Spaghetti Western Location ~ Rancho Cubero-Galicia/Finca Magdalena/La Pedriza

The Spanish Rancho Cubero-Galicia, Finca Magdalena, La Pedriza sets were built by Jaime Pérez Cubero and José Luis Galicia for the films "The Big Gundown" by Sergio Solima, shot in November and December 1966, the ranch consisted of a large two-story pine log house, a stable, other minor buildings, watering troughs and a corral. The ranch of Nieves Navarro, was used as a scene in the long pursuit of the bounty hunter Jonathan Corbett (Lee Van Cleef) pursuing the Mexican Cuchillo (Tomas Milian).

This ranch (of which today there is no trace) also appears in the films: "Two Crosses at Danger Pass" (1968); "Between God, the Devil and a Winchester" (1968); "A Pistol for One Hundred Coffins" (1968); "Ringo, the Lone Rider" (1968); "One by One" (1969); "Garringo" (1969); "When Satan Grips the Colt" (1969); "A Bullet for Sandoval" (1969); "Arizona Returns" (1970); "Sabata" (1970); "Sartana Kills Them All” (1970).

A few tens of meters away from the Rancho Cubero-Galicia an elaborate set was built for the film "The Man Called Noon" (1973). It has a fundamental role in the dramatic finale of the film, in which the protagonists are besieged and must fight a fire. This set (which was also suitable for indoor shooting) was then used to represent a fort on the edge of the Crow Indian territory in several sequences of the film "Montana Trap" (1977) and in a short scene of "Zorro" (1975). A ravine between the rocks to which this set is attached and used to represent the entrance of an ancient Indian temple in the film "Tex and the Lord of the Deep" (1985) (you can still see the Aztec-style paintings made on the rocks at the entrance of the ravine).

Only a careful observation of the intricate mosaic of the rocky wall makes it possible today to identify what survives of this set (the ruins of a stone wall), which is not easily accessible through the thick vegetation grown after twenty years of abandonment of this film location.

“The Big Gundown” (1967)

“Between God, the Devil and a Winchester” (1968)

“A Pistol for 100 Coffins” (1968)

“Zorro” (1975)