''800 Bullets'' ( es, 800 balas, links=no) is a 2002 Spanish film directed by
Álex de la Iglesia
Alejandro "Álex" de la Iglesia Mendoza (born 4 December 1965) is a Spanish film director, screenwriter, producer and former comic book artist.
De la Iglesia's films combine grotesque and very dark elements such as death and murder: most of his ...
and penned by the former alongside
Jorge Guerricaechevarría. The cast features
Sancho Gracia
Félix Ángel Sancho Gracia (27 September 1936 – 8 August 2012) was a Spanish motion picture and television actor.
Biography
Gracia was born and died in Madrid. He started his acting career in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he lived from 1947 u ...
,
Ángel de Andrés
Ángel de Andrés Miquel was a Spanish theatre actor and director.
Background
In 1938, after the Spanish Civil War broke out, the young Andrés worked as an amateur street actor and then as a "galán cómico" in the Salvador Videgain theatre ...
,
Carmen Maura
María del Carmen García Maura (born 15 September 1945) is a Spanish actress. In a career that has spanned six decades, she has starred in films such as ''Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'', ''¡Ay Carmela!'', '' Common Wealth'', and ...
,
Eusebio Poncela
Eusebio Poncela Aprea (born 15 September 1947) is a Spanish actor.
Biography
Eusebio Poncela Aprea was born in Madrid on 15 September 1947.
After graduating in drama, he made his debut onstage in the play '' Mariana Pineda'' in the mid 1960s ...
,
Terele Pávez
Teresa Marta Ruiz Penella (29 July 1939 – 11 August 2017), better known as Terele Pávez, was a Spanish actress. She appeared in more than ninety films since 1954.
She died on 11 August 2017 due to a stroke at the age of 78.
Selected fil ...
and Luis Castro, among others. The film, a tribute to Spanish stuntmen who worked in
Spaghetti Westerns, features similarities to Spielbergian Oedipal melodramas.
Plot
Julián Torralba is a former film stuntman in Almeria, Spain. He and several of his colleagues, who once made a living in American Westerns shot in Spain, now are reduced to doing stunt shows for minuscule audiences on the decaying set built for those old Westerns. Julián wrestles with dark memories of the death of his son, also a stuntman, and with estrangement from his daughter-in-law Laura and her son Carlos.
Carlos, a young boy, becomes intrigued with his late father's life and runs away to join Julián and his band of has-beens. There Carlos is initiated into the rambunctious life of these hard-drinking faux cowboys. But when Laura, a powerful executive looking for a new site for a tourist resort, learns that Carlos has joined the hated Julián, she moves to destroy even this remnant of Julián's once-proud career. Julián and the cowboys decide to fight back the only way they know how.
Cast
Production
Produced by Pánico Films, ''800 Bullets'' was shot in the
province of Almería. Shooting locations included the Paseo de Almería, the Calle Reina Regente (both in the provincial capital,
Almería
Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city g ...
), Santa María del Águila (
El Ejido
El Ejido () is a municipality of Almería province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It is located 32 km from Almería with a surface area of 227 km2, and as reported in 2014 had 84,144 inhabitants. El Ejido is the centre of prod ...
), Las Salinillas (
Gádor
Gádor is a municipality of Almería province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. The murder of Bernardo Gonzalez Parra by Francisco Leona
Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''.
...
-
Gérgal
Gérgal is a municipality of Almería province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain.
The town is located at the foot of the southern side of the Sierra de Los Filabres
Sierra de Los Filabres is the largest mountain range in Almer ...
-
Rioja-
Tabernas
Tabernas is a municipality of Almería province, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain, as well as the name of the principal town of the municipality. It is located on the edge of the famous Tabernas Desert, the filming location of many ...
), Garganta de Alfaro (Rioja) and the Poblado estudio Fort Bravo-Texas Hollywood (Tabernas). The film had a budget of around
€
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...
5 million.
Release
The film had its
world premiere
A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition.
A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its firs ...
on 11 October 2002 at the
Sitges Film Festival (FICC), making its domestic theatrical release a week later, on 18 October. The film performed bad at the box office, becoming one of the economic blunders in 2002 Spanish cinema, grossing less than €2 million.
Awards and nominations
, -
, align = "center" rowspan = "4" , 2003 , , rowspan = "4" ,
17th Goya Awards
The 17th Goya Awards took place at the Palacio Municipal de Congresos in Madrid, Spain on 1 February 2003.
'' Mondays in the Sun'' won the award for Best Film.
Winners and nominees Major award nominees
Other award nominees
Honorary Goya
* ...
, ,
Best Actor , , Sancho Gracia , , , , rowspan = "4" ,
, -
,
Best Original Score , , Roque Baños , ,
, -
,
Best Editing , , Alejandro Lázaro , ,
, -
,
Best Special Effects , , Juan Ramón Molina, Félix Bergés, Rafael Solórzano , ,
See also
*
List of Spanish films of 2002
A list of Spanish-produced and co-produced feature films released in Spain in 2002. When applicable, the domestic theatrical release date is favoured.
Films
Box office
The ten highest-grossing Spanish films in 2002, by domestic box offic ...
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
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External links
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{{Álex de la Iglesia
2002 films
2002 comedy films
Films about stunt performers
Films directed by Álex de la Iglesia
Films set in Spain
Films shot in Almería
Films scored by Roque Baños
Films with screenplays by Jorge Guerricaechevarría
2000s Italian-language films
Spanish adventure comedy films
2000s English-language films
2000s Spanish films