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Location and history of the El Condor fortress

posted 17 years ago by captainapache
9 replies | jump to latest

Just saw this film for the first time recently, too bad it's not available in the original 2:35 widescreen. A great movie that could've been better if someone other than Brown had been cast opposite Cleef(Bronson or Coburn maybe?). The chemistry just didn't seem right..

I am wondering about the location and history of this fortress. What a great authentic location to build a movie around!! Has it ever been used in another film? Any links to more pictures or info on the great El Condor? Any info is appreciated.

Also, for anyone who enjoyed this film, I would recommend You Can't Win 'em All(aka Soldiers of Fortune) with Charles Bronson and Tony Curtis. Similar theme and more great authentic locations shot in Turkey.

[–] AlbertTheFlasher 17 years ago

If you look on the trivia link, it says that the fortress was built specifically for El Condor and was also used for Conan The Barbarian and some spaghetti western made in 1972 that starred James Coburn.

Interestingly, it also says that after having built this fortress, the producers weren't satisfied with the original script. So they got Larry Cohen to rewrite it so the story would focus more on the fortress.

[–] concerned_observer 17 years ago

Here is a website with many recent pictures of the El Condor fort. Sadly, it is in pretty bad shape now. The Coburn western also filmed there was called "Massacre at Fort Holman" in the USA. Other movies filmed there are Blindman, Dollar for the Dead, A Man Called Noon, Ben & Charlie and probably many more.

It's such a shame that the fort has crumbled. It's one of the greatest locations ever made, in my opinion.

http://garringo.cool.ne.jp/el%20condor%20special.htm

[–] captainapache 17 years ago

Great stuff guys, thanks for the responses and the link with the pictures.
Sure fooled me, I thought it was an authentic fort!! Hats off to the production designers, hard to believe they built it just for this movie...

Anything on a 2:35 widescreen transfer in circulation?

[–] leamond-allen 16 years ago

Was this filmed in Almeria, Spain ?

[–] Squonkamatic 15 years ago

Filming Locations: Almería, Andalucía, Spain

:D

[–] captainapache 9 years ago

Some fairly recent pics of the El Condor fortress set:

http://forum.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/topic,2284.0.html

[–] AlbertTheFlasher 8 years ago

Thanks for posting that. Such a shame the fortress has become a total slum.

"It's not that tough being a film cricket."

[–] captainapache (82) 5 years ago

Here's a new site that surfaced with some fantastic pics and stories detailing the original construction:

http://www.western-locations-spain.com/kit-west/fortress-construction/index.htm

[–] captainapache (82) 2 years ago

A nicely done video documentary of films that feature the El Condo fortress:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icLgY71uR2E