This was a great read. Thanks for this 
2 Likes
Meticulous would be an understatement. Thanks for sharing!
2 Likes
I accidently read Klaus Kinskiâs âbutt holeâ rather than bullet hole ⊠(note to self: Use your reading glasses)
⊠that was well spotted, plus I enjoyed all the other trivia 
Thank you.
2 Likes
Thank you all for indulging me! 
1 Like
Excellent stuff, Jenny - well presented, well researched, and terrific to read.
Methinks that you are going to be a great asset to the âSWDBâ. 
As for âThe Good, The Bad and The UglyââŠitâs also my favourite film of all time - closely followed by âFor A Few Dollars Moreâ, and âFistful of Dollarsâ.
Leeâs âBond-likeâ, super-cool performance in âSabataâ, also holds a special place in my heart.
I watched âGBUâ for the first time on BBC TV in 1976, and was totally blown away by the cool characters, the visuals, and the musicâŠall of which led on to my love for not only the Spaghetti Western genre, but films as a whole.
3 Likes
Thank you so much!
Iâll do my best! 
Yeah âFor A Few Dollars Moreâ is so good and I always feel shitty not mentioning it when I talk about GBU.
(not to be vain and superficial but everyone in that movie is also so beautiful looking. Van Cleef, Eastwood and Gian Maria Volonté are all so strikingly cool looking)
Thank you Toscano and all of you for sharing your stories and how you got into these films.
Itâs really nice and inspiring to hear.
It seems to be a different journey for everyone and the fact that different people have different favorites is really fun too.
Especially for me since Iâm new to all of it, but maybe that could be a good thing?
I remember this Spaghetti Western Podcast episode where Tom, Jay and Sebastian were talking about whether there was a risk for the spaghetti western genre to die out, and how to get new young people into it.
As someone who is in my 30âs I do by no means count myself as young anymore, but I am new!
The only reason I found the genre was because someone I respected was talking fondly about The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and therefore sparked my interest. Iâm living proof that new ppl can come in at any time!
So I think that as long as you all continue to speak passionately about these things,
It will live on forever 
3 Likes
Absolutely!
In a way I envy you because you are new to the fabulous world of âSpaghettiâ. You have a real treasure trove of iconic bullet-ridden gems to look forward to viewingâŠmany of them featuring Lee himself.
I think that many of us wish that we could travel back in time to that âspecial momentâ when something like Sergio Leoneâs Trilogy blew us away for the first time.
Happy viewing, Jenny.
2 Likes
This is awesomeâŠthanks
2 Likes
Just checked this list out but itâs friggin awesome! Great work @NeedleFork !
1 Like
Very enjoyable read. Thanks Jenny
1 Like
Thanks everyone! Glad it was enjoyable! 
1 Like
HAH, as all the best artists do.
1 Like
Here i am, i was thinking heâs the best one (but right after Clint) yesterday when i was watching For a few dollars more!
1 Like
These are priceless⊠
Note: Iâve just updated with two more LVC adverts - one featuring Henry Silva, and the other Bo HopkinsâŠ
Plus another additionâŠ
3 Likes
JPL doing his âDeath Rides a Horseâ voice! ⊠that is priceless
1 Like
Hunting Leone Lee Van Cleef!
Me and my father left for our Andalusian Lee Van Cleef inspired holiday on the 16th of December, incidentally the same day Lee passed away 34 years ago.
(The flights there did not go smoothlyâŠbut I donât want to bore you with that so letâs jump to AlmerĂa immediately. Iâm also sorry in advance if this post ends up lengthy ^^â Iâll try and keep it as concise as possible~)
Of course, I booked our rooms at Gran Hotel AlmerĂa (Conveniently placed with parking right behind the building with easy access to highways out of the city) but more importantly Lee Van Cleef, Eastwood, Leone and so many other spaghetti western stars stayed there.
Inside, past the lobby, the walls are lined with pictures of them all.
Naturally I would say âMorninâ Leeâ as me and dad headed out for our adventures every morning.
It felt equally fitting to come back in the evening and leave a pair of dusty cowboy boots in the hall and toss a hat on the bed.
You could always find some westerns playing on the TV. Bonanza was on in the morning while I was getting ready, but unfortunately the episode with Lee was never on ^^.
But I did catch Romano Puppo (Leeâs Stuntman) in âMassacre Timeâ with Franco Nero one night!
Outfits also had to be put together! White for Los Albaricoques, some sort of Angel Eyes inspired outfit for MiniHollywood and of course I had to bring the boys~
Day 1
We picked up the rental car and headed to Oasys MiniHollywood.
Iâve seen reviews of MiniHollywood saying that itâs a little bit disappointing and very âtouristyâ.
It is touristy for sure but I actually had fun there ^^ there are so many iconic scenes filmed there, and equally iconic music is playing over the town creating a cool atmosphere.
âThe bank of El Pasoâ is a museum filled with posters and a TV where you can watch the films.
(I lowkey want to leave the videogame industry and take up a job at this place as one of the cowboys scattered around the place, they just stand around looking cool next to horses, I can do that!)
Afterwards I did drag dad up the hill overlooking the parking lot to get the shot of Clint hunting Indios gang.
This was also the moment I picked to tell dad that the desert is home to poisonous spiders, snakes and scorpions, so try not to step on any.
Dad: ââŠyou couldnât tell me this before I got on the plane?â
Me: âNopeâ
I ended up buying a Colt Army Model 1860 replica, not my favorite revolver :â3 but I couldnât NOT get one, and it looked really good back at the hotel room next to the book I brought with me~
We had three different flights on our way home, and I just knew I would get in trouble at some point along the way because of this decision :â>
At AlmerĂa airport, me and dad were sitting at our gate waiting to board the flight, when a small lady in a suit, together with two huge guards in full military gear came up to us, looked at me and said
âmam, would you come with us?â
xD I loved it.
They guided me out of there to some backrooms. Of course itâs a replica so they let me keep it.
I apologized for the inconvenience it caused them and they answered
âitâs ok, we see gun replicas and toy guns coming through here all the timeâŠbut they are usually not this realisticâ
They then took me back.
Everyone at the gate looked at me curiously and dad thought it was embarrassing.
But I thought, how fitting to go on a âBest of the Badâ inspired trip, and get escorted away by guards because you have shady shit with you :'> totally worth it~
Day 2
Off to the desert again! this time to the town of Tabernas.
We were meeting up with a desert tour guide, but since I had some locations from âThe Big Gundownâ to find here, we arrived early to take some pictures.
Turned out me and dad were the only people attending that day. We basically got a private desert tour, super luxurious~
She had an SUV and could go off-road into the rugged terrain of the desert more safely than we could with our rental car.
Naturally we got to see a variety of film locations.
But she also gave us information about the desert itself, how it works and its flora and fauna. She told us about the âMoriscosâ, the only group of ppl who managed to survive and live within the Tabernas desert and made a home in the badlands. It was really interesting!
(Our guide was really cool, she is an expert on the Tabernas desert. Since 1989 the desert has been protected territory and you can no longer just walk in and film in it without a permit. Today she is the one you have to go through to get one)
After the tour I had dad drive us to the opening shot of âFor a Few Dollars Moreâ and Blondie dumping Tuco scene from âthe Good the Bad and the Uglyâ.
I didnât tell dad where we were going. I knew from research I had done beforehand that right where you park the car thereâs a small hill blocking the view of the shot.
It was wonderful to see him walk over the hill and have the landscape stretch out in front of him, to see the smile on his face when he realized where he was ^^
(Pictures really donât do the Tabernas desert justice, itâs gorgeous! 
)
There was actually a little chain between the hillside blocking the way down the dirt road. Which is fine for the FFDM shot, but if you want the Tuco and Blondie shot you have to walk down.
We looked at each other and said âfuck itâ, stepped over the chain and headed down.
Turns out that was not welcomed at all :'3
We managed to just get the pictures before a big SUV drove up to us, with 4 displeased looking men inside, they stopped but said nothing, just looked at us sternly.
It was quite clear they didnât want us there 
I apologized for our trespassing in a friendly manner to disarm the situation and we left.
Looked like they were patrolling the entire mountainside along Western Leone.
Gated Fort Condor was out of the question :s
âŠbut since we were already on a âdoing shit weâre not supposed toâ streak we decided instead to head over to the petrol station, park the car, and as @aldo said âignore the warning signâ and head into Las Salinas.
So thatâs what we did! This time successfully without being caught~
It was surreal walking around in these badlands, even though youâd never been there, you would still recognize it based on films.
We were walking around this rambla corner when I exhaled a gasp, put out a hand in front of dad stopping him in his tracks.
Me: âIâm getting El Condor vibes!!â
And sure enough, it was the cliffside Jaroo and Luke rode down in El Condor.
(I also realized its the same spot you see in the background when Tuco and Blondie divides loot xD)
Standing in that desert I couldnât help but be a little sentimental and said how lucky I felt, how I couldnât believe I was standing in the same desert as Lee Van Cleef and Clint Eastwood stood in.
Dad then fartedâŠand said:
âThey probably farted in this desert tooâ
completely ruining the beautiful moment!! We both laughed.
But I gotta give it to him, he was probably right :'>
Day 3
Day 3! the day I had booked horse-riding IN the desert!
I was really excited but dad had said beforehand that he didnât want to join. It was important to respect that. I wouldnât make him do anything he wasnât comfortable with, I wasnât gonna ask him to take pictures or join any outings that he didnât want to join.
I wanted us both to have fun, and being forced to do things you donât want to is never fun.
But when I entered his hotel room that morning he was sitting at the end of his bed all slumped together, body language defeated but his face determined.
I asked him what was wrong and he looked up at me and let out a big sigh and said âFine!! Iâll ride too!â
I couldnât help but smile and said he was welcome to do so.
(I was prepared and had booked for the two of us)
I figured he was most likely still nervous about the idea, but the two days we had spent in the desert must have fueled his adventurous heart 
and made him want to experience it now that he had the chance.
That was at noon though, so our first destination was the small village of Turillas.
This is the location of the church Indios gang uses as a hideout in FFDM.
(that is, the interior. Itâs hilarious how basically all indoor and outdoor scenes are IRL completely different locations. The location scouting for these films are amazing, half of them arenât necessarily easy to access either)
Turillas is a super small town lodged 847m high up into the cliffside of Sierra Alhamilla mountain.
And to get there you have to drive on a super small winding road along the cliffside 
I hated every second of this, Iâm not a fan of heights.
And the worst part, when we got up the church was closed xD But I can say I was there and saw it, from the outside at least
We got down to sea-level again and headed to the ranch.
It was located about a 20 min walk straight out into the desert from the town of Tabernas.
When we got there they where playing Ennio Morricone music ^^
Magical~
This experience was one of the highlights for me, it was so cool to be riding through the Tabernas desert on Andalusian horses just as Lee did, could not be more fitting
(actually it could be if we were wearing cowboy hats instead of helmets, but safety first)
Both the horses we were riding had been in film productions, together at some point in a documentary with cowboys and Native Americans, dads horse owned by the cowboys, mine by the Native Americans.
Naturally I didnât take any location pictures on horseback, you just want to be in the moment and not fiddle about with a phone (except the one bumpy video I took).
But the guy that owned the horses did take one picture! Dad later realized it was the same location as Charles Bronson in âChatoâs Landâ xD
When we had said our goodbyes and walked back to our car I asked dad if he regretted his change of heart.
âNot for a secondâ he replied
Day 4
This day, instead of the desert, we headed east for Los Albaricoques.
The landscape here was completely different, the arid desert was replaced by green hills.
This town was also one of those bizzare highlights, itâs tiny but still chock full of film locations,
even the streets are named after spaghetti western stars.
The end of Clint Eastwood street was especially cool, there are so many scenes filmed there.
And ofcourse the threshing floor from FFDM.
The stone circle has a red sign next to it now that prohibits anyone stepping on or into it.
So we didnât ^^ Happy that they still keep these things around and are making attempts to protect them (although I have a sneaking suspicion it isnât the same threshing floor)
And as @Toscano recommended we had to stop by Hotel Alba for lunch!
(Iâm vegan and knew it could be tricky outside of the main cities so I wasnât planning on dining out much, which is fine, Iâve never derived much pleasure out of food anyway ^^ but I found some Salmorejo there and just gave dad the egg and bacon garnish 
)
We continued east. Not far from Los Albaricoques you can find Leeâs introduction scene from the GBU, the exterior shot where he rides in on the horse (the interior is at another location).
And just next to it you can find some ruins, these are the remnants of a bar where youâre introduced to Leeâs character in El Condor
If you continue further east on the same road, youâll find the church Tuco takes Blondie to.
You canât enter the place, itâs fenced off, but itâs a beautiful location nonetheless ^^
East from this location are the old goldmines, they are used in El Condor and many other films. But itâs a nature reserve and was fenced off as well.
So we headed back through Los Albaricoques and couldnât help but park the car yet again and walk around ^^ a hard place to leave.
Day 5
This day we headed east as well, but the first stop on my itinerary was making me nervous.
It was the indoor location of Stevens House in the GBU, and from what you all had told me it was on private property, and there was no way to park the car without entering said private property.
Sure enough, right at the road two signs stated that it was private.
Dad stopped the car right at the border of the property, just far enough in not to get hit by cars on the road.
The place looked abandoned and dilapidated, It didnât look lived in, but there was a clothingline outside of the building with clothes hanging out to dry.
So I asked dad to stay in the car while I checked the place out.
(Just seemed smarter to send me out, dad is a big man so I come off as less threatening depending on the situationâŠwhether I am or not ^.~)
Anyway, dad stayed in the car while I walked up to the closest building and called out if there was someone there.
After a while a woman came out looking sleepy in her morning robe and her hair wrapped in a towel, I could hear children in the background, one of them stood behind her looking curious.
I suddenly felt really bad when I realized I was bothering them in the middle of their morning routine.
I pointed towards the âStevens houseâ ruins and asked if it was ok for me to take a look.
She smiled at me really kindly and said it was ok 
I waved to dad that it was ok to join me.
(I was glad I had approached instead of dad, so she didnât have to suddenly be faced with a strange man on her property, alone with small children)
Stevensâ house had entire sections missing, the two outer rooms are gone, the stairs Stevensâ young son comes running down is outside. But it was such a cool place to visit, the valves are so recognizable, and it was another spot where I could go âLee Van Cleef stood here!â 
We left quietly since the family had returned inside. I was so grateful that the woman living there would let us visit. I would have understood completely if she was tired of tourists in her back yard and just wanted to make breakfast for her children in peace. The only regret I have from the trip is that I didnât give her anything as thanks. Even though it might not have been much to her, it meant alot to me that she let me visit
From there we headed for a big field that was used in both âThe Big Gundownâ and âDay of Angerâ but it was hard to get exact shots since that meant standing with the car in the middle of the road ^^
After that we headed down to San JosĂ© to a building that today functions as a hotel. One of the few places that has scenes from the first Dollar film, but also âDeath Rides a Horseâ and âDay of Angerâ.
There was a note on the entrance to the hotel saying it was currently closed and guiding you to another hotel in the area, so unfortunately we couldnât enter, but we did get to take some pictures outside.
Our last location was San Felipe Castle at the eastern coast, Lee Van Cleef exits this castle in the beginning of âDeath Rides a Horseâ, but in the film it functions as a prison.
(In the film you canât see that the ocean is opening up right behind it ^^)
Weirdly enough it was barely noon, and I remembered @IllThinkAboutIt told me it wouldnât take that long between these locations, he was right!
So me and dad decided to head back to the hotel for lunch, and then take the car back to Tabernas Desert and visit LVC Hill.
(We had actually gotten halfway to it on day 1, but then realized we took the wrong way up xD so we decided to fix that error another day)
Itâs quite a hike up, pretty steep too and hot in the midday sun, so dad stayed behind with the car (he gets out of breath quite easily, seriously donât smoke kids or you wonât be able to climb LVC hill~)
I didnât want to leave dad waiting for too long, so I took a water bottle from the car, my black vaquero hat (which ofcourse is a special order hand made replica of the one Lee wears as Sentenza 
) and half sprinted up.
I took the opportunity to play some Morricone tunes on my phone.
It was an amazing sight once you got up, the place hasnât changed at all, and on top of that you have a wonderful view from up there.
Kinda glad I was up there alone cuz I had such a dumb smile on my face~
Day 6
Our last day~
I had left La Calahorra as an option for this day, itâs quite a drive from AlmerĂa so I wasnât sure how dad would feel about driving that far (this was his first time driving abroad).
But at this point he was a king on the road and didnât mind driving at all! 
We had all day though so we decided to take some small locations on the way.
Near MiniHollywood you can find the ruins of the interior location of the bar where Mortimer encounters Manco + Indios gang, and ends up shooting Klaus Kinski in the face.
The place is unrecognizable and hard to enter, itâs been reclaimed by nature.
We also took a morning stroll to the âoasisâ created for Lawrence of Arabia (itâs the location where Indo tries to open the bank vault as well) 
Palm Trees do not exist within the desert naturally (but can survive there) so the ones found in the oasis have been planted by film crews. Same with cacti, they do not exist there naturally, succulents grow in the Tabernas desert though.
Today you are not allowed to plant anything in the desert. But the few trees and plants that has survived have been allowed to stay. Such as those in this oasis.
Since we were close by and had time we did swing by Western Leone.
It wasâŠa little bit depressing. Just like MiniHollywood itâs a tourist attraction, but MH is well kept, functioning and alive. Western Leone felt quite dead.
There was no one there except a lonely man behind a bar that looked surprised to see someone enter.
But it was worth 12 Eauro to visit Claudia Cardinales house and see the Frank and Harmonica duel location~
Of course I took the opportunity to see how close I could get to Fort Condor, I knew it was connected to Western Leone on the same piece of land 
It was completely closed off by a high fence all the way around (and the cars were still in the area).
I think there are a few reasons for this. The place is falling apart so Iâm sure itâs a safety hazard to enter the fort, no one wants dead foreigners on their property :'3
The property is also private land and connected to Western Leone that is making money on tourism. I can understand that they donât want ppl just willy-nilly walking in.
(Turns out! Western Leone and the entire land thatâs connected to it, Fort Condor included, is for sale!
SO guys! Letâs pull together and buy it! 
We could spruce the place up and just live the life of spaghetti outlaws forever~
Iâm pretty sure at least 75% of you wouldnât mind living in Claudia Cardinales house ^.~
Me on the other hand, will be your neighbor over at Fort Condor, up to no good with Jaroo.
Solid plan! )
Just like when we went east, you donât have to travel far north from the desert to see the landscape change completely, pretty soon the mountains were covered with snow.
North of La Calahorra you can find a number of Leone train stations.
In the middle of a field you can find both the âTucamcariâ station location and the opening train station from âOnce Upon a Time in the Westâ. Itâs the same place!
There is no station or rails left there nowadays though.
~The train doesnât stop at Tucamcari anymore~
Not far from there is the train station from GBU.
This one though is still a fully functioning train station with tracks.
And just around the corner from there you can find some remnants of the town Claudia Cardinale enters in the beginning of âOnce Upon a Time in the Westâ. Nothing is left except two brick buildings at the side of the road.
This brought our adventure of the day to an end, time to head back.
Interestingly when we got back to the desert and stopped by âourâ (as we started calling it) gas station it felt like we were back home.
It just took a couple of days in that desert for it to feel familiar feel like home.
With a heavy heart there was nothing left to do now but to return the car and head back to the hotel to pack.
I was sad that it was over, It was so much fun every step of the way.
Dad said it felt like being treasure hunters, on an adventure to find film history gold.
It was really a trip like no other.
Even now when Iâm back home ppl ask âhow was Spain?â
I donât know what to answer, Iâm not sure I really visited much of Spain.
I feel like I spent a week in some sort of unreal magical western Leone Narnia land, and it was wonderful.
But I had one thing left to do.
My last evening in AlmerĂa I got a small tattoo.
I had been talking to a local tattoo artist beforehand to design a âSentenzaâ tattoo together.
I wanted it to be small and delicate, in contrast to the man who was neither.
(we even made the little âtâ slightly resemble a black hat)
I love it so much, and Iâll always have it with me
A perfect ending to my Lee Van Cleef journey.
A small tribute,
to a very bad man,
who brought me to a beautiful place.
Thank you, to all of you who wished me good luck before.
Iâm also wholeheartedly grateful to Lee, who unknowingly, but undoubtedly inspired the whole thing.
But above all Iâm grateful to my dad, who not only shared this adventure with me,
but also no matter the decade, lets me be a gun wielding cowboy~
17 Likes
Wow. Amazing! Love it. Glad you had a good time.
4 Likes
Fabulous stuff! Glad you made it and such a good time. And thanks for sharing your experience.
4 Likes
Outstanding stuff! Thanks for sharing.
3 Likes
You are to Lee Van Cleef what Chris Frayling is to Leone.
3 Likes