Museum find: Clint Eastwood's cannon from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly appears in Cartagena

Its allure was heightened by the realisation that the unexplored plains and deserts of North America were not actually those on the other side of the Atlantic, but were recreated much closer to home in places such as Almería, Granada and even Burgos.

Now a piece of the history behind this half-Spanish, half-Italian Hollywood genre has appeared in an unexpected location in southeastern Spain.

In 1966, the film director Sergio Leone concluded what is known as his Dollars Trilogy, the quintessential example of this film genre, with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. In the film, Clint Eastwood loads a cannon and fires at a horseman fleeing to the hills. The artillery piece used was for real and had been lost since filming wrapped.

The weapon has recently been located in Cartagena's museum of military history, registered under inventory number MUE-5410. Although it was not in action during the American Civil War, it was deployed during the Third Carlist War (1872-1876). It is a 75mm Whitworth, hexagonal-bore cannon, manufactured in Manchester in 1873.

The piece was restored in 2010 by the friends association of this museum, a group of retired British and Spanish volunteers who collaborate in the conservation of the museum's historical collections.

Still, how did it end up in the hands of Blondie, Clint Eastwood's nickname in the film, to be immortalised in cinema history? The Army Museum in Madrid had granted director Sergio Leone's request to lend him several original cannons and mortars, which were transported under military guard to the filming locations in Burgos.

 

Behind the discovery is Diego Montero, a member of the board of directors of the cultural association known as 'sad hill'. He compared the information contained in Peter J. Hanley's book 'Behind the Scenes of Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' with the documentation kept in the Cartagena museum.

This interest was not accidental. The association is dedicated to the research and recovery of locations and other aspects related to the film. 'Colina Triste', which literally translates as 'sad hill', is also the name of the cemetery where the memorable final duel takes place.

Built for the film on the municipal border between Contreras and Santo Domingo de Silos, it was recovered in 2016 by the association's volunteers, who have continued their efforts ever since.

In just two months' time, the 60th anniversary of the filming of this infamous spaghetti western in the province of Burgos will be commemorated.

However, the cannon will not be loaned out for these commemorative events planned for July in Burgos. Nevertheless, as the 'sad hill' cultural association has pointed out, its discovery certainly adds to the cultural and cinematic value of the series of locations linked to the film.

The map previously included the Arlanza Valley, the Tabernas Desert, the Sierra de Guadarrama mountains near Madrid and the area around La Calahorra in Granada. Now, Cartagena has been added to that list on the map.