Category: Spain
60 Years Ago: Dr. Zhivago in Madrid
Halfway through filming Lawrence of Arabia in Jordan, producer Sam Spiegel ordered David Lean to move the production to Spain. Costs were mounting as the crew battled sandstorms and other challenges of filming in the remote desert. Spain, which had already hosted several large Hollywood productions, had some key advantages […]
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The Films that Franco Saw
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Francisco Franco, the Generalísimo who ruled Spain as a dictator for four decades. The moment has triggered a flood of commentary regarding his legacy and profound impact on 20th-century Spain, including effects that linger today. Perhaps less known is that […]
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The Demolition of Carabanchel
“Carabanchel está grabado a fuego en la piel moral de todos los españoles.” Juan Antonio Ramírez, Carabanchel: el templo de la memoria Under cover of darkness, one night in late October 2008, an excavator began tearing at the walls of the Carabanchel prison. The enormous complex, constructed in the 1940s, […]
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Almería Western Film Festival 2025
The Almería Western Film Festival is a unique kind of film forum. Hosted by the town of Tabernas, the festival celebrates both the Western genre and the local legacy of filmmaking. The surrounding desert landscape has appeared in countless movies over the years, particularly Westerns, including, of course, Sergio Leone’s […]
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Robert Redford and Spain
Robert Redford would have been a natural fit for a western or war film made in Spain in the 1960s. He never did make a film in Spain, but he lived there for a while early in his career, staying in Mallorca and Malaga. At the time, he was trying […]
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It started with a Kiss
When the U.S. negotiated a military alliance with the dictatorship of Francisco Franco to put American soldiers on Spanish soil, the chief hurdle they faced, according to an account in the Saturday Evening Post, was “the Spaniard’s well-known pride.” The Americans would go on to install the longest runway in […]
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Holiday in Spain
This past year, international tourism in Spain reached a breaking point. Across the country, masses of protesters shouted “tourists go home!” In Barcelona, activists attacked outdoor diners with water guns. Demonstrators occupied beaches in Mallorca and the Canary Islands. While mass tourism is not new to Spain, it has grown […]
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Spartacus in Spain
At a time when Hollywood studios and independent producers were looking to shoot overseas to save costs and highlight exotic locations, Spartacus was supposed to show that an epic film could be made without leaving California. But Director Stanley Kubrick insisted on shooting the battle scenes in Spain. Kubrick envisioned […]
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