The cannon used by Clint Eastwood in the final sequence of ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ identified in Cartagena

A cannon displayed in the Military Historical Museum of Cartagena has been identified as the piece used by Clint Eastwood in the final sequence of ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ (1966), as discovered by Diego Montero, member of the Board of Directors of the Sad Hill Cultural Association.

The 1873 Whitworth cannon, used by Clint Eastwood, is kept in the Military Historical Museum of Cartagena registered with inventory MUE-5410. Montero has compared the information collected in the book ‘Behind the Scenes of Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’, by Peter J. Hanley, with the documentation preserved in the Cartagena museum.

The discovery occurs just two months before the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the filming of the film in the province of Burgos. The piece is a Whitworth cannon of 75 mm caliber and hexagonal bore, manufactured in Manchester in 1873 and used during the Third Carlist War (1872-1876).

The cannon was restored in 2010 by the Association of Friends of the Museum, a group of retired British and Spanish volunteers who collaborate in the conservation of the institution’s historical collections.

During the filming of the film, Sergio Leone’s team requested various original cannons and mortars from the 18th and 19th centuries from the Army Museum in Madrid, which were transferred under military custody to the Burgos locations.

The association regrets that it will not be possible to transfer it for the commemorative events scheduled for next July in Burgos, although it highlights that the discovery reinforces the cultural and cinematographic value of the set of enclaves linked to the film, incorporating Cartagena to this itinerary along with the Arlanza valley, the Tabernas desert, the Madrid mountains and the area of ​​La Calahorra, in Granada.