Spaghetti Western Location ~ Villamanta, Spain

This small location in the country, is located in a hilly area 40 kilometers west of Madrid, at the end of the nineteenth century, ran a railway line that connected Madrid to Almorox (in the Toldeo provincial) which was built along with a station. The railway remained active until 1965; then the tracks were removed, except for a short stretch between Villamanta and the town of Navalcarnero a few kilometers to the east, which turned to the Madrid area, where a railway line was needed.

The station, with some tweaks and transformations, was used as a set in a scene in the Argentine pampas film “Savage Pampas” (1965) by Hugo Fregonese, with Robert Taylor, and in the westerns “Bandidos” (1967); “God Forgives, I Don’t!” (1967); “The Mercenary” (1968); “100 Rifles” (1969); “When Satan Grips the Colt” (1969); “Alive ... or Preferably Dead” (1969) (it represents the Short Town station); “Adios Cjamango!” (1970) (it appears very briefly); “Cannon for Cordoba” (1970) and “Companeros” (1970).

A large set was built for the film “100 Rifles”, which represented the city of Nogales in the state in Mexico (on the border with Arizona); and was composed of many buildings on both sides of the main street, including a two-story brick hotel (Fonda La Providencia), and the La Esperanza winery in front of the railway station building. This set plays a very important role in the first part of the film and is the scene of the spectacular battle between the government soldiers commanded by El Verdugo (Fernando Lamas) and the Yaqui Indians led by Raquel Welch and Burt Reynolds in the final part.

Shortly after, the set around the Villamanta station was enlarged to represent the American border town of Columbus, New Mexico that was attacked and burned by Mexican guerrillas in a nighttime sequence of the film “Cannon for Cordoba” (1970).

After the suppression of the railway line, the two-story station building, with a staircase on the western side, wass sold to private individuals, but retained the original structure, while the neighboring brick one, which is seen as green in many films (originally it was a wine factory), and in a state of neglect. To the west of the ex-station you can recognize the hills that have served as a backdrop in various western scenes and the ancient route of the railway line (now transformed into a dirt road) which is a few hundred meters away (towards the west), it passes through a specially excavated hillside, which continues into a rolling landscape, with small oak trees and meadows of yellowish grass, very similar to ones in California.

"Alive or Preferably Dead" (1969)

“When Satan Grips the Colt” (1969)

 "100 Rifles" (1969)

"Companeros" (1970)