Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Mojácar Movies

They used to shoot films in Mojácar, back in the 1950s and through until the 1970s and in the days before the place was trashed. In all, about a dozen were made. The most famous one is 'Sierra Maldita', a film made by the ‘rojo’ director Antonio del Amo in 1953. The story tells of a ‘barren’ girl who lives in the dry and miserable top half of the ‘Pueblo de Arriba’ and her suitor, who comes from the fecund bottom half of the same township, where there is water and the girls will make better wives. He courts the heroine, has a fight against the baddie with axes while out in the forests preparing charcoal, and eventually wins the girl’s hand… and has lots of babies. It’s not bad, actually. The ‘top half’ of the pueblo was shot in Mojácar (the ‘bottom half’ in Níjar) and you can see the broken-down state of Mojácar in those days, when the population was only around 600 souls, and the film crew had to leave their transport in the river-bed and take donkeys up to the village!
‘El Beso de Judás’ (directed by Rafael Gil) was shot the same year in various locations, including Mojácar, Pulpí and Aguilas (All looking something presumably like Jerusalem).
In 1962, ‘Marcha o Muere’ (‘Marcia o Crepa’ original), a flick about the French Foreign Legion with Stewart Granger, was shot partially in Pulpí, Cuevas and Mojácar (Lawrence of Arabia was being filmed elsewhere in Almería at the same time).
Twenty three chapters of an American TV show called ‘The Rat Patrol’ were filmed in Almería in 1966, including scenes in Mojácar.
Robert Siodmark directed his 'Custer of the West' in 1966, filming in Almería with some scenes in Mojácar. My Dad met the star, Robert Shaw, in the Parador hotel and was apparently rude to him in the lavatories. I’m sure they are both sorry now.
'Fliegender Sand', a German production, was filmed partly in Mojácar in 1967, and a Spanish/German co-production called ‘Cantando a la Vida’, about a Eurovision singer who has disappeared, starring Massiel, was filmed the following year entirely in Mojácar.
In the seventies, several films were made in Mojácar, including Orson Wells’ ‘Treasure Island’ in 1972. My dad lent him an old Renault 4 and a driver, Michel Meynard. The two hit it off and spent most of the film – a wretched picture shot on ‘Treasure Island beach’ along the way past Macenas – drinking. They would play checkers with glasses of brandy and anis with the deal that you drank your enemy’s pieces.
'The Final Programme' was filmed partly in Mojácar in 1973, a rather obscure SciFi film by Robert Fuest and starring Jon Finch (who made several films in Spain around that time, while residing in Mojácar).
Silvio Narizzano, a Canadian who lived in Mojácar for many years, made ‘The Sky is Falling’ (‘Las Flores del Vicio’) with Dennis Hopper (who, I’m afraid to say, my dad kicked up the arse in a bar one night). The film was remarkably bad and was shot in Mojácar and Bédar. Here’s the storyline from ‘imdb.com’: ‘Chicken, a desperate hippie junkie living in a small Spanish village, is finding it difficult to separate fantasy and reality. This isn't helped by the villagers practising magic and child sacrifice, or his involvement with a group of boozy ex-patriates lost in their own dreams and regrets’. Silvio didn’t like my mother much, and named one of the characters after her.
‘Night Child', a psychological horror film with Mark Lester (he had found fame with ‘Oliver’) and Britt Ekland, was shot in 1974, partly in Paul Polanski’s house (Ric’s older brother). The film was directed by Andrés Vicente Gómez.
Finally, apart from a bad porn film shot in a hotel room of the Moresco, and an advert for chocolates (a fleeting glimpse of our house as the hero arrives '...because the Lady prefers ...Black Magic'), the seventies closed with four chapters of the popular Spanish TV series ‘Curro Romero’ being filmed locally in 1976 and 1977.
Some material from here.

Monday, January 24, 2011

A Plan for the Village

This is a notice from the Mojácar Town Hall. It says that since the 'underground car-park projected to be built in the village next to the church has received the 'go-ahead' from the 'Culture' Department from the Junta de Andalucía in Almería, the Town Hall wants to know who is interested in acquiring a parking spot and to please leave their name at the Town Hall.

If there is enough 'places' sold, the building can evidently go ahead, and the money spent would be recuperated in part. This 'refreshed' money could then, presumably, be spent wherever necessary...

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Too Many Youse

You know how I sometimes complain about how 'they want our business... but won't give us any back. Not even in translation. Not even a beer'?
Well, let's meet down at the 'Loungue Bar' and I'll explain it further...

Friday, January 14, 2011

Mojácar Parties for 2011 Local Elections

*Updated a few times!!

In 2007, 13 parties presented candidates for the local elections. This was something of a record (the people from the Guinness book were said to be very excited). ‘Lots of parties’ of course favours the ‘most voted’, in 2007, the Partido Popular got five councillors out of the thirteen seats contested. They joined a quorum with Ciudadanos Europeos, GIAL and, for some reason, Asamblea de la Izquierda. This year, so far we have five confirmed from before, plus at least three new ones and maybe also another one or two from last time.

The parties from 2007:

1.- LEVANTE SOSTENIBLE DE MOJACAR (LEVANTE SOS. MOJACAR) 1 JOSE LUIS ARTERO GARCIA

2.- ASAMBLEA DE IZQUIERDAS (A.Iz) 1 CARLOS SALVADOR CERVANTES ZAMORA

3.- CIUDADANOS EUROPEOS DE MOJACAR (C.E.M.) 1 ANGEL MEDINA CHULLIA 2 LENOX SCOTT NAPIER

4.- PARTIDO INDEPENDIENTE DE MOJACAR (P.I.MOJ.) 1 MAATI EL OUARDIGHI EL IMANI

5.- PARTIDO POPULAR (P.P.) 1 ROSA MARIA CANO and ALBERT WALDEMAR WERNER SCHRÖTER

6.- PARTIDO ANDALUCISTA (P.A.) DIEGO GONZALEZ

7.- PARTIDO DE ALMERIA (PdAL) 1 DIEGO GARCIA MONTOYA

8.- PARTIDO SOCIALISTA OBRERO ESPAÑOL (PSOE) 1 PHILIPPE KIRSCH GOMEZ

9.- PARTIDO SOCIALISTA DE ANDALUCIA (PSA) 1 JUAN ALFONSO LOPEZ RODRIGUEZ

10.- PARTIDO DEMOCRATICO DE MOJACAR (PDM) 1 GABRIEL FLORES MORALES

11.- GRUPO INDEPENDIENTE POR ALMERIA (GIAL) 1 DIEGO GARCIA MONTOYA

12.- IZQUIERDA UNIDA LOS VERDES- CONVOCATORIA POR ANDALUCIA (IULV-CA) 1 FRANCISCO RUBIO SANCHEZ

13.- MOJACAR NUEVA (MN) 1 ENRIQUE JOAQUIN GARCIA MAURIÑO LORENTE

14.- Mojácar 2000 (decided not to present a candidature)

Some of the above have gone and some others have started up. Here’s my list (so far). There may be errors, but I don’t get paid to do his – and those who do, clearly can’t be bothered:

Local elections May 2011

3.- CIUDADANOS EUROPEOS (C.E.) (name shortened) 1 ANGEL MEDINA CHULLIA, 2 LENOX SCOTT NAPIER

5.- PARTIDO POPULAR (P.P.) 1 ROSA MARIA CANO, Diego García (was GIAL)

6.- PARTIDO ANDALUCISTA (P.A.) New Candidate

8.- PARTIDO SOCIALISTA OBRERO ESPAÑOL (PSOE) Manuel Zamorra (new)

12.- IZQUIERDA UNIDA LOS VERDES- CONVOCATORIA POR ANDALUCIA (IULV-CA) Miguel Egea (new)

13.- MOJACAR NUEVA (MN) 1 ENRIQUE JOAQUIN GARCIA LORENTE (maybe)

New Parties (Confirmed):

UPyD ALBERT SCHRÖTER (was PP Ind)

Unión Mojaquera 10 DIEGO GARCIA MONTOYA (was PAL) and GABRIEL FLORES MORALES (ex-mayor, was PDM)

Mojácar Positiva Se Mueve Jessica Simpson

?? Diego Gonzalez (was leader of PA) Diego confirms that he is seeking a new party to lead.



Gone: Mojácar 2000, PARTIDO DEMOCRATICO DE MOJACAR, PARTIDO DE ALMERIA, PARTIDO INDEPENDIENTE DE MOJACAR, LEVANTE SOSTENIBLE DE MOJACAR, ASAMBLEA DE IZQUIERDAS, GRUPO INDEPENDIENTE POR ALMERIA, PARTIDO SOCIALISTA DE ANDALUCIA.
.... ....

Nine or maybe ten parties (if I haven’t missed something). The likely winners? The PP of RosMari will do well, Ciudadanos Europeos and Union Mojaquera 10, will make some gains. The IU, the PA and perhaps Mojácar Positiva The PSOE has problems, the UPyD is an unknown force (with some support from ex-PSOE people - and presumably the Mojácar business bureau), the Mojacar Nueva is (sorry!) a joke… Mojácar politics eh?

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Another Hospital Visit

My wife is up in the City, looking after an aged relative over at the hospital. The relative is not long for this world and my wife has to be there the whole time. So she can’t be here, which I don’t like. Barbara has been on hand for five days so far, sleeping on a metal deckchair and I am told (rather pointedly) that there haven’t been many visitors. She can’t go very far and, she admits over the phone, she can’t have a smoke outside the hospital any more, as the new paternalistic rules from our leaders (All Hail!) mean that she has to actually leave the hospital grounds and parking lot presumably to be lost in the city somewhere before she can light up. There’s a new fellow with an important looking badge and wearing a snap-brimmed hat whose job it is to patrol the parking lot, chasing out smokers.
No wonder employment in Andalucía has risen slightly this month.
I can’t drop everything and go in and see her (and not just because of the typical male aversion to visiting hospitals). The old family car is in the knackers and, anyway, I have to look after five dogs. We have… one dog of our own… and the aged relative has four. I am using a lot of bleach and water along with a cheesy old mop to try and keep the place clean. In my opinion, several of the dogs should be ‘outside’ at all times.
Somebody has just offered to lend me a car.
If this gets out, I see that I shall have to come up with a convincing excuse…

Later: things have gone downhill. My son finally lent me his car, a real piece of crap from the SEAT people. A month ago, Barbara had put the puppy into the front seat of this same car, closed the door to get her purse from the house, only to find that this awful pile of crap had automatically locked itself. We had to break the window to get in and release the frightened dog. The key was on the front seat. It was a 'long weekend' and it took a few days before we could even order a new window. Well, bugger me, if the same thing didn't happen this morning - on another fiesta (of course). My fault this time.
The puppy is starting to dislike cars and I am wondering how many car-windows are broken by their owners? Nine out of ten? What a piece of shit car.

Later still: The following day, somebody else called to lend me a car, which turned out (to my horror) to be another SEAT - the same model. Well, I needed to go to see my wife so I put the ignition key on a bit of string around my neck so as not to be caught out by SEAT's little surprise design-flaw again. You know, having a bit of string attached to the dashboard makes it a bit difficult to drive - but I made it. Stoopid car.


And Finally: I received this from a friend who has just been giving an interview to a British television company.

I read your blog about the Seat, And thought I would tell you this story.
ITV arrived in our garden on Friday at 9.00. They followed their normal practice of putting all the equipment in the back of the hire car, battery packs, boom mikes, cameras, etc.
After discussing what they wanted to do, they went to the car to get out the gear. Only to find that the last person to go in the boot had shut the hatch and all the doors had locked.
A mad dash to SEAT in Vera, did no good and they ended up smashing the back window, The hire company wanted the car to go back to the rental company in Malaga that day, but after negotiations it was decided that Lorca would be OK as long as it was returned immediately. On a two day shoot this was the last thing they needed.
I sent them your story and have received a response:
This is BRILLIANT. I have forwarded it to everyone here. At least we are not the only ones to have fallen into SEATs evil plan! We all feel much better after reading this.

Saturday, January 01, 2011

A Winter Visitor

My wife was making a lot of fuss the other day – some story about a snake in the house. She had seen it come through the back door and given it a wallop or two as it disappeared behind a bookcase. Nuts, I said, snakes don’t crawl about in the winter, they are cold-blooded animals.
She must have been seeing things. Women are always a bit peculiar about snakes and one has to humour them on these occasions. I took the bookcase apart – of course there was no nest of crazed serpents there plotting our downfall (although a few interesting books I hadn’t read for a while, plus a lot of dust).
Anyhow, yesterday afternoon, a snake came through the same door. I saw it and, having in the past watched all those shows made by the Australian naturalist Steve Whatwashisname, grabbed it by the tail and, as it hung there writhing energetically, I danced about shouting Snoike, what a beautiful Snoike.
It was a metre-long grass snake as far as I know, although and despite there not being any poisonous snakes around here, one never likes to be proved wrong – especially by some maddened viper.
Anyhow, I put him safely somewhere in the garden to cries coming from inside the house:
Now, can you have a proper look behind the goddamn bookcase?