Some of the most iconic westerns ever made were filmed at Old Tucson Studios. A few include Rio Bravo, Tombstone, Arizona, Gunfight at the OK Corral, Mark of Zorro, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Three Amigos, Young Guns II, Gunsmoke, High Chaparral, El Diablo, Geronimo, The Quick and the Dead, Magnificent Seven, and 3:10 to Yuma.
This was Directors' Nick and Lexie's feature film debut. The entire film was shot in 10 days and wrapped under budget. The film was almost cancelled 5 times, was recast 3 times with Dan Fowlks being the last role filled 2 weeks before the July production at Old Tucson Studios.
The film was shot at Old Tucson Studios. The Crew was truly in awe as they were walking the streets of legends and following the footsteps of Clint Eastwood, Dean Martin, Jimmy Stewart, and Sergio Leone. Production started in front of a beautiful old mission with the mountains and desert behind it and the shoot ended in John Wayne's bedroom.
When shooting The West and the Ruthless, weather was a huge issue since the film was shot out in the Tucson desert during the summer months of June and July. On the first day of production, the production was hit with 120 degree heat. It was so hot in fact that the actors' airplanes couldn't land and had to be redirected back to LA until the tarmac cooled down at night. On average, the temperature was of 115 degrees. When the July shoot came, the production was then hit with Monsoons and Dust Storms. When shooting the Stagecoach scene, the production began the day with 110 degree heat (which was even hotter for Actors Paul Haapaniemi and Matt Boone who had to lay on the scorching desert ground in period costumes of cotton and wool). By 1 pm, the dust storms and monsoons started closing in on 3 sides of the production. On that day alone, the Directors / Producers received Emergency Flood, Dust Storm, Excessive Heat and Multiple Monsoon Alerts. Luckily everyone survived and no one had to learn to swim with the cacti.
The Train Car shootout was originally going to be in front of a river. The day before production, location manager, Rob Jensen was showing Director Nick and Lexie Trivundza some more sets of Old Tucson. On a whim, he talked about this really cool dilapidated Train Car. Nick & Lexie were extremely intrigued! When arriving they were told to watch out for the Rattlesnakes, Tarantulas, Black Widows, and Scorpions. The location was perfect and the Directors made a last minute call to change the standoff location between Grant, Scarlet and Cole to the Train Car.