What are some films shot at Gordon Mitchell’s Cave Film Studios? I’m expecting they would be pretty low budget/bad, but I enjoy that kind of stuff… I understand “Barrel Full of Dollars” was shot there?
I here Once Upon a Time in the Wild Wild West was shot there.
Many of the Fidanis were shot there.
Cave are quite cheap studios, you can recognize them by the small huts and the shabby interiors…
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Yeah, Barrel Full of Dollars was shot there ands so was Adios Companeros (Giu la Testa Hombre). The crappy little huts are unmistakable. As is the curved road coming into the village where the wonderful ‘hiding behind twigs’ scene was done. 
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does anyone have pics to post? I don’t think this look rings a bell. I find it interesting that an actor would invest in his own western town. Was the dynamite scene from Adios Companeros (Western Story) shot there?
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Is this the “western town for dwarves” that Mario Caiano was talking about?
Yes, the “air raid” was shot there.
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Anyone know where in Italy Cave Film Studios is located and who has the rights? I’d love to shoot a film there ;)!
I doubt very much indeed whether anything remains of the site, though I could be wrong of course.
Barrel Full of Dollars:
And Giu la testa, hombre:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q07IVpb2AzE[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-yHOfrkRxE
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I also doubt if CAVE still exists…
Some ruins at least…
Here is some info for you, Silence, from Tom Betts:
“Gordon lost title to the land where Cave Studio was located. He obtained the land in place of a salary that was owed him for a movie he appeared in. The Italian courts determined foreigners could not own land in Italy. Gordon tried to fight the system for several years but decided for his physical and mental health it was not worth the effort and left the area and returned to the U.S.A.”
Once Mitchell left Italy, the property was taken over by the government and supposedly the entire town set was dismantled and/or destroyed.
There is no sign that Cave Studios ever existed on the property, apparently.
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Interesting story.
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Are there any SW towns and such left? Desert Studios in Israel for example?
It’s all about Spain i’d say.
Don’t know anything definite about the Desert Studios in Israel–but, my guess is the Western town sets there are long gone. They didn’t really have that many films produced there in the first place; so, it probably was more cost effective for them to dismantle those sets and use the wood, and so forth, from them for other things. Like I said I don’t know that for a fact, but that would be my guess.
There is one SW town left in Almeria that hasn’t become a gaudy theme park–and that is Texas Hollywood. Some of the classics were filmed there, such as DEATH RIDES A HORSE (the first Western to be shot there, I believe), BLINDMAN, THE FORGOTTEN PISTOLERO, and many many others. The town was actually built by Simi for Leone, but they never used it, for some reason.
It still looks great and is still used for films and commercials, today–unlike Mini Hollywood (El Paso from FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE) which is strictly a tourist trap.
I guess nowadays they prefer to call Texas Hollywood Fort Bravo.
And here is a link to their website.
There’s also “Western Leone” still existing, a town build up around the “Sweetwater Farm” of Once upon a time in the West. Also some ruines of “Flagstone” are still existing…
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Well, yes…but, Silence was asking about locations that are still suitable for filming a Western.
Western Leone is, like mini-Hollywood, too much of a tourist trap, now. The buildings, generally speaking, are OK and the surrounding terrain is perfect. But, when I was there a few years ago, they had a bunch of modern, sci-fi themed, kiddie rides, spaceships, and stuff around. It would take a lot of work to make the place look like an actual Western town, again.
And the ruins of Flagstone have a major highway running through them. Again, another unusable location.
There are many places still standing that were used in Italian Western films, but they just don’t look the same as they did in the 60’s (obviously) and are not suitable for making a Western film now.
Los Albaricoques is still standing. The Cortijo de Fraille is still standing (though it is truly about to collapse).
But, none of these would make a good Western film location nowadays.
One place that is still standing that would also still make a good location for filming is the hacienda El Rommeral. The “ranch-house” that was used in A PISTOL FOR RINGO, JOHNNY YUMA, BULLET FOR THE GENERAL, TEPEPA, THE BIG GUNDOWN, I WANT HIM DEAD, and so on.
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And a sad story…
Unfortunately when i went there it was gated off with private land signs and Alsatians!