rtve
By Jesús Jiménez
4/21/2025
['The Return of
the Magnificent Seven' (1966) was filmed in Madrid]
There was a time when The Magnificent Seven rode through
the mountains of Madrid and Alicante under the orders of Yul Brynner; when
Chato, the Apache warrior played by Charles Bronson, did his thing in the
desert of Almeria; and in which Raquel Welch (Ana Coulder) sought revenge, also
in Almería (while we saw Paco de Lucía play the guitar). There was a time when
Almeria, the mountains of Madrid and other Spanish towns became the American
West for Hollywood. A time that the journalist and film critic Carlos Aguilar
(Cine de terror 1950-1959. From the Dead) exhaustively reviews in the
surprising book American Western in Spain (Desfiladero ediciones).
“The golden years of this phenomenon form a decade, which
is between 1965 and 1975,” Carlos explains. But in 1958 the first American film
of the genre was shot in Spain and in 1999 the last to date. The Americans
began to shoot here because it was cheaper and the landscape responded, in
addition to the fact that Spain already had highly qualified technicians and
interpreters at that time. But from this, let’s say, mischief, they realized
that our country provided a very interesting visual particularity for the
Western, hence they continued to shoot in Spain even though the prices, of
everything, were rising. It was worth it, the film took on a special
character.”
A time In Ih dozens of American”west’rns were filmed,
which would end up leading to the Spaghetti Western and the Paella Western,
which Tarantino is so passionate about. Although for Carlos, that is another
story: “I wanted to make the essay more concrete in that aspect, by making
possible a text that is long enough and its own: the films, the shootings, the
socio-political context, the anecdotes... I have always been passionate about
the period of the Americans making westerns in Spain, and I have also been
lucky enough to chat with more than a few professionals who participated in the
phenomenon, from Spaniards such as the decorator Gil Parrondo, the assistant
Julio Sempere, the costume designer Tony Pueo and the actor Fernando Rey, to
foreigners such as the actors Ernest Borgnine, Herbert Lom and Dan Van Husen,
as well as the director Eugenio Martín, who was a very good friend of mine, and
about whom I wrote a book, together with my wife, Anita Haas. Talking to them
about this phenomenon, over the years, increased my interest in the subject. In
addition, there is hardly any bibliography on it, and in general in my essays I
have tried to fill gaps, you know.”
Great Hollywood directors and actors
Reading Carlos's book, it is surprising how many great
American and British directors and performers ended up riding through our
landscapes: "Among the directors I would highlight John Sturges, Richard
Fleischer, Monte Hellman, Burt Kennedy, Robert Siodmak, Michael Winner, Edward
Dmytryk, as well as the cosmopolitan Argentinian Hugo Fregonese, about whom I
have also written a book. And among the actors, many who figure in the film
mythology of the twentieth century: Lee Marvin, Yul Brynner, Raquel Welch, Robert
Mitchum, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Charles Bronson, Kirk Douglas, Telly
Savalas, Robert Ryan, Faye Dunaway, Lee Van Cleef... all of them worked in
American westerns in Spain. It's fabulous!"
In addition, in these films we see renowned Spanish
actors rubbing shoulders with these Hollywood stars. "In Spanish actors
they were looking for professionalism, talent and verisimilitude, as well as a
certain command of English," Carlos tells us. Fernando Rey and Julián
Mateos were indeed the most requested, the first usually to play landowners or
priests, and the second for young and dynamic Mexicans. But they were also in
great demand, for example, José Nieto, Sancho Gracia and Aldo Sambrell, in the
corresponding registers, and among the actresses the beautiful Diana Lorys
above all. That is why I asked her for the prologue, which she wrote to me with
great pleasure, which has made me very excited."
[Burt Reynolds and
Soledad Miranda in '100 Rifles']
They contributed a lot to the progress of some areas
But... What did Almeria and Madrid offer the Americans
specifically to be the main settings for these films? "Eminently
cinematographic landscapes, which until then had hardly been exploited in front
of the cameras, and which provided a most suggestive Mediterranean touch,
different from what filmmakers could find in Mexico, where they also shot a
lot".
Apart from the anecdotal, the truth is that these
shootings contributed a lot to the development of some areas, especially in the
south of Spain, such as Almeria. "They contributed to the progress of
these areas to a very high extent," says Carlos Aguilar, "by putting
the Spain of that time, antiquated in every way, in contact with, literally,
another world. In addition, the impact of a shoot is high in chrematistic
terms, both in terms of investment in local personnel and companies (auxiliaries,
figuration, rental of vehicles and spaces, meals, transport, accommodation,
etc.) and in the expenses of the technical-artistic team itself (restaurants
and bars, souvenirs and shopping, social life, etc)".
[Chuck Connors
with Eugenio Martín on the set of 'The Challenge of Pancho Villa']
And, of course, they also caused the massive filming of
Spanish and Italian westerns, among which Sergio Leone's dollar trilogy stands
out. "The Spaghetti Western," Carlos tells us, "was a separate
phenomenon but coincided with the splendor of American westerns in Spain. In
this way, the European reinterpretation of the genre flowed in parallel with
this new stage of the American Western, which, depending on the level of
violence, was called "Twilight" or "Dirty". It is necessary
to note that both branches of the genre agreed in various features (formal,
visual, conceptual), in secondary actors, in locations and scenery, etc. They
differed in budget, however, that of American films was generally much higher
than that of Spaghetti.
[Russ Tamblyn and
María Granada in 'The Gunman's Son']
The best westerns filmed in Hispanic lands
We asked Carlos which titles he would highlight among all
those films shot in Spain: "Pampa salvaje, El justiciero ciego and the
three by Burt Kennedy: The Return of the Magnificent Seven, The Devil's Ravine
and Ana Coulder".
And from the legacy of that time we have a couple of
western towns in Almería (where Álex de la Iglesia filmed his particular
tribute to this period: 800 bullets). And, as Carlos tells us: "There
remains for history a block of American Western cinema that is very particular
and of much greater artistic entity than what was considered in its day".
[Raquel Welch in
'Hannie Caulder']
Truly amazing photographs
It is worth highlighting, as in all of Carlos Aguilar's
books, the large number of photographs that appear in the book: "The
quantity and expressiveness of the photos and posters is striking, within a
magnificent layout, balanced to the millimetre, where there are images even in
the bibliography and the onomastic index," he explains. It seemed
essential to me in a book with this theme. So much so that the number of images
is around 600. In this regard, I can only thank the superb work of the designer,
Javier G. Romero, who found photos of all kinds, most of them unpublished until
their publication in this book, as well as the trust placed in us by the
editor, Pablo Herranz. That's how it's a pleasure to work!"
[Carlos Aguilar in 'History of our cinema']
We are also struck by the fact that Carlos's two previous books are the essay Horror Cinema, 1950-1959 and the fiction Double Program: Better for the Vultures and Scarlet Dinner in Transylvania. It is as if this new book connects with the other two previous ones. "Indeed, Better for the Vultures is a western and Scarlet Dinner in Transylvania a Gothic. Therefore, one dialogues with American Western in Spain and the other with Horror Cinema, 1950-1959".
"It has been most satisfying for me to break down the cinematographic fictions of others, on the one hand, and to propose my own literary ones, on the other hand," he confesses. "Also in a short period of time, about two years. This has meant a very gratifying intellectual and emotional effort for me, I insist. From the Double Program I also highlight Javier's design, sensational, with about 70 photos, and I allow myself the vanity of highlighting that it is the only existing book with this proposal, two long stories of different genres in homage to the double programs of yesteryear".
[Cover of 'Programa doble', by Carlos Aguilar]
