Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

Media:	DVD
Directed by:	Sam Peckinpah
Starring:	Warren Oates, Isela Vega
Release date:	22 March, 2005
List price:	~~$14.95~~
Our price:	$10.68 that is 29% off!

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

Average rating: Stars

Lesser-known Peckinpah classic

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is a dark, raw Sam Peckinpah modernized western that has finally been released on DVD. When a rich Mexican rancher's daughter gets pregnant out of wedlock, the rancher offers a bounty of $1 million for the head of Alfredo Garcia, the man who impregnated his daughter. Two of El Jefe's, the rancher, lieutenants enlist the help of Bennie, a down on his luck piano player, to help them find Garcia. Along with his girlfriend, Elita, Bennie embarks on a journey through Mexico to find Garcia and take his head. However, what Bennie sees as an opportunity for a new life, Elita sees as something completely morally wrong. This is an incredible movie to watch as you follow Bennie's journey. It is raw, basic, and violent. I've read that the Bennie character is basically Sam Peckinpah's real life persona, and you can see this easily. This movie isn't as well known as some other Peckinpah movies like the Wild Bunch or The Getaway, but don't let that stop you from seeing this movie. A must have for Peckinpah fans!

Warren Oates is excellent as Bennie, the down-and-out piano player who becomes obsessed with bringing in Alfredo Garcia's head for a reward. It is a shame Oates did not get more starring roles in his career because characters like this allowed him to show off his acting ability. Isela Vega plays Elita, Bennie's girlfriend who isn't sure if they should go through with the mission. Vega is very good, but her part is distracting as she is topless for much of the first hour. The cast also includes Robert Webber and Gig Young as Sappensly and Quill, the rancher's lieutenants, Helmut Dantine as Max, Emilio Fernandez as El Jefe, and Kris Kristofferson in a small part as Paco, a wayward motorcyclist. The DVD offers widescreen presentation, a good commentary track with Peckinpah scholars/biographers, and a theatrical trailer. For an excellent Peckinpah movie at its most basic, check out Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia!

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia - Warren Oates, Isela Vega

This movie is a hoot! The ultimate road trip movie!

Alfredo Garcia is a Mexican Don Juan who gets the wrong girl in trouble and her father, the patron of a great Mexican estate, puts a big bounty on his head. Pekinpah regular Warren Oates is a loser expatriate American making his living as a piano player in a lowlife Mexican bar. (You'll recognize him as the deserter who got shot in Major Dundee, and one of the two brothers in the Wild Bunch, the guy who when drunk got engaged to a Mexican prostitute, "Boys, I'd like you to meet my fiancÃ©.") Since he knows Alfredo he is offered $10k (which was worth a lot more then than it is today) to murder Alfredo and bring back his head as proof. Oates quickly discovers that Alfredo has already died. He therefore departs on a road trip to a remote Mexican graveyard to get the head and claim his reward, taking along his mistress a gorgeous but aging Mexican prostitute who obviously is of mostly European descent. Along the way they encounter various lowlifes and other bounty hunters. Robert Webber and Gig Young, two well known middle-aged actors of the 1960s, are American goons who are hired by the same employers to make sure that the job gets done right. It turns out that Alfredo has a large family and his relatives, for some strange reason, object to the removal of his head from the grave. Then Oates has to collect his money from his employers who are not exactly sterling characters either. This movie is a hoot! Oates has some really great lines that you have to see to believe. Kris Kristoferson appears briefly as a lowlife biker. The violence is pure Pekinpah. If Mexico didn't exist I think that Pekinpah would have had to invent it. Besides this movie, they go down to Mexico in the Wild Bunch, Major Dundee, and even at the very end of the Getaway. If you like those other movies you'll probably like this one too, although it has a darker mood to it. Also, Warren Oates has to carry this movie by himself, he doesn't have the big stars with him like in those other movies.

Warren Oates, Isela Vega - Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

No One Loses All The Time...

I loved this film! The late great Warren Oates stars as a woeful anti-hero out on a quest for the head of Alfredo Garcia. He's being paid by a wealthy rancher's lieutenants to bring back proof of Garcia's death, his head. Only Garcia died in a car accident and has already been buried. I don't want to give away the entire plot. One of the criticisms of this film was that it was too violent which I found surprising considering that the violence was pretty mellow by today's standards. Most of the film consists of drama dialog between the anti-hero and his woman. The dialog between characters makes this film the masterpiece what it is. I highly recommend it.