{ "id": "eptedkfjcn", "slug": "800-bullets", "title": "800 Bullets", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "label": "Action and adventure films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.westerns-1980-onward", "label": "Westerns, 1980 onward", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.westerns-1980-onward" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "label": "Western Europe · 2001 to 2020: Action and adventure films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001", "label": "Western Europe · 2001 to 2020", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure", "label": "Action and adventure films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2001.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure" } ] } ], "excerpt": "800 Bullets (800 balas) is a 2002 Spanish comedy-drama-western by Álex de la Iglesia, an homage to spaghetti westerns and Almería stuntmen, set at Texas Hollywood in Tabernas, starring Sancho Gracia and Carmen Maura.", "snippet": "800 Bullets (800 balas) is a 2002 Spanish comedy-drama-western by Álex de la Iglesia, an homage to spaghetti westerns and Almería stuntmen, set at Texas Hollywood in Tabernas, starring Sancho Gracia and Carmen Maura.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.action-adventure.westerns-1980-onward", "markdown": "# 800 Bullets\n\n**800 Bullets** (Spanish: *800 balas*) is a 2002 Spanish comedy-drama-western directed by Álex de la Iglesia, an homage to the spaghetti western and to the stunt performers and supporting actors of the genre films shot in Almería, Spain, in the 1960s and 1970s.[1](https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/crticas-del-cine-espaol-ii-0/html/ffede1a2-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html) It was the sixth film of de la Iglesia's career as director and the first financed through his own production company, Pánico Films, with a budget of five million euros.[2](https://elpais.com/diario/2002/03/10/cultura/1015714801_850215.html)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director and writers | Álex de la Iglesia, co-writing with Jorge Guerricaechevarría; his sixth film as director[3](https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film789795.html) |\n| Production | First film financed through de la Iglesia's company Pánico Films; budget five million euros[2](https://elpais.com/diario/2002/03/10/cultura/1015714801_850215.html) |\n| Setting | Texas Hollywood, a western film set in the Tabernas desert, Almería, in the year 2002, decades after the last productions there[3](https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film789795.html) |\n| Lead cast | Sancho Gracia as Julián, Carmen Maura as Laura, with Ángel de Andrés López, Eusebio Poncela, Terele Pávez, Ramón Barea, and Luis Castro as Carlos[3](https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film789795.html) |\n| Music | Roque Baños, whose score references and paraphrases classic western themes[1](https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/crticas-del-cine-espaol-ii-0/html/ffede1a2-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html) |\n| Reception | Metacritic metascore 51 from 7 reviews; FilmAffinity user rating 5.5 from about 16,000 votes[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292886/criticreviews/) • [3](https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film789795.html) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe story is set in Texas Hollywood, a dusty western town in the Tabernas desert where no films have been shot for decades. There Julián (Sancho Gracia), a veteran stuntman from the golden age of the Almería westerns, ekes out a living staging action scenes for the few tourists who visit, together with a band of marginal and nostalgic colleagues: Cheyen (Ángel de Andrés López), a cowardly gunslinger; Manuel (Manuel Tallafé), a fearless double; Arrastrao (Enrique Martínez), an unlucky rider; Ahorcado (Eduardo Gómez), a sad hanged man; Enterrador (Luciano Federico), an ill-fated Italian; and Don Mariano (Ramón Barea), the town's owner.[3](https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film789795.html)\n\nThe arrival of Carlos (Luis Castro), a boy who says he is Julián's grandson, upends their lives. Carlos has come to learn about his father, who died in an accident in the stunt trade for which Julián had trained him.[1](https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/crticas-del-cine-espaol-ii-0/html/ffede1a2-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html) The boy's mother, Laura (Carmen Maura), an aggressive executive who blames her father-in-law for her husband's death, wants to buy the town's land to build a housing development and recover her son, who is fascinated by his grandfather; she is backed by her business partner Scott (Eusebio Poncela), a financial shark.[3](https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film789795.html) • [1](https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/crticas-del-cine-espaol-ii-0/html/ffede1a2-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html) The conflict escalates into a final-act siege of the town by the police and the Geos, the Spanish special intervention unit.[1](https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/crticas-del-cine-espaol-ii-0/html/ffede1a2-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html)\n\n## Production\n\nDe la Iglesia wrote the screenplay with his regular collaborator Jorge Guerricaechevarría and shot the film from January 2002 in the Tabernas desert and locations in the city of Almería, using Texas Hollywood, a genuine western set built during the golden years of filmmaking in Almería.[5](https://elpais.com/diario/2001/12/07/cine/1007679605_850215.html) • [6](https://andaluciafilm.com/anuarios/rodaje-de-800-balas-de-alex-de-la-iglesia/) He described the risk of producing the film himself: \"I have written it, produced it, and I am directing it. I am staking my next film.\"[2](https://elpais.com/diario/2002/03/10/cultura/1015714801_850215.html)\n\nThe director gave the film two characterizations of his own. At the project's presentation he called it closer to a \"marmitako western\" than a spaghetti western, marmitako being a Basque fisherman's stew.[5](https://elpais.com/diario/2001/12/07/cine/1007679605_850215.html) He also described it, more than a western, as \"a free version of *Treasure Island*\", an homage to the world of cinema and its supporting players in which a child's arrival changes the life of the inhabitants of a Spanish town where westerns were once filmed.[7](https://www.diariodeleon.es/cultura/21016/648767/iglesia-afirma-800-balas-version-isla-tesoro.html)\n\n## Themes and style\n\nThe film works as a tribute on two levels: to the spaghetti western and to the Spanish genre-cinema character actors and stuntmen who built an industry around the western productions shot in Almería, many of whom went uncredited.[1](https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/crticas-del-cine-espaol-ii-0/html/ffede1a2-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html) • [8](https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/reviews/1/789795.html) In the 1960s and 1970s numerous international co-productions were shot in purpose-built western towns near Madrid, Barcelona, and above all Almería, sustaining a community of actors, extras, technicians, and stunt performers; by the late 1970s the genre had lost favor and the sets and workers were left to their fate.[9](https://encadenados.org/monograficos/no-107-monografico-alex-de-la-iglesia/800-balas-2002-de-alex-de-la-iglesia-2/) The film's Julián lives on his former role as [Clint Eastwood](https://www.edgepedia.org/clint-eastwood)'s stunt double, and a character voiced by Constantino Romero, the Spanish dubbing voice of Eastwood, appears as \"Clint Eastwood\" himself, too late to help his friend in life but present to confirm Julián's standing as a stuntman who worked with him.[10](https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/A_%E2%80%9CLast_Stand%E2%80%9D%3F_-_800_Bullets_%282002%29)\n\nScholarly commentary has read the film as a deliberately transnational work that plays with Spanish involvement in the western, the influence of Hollywood, and the fan culture around the genre, while remaining rooted in local cultural markers that can leave international audiences behind; one critic cited there describes the film as being about \"the process of interpreting Spanish national identities and landscapes through media\".[11](https://www.transformationsjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Wessels_Transformations24.pdf) • [12](https://manchevski.com/docs/Foundational_Myths_and_National_Identity.pdf) The assault on the Almería film set by the Geos carries the mark of [Quentin Tarantino](https://www.edgepedia.org/quentin-tarantino), and the film's homage to [Sergio Leone](https://www.edgepedia.org/sergio-leone) connects with Tarantino's later tribute in *Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood* (2019).[13](https://encadenados.org/monograficos/no-101-monografico-el-western-del-siglo-xxi/800-balas-2002-de-alex-de-la-iglesia/)\n\n## Reception\n\nSpanish critics were divided. Ángel Fernández Santos in *El País* called it \"a living film, but with dead zones; intense but irregular, with pronounced ups and downs\"; Alberto Bermejo in *El Mundo* wrote that the director shoots the action sequences with aplomb but loses himself in noise and fury; Jordi Costa in *Fotogramas* gave it five stars and called it \"the most complete (and complex) work of its director\".[14](https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/pro-reviews.php?movie-id=789795) José Luis Sánchez Noriega's survey of Spanish cinema judges that the film works at the level of details, individual scenes, and secondary characters, carried by its production design, the critical spirit of its dialogue, and Roque Baños's score, but that the story is weakened by thin characters and the difficulty of joining a worn dramatic skeleton, the child seeking his father and property speculation destroying a craft, to a treatment of grotesque comedy with doses of adventure.[1](https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/crticas-del-cine-espaol-ii-0/html/ffede1a2-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html)\n\nEnglish-language reviews were mixed as well. The film scored 51 on Metacritic from seven reviews.[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292886/criticreviews/) The *New York Daily News* found that, stripped of the violence and ribald humor, it is \"a touching tale about family, love and honor\"; *Variety* called it \"an uneven but exuberantly anarchic comedy homage to the spaghetti Western\"; the *Los Angeles Times* was least favorable, comparing it to \"an old drunk going on about how he knew Eastwood back in the day\".[4](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292886/criticreviews/) On FilmAffinity, users rate it 5.5 out of 10 from about 16,000 votes.[3](https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film789795.html)\n\nDe la Iglesia said in 2002 that *800 balas* was the film of which he was proudest, the one with the most of himself in it.[13](https://encadenados.org/monograficos/no-101-monografico-el-western-del-siglo-xxi/800-balas-2002-de-alex-de-la-iglesia/) Years later he recounted that [Steven Spielberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-spielberg), a self-described fanatic for Almería, asked to see the film and watched it with him in Hollywood, where the two talked about the locations for an hour and a half.[15](https://www.diariodealmeria.es/ocio/Alex-Iglesia-Conozco-Spielberg-Almeria_0_1192081295.amp.html)\n\n## Legacy\n\nThe film is regularly cited as one of the notable later homages to the spaghetti western and to the Almería film industry, alongside Tarantino's genre revivals.[13](https://encadenados.org/monograficos/no-101-monografico-el-western-del-siglo-xxi/800-balas-2002-de-alex-de-la-iglesia/) • [16](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/sergio-leone-clint-eastwood-almeria-dollars-trilogy) The BFI describes it as a tragicomic faux western that homes in on the life and fragmented family of an aging stuntman in Almería who ekes out a living by recreating scenes from the mythical westerns in which he once took part.[16](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/sergio-leone-clint-eastwood-almeria-dollars-trilogy)\n\n## References\n\n1. [José Luis Sánchez Noriega, \"800 balas\", in *Críticas del cine español (II)*, Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes](https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/crticas-del-cine-espaol-ii-0/html/ffede1a2-82b1-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_2.html)\n2. [Rocío García, \"Álex de la Iglesia revive los sueños del Lejano Oeste\", *El País*, 10 March 2002](https://elpais.com/diario/2002/03/10/cultura/1015714801_850215.html)\n3. [\"800 balas (2002)\", FilmAffinity](https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/film789795.html)\n4. [\"Eight Hundred Bullets (2002) – Metacritic reviews\", IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0292886/criticreviews/)\n5. [Aurora Intxausti, \"Álex de la Iglesia produce y dirige '800 balas', un 'marmitako western'\", *El País*, 7 December 2001](https://elpais.com/diario/2001/12/07/cine/1007679605_850215.html)\n6. [\"Rodaje de '800 balas' de Alex de la Iglesia\", Andalucía Film Commission](https://andaluciafilm.com/anuarios/rodaje-de-800-balas-de-alex-de-la-iglesia/)\n7. [\"De la Iglesia afirma que «800 balas» es una versión de «La Isla del Tesoro»\", Diario de León](https://www.diariodeleon.es/cultura/21016/648767/iglesia-afirma-800-balas-version-isla-tesoro.html)\n8. [User reviews of \"800 balas (2002)\", FilmAffinity](https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/reviews/1/789795.html)\n9. [800 balas (2002), de Álex de la Iglesia | Encadenados - revista de cine](https://encadenados.org/monograficos/no-107-monografico-alex-de-la-iglesia/800-balas-2002-de-alex-de-la-iglesia-2/)\n10. [\"A 'Last Stand'? – 800 Bullets (2002)\", The Spaghetti Western Database](https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/A_%E2%80%9CLast_Stand%E2%80%9D%3F_-_800_Bullets_%282002%29)\n11. [Wessels, \"Mapping the Global Popular in 800 balas\", Transformations, no. 24](https://www.transformationsjournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Wessels_Transformations24.pdf)\n12. [\"Foundational Myths and National Identity\" (citing Amago on 800 balas)](https://manchevski.com/docs/Foundational_Myths_and_National_Identity.pdf)\n13. [Javier Herreros Martínez, \"800 balas (2002), de Álex de la Iglesia\", Encadenados, 28 February 2020](https://encadenados.org/monograficos/no-101-monografico-el-western-del-siglo-xxi/800-balas-2002-de-alex-de-la-iglesia/)\n14. [\"Críticas profesionales de 800 balas\", FilmAffinity](https://www.filmaffinity.com/es/pro-reviews.php?movie-id=789795)\n15. [Fran Murcia, \"Álex de la Iglesia: 'Conozco a Spielberg gracias a Almería'\", Diario de Almería, 18 November 2017](https://www.diariodealmeria.es/ocio/Alex-Iglesia-Conozco-Spielberg-Almeria_0_1192081295.amp.html)\n16. [\"Once upon a time in Almería: the spaghetti western town that became a theme park\", BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/sergio-leone-clint-eastwood-almeria-dollars-trilogy)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Westerns, 1980 onward*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/800-bullets", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/800-bullets.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"800 Bullets\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/800-bullets. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[800 Bullets](https://www.edgepedia.org/800-bullets)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/800-bullets](https://www.edgepedia.org/800-bullets). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"800 Bullets\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/800-bullets. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "800 Bullets is a 2002 Spanish comedy-drama-western by Álex de la Iglesia, an homage to spaghetti westerns and Almería stuntmen, set at Texas Hollywood in Tabernas, starring Sancho Gracia and Carmen Maura." }