGregors” (1965) (in which it represents the village of Las Mesas in Arizona, in which the Macgregor brothers go to sell the horses, which are confiscated by the local town boss); “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966) (in which it represents Peralta, the city in New Mexico bombed, and invaded by Union troops and civilian and Southern troops who retreat, in the second part of the film); and “The Colt is My Law” (1966); “Custer of the West” (1966); “Murrieta” (1966); “Navajo Joe” (1966): Renegade Gunfighter (1966); “A Few Dollars for Django” (1966); “Ringo, the Face of Revenge” (1966); “Up the MacGregors” (1966) (it represents the village of San Rafael where the MacGregor brothers arrive after the battle with the gang of Mexican bandits led by Maldonado); “White Comanche” (1967); “The Big Gundown” (1967); ... “Death Knows No Time” (1968); “Fedra West” (1968); “The Dead Are Countless” (1968); “The Desperados” (1968) (in the first part of the film this village is set on fire by Jack Palance’s gang); “Requiem for a Gringo” (1968); “Ringo, the Lone Rider” (1968); “Rattler Kid” (1968); “Adios Cjamango!” (1970); “More Dollars for the MacGregors” (1970); “Sabata the Killer” (1970); “Sartana Kills Them All” (1970); “Matalo!” (1970); “The Legend of Frenchie King” (1971); “Raise Your Hands Dead Man…You’re Under Arrest” (1972); “Sonny & Jed” (1972); “The White, the Yellow, the Black” (1974).

In 1973 the western village of Navalvillar was dismantled due to the expansion of a nearby military helicopter base. It was planned to transfer the buildings on the set two kilometers further south, also within the context of the Dehesa de Navalvillar in 1974, on the idea by Felix Michelena, and where the Tablada film studio would be built (which now bears the name of Aroziegui and managed by his son Miguel Michelena); but, in fact, only the saloon was removed and rebuilt, which remained standing until 1996.

On the ground where the Poblado Lega y Michelena stood, there are still some traces of the western set: some brick walls and foundations of the main buildings, a few meters away from the fence of the helicopter base.

“Billy the Kid” (1964)

"The Big Gundown" (1965)

“The Desperados” (1968)

“More Dollars for the MacGregors” (1970)

“Light the Fuse… Sartana is Coming” (1970)