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Buttes lit orange at sunset across a dark desert plain
Sentinel Mesa, the Mittens and Merrick Butte at sunset, April 2008. Christian Mehlführer · CC BY 2.5
Claudia Cardinale smiling, dark hair, pink collar, in colour
Claudia Cardinale on the cover of Oggi, August 1969 (cropped from a cover she shared with Catherine Spaak). Oggi (Italian weekly magazine) · Public domain
Claudia CardinaleJill McBain · 1969
Henry Fonda smiling in a suit and striped tie, grey hair, black and white
Henry Fonda in an ABC Television publicity photograph, December 1970 (cropped). ABC Television · Public domain
Henry FondaFrank · 1970
Charles Bronson, lined face and dark hair, in an army jacket, black and white
Charles Bronson in a publicity photograph, 1966. Herald American · Public domain
Charles BronsonHarmonica · 1966
Sergio Leone in a white hat and glasses leaning towards a small boy on a sunlit set, crew behind
Sergio Leone (right, in the white hat) talks to the boy actor Enzo Santaniello on the set, 1968. Unknown photographer · Public domain
Sergio LeoneDirector · 1968

GranadaAlmeríaMonument ValleyRome1968

Once Upon a Time in the West

Leone’s West was a set beside a real station in Granada, a ranch that still stands in Almería and two weeks in John Ford’s valley. It opens with ten minutes of waiting. So does this.

Claudia Cardinale, Oggi, 1969 · Henry Fonda, ABC, 1970 · Charles Bronson, 1966 · Sergio Leone on the set, 1968. Public domain. Monument Valley at sunset: Christian Mehlführer, CC BY 2.5.

Cattle Corner · La Calahorra, Granada

Wait for it.
Ten minutes, drop by drop.

The film opens with more than ten minutes of three men waiting for a train, with almost no dialogue and little action. Nearly all you hear is a windmill turning in the dry wind, the tap of a leaking water pipe, planks shifting underfoot, and then the hiss of a steam engine pulling in.

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Three men wait on the platform. Nothing happens. Press Wait a minute.

The station appears when the train does.

The plain beside the station

A town at the end of the line,
and what is left of it.

Leone and his designer Carlo Simi built a western town beside La Calahorra-Ferreira station, on the Charches road, in the first months of 1968. Flagstone was built whole on the plain next to the station.

Roofless red-brick facades with empty window openings beside a straight country road
Brick shells of the Flagstone set beside the Charches road, December 2025. Urci dream · CC BY-SA 4.0

December 2025: brick shells beside the Charches road.

The set cost $500,000, and Leone was to keep it under a ten-year lease.

Four films were shot there between 1968 and 1975; Carlo Simi designed the first and the last. Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson and Claudia Cardinale all worked there.

What is left is a few brick walls and buildings, cut in two by the road, most of them inside a livestock farm. Neglect and the taking of materials have done the damage.

The production planned two months on location at a “Flagstone, Arizona” set in the province of Granada.

Brick shells beside the Charches road, most of them inside a working livestock farm. See them from the road; do not go in.

Timetable notes
A tall brick facade with arched openings standing alone beside a road on the plain
What is left of Flagstone, looking along the road, December 2025. Urci dream · CC BY-SA 4.0

Jill’s ride out to Sweetwater

One buggy ride,
two continents.

Jill rides out to Sweetwater by buggy, and the road passes through Monument Valley. Leone spent two weeks in Monument Valley, his first filming in the United States, for Harmonica’s flashbacks and Jill’s journeys by buggy.

A tall brick facade with arched openings standing alone beside a road on the plain
What is left of Flagstone, looking along the road, December 2025. Urci dream · CC BY-SA 4.0
  1. Flagstone, Granada
  2. Monument Valley, Arizona–Utah
  3. Still the valley
  4. Sweetwater, Almería

Shot 1: Flagstone, Granada. Jill climbs up beside the driver.

Carretera de A-92 a Charches, La Calahorra

Flagstone

Flagstone was built whole on the plain next to the station.

Timetable notes
Two red sandstone buttes and a third flat-topped one rising from a red plain with yucca in front
The Mittens and Merrick Butte, Monument Valley, April 2009. Katona András (Hyberoid) · Public domain

The Arizona–Utah border

Ford’s valley,
two weeks of it.

Trade papers at the time spoke of four weeks of exteriors planned on the Arizona–Utah border. The valley gave the film its flashback and several establishing shots and short scenes.

Pick a season for the Valley Drive

From 1 October to 31 January the visitor centre and scenic drive open 8am to 5pm, with the last drive entry by 2:30pm.

The park’s page gives no hours for 1 February to 7 March: ask before you go. Entry fees and permits rose on 1 January 2026. Guides wait at the lower car park, and you can buy a tour on arrival.

Hours and fees

Utah’s tourism lists the film among the productions made in the valley, alongside Stagecoach and Forrest Gump. The park is run by the Navajo Nation, so a US national parks pass does not cover entry.

Charles Bronson, lined face and dark hair, in an army jacket, black and white
Charles Bronson in a publicity photograph, 1966. Herald American · Public domain
Charles BronsonHarmonica. His character’s flashbacks were shot among the buttes.

Pay at the fee booth. October to January the visitor centre and Valley Drive open 8am–5pm, last drive entry 2:30pm. No RVs, motorcycles or large off-roaders on the drive.

Timetable notes
Red buttes on a wide plain under white clouds, seen from a rock ledge
Monument Valley from John Ford's Point, May 2016. Chelis62 · CC0

John Ford’s Point

Monument Valley was John Ford’s favourite place to shoot, and Leone went there for his film. The 17-mile Valley Drive has rough ground and deep sand.

Timetable notes
Navajo Nation Parks & Recreation

Navajo-guided tours of the valley

Monument Valley · Fees rose on 1 January 2026 · check on arrival

The park’s list of licensed tour operators. Guides wait at the lower car park; you can buy a tour on arrival.

See the operators
Goulding’s

Goulding’s Lodge

Oljato-Monument Valley, Utah

Lodge rooms, villas, RV sites and a campground at Oljato-Monument Valley, with the Stagecoach Restaurant, a museum with a western movie exhibit, and tours with Navajo guides.

Check rooms
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Monument Valley

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Tabernas, Almería

The farm with the well
is still standing.

In the story, Sweetwater has a well the railroad needs as it pushes west. Spain’s tourist board says the town of Western Leone was built to shoot Once Upon a Time in the West.

A small cluster of wooden western buildings at the foot of a bare grey hillside
Western Leone under its hillside in the Tabernas desert, January 2008. Xabier Cid · Public domain

The McBain ranch house, Sweetwater, was built under a desert hillside at Tabernas. Unlike most sets it was never taken down: the house still stands in the Western Leone village.

Claudia Cardinale smiling, dark hair, pink collar, in colour
Claudia Cardinale on the cover of Oggi, August 1969 (cropped from a cover she shared with Catherine Spaak). Oggi (Italian weekly magazine) · Public domain
Claudia CardinaleJill McBain. Jill McBain’s arrival at the ranch was filmed there.

Entry is from 12 euros, with western shows in season. You can walk the country around it, take a 4x4 or hire horses.

Entry from €12, with western shows in season. Check the day’s opening before you set off.

Timetable notes
Badland hills and a dry riverbed with the western village small in the distance
Western Leone seen from the old N-340 road, October 2017. Eduardo Milla · CC BY-SA 4.0
Grey eroded ridges of the desert under a hard blue sky
Eroded ridges in the Tabernas desert, January 2021. MdeVicente · CC BY-SA 4.0

About two and a half months of the shoot were in Spain, shared between Tabernas and the plain at La Calahorra. Location filming also took place in Almería.

A protected natural area north of Almería. Carry water; there is little shade.

Timetable notes
Screentrips

Western Leone

Tabernas, Almería · From €12

The village around the McBain ranch house at Tabernas, with western shows in season.

Plan a visit
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Tabernas desert tours

Almería

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Back on the Granada plain

A square castle with round corner towers on a bare hill below snowy mountains
The castle of La Calahorra on its hill, April 2019. Bjørn Christian Tørrissen · CC BY-SA 4.0

8 km from the station

Castle of La Calahorra

Scenes for the film were shot at the castle, as they were for Doctor Zhivago in 1965 and House of the Dragon in 2022.

Guided visits of about 40 minutes, booked in advance.

Timetable notes
White chimneys of cave houses rising from the ground among low hills in Guadix
Cave-house chimneys in Guadix, January 2024. Elgaard · CC BY-SA 4.0

11 km from the station

Guadix

Cuttings on the old Guadix–Baza railway, closed to traffic for more than twenty years, were used for scenes built around Morton’s private train. Locally, the memory of that stretch of line belongs to Henry Fonda.

Trade reports in 1968 placed the “Flagstone, Arizona” set at Guadix, in Granada.

A cave-house town on the A-92 and the nearest base for the station and the castle. The cuttings of the old railway are not marked.

Timetable notes
Castillo de La Calahorra

Castle of La Calahorra

La Calahorra, Granada · Booking required

Guided visits of about 40 minutes inside the castle above the plain, by booking only.

Book a visit

Via Tuscolana, Rome

Day one was in Rome.
America cut the ending short.

Filming began at Cinecittà on 8 April 1968. Variety called it the studio’s 500th production. The interiors were shot at Cinecittà; Spain gave the town and the ranch house.

28 May 1969, New York: 165 minutes.

Release dates
The pale yellow entrance building of Cinecittà with its name over the gate and two flagpoles
The historic entrance to Cinecittà on Via Tuscolana, April 2021. Andrea Martella · CC BY-SA 4.0
Sergio Leone in a white hat and glasses leaning towards a small boy on a sunlit set, crew behind
Sergio Leone (right, in the white hat) talks to the boy actor Enzo Santaniello on the set, 1968. Unknown photographer · Public domain
Sergio LeoneOn the set, 1968. Leone worked the story out with Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento, both later directors themselves.
Henry Fonda smiling in a suit and striped tie, grey hair, black and white
Henry Fonda in an ABC Television publicity photograph, December 1970 (cropped). ABC Television · Public domain
Henry FondaFrank. Fonda first turned the part down. Eli Wallach told him to meet Leone, and once he had seen Leone’s films he signed almost at once.
Jason Robards in a hat and duster coat, black and white
Jason Robards in a publicity photograph for the film, 1968. Studio publicity photograph · Public domain
Jason RobardsCheyenne. Claudia Cardinale played Jill McBain, Henry Fonda played Frank, Jason Robards played Cheyenne and Charles Bronson played the man called Harmonica.

Ennio Morricone recorded most of the score before filming began, so it could be played on set. The film was shot without sound, as Italian films usually were, and every version was dubbed afterwards, the Italian one included.

A working studio. Cinecittà si Mostra runs exhibitions and visits through the lots; buy tickets online.

Timetable notes
Cinecittà

Cinecittà si Mostra

Rome

Sets, costumes, props and exhibitions inside the studio where the interiors were shot.

Tickets

Where it is now

9 places you can visit or see from a public road. Flagstone’s brick shells stand inside a working farm: look from the Charches road. Nothing here is a private home.

Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. The station stands on the plain beside the Charches road, off the A-92. Look from the road and the old platform; keep off the tracks.

  • General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Brick shells beside the Charches road, most of them inside a working livestock farm. See them from the road; do not go in.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Guided visits of about 40 minutes, booked in advance.

  • General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A cave-house town on the A-92 and the nearest base for the station and the castle. The cuttings of the old railway are not marked.

  1. A two-storey brick station building with blank windows under a grey sky
    The station building at La Calahorra-Ferreira, December 2025. Urci dream · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Beside the Charches road, La Calahorra

    La Calahorra-Ferreira station

    The opening, ten minutes of near-silent waiting, was filmed on a station set called Cattle Corner, built beside the real La Calahorra-Ferreira station on a working mining line.

    The station stands on the plain beside the Charches road, off the A-92. Look from the road and the old platform; keep off the tracks.

    Timetable notes
  2. Roofless red-brick facades with empty window openings beside a straight country road
    Brick shells of the Flagstone set beside the Charches road, December 2025. Urci dream · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Carretera de A-92 a Charches, La Calahorra

    Flagstone

    Leone and his designer Carlo Simi built a western town beside La Calahorra-Ferreira station, on the Charches road, in the first months of 1968.

    Brick shells beside the Charches road, most of them inside a working livestock farm. See them from the road; do not go in.

    Timetable notes
  3. A square castle with round corner towers on a bare hill below snowy mountains
    The castle of La Calahorra on its hill, April 2019. Bjørn Christian Tørrissen · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Calle Joaquín Gisbert, La Calahorra

    Castle of La Calahorra

    Scenes for the film were shot at the castle, as they were for Doctor Zhivago in 1965 and House of the Dragon in 2022.

    Guided visits of about 40 minutes, booked in advance.

    Timetable notes
  4. White chimneys of cave houses rising from the ground among low hills in Guadix
    Cave-house chimneys in Guadix, January 2024. Elgaard · CC BY-SA 4.0

    Plaza de la Catedral, Guadix

    Guadix

    Trade reports in 1968 placed the “Flagstone, Arizona” set at Guadix, in Granada.

    A cave-house town on the A-92 and the nearest base for the station and the castle. The cuttings of the old railway are not marked.

    Timetable notes

Stay

Sleep on the valley rim.

Two places to stay in Monument Valley: Goulding’s Lodge and The View Hotel.

Goulding’s

Goulding’s Lodge

Oljato-Monument Valley, Utah

Lodge rooms, villas, RV sites and a campground at Oljato-Monument Valley, with the Stagecoach Restaurant, a museum with a western movie exhibit, and tours with Navajo guides.

Check rooms
The View Hotel

The View Hotel

Monument Valley

Guestrooms, premium cabins on the valley rim, and RV and wilderness campsites, with Navajo guided tours and a trading post.

Check rooms

Go there

See it with a guide.

Navajo-guided tours of the valley, the village around the McBain house, a booked visit to the castle, Cinecittà’s own exhibitions, and live marketplace tours.

Navajo Nation Parks & Recreation

Navajo-guided tours of the valley

Monument Valley · Fees rose on 1 January 2026 · check on arrival

The park’s list of licensed tour operators. Guides wait at the lower car park; you can buy a tour on arrival.

See the operators
Screentrips

Western Leone

Tabernas, Almería · From €12

The village around the McBain ranch house at Tabernas, with western shows in season.

Plan a visit
Castillo de La Calahorra

Castle of La Calahorra

La Calahorra, Granada · Booking required

Guided visits of about 40 minutes inside the castle above the plain, by booking only.

Book a visit
Cinecittà

Cinecittà si Mostra

Rome

Sets, costumes, props and exhibitions inside the studio where the interiors were shot.

Tickets
Viator · Ad / affiliate

Monument Valley tours

Monument Valley

Live marketplace results for guided jeep and horseback tours of the valley. Check each itinerary.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours
Viator · Ad / affiliate

Tabernas desert tours

Almería

Live marketplace results for desert and western-set tours from Almería. Check which sets each one visits.

Live marketplace results · itineraries change

Compare tours

What’s on

Almería’s own festival.

The province’s international film festival in November.

Checking current event dates…

Take it home

Two books and the score.

Christopher Frayling on Leone, and Morricone’s score on the Italian RCA LP and CD. Our store has no original poster for this film.

Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate

Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death

Christopher Frayling

The biography of Leone, Faber & Faber, 2000.

Find the book
Bookshop.org UK · Ad / affiliate

Once Upon a Time in Italy: The Westerns of Sergio Leone

Christopher Frayling

Frayling’s illustrated book on Leone’s westerns, Abrams with the Autry National Center, 2005.

Find the book
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C’era una volta il West

Ennio Morricone · LP, RCA, 1970

Morricone’s score on the 1970 Italian RCA LP.

Live marketplace search · listings and condition change

Find a copy
eBay · Ad / affiliate

C’era una volta il West

Ennio Morricone · CD, RCA, 1999

The score on the 1999 Italian RCA CD.

Live marketplace search · listings and condition change

Find a copy

Dates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.

The timetable

Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.

9 of 9 places · 12 of 12 Moments

  • La Calahorra-Ferreira station

    Beside the Charches road, La Calahorra

    • The wait

      Three men wait for a train at a station called Cattle Corner.

    • Jill arrives

      Jill McBain steps down from the train at Flagstone.

  • Flagstone

    Carretera de A-92 a Charches, La Calahorra

    • Flagstone

      Flagstone, the town at the end of the line.

  • Castle of La Calahorra

    Calle Joaquín Gisbert, La Calahorra

    • The castle

      Scenes shot at the castle above the plain.

  • Guadix

    Plaza de la Catedral, Guadix

    • Morton’s train

      Morton travels the line in his own private train.

  • Sweetwater (Western Leone)

    Off the A-92 north of Tabernas

    • Sweetwater

      Jill reaches the McBain ranch at Sweetwater, the farm with the well.

  • The Tabernas desert

    Paraje Natural del Desierto de Tabernas

    • The desert

      The shoot settles in the Almería desert.

  • Monument Valley

    Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park visitor centre

    • The ride out

      Jill rides out to Sweetwater by buggy, and the road passes through Monument Valley.

    • Harmonica remembers

      Harmonica’s memory, shot among the buttes.

  • John Ford’s Point

    On the Valley Drive, Monument Valley

    • Ford’s valley

      Leone films in John Ford’s favourite valley.

  • Cinecittà

    Via Tuscolana 1055, Rome

    • Day one

      Filming starts on the stages in Rome.

    • The American cut

      Thirty minutes come out for Los Angeles.

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