Where We Be
We took a bumpy ride in this stagecoach -- thankfully only 15 minutes long!
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Old Tucson Studios -- Tucson, Arizona
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Talk about great movie lighting! And...action!
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Old Tucson Studios is an Old West movie
location and theme park. Located adjacent to
the Tucson Mountains, it offers a dramatic
backdrop and has been used in more than 300
movies and TV productions. It was originally
built in 1939 by Columbia Pictures as a replica of
1860s Tucson for the movie Arizona. After lying
dormant for a few years, it began being used as
a set for famous westerns such as Gunfight at
the OK Corral, Rio Bravo, and three other John
Wayne films. The television series Little House
on the Prairie was filmed here, although a fire in
1995 destroyed most of those buildings. More
recent movies filmed here include Three
Amigos, Young Guns II, and Tombstone.
Old Tucson Studios was opened to the public in
1960 and has become a popular site for
historical tours, western shootouts, and stunt
shows. Listed as one of the top attractions in
the Tucson area per TripAdvisor, it is located in
western Tucson quite close to the Sonora
Desert Museum. If you visit, be sure not to miss
Reno the locomotive, known as the most
photographed locomotive in American history.
We arrived just in time for a shootout
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It might be a long wait for that next train
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Set for the TV series "High Chaparral"
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We drove over beautiful Gates Pass at sunset on our way back to town
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This simple interior has been used in several Westerns
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Gotta love the red PJ's and bloomers
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Typical Western main street
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The twenty-minute reenactment followed the script of "The Quick and the Dead"
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Every character drew on every other character at least once
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Just look at the list of famous passengers who have boarded this train
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View looking west from Gates Pass -- great way to finish the day
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Blacksmith shop near sunset
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Buildings are built to a slightly smaller scale to better fit for the movies
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The lighting here seems ready-made for a Western
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The locomotive Reno has been used in nearly 100 movies and TV shows
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Ready for her next trip out West
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This mission backdrop has been used in numerous movies including "Three Amigos"
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At the mission we watched a comedic Western called "The Secret of Santa Maria"
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Main Street at the entrance to Old Tucson Studios
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Most visitors had already left by the time the lighting got really good
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We happened to be there during the week of Arizona's centennial celebration
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Arizona has seen a whole lot of change in 100 years
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You're never too old to ride a carousel, right?
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Everything is photogenic here. By late afternoon the light had turned movie-set spectacular.
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Robin's sister Win and brother-in-law Alan happened to be in Tucson
the same time we were. We shared an extremely bumpy stagecoach ride!
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The stagecoach enters town
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The Reno is known as the most photographed locomotive in American history
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Even the Wild West had product ads
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We also took a spin on the small train that makes a loop around the premises
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