El Torcal De Antequera is a nature reserve located in Andalusia, Spain, about an hour drive north of Malaga via the A45 road, and just south of the City of Antequera. The reserve is notable to most for its unique karst rock formations which date back to The Jurassic age when the location was an ocean bed, resulting in limestone formations which still stand today. [1]
El Torcal from a slight distance
To the spaghetti western fan however, the location is notable for being the primary filming location of roughly the last third of âThe Deserterâ, an Italian/Yugoslavian production directed by American director Burt Kennedy. In the film El Torcal doubles for âThe Devilâs Backboneâ an in-film location close to the US/Mexican border. The film, like many spaghetti westerns, isnât overly popular amongst the more casual cinema or even western fans, but is a firm fan favourite of a number of Italian western buffs including, but not limited to, legendary modern director Quentin Tarantino [2]. According to IMDb, there were only ever five productions which feature the location, with The Deserter being the only western. [3] This, to me at least, begs the question; why werenât any other spaghetti westerns (or spags as I tend to call them) filmed there at all? Is it because they were usually filmed in Tabernas and/or Cabo De Gata in Almeria (like the first two-thirds The Deserter itself), or areas further north which were closer to Madrid, resulting in El Torcal being just a bit too âout of the wayâ for other production crews? I canât say I believe thatâs the reason myself because there were several spags like âThe Mercenaryâ and âJohnny Hamletâ which were filmed in Almeria, but then had a scene or two filmed in Ciudad Encantada, which is located roughly halfway between Madrid and Valencia. Then there are numerous films like the much more well-known âDollars Trilogyâ which were partly filmed in Almeria but then partly filmed in the aforementioned areas closer to Madrid. Thatâs not even taking into account the fact that most interior scenes of a ton of spags were filmed in Italy, while exteriors were shot in Spain. The actual number of westerns made like this God only knows, so that to me doesnât stack up. Is it simply because prior to production of âThe Deserterâ no other directors or location scouts were aware of the location? I suppose thatâs possible, even if I also find that hard to believe given the amount of people there must have been involved in spaghetti western production up until 1970. I donât know the answer myself and can only speculate to no avail, but maybe another forum user or a member of staff will have an idea as to why-if so please let me know. Whatever the case, the location works well in the film. Looking at some of the photos I took personally you would think it was indeed somewhere close to the Mexican border.
Iâve been a spaghetti western fan since I was fifteen, which given that Iâm now twenty eight seems like a fair chunk of my life, but for whatever rhyme or reason I only watched The Deserter for the first time recently at the time of writing. I may have taken an unnecessarily long time to watch it, but I still, like several spag buffs, loved it in spite of a couple of flaws (but hey, Iâm not here to review the film itself). I think that due to the film being partly a Yugoslavian production, I incorrectly had it in my head that the unique filming locations of El Torcal were filmed in former Yugoslavia and I said as much on the filmâs thread. It wasnât until @aldo pointed out my mistake that I realised where the location was really situated. The funny thing was just a week and a half after Aldoâs correction we were having a family holiday (seven of us in total) to Benalmadena, Costa Del Sol, which is almost next door to Malaga. Given that I had been to Almeria twice to seek out many spag filming locations and I was now going an hour away from this location, it just seemed like fate; I had to now go to El Torcal as well.
There are at least two ways you can get there from Malaga or eastern Costa Del Sol if youâre not a Spanish resident: you could get a taxi, which would cost you just shy of eighty euros for just one direction at the time of writing, or you could do what we did and just hire a car for the day and drive yourself. The downside of the latter is if, like me, youâre from somewhere like The UK where you drive on the left, it can seem scary having to do everything the other way around. That said the hotel we stayed at had a direct car hire service and, if I remember correctly, it only cost fifty-eight euros for a day, so from a financial perspective it was a no-brainer. You could also apparently get an excursion, but when we went to a travel office in Torremolinos, we were told that there was another office just up the road that would likely be able to sort one for us only to be told otherwise upon getting there. You could likely get an excursion from a travel office in Malaga itself though, and almost certainly one from Antequera. Even if on the off-chance you couldnât get one from the latter, a taxi would be relatively cheap.
Once off the A45 road, it was a bit of a struggle getting to the location due to relatively thin roads with a big, intimidating fall on the right hand side at some points. Iâm not going to lie it was a bit scary but the views were lovely, so it all balanced out I guess. Google Maps didnât help much either because it gave us a longer way of driving there than necessary (quelle surprise), the route of which it didnât send us on when returning for some reason. It was far easier and quicker on the way back and if you were to drive yourself there using Google, with the app giving you the second route it gave us the first-time around, it should be relatively straight forward. According to Google the reserve is over twelve hundred metres high [3], and youâll be able to guess as much (or something close at least) at some point once off the A45 when you realise youâre not actually that far away from the clouds. Once we were just a stoneâs throw from the car park of the reserve, we drove through a cloud which was the first time I had ever done that personally. It may have been southern Spain in September, but it was freezing upon leaving the car. Iâm from The Wirral which is a small and thin peninsula, and the temperature was like a windy day in January hereâŠProbably worse actually. I canât recommend two layers covered in a thick coat or fleece enough.
But hey, it was all worth it. El Torcal itself is a unique and fascinating place to visit, whether youâre a fan of The Deserter or not. I canât say Iâve been all over the world, but Iâve been to a fair few places in Western Europe including Ireland, and a fair few places in USA, and Iâd never seen anything quite like it. At the top of the car park is a visitors centre with a gift shop and a cafĂ©. I canât comment as to what the tea or coffee was/is like because I had orange juice, but it was nice to have a sit-down before taking a look around, and fortunately it was a heck of a lot warmer inside.
A rock formation just outside the visitors centre
A photo taken close to the visitors centre
There are three trails you can walk along, at roughly 1.5km, 2.5 km and 4.5km in length, which start close to the visitors centre and the car park. Just a short walk away from the centre is a ledge with a view of the Spanish countryside as well.
Cracking view from above
A plaque situated on the ledge
The parts that I walked along were very rocky with plenty of grass. It was a bit like hiking in North Wales or The Lake District so Iâd say hiking boots would be ideal, but I was honestly fine as I was in just a pair of Vans because the ground was solid. Iâm not adamant it would be like that in the winter though; I could see hiking boots being a must at that time of year. I kept walking as far as I could with my phone in hand constantly taking pictures, and what a joy it was.
According to wiki, you may even be able to see some rare wildlife, like the peregrine falcon or the Bonelliâs eagle. [1] I sadly didnât see a thing; Iâd have loved to get a photo of an ibex.
More photos from my walks
Update: Earlier this year we went back to Benalmadena, so of course I had to return to El Torcal. Last time we went in late summer so I expected the weather to be roughly the same because this time we were there in May. I couldnât have been more wrong; it was scorching up there this time with not a single cloud hanging around. I didnât complain for a second though because the location looked so much better (despite the fact it looked spectacular enough last time). Iâll share some of the photos here.
This time I managed to find a location from the Deserter.
Almost verbatim a shot from the film
The rock they climb up
Hereâs some more from not used in Kennedyâs film. Thereâs a lot more on this siteâs âSpaghetti western locations in Almeriaâ thread if youâd like to see them.
This time I did drink the coffee in the cafe; It was lovely and highly recommended if you ever go.
I still havenât seen it all yet, but weâve said weâll be going back to Benalmadena again next year, and because Iâm a completionist (slightly insane might be a better description), Iâll try to get back and see it again. Iâm actually thinking about going twice next time, once in the day and once at night.
I managed to see a couple of sheep when we first drove in, but I still didnât see an ibex like I would have liked. Hopefully the third time Iâll get lucky.
A couple of souvenirs I bought in the gift shop
If youâre ever within an hour and a half radius, I highly recommend a trip to El Torcal if you can decide on a way of getting there or can find an excursion of some kind. Itâs the most unique part of Europe Iâve ever been to and it makes for a great day out. Apart from your method of getting there and any potential drinks or souvenirs you might buy in the visitors centre, it wouldnât cost a penny either. Iâd say this to anybody who has an interest in Spain outside of just the typical tourist destinations. If youâre a spaghetti western fan with an interest in visiting filming locations like me however, this is somewhere you need to put on your destination listâŠeven if it was only used in one western. Just be sure to take plenty of warm clothing in case itâs cold up there-donât be fooled because youâre in Southern Spain. A couple of flasks with plenty of warm drink probably wouldnât be a bad idea either. Like the old saying goes-âbetter to have them and not need themâŠâ
Notes:
[1] El Torcal de Antequera - Wikipedia
[2] Quentin Tarantino's Top 20 favorite Spaghetti Westerns - The Spaghetti Western Database
[3] Filming Location Matching "El Torcal de Antequera, MĂĄlaga, AndalucĂa, Spain" (Sorted by Popularity Ascending) - IMDb
[4]
how high is el torcal de antequera - Google Suche
