Within the desert of Tabernas there is an oasis. This spot was originally used for Lawrence or Arabia, thus Sergio Leone probably picked this spot because of his admiration of director David Lean.
In For a Few Dollars More this location represents Las Palmeras, the place where Indio and his men meet up after the bank raid of El Paso. This location is unspoiled by time and man, looking virtually the same half a century later!
Indio's gang shoots open the cabinet
The safe is revealed (and has since become a great bush!)
Full size images below. Click to enlarge.
To get to the Oasis, you must walk through one of the many ramblas in Tabernas. These ramblas and plateaus above were often used in many westerns. Examples below.
It's amazing this location is close to spot on to the way it looked in 1965. In one photo I see a tower on one of the hills now. Also I just got out my copy of Commandos & watched the final battle scene again & now I'm not sure they were at the same location. The palm trees is what I remembered from the last time I watch this war film from 1968. According to IMDb, the film was shot in Italy. But often the IMDb will leave out some of the locations & studios used. Or not have anything listed for a film. So I'm not sure now that "Commandos" was shot in an area in Spain where David Lean had transplanted palm trees. But the trees at the place you visited & that was used in For A Few Dollars More are transplants done for "Lawrance of Arabia". I've read that more than once over the years so likely that is fact.
ReplyDeleteIt's actually amazing how much these sites haven't changed over the years. It seems the only differences are just a few bushes or erosion here and there but almost perfectly the same .
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!!
thanks for hard work
ReplyDeleteIt was also used as the oasis in The Hunting Party with Gene Hackman, Candice Bergen and Oliver Reed.
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