Thursday, June 9, 2016

Spaghetti Western Locations – Colmenar Viejo



Poblados del Oeste - Dehesa de Navalvillar & Lega y Michelena

Colmenar Viejo is the name of the town set which is located about 40km north of Madrid. When the Spaghetti westerns were being filmed this was a vast open plain. It was the first western set built for filming in Spain featuring “The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw”.

Now it is the location of a Spanish Air Force used for helicopters called FAMET, which covers half of the western townsite. The other half is part of a private cattle ranch. Today only scattered remains of some crumbled foundations and partial walls which are covered over with black betty bushes and other shrubs.

Quite a few western films used the townsite over the years. It competed with Hoyo de Manzanare (aka Golden City) as one of the most filmed townsites in the early days of the Spanish and Italian westerns. 


A complete list of the westerns filmed here is almost impossible but some of the better known Euro-westerns were:

The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw - 1958
Billy the Kid - 1963
Pistols Don’t Argue – 1964
A Coffin for the Sheriff - 1965
For a Few Dollars More – 1965
Hands of a Gunfighter – 1965
The Big Gundown - 1966
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly – 1966
Navajo Joe - 1966
A Few Dollars for Django - 1966
Up the MacGregors - 1966
And for a Roof a Sky Full of Stars - 1968
The Desperadoes - 1968
The Mercenary – 1968
Dead Men Don’t Count – 1968
Prey of Vultures – 1972
A Train for Durango – 1969
Sundance Cassidy and Butch the Kid - 1969
More Dollars for the MacGregors - 1970
Gunman in Town – 1970
Sonny & Jed – 1972




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