This is one of my favorite LVC locations. One that has been unspoiled by time or by man. This distinctive looking hill was used in both For a Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. The opposite side of the hill shows up in Duck You Sucker.
TOP: For a Few Dollars More
MIDDLE: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
BOTTOM: 2013
Located in the desert hills of Tabernas outside of Mini-Hollywood, it is not the easiest place to get to. It can be driven part way, but as the road gets more treacherous I felt it best to park and walk. Along the walk to the location I also came across the remains of the bridge from Leone's Duck You Sucker.
Bridge remains from Duck You Sucker
Below are some comparisons of the close up shots from For a Few Dollars More (click to enlarge)
One of my favorite things to do on these location hunts, is to watch the actual scene at the location! The wonders of technology!
Finally here are some additional shots of this location (click to enlarge)
Panoramic - Mini-Hollywood is at the rear left
Back of the hill as seen in Duck You Sucker
Close up of Mini Hollywood from this location. You can barely make out the Bank of El Paso
This is really cool Aaron. I well remember that distinctive hill when I saw "For A Few Dollars More" at a downtown theater in my hometown in May of 1967. In December of the same year, "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" was at the same theater & I noticed it again right away. Except this time Eli Wallach was riding by it rather that Clint Eastwood & Lee Van Cleef meeting were the two roads merge. I didn't know you could see the set Carlos Simi built for "For A Few Dollars More" from the location.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading an article on the Leone/ Eastwood trilogy years ago. It was interesting to read about how they would cut from footage shot in the studio in Rome, Italy to footage shot in Spain. For example when Lee is dealing with Stevens, he is in Spain. But when he goes to Baker's house & wakes him up from his sleep, that is in the studio in Rome. And in For A Few Dollars More when Indio is being broken out of prision, Christopher Fraylin & the article talks about how Leone cuts back & forth from footage shot in Rome with footage shot in Spain. When Gian Maria Volonte shoots the carpenter in his cell, he is in Rome then walks toward the door but when he and his gang suddenly are shown coming out the other side of the door, they are in Spain. It's magic!:-)
WoW ...... just WoW.
ReplyDeleteOh how awesome!!! Love these...thanks
ReplyDeleteIt is so amazing how little time has affected these areas.
ReplyDeleteI hope they stay this way. It would be so sad if anything were to
happen to these 'sacred' grounds.
Thank you so much Aaron for bringing this home to us!
Thanks Great Work
ReplyDeleteThanks! great stuff!
ReplyDeleteUp to the next bend in the road is the campsite where Manco shoots the three Indio henchmen who kid him about turning them in for the reward.
ReplyDeleteThank you for a fantastic blog, especially regarding the filming locations in Spain where I live part of the year !
ReplyDeleteI became interested in the filming locations of the "dollar trilogy" in the spring of 2017 only after an unprepaired visit of the Tabernas area including "Fort Bravo".
I also just a little bit later noticed this special hill from the movies. My first visit there included a run up (and down) another hill road rather close by, but a future visit will most likely include a hill run up the just about 3 km from Mini Hollywood to the actual hill which now is marked "Cerro Lee Van Cleef" om Google Maps.
It is interesting that many people, including myself, seem to be so fascinated by the filming locations. Is it some kind of wish or feeling that what happened in the movie was real and that finding the locations support that feeling ? :-)
Anahow, thank you once more !
it's still there, still unspoilt, just motorcycled past it yesterday :)
ReplyDeletei discovered & fell in love with d 'tabernas desert' when i had a chance to participate there in LUCKY LUKE (2004) as an extra :)
ReplyDelete