Circus World, John Wayne and Valencia
In 1964 John Wayne made his one and only film in Spain, an inferior production called Circus World.
The last scenes of the film were shot in Madrid’s Retiro park and featured the statue of King Alfonso XII by the Valencian artist Mariano Benlliure.
In 1983, Wayne’s son Ethan made a film in the Valencian Community, Escape from El Diablo.
El Diablo is a prison in Mexico, although it is in fact the Papa Luna castle of Peñiscola, Castellón. When two American boys go swimming, we see the town as El Cid (sorry, Charlton Heston) saw it from the beach.
The two young Americans visit a bar and get into a fight with some wardens. Frankly most people would probably side with the wardens as the boys are pretty repulsive. From then on it’s ‘Midnight Express’ all over as some trendy Californian stereotypes outwit some nasty, Mexican stereotypes in a film that will persuade nobody to visit Mexico, or even Peñiscola.
However, Peñiscola looks pretty good, despite the change of name, and there is a lovely moment when Jimmy meets Sundance (played by John Wayne’s son Ethan) on a terrace with a great view, and as he leaves we see that the bar specialises in that typical Mexican drink, Horchata.
Valencia International Editor Bob Yareham is the author of Movies Made in Spain, a web site and project featuring more than 900 English language films and TV series:
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