Spain relives the golden age of Western films

For 14 years, every October the Almeria Western Film Festival has revived the era of splendour of the Andalusian Far West

Diario Las Americas

October 19, 2024

Tabernas - Shots ring out in front of the saloon and a cowboy collapses on the ground. The scene of numerous spaghetti westerns in the 1960s and 70s, the Spanish province of Almeria continues to exploit that golden age with a film festival, new shoots and even theme parks.

Great titles such as “A Fistful of Dollars”, “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and “Once Upon a Time in America”, by Italian director Sergio Leone, were not shot in the United States, but in the Tabernas desert, an area of 28,000 hectares of dunes, canyons, steppes and cacti near Almeria, in southern Spain.

Three towns – with their dusty streets, wooden facades, the sheriff's office and, of course, the saloon – that served as sets back then are now theme parks, although they are still receiving filming.

With carriages, a church or even a coffin, in Fort Bravo, one of them, there is no lack of detail. The show is performed by some fictitious cowboys who perform performances on horseback that end with gunpowder.

"Truly deserted"

Equipped with a vest and cowboy boots, Rafael Aparicio is one of them, having started as an extra on the set as a teenager.

"This was where I learned to do everything that is done today: horses, falling from heights, fighting foot to ground...", says this 49-year-old man.

In the parking lot, about fifteen trucks, caravans and a white tent give away that there is a film in progress.

"The light here is a particular light," Italian actor Fabio Testi, 83, told AFP, underlining one of the factors that attracted cinema to this then isolated region. "You can shoot from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and there is always the same light," adds this interpreter who participated in several of those productions.

"It doesn't rain here and the landscape is just like the United States... and much cheaper," says José Enrique Martínez, author of Almería, un mundo de película, in reference to the similarity of this region with the Arizona area and South Texas.

"At the beginning, cinema was a family thing," he says about the beginnings of the activity in Almeria. "Everyone wanted to be in the movies," adds this historian originally from the region, recalling how workers and masons preferred to appear in productions because they earned more.

It was not difficult to find extras who could pass themselves off as credible cowboys or Mexican peasants with sun-battered skin.

But when Sergio Leone set up his camera in Tabernas, everything became more industrial, with infrastructures, associations of riders or carpenters already with approved rates, Martínez continues. In the 1960s, dozens of westerns were filmed.

"Sergio Leone would play (Ennio) Morricone's music..., everyone would get into the atmosphere and then say: 'chac, acción'," recalls Fabio Testi. "It was like Texas for us. It was truly desert, desert, and nothing more. There was a hotel in Almeria," he recalls.

That isolation was too much for some stars like Clint Eastwood, who complained about the endless journeys to Tabernas. Almeria airport was inaugurated in 1968, facilitating the arrival of actors such as Sean Connery, Brigitte Bardot or Louis de Funès.

"Long live the Western!"

Almeria is not, however, just a land of Westerns. Films set in North Africa or the Middle East, such as Lawrence of Arabia, were also shot in this area, recalls Robert Yareham, author of Movies made in Spain.

After the 1970s, activity in Tabernas slowed down, but recently it picked up the pace with filming such as the series ‘Zorro’ with Jean Dujardin, the upcoming ‘Lucky Luke’ or the filming of “Strange Way of Life”, the short film in the form of a queer western that Pedro Almodóvar premiered last year. Some passages from the popular series ‘The Crown’ or ‘Game of Thrones’ were also located here.

And, for the past 14 years, every October the Almeria Western Film Festival has revived the era of splendour of the Andalusian Far West.

With a hat and a scarf around his neck, Juan Castro proudly claims the only European festival dedicated to the genre.

"It is true that in many places in Europe the western is like something of the past, but here that essence is still alive," says the 41-year-old professor.

This year, the jury awarded the film “Until the End of the World”, by Viggo Mortensen, who made a plea in favor of the genre from the stage.

"It is not true that the western has died. There is always room for new stories," he said. "Long live the western and long live the western filmed in Almeria!"