Wonderful Movie

Nice effects though.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This yarn (scripted by director Sam Peckinpah and Gordon T. Dawson, based on a story by Peckinpah and Frank Kowalski) takes place in Mexico, where a powerful land baron (Emilio Fernandez) must deal with scandal. His young daughter has been impregnated by the notorious scoundrel of the title, prompting him to utter that immortal line. Two bounty hunters (played by guest stars Robert Webber and Academy Award winner Gig Young) encounter a small town piano player, Bennie (Warren Oates) in their quest for information, and hire him to help them out. Bennie finds out from his own girlfriend (super sexy Mexican superstar Isela Vega) that Alfredo is in fact already dead. So they set out on a trip to locate where the s.o.b. is buried, and bring back his decapitated head as proof.Peckinpah takes his time spinning this particular yarn, making the film more about the journey - Bennies' journey - than the destination. Therefore, it may not appeal to people who want more action and more bloodshed throughout. But fret not: after a horrible, sombre story turn in the second half, it turns into a revenge saga where our antihero is determined to mete out some punishment. Make no mistake: he IS an antihero, one who does not hesitate to kill others in the pursuit of his goal. Yet he takes no pleasure from it. He just does what he has to do. It's his girlfriend that is more of a moral center for the story. It has some very appealing and poetic moments, gradually working its way bit by bit to a lot of gunfire and squibs going off. It also can boast some fairly funny black humor, since Alfredos' severed head is naturally quite smelly and attractive to flies, and Bennie has to use ice to keep it from rotting too much.Jerry Fieldings' score is excellent, as is the vibrant cinematography by Alex Phillips, Jr. In an offbeat touch, only a few credits are placed up front, with most of them saved for the end, with the films' title coming up just before the fade-out.The cast is superb. The late, great Oates makes the most of this meaty leading role, even emulating his director in his performance. Vega is both delectable (going topless at times) and a tremendous dramatic actress. Webber and Young are very good, subtly underplaying the nature of their relationship. Kris Kristofferson has an effective cameo as a lusty, creepy biker.Highly recommended to fans of both Peckinpah and Oates.Eight out of 10.

This is the only movie directed by Sam Peckinpah where he had final cut and did not have any studio post production tinkering (thought after the success of "The Wild Bunch" he was offered and declined a chance to re-cut "Major Dundee"). Interestingly, "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" is probably one of Peckinpach's most divisive films among his fans. A masterpiece to some and an indulgent mess to others. I fall in line with the former and believe Garcia stands right alongside "Ride the High County" and "The Wild Bunch" as arguably Peckinpah's best film (though there is something so personal and autobiographical about "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" that I very nearly want to call that a masterpiece as well). But to this film in particular, Peckinpah stock company regular, the great Warren Oates, plays a south of the border lounge piano player who hears about a rancher/underworld figure who is offering a million dollars for the head of Alfredo Garcia for impregnating his daughter. Oates' prostitute girlfriend knows that Garcia is already dead and where he's buried, so she and Oates set off on a cross country trip for an easy payday. However, the trip is anything but easy, when the pair encounter biker gangs, rapists, hit men, and other assorted nastiness. It is not hyperbole to say this film is a pretty rough Grand Guignol. Oates commands the screen as an on the edge character, himself adopting many characteristics of the director, and again proving how badly he should have been given more leading roles. But as I said earlier, if this film divides Peckinpah fans it is certainly not going to please most general audience members and more likely than not will be unbearable for most viewers. There's not a lot you can compare this film to, but I suppose if you enjoyed (although that's really not the right word) "Straw Dogs" or maybe something like "The Devil's Rejects," you might find this film equally rewarding.

BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA is Sam Peckinpah's most intimate and underrated film. I can think of few other films of this caliber that are as neglected or unsung. A bizarre, sleazy film that has Peckinpah's signature trademarks - his romance with John Huston's TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, loners, Mexico at it's grittiest, slow-motion violence. When I saw it the first few times, the film seemed to wander aimlessly at various stretches and Peckinpah's direction felt tired to me. Even though Peckinpah can still lift you two inches off the ground with his action sequences, it doesn't have the kinetic impulse running thru it like THE WILD BUNCH, STRAW DOGS, THE GETAWAY or CROSS OF IRON.Knowing now what I do about his career, I suspect the tiredness was authentic, due to his battles with studio executives and a self- destructive life. This knowledge and the ensuing years of experiencing the picture, have taken on added meaning and enriched it for me. Bennie the down and out piano player, memorably played by Peckinpah's Bogart, Warren Oates, is a wonderful alter ego for the director.Starring Oates and Isela Vega and a strong supporting cast which includes Gig Young, Robert Webber and Emilio Fernandez. The excellent score is by Peckinpah's best composer, Jerry Fielding. It may take several viewings but sit back and relish the sad poetry of an authentic film artist, Sam Peckinpah.

Here is a real curiosity; a Sam Peckipah feature in Spanish with English subtitles. A beautiful Mexican girl is pregnant without the benefit of marriage. Teresa is summoned by her mafioso kind of dad for a rather nasty interrogation in order to determine the identity of the daddy. It turns out to be the bosses right hand man, Alfredo Garcia. The mobster puts a bounty of one million dollars for Al's noggin. He sends two hit men, Gig Young is one of them and Robert Webber the other. They question Warren Oates, who is a retired law man enjoying life by playing piano in a bar. Oates asks his girlfriend, a hooker, what she knows. He is told that Garcia was a lover and that he recently died in a car accident.Oates and the prostitute go on a road trip in search of the very valuable corpse. The couple have a violent encounter with a pair of mean bikers and it ends badly. One of the baddies is country singer Kris Kristofferson. He looks young and is convincing as a mean dude.The quest becomes an almost keystone comedy in the treasure hunt for Garcia's skull. Peckinpah created a bloody and funny Mexican road trip.