Film shoots: when Aragon became the Wild West

Between 1965 and 1972, the surroundings of Fraga, Candasnos and Alcolea de Cinca hosted the filming of some thirty spaghetti westerns in a little-known chapter of Spanish cinema

[Very close to Candasnos, a ranch was built to host filming, such as this one for the film 'Five Thousand Dollars on One Ace' (1964).]

El Periodico

By Ruben Lopez

August 24, 2024

The 'spaghetti western' became almost a genre in itself in the 60s and 70s of the last century. Sergio Leone opened the season in 1964 with his mythical 'A Fistful of Dollars', but later 500 more films would arrive shot between Italy and Spain. The Community of Madrid and the Tabernas desert, in Almeria, took up a large part of the productions made in Spain, but Aragon also hosted many of these shootings due to its similarity to the Far West. Specifically, the triangle between Fraga, Alcolea de Cinca and Candasnos, in the regions of Bajo Cinca and Cinca Medio, was the setting for more than 30 films shot between 1965 and 1972.

All this cinematographic past was captured in detail in the book that the Madrid-born Javier Ramos Altamira published two years ago ('The Western's routes in Catalonia and Aragon'), but here, in the community, the greatest expert on the subject is Diego Tejera. This filmmaker from Fraga knows all the titles and their corresponding locations perfectly. In fact, a few years ago he promoted the travelling exhibition 'Fraga City, city without law', in which he explains the details of the great cinematographic phenomenon that starred in those years municipalities such as Chalamera, Ballobar, Alcolea de Cinca, Candasnos or Cardiel, a small abandoned town twelve kilometres from Fraga.

As Tejera recalls, Aragon began to host these shootings for purely economic reasons. The Balcázar brothers, born in Barcelona, decided to jump on the 'spaghetti western' bandwagon in the early 1960s. They set up film studios and even built a fictitious town in Esplugues de Llobregat. "It had everything: the living room, the prison, the inn... But they also needed to shoot outdoors, so they thought that filming in this area of Aragon would be much cheaper than going to Almeria," says Tejera.

['Hate for Hate' (1967) was filmed in the surroundings of Alcolea de Cinca.]

 In fact, in just 20 kilometers around they had all the necessary elements. "Here they had gullies, ravines, deserts, the abandoned town of Cardiel, a ranch in Candasnos that they used a lot, the hermitage of Chalamera... And of course the Cinca River, which suited them very well because in some areas it is not very wide and horses could cross it," Tejera abounds.

The Balcázar brothers found so many competitive advantages in the area that they even considered bringing their studies here. The idea did not take hold, but the filming boosted the area economically in the same way. "Fraga's hotels were delighted because they were films that moved quite a few people; the shops also noticed it and I even know a man who rented them horses," explains Tejera, who points out that the westerns even created jobs: "In Fraga there has always been a gypsy community and many of them worked as extras because the directors said that they resembled Mexicans."

All that time passed away due to the decline of the (also called) 'chorizo westerns'. Even the Esplugues studios ended up being dismantled in the face of the decline of the subgenre. Of course, they had an epic ending: the burning and demolition of the fictional town ended up appearing in the last film of the Balcázar family ('Now They Call Him Sacramento').

Film tourism

Despite the fact that the phenomenon is already a thing of the past, Tejera is convinced that much more tourist profit could be obtained from it. "The DPH published the book Huesca de cine a year ago and there appears my route, but little else has been done," laments the expert, who has been knocking on the doors of the regional institutions for several years to promote a project in the area "now that film tourism is so in vogue."

['Yankee' (1966), directed by Tinto Brass, was filmed in the surroundings of Chalamera.]

According to Tejera, it would not be complicated to get started because Javier Ramos' book includes maps and indications of the locations of the shootings. In fact, both are preparing all the information to present it to the regions of Bajo Cinca and Cinca Medio with the desire to make a route. "Information leaflets could be made and posters could be installed on location," says Tejera, who points out that Cardiel could be the epicentre of these routes, a town that was already abandoned when it hosted the shootings.

Among the films shot in the area are 'Five Thousand Dollars on One Ace' (1964), filmed in Fraga and Candasnos, 'The Texican' (1966), 'Yankee' (1966), 'A Pistol for Ringo' (1965) or 'The Return of Ringo' (1966), shot between Fraga, Alcolea and Torrente de Cinca and with music by the great Ennio Morricone. Many of these films appear in the documentary by Catalan Pere Marzo 'Goodbye Ringo' (2019), which recovers part of this little-known chapter of Spanish cinema.