The Casa del Cine de Almería celebrates 10 years since its opening on the 15th. Precisely on that important anniversary, a large exhibition on Eduardo García Maroto, an Andalusian who was the driving force behind the arrival of the shootings of American films to Spain.
Starting in the 1950s, the great stars of North American cinema began to land in Spain, including Ava Gardner, Rita Haywoorth, Charlon Heston and Frank Sinatra. One of the architects of these international shootings was Eduardo García Maroto, who contributed, for example, to the filming of Patton in Almería.
The exhibition that covers his professional life at the Casa del Cine has been extended until January 31. The sample made up of 40 photographs spread over the two floors of the Casa del Cine can be seen, as long as the limitations imposed by the Junta de Andalucía continue, on Saturdays and Sundays, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The exhibition is divided into three blocks. The main one covers García Maroto’s connection with North American cinema, so he can be seen in the company of some of the directors, producers and actors with whom he worked, such as Peter Latorre, Stanley Kramer or Jean Negulesco. Other images have a personal character, since in them you can see him as a child or with his brothers. Finally, the third group consists of photos of scenes or film shoots that he directed.
The exhibition is produced by the Malaga Festival, Spanish cinema. It has also been seen at the Segovia European Film Festival, MUCES, at the headquarters of the Spanish Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in Madrid, at the Antiquarium in Seville and the Diputación de Jaén. The curator of the exhibition is Miguel Olid.
Precisely, Olid refers to the relationship between García Maroto and Almería, noting that “of all the North American films in which Eduardo García Maroto participated, Patton (1969) was the most outstanding for its approach, budget, box office success and triumph at the Oscars ”.
“It was not the only time he filmed in Almería and precisely here the scene of his final farewell to the cinema took place. Although it was planned that Ana Coulder (1971) was shot outdoors in the province of Madrid, finally it was in Tabernas where all these sequences were filmed. Its protagonist was Raquel Welch, then married to the film’s producer, and as García Maroto and some professionals who worked on it recalled, her divism caused some problems, ”says Olid.
One of the photos that can be seen in the exhibition is of a sequence of Patton on the steps from the Provincial Hospital to the Nicolás Salmerón Park, this image corresponds to a sequence that takes place in Sicily when the British and North American troops, under the command of General Patton, make contact. In the capital the part set in Sicily and in Tabernas the battle of El Guettar (Tunisia) was filmed.
Without a doubt, the entry of the tanks in the Plaza de la Catedral is also remembered in the city. The damages caused made the production company practically make a new place after filming.
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‘Patton’, a great shoot for the city of Almería
“Patton was a huge recognition for the professionalism of the Spanish technicians, since it was the first time that two of them. Gil Parrondo and Antonio Mateos, achieved an Oscar ”says Miguel Olid, curator of the exhibition. “The participation of the Spanish Army in Patton (1969) was fundamental. In addition to giving up the tanks and other weapons, he made more than 3,000 soldiers available to the film to intervene as extras. Franklin J. Schaffner directed Patton, but it was by no means the first choice of producer Frank McCarthy. He would have previously claimed John Huston and William Wyler, but both had to give up as they could not commit on the scheduled dates, ”says Olid. The high-level exhibition can be visited until the end of this month.
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