Spaghetti Western Locations

In search of filming locations for “The Return of the Seven”. The film opens with the credits playing over a Mexican village. We see the villagers busy, going about doing their daily chores as the credits role.

 
The location for the village seen in the opening credits is Serra del Castellar and is located near Puente de la Palmera.

For a more detailed view of this site and other Spaghetti Western locations please visit my friend Captain Douglas’ excellent website: http://www.western-locations-spain.com                  

and Yoshi Yasuda’s location site: http://y-yasuda.net/film-location.htm

 

[Captain Douglas has dedicated and entire section of his website to “The Return of the Seven” with behind the scenes photos and stories. Highly recommended.]

Remembering Dean Reed

Dean Cyril Reed was born on September 22, 1938, in Denver Colorado. He went to Hollywood where he signed a record contract with Capitol Records in 1958, but his third single, "Our Summer Romance" was so popular in South America he went on tour there. More became more popular than Elvis Presley, and stayed to enjoy his incredible fame in Chile, Peru and Argentina. He made albums, starred in movies and had his own television show in Buenos Aires. He was known as ‘Mr. Simpatia’ because he worked free in barrios and prisons and protested US policy, nuclear bomb tests etc. His politics moved to the left but he never joined the Communist party. He was deported from Argentina in 1966 and ended up in Rome, where he made "Spaghetti westerns" for several years. He made his first concert tour of the Soviet Union in 1966 and became a mega star there and in Eastern Europe. He continually got into trouble with the U.S. State Department for protesting the Vietnam War and attending International Peace Conferences. He moved to East Germany in 1973 where he made numerous albums, starred in and wrote and directed his own films

 
His last visit to the U.S. in late 1985 where he was encouraged to make a career for himself back home, especially if he could return with his current project in hand, a movie about the war between AIM and the FBI at Wounded Knee, 1973. An East German/Soviet Union co-production, the film had taken years to get off the ground. Just days before shooting was due to begin, Dean Reed's body was found in a lake near his home outside of East Berlin. He had been missing for several days. Many close to him in the GDR suspected suicide; his family and friends in America believed he was murdered by the KGB.
 
Reed made nine Euro-westerns from “Buckaroo” in 1967 to “Sing Cowboy, Sing” in 1981. He’s probably best remembered for his role as Ballantine in 1970’s “Adios Sabata” with Yul Brynner.
 
Today we remember singer, actor, screenwriter, director Dead Reed on what would have been his 75^th birthday.

RIP Michel Brault

Michel Brault a Quebec cinematographer, cameraman, film director, screenwriter and film producer died of a heart attack in Toronto, Onataio, Canada today September 21, 2013. Born June 25, 1928 Montréal, Québec, Canada, he was a leading figure of Direct Cinema, characteristic of the French branch of the National Film Board of Canada in the 1960s. Brault was a pioneer of the hand-held camera aesthetic.

 
In the 1960s, Brault collaborated with the French Nouvelle Vague, notably with Jean Rouch, and introduced the cinéma vérité techniques in Europe. He directed his first documentary short film for the National Film Board, the influential Les Raquetteurs in 1958. He was also the cinematographer for a number of key Canadian films of the 1970s such as Claude Jutra's “Kamouraska” and “Mon Oncle Antoine” and Francis Mankiewicz's “Les Bons débarras”.
 
In 1974, Brault directed “Les Ordres”, about the 1970 October crisis and won the 1975 Cannes Film Festival award for best director and the 1975 Canadian Film Award for best direction. His 1989 film “The Paper Wedding” was entered into the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.
 
Brault was the cinematographer on the 1984 TV Euro-western “Louisiana”.

THE SIGN OF ZORRO

Il segno di Zorro – Italian title

El capitan Intrepido – Spanish title
Le signe de Zorro – French title
Zorro, der Mann mit den zwei Gesichtern – German titleKaksintaistelu Rio Grandessa – Finnish title
Zorron merkki – Finnish title
A Marca da Vingança – Brazilian title
Monomahia sto Rio Grande – Greek title
I Zorros fodspor – Norwegian title
Duell vid Rio Grande – Swedish title
Duel at the Rio Grande – U.K. title
The Mark of Zorro – English title
The Sign of Zorro – English title
 
A 1962 Italian, Spanish, French, German co-production [Producciones Benito Perojo (Madrid), Compagna Cinematografica Mondiale (Rome), Fides Films (Paris), Rapid Film (Munich)]
Producers: Benito Perojo, Harry Joe Brown
Director: Nick Jordan (Mario Caiano)
Story: Guido Malatesta
Screenplay: Guido Malatesta, Casey Robinson (Kenneth Robinson), André Tabet (Georges Tabet), Arturo Rigel
Cinematography: Adalberto Albertini, Luigi Filippo Carta [Eastmancolor, Dynascope]
Music: Gregorio Garcia Segura
Running time: 90 minutes
 
Cast:
Don Ramón Martínez y Rayol/Slavatore/Zorro – Sean Flynn
José – Folco Lulli
Señora Gutiérrez – Gaby André  (Bagrielle Andreu)
General Rodrigo Gutiérrez – Armando Calvo (Armando Lespier)
Manuela – Danielle de Metz
Don Luis – Mino D’Oro (Mino Doro)
Captain Martin/Lieutenant Martino – Mario Petri (Mario Pezzetta)
Governor – Enrique Diosdado
Mercedes – Helga Line (Lisa Stern)
Captain Gomez – Giulo Bosetti
Alcalde – Carlo Tamberlani (Francesco Tamberlani)
Padre Díaz – Gig Bonos (Luigi Bonos)
Señora Martinez y Rayol – Yvette Lebon (Simone Lebon)
Sergeant – Remo de Angelis
Lieutenant – José Canalejas
Mario – Walter Barnes
Romero – Pietro Ceccarelli (Piero Ceccarelli)
Professor – Leonardo Colapetro
Julian – Miguel del Castillo
Miguel – Gigi Bonos (Luigi Bonos)
Rocio - Maria Carmen Encaldo
Herrero – Piero Lulli
Francesco – Aldo Cecconi
Ventera – Tony Soler (Toñi Soler)
Sheriff – José Villasante
Señora de Echague/Galiardo – Maruja Tamayo
Politician – Fernando Poggi (Ferdinando Poggi)
Aristocrat – Ugo Sasso
Mexican – Xan das Bolas (Tomás Pena)
Fighter – Guido de Angelis
Padre Gómez - John Teixeira (Virgilio Delgado Teixeira)
Cocinero – Gisella Monaldi
Servant – Alfredo Rizzo
Mexican peons – Nicola Di Pinto, Patrizio Florio
Boy – Saverio Chiarappa
With: Omero Capana, Guido Celano, Manuel de Blas (Manuel Muñoz), Armand Galou, Patrick Madden, Manrico Melchiorre, Carlo Rizzo, Tonio Selwart (Anton Selwart), Vittorio Bonos, Mimo Billi (Domenico Billi), Mila (Mila Valenza), Luccio Dell’Aera, Rino Valerio, Giusepinno Caldarazzo, Giovanni Coppi, Mario Maggiolini

The young Don Ramón Martínez, accompanied by his faithful friend José, travels to Mexico to meet his father, exiled there twenty years earlier. On arrival he is given some sad news: his father was killed, by General Gutierrez, dictator of the region and has taken possession of his fortune. The oppression by Gutierrez, who stripped the people of all their possessions, causes Ramon to take his place alongside a group of conspirators, in order to restore peace and justice in the country. Using the name of Zorro, Ramon makes ​​several attacks that force the dictator to flee. The region now liberated, Ramon can take back the name and the wealth of his father.

 

YouTube trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I30W-qrwtuE

Happy 85th Birthday Giancarlo Badessi

Giancarlo Badessi was born on September 21. 1928 in Rome, Italy as Giancarlo Badese. A multifaceted artist who was well appreciated since the early 1970s, a period during which he participated in many successful films. After an initial career as an accountant, had appeared in the theater around the age of forty, working with Giancarlo Cobelli in the play “La caserma delle fate”, which was later made ​​into the film “Stop the World ... I Want to Get Off” directed by Cobelli. Since 1967 he starred in numerous films as a character actor, becoming a familiar face on television in commercials.

 
Some of his best remembered roles were as Mr. Erickson in “What Have You Done to Solange?” (1972). In 1977, he played Cerullo, in “A Man Called Magnum”. The same year he was cast in Squadra antitruffa ("Fraud Squad") which starred David Hemmings. Badessi appeared in seven Euro-westerns from “Ace High” (1967) as the boxing promoter, to “Hallelujah to Vera Cruz” (1973).
 
Giancarlo died in Rome on December 6, 2011 at the age of 82. Today we remember Giancarlo Badessi on what would have been his 85^th birthday.

Guess Who I Am

 

I am an American actress born in Chicago, Illinois in 1940.

 
I’ve appeared in over 60 films and TV appearances winning a Golden Globe award in 1975.
 
I appeared in two Euro-westerns.
 
Guess who I am.

Antonio Rosa correctly identified this week's photo as that of Raquel Welch.

RIP Amidou

The actor Amidou , the first Moroccan actor to have made a name in France, died Thursday September 19, 2013 evening in a Paris hospital as a result of disease. He was 78.

 
Mohammed Amidou Benmessaoud his real name, was born August 2, 1935 in Rabat, Morocco.
 
The first Moroccan actor to have won an acting award at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts, he started in the theater with Madeleine Renaud and Jean-Louis Barrault in "Les Paravents The Screens" by Jean Genet at the Odeon in 1968 .
 
The dark complexioned actor with a warm smile and charming eyes had a successful career in cinema.
 
He became one of the favorite actors of Claude Lelouch turning out 10 films with him, the first feature from director "Le propre de l'homme" in 1960.

Speaking English, he also had a career in the United States with films by William Friedkin "The Sorcerer", "Rules of Engagement ", Otto Preminger "Rosebud", John Huston "Victory is Ours", John Frankenheimer "Ronin", Tony Scott "Spy Game". He’s remembered by Spaghetti western fans as Cocoa Bud Spencer’s Indian sidekick in “Buddy Goes West” (1981).