What is the name of the famous Sonoran Desert filming location near El Dorado Mexico?

Do you mean Old Tucson Studios?

Nope – although I had never heard of that before. Thanks!

The Soldiers of Pancho Villa was filmed in the state of Durango.

La Zona del Silencio? Which is Sonora, Chihuahua and Durango.

Yes, somewhere in Durango (the state, not the city), but not related to the Silencio place.

The opening videos in the original post show the exact valley, and I remember reading a large entry about it on IMDB, in like 2002, but I can’t find that to get the name of the place.

I saw something on the Monarch Butterfly area being preserved (entirely different area, in a different state) and was just wondering if the specific Durango area in question was now some kind of national park/monument – but I can’t track down the name of it.

Thanks though.

@ipso Does the name Villa del Oeste sound familiar? See here (in Spanish) and here.

It definitely wasn’t a movie ranch type of location; indeed there were no buildings at all. So probably just a specific location shoot, somewhere within the Durango state hinterlands. I imagin it as kind of obscure Mexican version of the Alabama Hills, but maybe so remote it does not need “protection”.

I need to find me a professional Mexican location scout.

The “Devil’s Backbone” highway (El Espinazo del Diablo) sounds familiar, and certainly the area looks promising, but I suspect it was in a lower inland desert area, not so high in the mountains.

Unfortunately I don’t remember anything from that IMDB review. If I had to throw a SWAG, I would say Pin-something Valley. Pinoche, pinochio – I have no idea, and at this point wouldn’t recognize the words if I saw them. But – it’s not a wild goose chase – the beautiful images are right there for all to see!

Very had to find these things out. I’ll update this if I come across anything. Thanks bob, and all, for the ideas!

Actually, in looking at the map, “Santiago Papasquiaro” sounds VERY familiar, but this is the location (a city, not a remote location) from the movie The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), so maybe I remember it somehow from that instead.

I guess there are over 120 movies filmed in the Durango area (wiki)

This site is exactly what we need, but the data does not show the “valley” in question. (They probably just skim IMDB location data and put it to a map.)

@ipso Small world, my parents are actually from Santiago Papasquiaro. I can assure you that the movies you mentioned in the details were not filmed there.