A series of Westerns overseen by director Sergio Leone left their mark on the film industry. But the city boasted characteristics making it ideal for more than just this genre, as its wide range of landscapes gave it features rendering it apt for other styles of films, with the region exploiting all its many charms, as directors and actors worked on other types of movies here too. Areas of the capital, such as La Alcazaba fortification, were transformed to shoot Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, at Steven Spielberg's request; while the Rambla del Búho desert streambed in the town of Taberna was the setting for the Battle of El Guettar, in Patton.

Distinguished directors, including Spielberg, as mentioned, and internationally renowned actors and actresses, including Liz Taylor, Clint Eastwood and Peter O'Toole, and even singers, like John Lennon, could not resist the charms of Almería, choosing to shoot their films here.