‘They Went Thata Way, Senor’ [archived newspaper article]

 

Madrid (UPI) [ed. Unsigned, pity]

The six shooters are blazing in the dusty streets of the Spanish frontier. The mortally wounded cowboys have been toppling from their saddles, and the saloons have been doing a roaring trade since late 1961. That’s when the first Western movie was made in Spain. It was “The Savage Guns” (sic), a Spanish-North American coproduction, starring Richard Basehart and Spanish actress Paquita Rico, previously best known for her roles in Spanish folklore films. 

“The Savage Guns” was no great shakes artistically, but it made money. And so, decades after Tom Mix flicked across the world’s screens, Spain’s moviemakers discovered the Western.

 Soon after “The Savage Guns” was filmed, another producer made “Zorro’s Revenge” [ed. “Zorro the Avenger”]. Then the first Spanish spoof of the Western, “Torrejon City”, was put in the cans.

These three Westerns were released in 1963. In the Spanish releases list of the following year [ed. 1964] there were nine Westerns, including one following the classic Hollywood pattern but based in Venezuela [ed. “The Implacable Three”].

Spoof of Westerns

Another spoof of Westerns, “The Fearless Sheriff” [ed. “Two Against All”], starring Italian comedian Walter Chiari, was on the list, as was a Spanish treatment of the Negro problem in the U.S. plopped down into a rip-roaring Western setting [ed. “Black Angel of Mississippi”].

The 1965 releases list will bulge with Spanish-made Westerns. So far this year some 18 Westerns have been completed, and another six are being shot, including the most ambitious Spanish Western yet.

This is “Joaquin Murrieta” [ed. “Murieta”], the tale of a Mexican gunman called a bandit by some and a fighter for justice by others. The film stars actors of fame and caliber [ed. Jeffrey Hunter & Arthur Kennedy].

Most of the westerns made in Spain have had anything but star-studded casts from the international point of view. The usual starring lineup has consisted of several middling-to-well-known local actors, along with little - known - American names to give a greater feeling of authenticity to the production, while keeping the budget down.

Budgets Fluctuate

The budgets generally oscillate between seven million pesetas ($116,666) and ten million pesetas ($166.666, sic). Spain lends itself admirably to the filming of Westerns. Many parts of the rugged, sunbaked country south of Pyreenees are remarkably similar to the magnificent vistas of the U.S. Southwest made so familiar to the world on the wide screen. In the far south, in Andalusia, the bare, tumbling terrain is even dotted with cactus. Spanish Western makers haven’t contented themselves with disguising existing villages to look like the 19th century towns in the US Southwest. They have built two “authentic” false-fronted Western movie towns, one in Hoyo de Manzanares near Madrid [ed. ‘Golden City’], the other at Esplugas outside Barcelona [ed. Balcazar family].

The board walked dirt streets are lined with saloons, barbers’ shops, hotels, furriers’ establishments, grocery and gunsmiths’ stores, and the inevitable sheriff’s office. All that’s left for Spain to do is make a “High Noon” [ed. “Sons of Vengeance”, aka “Gunfight at High Noon”].

Submitted by Michael Ferguson