Before streaming, blu-ray, and DVD, most LVC films were only available on home video cassette tapes, usually VHS (but also Betamax). Many of us discovered these films for the first time in these formats (usually cropped and edited).
After "Medium Cool," Hill was next cast as the female lead in the big-budget Western "El Condor," (1970) starring Lee Van Cleef, Jim Brown, Patrick O'Neal and directed by John Guillerman. Hill played the sultry mistress of the officer in charge of El Condor, a Mexican fortress that Van Cleef and Brown's characters are planning to raid in order to steal its treasures. Even though the film was relatively successful, and remains a favorite of Western fans, Hill has mixed feelings about the experience. She recalls that she became involved with the film when, "My agent Walter said, 'Oh, Marianna, they'll fly you over there to Spain!' I said, 'What do you mean?' And he said, 'They cast a girl and she didn't work out.' Prior to 'El Condor,' there had been a film made over there with a similar cast. It was with Jim Brown and they had a different leading lady and there were *terrible* rumors coming out of Spain about that production. This was like a follow-up to the prior movie which was called 'Rifles' or '100 Rifles' and there was just cruel stuff coming out of Spain. So what happened is that the girl that had the lead in the new movie, the next leading lady, got in a *big* row with everybody. It was one of those knock-down things and she walked off the set. Anyway, Walter said, 'Oh, Marianna, you've got to go to Spain!' and I went, 'Well, no, I heard some bad stuff about that film, Walter, like people getting beat up and drunk. Are you sure about this?' So, despite my misgivings, I accepted the role and showed up in Spain. I was like a babe in the woods, with all of this stuff going on because of prior histories between the individuals due to their personality issues."
When asked to describe her experience of working with Lee Van Cleef, Jim Brown and director John Guillerman, Hill candidly opines, "They were highly disparate individuals. It was like oil and water. They were just very, very, very different kind of characters. I don't want to get into it because I cannot say stuff about people who are dead, but it was very chaotic because of everything that was going on. John Huston was working there on another picture right next door, and I think it was the times down there in Spain because there was a lot of--not on our picture--but there were fistfights going on with his picture. There was violence going on around us outside of our production and it was kind of like the same, sad people on our picture thought, 'Oh, what's going to happen to us here?' I don't want to say anything bad about Lee Van Cleef and any of those other people because they were just working to the best of their abilities, like we all were. There was just something strange in the atmosphere."
As Hill reflects further on the experience, she pauses, then continues, "You know what? I'd really like to not talk anymore about 'El Condor.' I'm really sorry I don't want to be evasive, but the whole experience was so strange. All I can say is John Guillerman is dead, Lee Van Cleef is dead, who else?...so is Patrick O'Neal. These people are all gone and they were each completely different. They were so diverse in their characters and personalities that there's no way I can put words to the experience. They were all talented people, but when I left I thought 'I'm glad this one's done and I am out of here!' because there was something in the atmosphere down there. I just don't have the intelligence to put into words about that experience in Spain, not that it was terrible, but it was chaotic. I was confused all of the time, as everybody was. And I don't drink, I never touch the stuff, but there was a lot of drinking going on down there and so that affected the Karma on the set. I just couldn't figure out what was going on. I'd show up and ask, 'What's going on today? I don't know what's happening with the script, I don't know what to do with this character,' because it was changed constantly! So what can I say? That's all I can tell you."
