Old Tucson Studios Mescal AZ: On Location With Eminence Hill

Mescal, Arizona, located about 40 miles Southeast of Tucson, Arizona, near the town of Benson, is the home of Old Tucson’s second western movie town location. Situated on 60 acres of land which is leased from the Arizona State Land Department, Old Tucson Studio is surrounded by acres of wide open spaces and not a single modern building in sight. Mescal has served as the setting for many Hollywood films in the popular western genre. Yet this area is largely unknown to the general public.

Strolling around the famous saloon in Mescal, as seen as in movies Tombstone , The Outlaw Josie Wales and The Quick and the Dead was magical.

Although we can tell you all about Old Tucson Studios- Mescal location’s history, it’s harder to explain what a thrill it was to recently have spent the entire day on the movie set while filming a western called “Eminence Hill” written and directed by filmmaker Robert Conway.

The flavor of the Old West came to life on Eminence Hill.

“Eminence Hill”, starring Lance Henricksen, Barry Corbin, and Dominique Swain, had been filming for weeks at other locations. The last day of shooting was planned for January 19, 2019. We were lucky enough to be chosen as extras, or what they call us in Hollywood parlance, background artists. We arrived on set early in the morning and left just after sundown. What an amazing day. Mescal is a lot to take in and for fans of Western classics, impossible to let go.

Wild West characters brought authenticity to Eminence Hill.

Now if you didn’t already know, blockbuster movies such as “Tombstone”, “The Quick and the Dead”, and “The Outlaw Josie Wales” were filmed here, for starters. Other movies and television shows have also shot at this location.

Chico gallops on the set of Eminence Hill on January 19, 2019.

From 1989 to 1992, the western show “The Young Riders” filmed at the Old Tucson Studios and its Mescal sister site.

You can bet the Sheriff’s Office always saw plenty of action.

Mescal’s main street appears prominently in 1990s westerns such as “Tombstone” (1993) with Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer and Sam Elliott.

Strolling around the deserted street of Mescal was otherworldly and profound.
Steve McQueen as Tom Horn (1980) in front of a familiar Mescal background.

The partial mirror set of Old Tucson Studios still exists at Mescal and is featured in “The Quick and the Dead” (1995), with Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman. A female gunfighter returns to a frontier town where a dueling tournament is being held, which she enters in an effort to avenge her father’s death.

In front of the famous hotel-saloon where countless scenes of the Old West were filmed.

The town of Mescal was originally erected for the 1968 motion picture”Monte Walsh” featuring Lee Marvin and Jack Palance when an aging cowboy realizes that the West he knew and loved will soon be no more–and that there will be no room for him, either. Old Tucson Studios purchased the site from the CBS network after the completion of filming the movie.

I think this bad hombre is looking for trouble and he just found it.

Mescal also saw Frank Sinatra as the title outlaw in the 1970 film “Dirty Dingus Magee”, where Dirty Dingus and an old rival take turns at being either lawman or an outlaw, depending on the circumstances.

Ye old snake oil shoppe in Mescal.

Clint Eastwood in “The Outlaw Josey Wales” (1976) played the title character, a Missouri farmer who joins a Confederate guerrilla unit and winds up on the run from the Union soldiers who murdered his family.

Emincence Hill actor DeWayne Hudson during a break between scenes.

Steve McQueen starred in “Tom Horn” (1980), about the legendary outlaw, gunfighter and lawman.

This bank has likely caught the eye of many a bad guy back in its day.

“Buffalo Soldiers”(1997) starring Danny Glover, depicts a fact-based story about the all-Black US Cavalry Troop H which protected the Western territories in post- Civil War times.

Russel Crowe and Gene Hackman in “The Quick and The Dead.”

Approximately 50 television, motion picture and other productions also filmed in Mescal. On this day, “Eminence Hill” joined the long throng of Western lore.

All that was missing was tumblin’ tumbleweeds. Oh wait.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer invested over $200,000 into the set in 1991 for the third season of the television series “The Young Riders” by adding new store fronts, second stories to existing buildings, and erecting new buildings.

Fly’s Photography Gallery was featured in a pivotal scene in the movie, Tombstone.

By 1992 the Mescal set had 32 buildings which included a schoolhouse, a bank, hotel, church, jail, two-story homes, isolated ranch house, stage station, and saloon.

Somebody with a tin star said get out of town by sundown. You’re a daisy if you do.
Thanks to Eminence Hill, Old Tucson Studios-Mescal is my happy place.
Photo courtesy of Jim Collette

Mescal can claim its had its very own Sheriff who lives full-time on site for the past 20 years–colorful character Frank Brown, age 83. During tours, Frank looks like he just walked out of the Wild West. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to meet Mr. Brown on the day we were on set but heard through the grapevine that he gives a fantastic tour if you can wrangle one.

Old Tucson Studios-Mescal, January 2019.

Movie sets are made to be an illusion, not practical or physically pretty but this old west town movie set has a pedigree history. You will see destruction where buildings were destroyed by dynamite, the piano where Sharon Stone sat, the saloon-hotel where a horse ran up the stairs and back down all within the hotel’s burning walls. 

There were new discoveries around every corner in Mescal.

A number of television shows, including “Little House on the Prairie” were filmed in Mescal. The History Channel, BBC and Fox News have also used this location to add a Western flair.

Adobe walls like this one can be seen in “Tombstone” and “The Outlaw Josie Wales.”

The 1995 version of “The Quick and the Dead” with Gene Hackman, Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe and Sharon Stone, was one of the last major westerns filmed at Mescal. The town of Redemption took place entirely in Mescal, and the saloon hotel survives as a dominating feature of the current movie set.

What’s a Western without pretty saloon girls? Eminence Hill did not fail in this regard.
Photo courtesy of DeWayne Hudson

Another film shot at Mescal was “The Three Amigos,” starring Saturday Night Live comedy veterans Martin Short, Chevy Chase and Steve Martin.

Wandering around Mescal was magical.

Both Old Tucson Studios and Mescal have mountain backdrops. The landscape surrounding Old Tucson is filled with saguaros and rocky outcroppings typical of the Sonoran Desert, while Mescal’s rolling grasslands can easily pass for the High Plains region.

Eminence Hill actors (L to R) Duke Rockman, Jim Heffel and Robert Lambert. 
To learn more about the Heffels and their affiliation with Roy Rogers: https://www.thedesertway.com/roy-rogers-double-r-bar-ranch/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3NPo9Dek1c

We do not know the plot of “Eminence Hill” yet, touted as a new Western, but from our observations and the edgy actors involved, we’re guessing it will be a huge hit. “Eminence Hill” is currently in post-production.

Just West of town stands the dead tree used in the movie “Maverick” where Mel Gibson was hung on his horse and rattlesnakes were thrown at his horse’s feet.

In addition to the blockbuster hits, more obscure niche films have used the Mescal set. “Night of the Lepus” (1972) introduces the audience to giant, mutant rabbits that hunt people. “Ghost Town” (1988) is a horror film in which a sheriff searches for a missing woman in a town filled with dead residents.

More Mescal mystique. Now say that three times fast.

“Ghost Rock” (2003), starring Gary Busey, was another lesser-known production that filmed a few scenes at Mescal. Old Tucson chief historian P.J. Lawton worked as pyrotechnician on this movie, among others.

A screen grab from the movie, Tombstone. Kurt Russell, Bill Paxton and Val Kilmer converse in Mescal –er–Tombstone. “I’ll be your huckleberry.”

One of the most recognizable scenes filmed in Mescal is seen in the 1993 flick “Tombstone.” It stars Val Kilmer, Kurt Russell, Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton as Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers walking toward the gunfight behind the O.K. Corral.

Many thanks to the the California contingent of Western re-enactors on Eminence Hill.
From L to R: Jeff Elsey, Rod “Duke” Rockman (on Chico the horse) Jim Heffel, Thomas Girt, Karen Kuehnel and Ron Moruzzi. Photo courtesy of Jim Collette.

Two films for an upcoming trilogy, “Hot Bath an’ a Stiff Drink” and “Hot Bath, Stiff Drink, an’ a Close Shave” were filmed at Mescal in 2017.

Actor Owen Conway looks on as his brother, Robert, prepares for the next scene.

Movies and television shows provide an economic boost to southern Arizona as “the homeland of the Old West.”

We appreciated it when Robert Conway invited John to be his director’s student. Here, John watches intently as a scene is blocked.
We all need somebody to lean on.

Mescal is a closed set that’s only open select weekends from February to April, which might explain why it doesn’t attract as many visitors.

I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille, I mean Mr. Conway. A gal can dream.

Mescal is not at all like Old Tucson Studios, which is a fully functioning studio. At Mescal Studio, all utilities are trucked in. One is warned—there are no restrooms, water or food served, so do fill up before or after and empty before you go.

Everyone enjoyed the craft table filled with vegetables, sandwich fixings and sweet treats provided by the production crew. And we do mean—everyone. 

Old Tucson Studios-Mescal is near Benson at GPS 32.008585,-110.437194.

Directions to Mescal: From Tucson, follow I-10 east. Take exit 297 for J-Six Ranch Road toward Mescal Road. Turn left onto South J-Six Ranch Road (signs for Mescal Road). Continue onto North Mescal Road (dirt road). Turn left into driveway for Mescal.

For more information about Old Tucson Studios Mescal tours, visit http://oldtucson.com/visit-ots/


4 thoughts on “Old Tucson Studios Mescal AZ: On Location With Eminence Hill

  1. One of the coolest things I have ever experience and thank so much to Vance for a great tour.

  2. I’m a professional photographer and videographer.

    I visit Mescal whenever I can. I always get something new out of my visits. The “town” is so rich with movie making history.

    While watching a western at home, I’ll say, “I know that building. That’s in Mescal!”

  3. I am moving to Tucson suburbs from LA. One of my wknd trips will consist of going into Mescal and taking pics. Tombstone is by far my favorite move of all time.

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