Location: Brush Hollow Reservoir

 

1970's Barquero, was at the time unusual for LVC as it was an American production filmed entirely in Colorado.  Much of the action took place at the Brush Hollow Reservoir located in Penrose, Colorado.

 

I visited this location twice, once in 2014 and again in 2015 to try to track down the Barquero locations.  This was particularly challenging as the terrain and water level has changed drastically in the past 45 years, making it virtually impossible to identify any locations from one side of the "river" as featured in the movie. 

 

As featured in the film, the story takes place on the Parla River, with the small settlement of Lonely Dell on one side, and quicker access to Mexico on the other.  The bulk of the story has LVC's Travis on the "Mexican" side, and Warren Oates' Remy on the Lonely Dell side.  There is nothing left identifiable on the "Mexican" side aside from landscape shots of the plateau in the background.  The Lonely Dell side yields slightly more identity as the bank of the settlement can be exactly pinpointed.

 

A few comparisons below-

 

 

Travis arrives in Lonely Dell

 

 

Later in the film Remy is on the Lonely Dell side

 

Finale - Travis returns to the Lonely Dell side.  Notice the outhouse behind LVC is an actual public restroom today.

 

 Travis stares down Remy.  Dock area on the "Mexican" side has completely grown over in the past 45 years.

 

 

 

Additional photos - "Mexican" side (nothing left to screen match)

 

 

 

Additional photos - Lonely Dell side

 

 

 



GBU50: Rare Photos - Behind the Scenes and Candids

Click to enlarge!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Location: Los Albaricoques - Town of Bowie

 

Los Albaricoques is a very familiar site to Spaghetti Western fans, beginning with it's appearance in A Fistful of Dollars.  This location would go on to appear in three LVC films, including For a Few Dollars More (as seen here), Day of Anger, and El Condor.

This small town has fully embraced this cinema background, with signage throughout the town marking where important scenes from these films were shot.  Additionally all the streets in the town have been renamed after Spaghetti Western personalities.

This report will focus on it's appearance as the fictional town of Bowie in Day of Anger.

Frank Talby arrives in Bowie

Scott Mary follows

Talby arrives at the saloon

 

 

Once arriving at the saloon, the interiors were filmed at a separate location in Tabernas as covered here 

 

After the interior action is complete the exterior switches back to the Los Albaricoques location where Talby guns down Wild Jack. 

 

 

 

 

Which brings us to the fifth lesson...

 

"You wound a man, you better kill him, or sooner or later he's gonna to kill you"

 

 





GBU50: Rare Photos - Sad Hill



This is part 6 of a 6 part series of a rare The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly photo series.  These rarely seen photos are originally from the collection of Edoardo Ezio Pizzi, the man who handled all publicity and press relations for Unidis and Jolly Films.

Click to enlarge!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and some additional Sad Hill photos

Arch Stanton being prepared.  This was an actual skeleton!

 

 

 



Location: Tabernas - Death Rides a Horse Finale

 

The area known as Las Salinillas within the Spanish desert of Tabernas has been featured in countless Spaghetti Westerns, and many LVC westerns including The Big Gundown, Death Rides a Horse, Sabata, and Beyond the Law. 

Following up on this location used as the town of El Viento in Death Rides a Horse, here are some comparisons from the finale of the film.