California (Michele Lupo, 1977)

Love the poster :rofl:

PS: Thought this was a mock up, hadn’t realised it has an alternate title.

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I think we all took the alternative title as a directive. :wink:

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Where about is this location? I probably went past it without realising what it was when I was there last year :disappointed:

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It’s above Mini - Hollywood … if you continue from the western town, into the hills, there are two trails … one that takes you to the ‘Duck You Sucker’ bridge and eventually to Tuco hill.
The other trail which goes to the right is about a quarter mile from the main road … there are 3 buildings, the remains of a farm. Not that exciting to the casual viewer. Very exciting to a Giuliano Gemma fan :+1:

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Got damned power lines getting in the shot :selfie:

It must be an interesting feeling looking over the landscape in real life

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All that crap appeared about a year before the last visit in 2014 … they somehow managed to ruin previously unspoiled views of iconic landscapes - just glad I got there before the McDonalds and Starbucks pop up.

PS: It’s very emotional to visit these areas, which are naturally interesting … but more so with so much film history from a period which will never be repeated.

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McDonalds and Starbucks… I think a new spaghetti must be made where the stranger comes to town and gets a #2 large sized from an automated kiosk

I can kind of imagine the feeling of being there… hope I get the chance to go some day

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It’s simply magic … when you walk around the canyons and hills, automatically you hear Morricone in your head … or Rustichelli if that’s your preference :smiley:

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Hi Aldo,

can you pls confirm if the buildings above are the same as in the satellite picture below & map?
(just where the road takes a 90 degrees turn to the left)

I was in Tabernas earlier in the year and went on the road to the right (after the river bed, 1st mistake) and drove up (2nd mistake) until the road flattemed out. I remember passing a building on the right that was in off the road and slightly lower than the road (the satellite shows 2 more buildings nearly). Unfortunately I didn’t stop or take a photo.

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That’s it precisely … I found it by accident a few years earlier, when I went further into the hills, looking for the ‘Fistful of Dynamite’ coach explosion location … I was on foot, so plenty of rests en route and perhaps more time to take in the surroundings.

There are still loads of places I haven’t checked out fully … so I reckon I’m due another visit soon :wink:

I visited Almeria 2 weeks ago - it was good to explore this location properly.

The guide book that I was using, La Almeria de Sergio Leone, gave the location of the stagecoach scenes & Juan/John eating/talking as being further up the road past Leone bridge but I could not find it. After returning home and searching on google satellite images I found the correct location for some of these scenes, as Aldo mentioned above, on the road to the right of the one to Leone bridge (near Mirador Desierto de Tabernas).

I was just a short walk from here last year without knowing it!

I take it that the stagecoach from Duck you Sucker only went up 1 road at this location?

There’s only one way I know of, and it must have been a stressful experience bringing the coach up there, as the road is in very rough condition.

Fortuneately I fall in the latter. Really appreciate the directions, as I’ve just posted in the Almeria thread I’ll be taking another trip there later this year and I’ll be sure to check this place out then :slightly_smiling_face:

Definitely is.

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I just saw California on a Wild East DVD, and it felt very boring and unlikeable at least the first 1/3 with horrible non-SW music accentuating a more American style.

Later on the film got slightly better (with a few better organ music parts) and more SW like. The typical slightly acrobatic Gemma fist fights were there, nothing I prefer though.
I like Return of Ringo as a better Gemma SW.
The best was to once again see many different Tabernas desert locations.

I hope the other SW on the disc, Ramon the Mexican, will be a little better (lower IMDb rank though).

California may now after a first view be ranked by me for a tie for place 23-28 with a heterogeous group of other also not so satisfying SW movies A Sky Full Of Stars For A Roof, Run Man Run, Red Sun, Navajo Joe, God’s Gun, or even just below those and instead together with my lowest ranked own SW The Stranger And The Gunfighter (but not having even bothered to view Captain Apache due to its reputation).

California is obviously not close to my preferred SW style, with only the last half hour or so acceptable, so after 2 views I rate it as low a 4 out of 10, but understand that opions differ very much.

I think the mentioned SW in the citation are all slighly better or less weak deserving a 5 of 10 except for the very weak The Stranger And The Gunfighter.
For example the Gemma-movie A Sky Full Of Stars For A Roof is still a very light-weight partly comical SW but at least it has great Morricone music and a little more SW feeling. and Run Man Run is more homogen SW but still not very good. Regarding God’s Gun I may rank it up one point later. It is more different than really bad as its reputation I am beginning to feel.

I remember being disappointed by the movie and also bored. The storytellling was mess. It is a movie more about feelings than about a story and if you are not in a mood for the very specific atmosphere the movie offers you won’t enjoy it. Gemma is super cool though and I wished he made more westerns at that time. Without him there would be no reason to watch the movie.

Today I realised I have two releases of the film that I never have watched: the Koch release and the Wild East release. Watched the Koch tonight as I have been considering passing on my Koch Media Italowestern Enzyklopädie No.2. Decided against it. Still need the Koch release. By the way the film stays in my top 20. 8/10.

Not in any of my three versions (NEW, Koch and Wild East). Towards the ending she says something like, I’m sorry. I just couldn’t manage to die. In the German Ich wünschte ich wäre tot, Ich habe es nicht geschafft zu sterben
I have always thought it referred to the fact that she was prostituted by the bounty hunters kidnapping her. She is in bed when California arrives at the hideout and her last customer is just leaving.

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I have seen this one quite a few times, and liked it better every time. Guilano Gemma shines as Michael “Random” California, one of his more serious roles and Helen Preston is played by the very attractive Paola Dominguín. Made toward the end of the spaghetti western era, I’ve always thought this film was forgotten about. I think it still holds up as Gemmas best performances on screen.

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New review (German)

https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Der_Mann_aus_Virginia_BluRay_Rezension

English summary: Sebastian liked the movie a lot, it offers plenty of late genre qualities but might disappoint action-lovers some. The BluRay looks fine but not groundbreaking, same goes for the audio quality. The extras are carried over from Koch’s old DVD release. There is English audio, but no English subtitles. Extras are Italian with optional German subtitles only.

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I really like this one & was wondering if the Koch blu ray is a big difference from their DVD. It appears not only is it an HD transfer, but its been processed a bit differently as well with more natural looking colors

Koch BluRay (top) - Koch DVD (bottom)


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