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.

Sam Peckinpah masterfully directs this tale of a road trip taken by a bartender and his prostitute girl friend to bring the head of Alfredo Garcia to a wealthy landlord whose daughter was impregnated by Garcia. There is the trademark violence, the bodies slowly falling to the ground, the mandatory topless females, all which are hallmark of every Peckinpah movie. The direction and the acting by Oates as the bartender are the highlights of the movie. The movie could have been dull and boring in the hands of a lesser director. Here, Peckinpah brings in all his raw energy and the action scenes which electrify you and leave you spellbound. This is my fifth Peckinpah movie after Straw Dogs, Cross of Iron, The Getaway and The Wild Bunch and I have always been amazed by the vision of Peckinpah. he was born 30 years early. Tarantino's movies are the closest homage to him. 4 out of 5 for this. Recommended for the lovers of intense and gripping cinema.

Somewhere in Mexico, two bounty hunters meet a bar's piano player named Bennie, a cheerful and easy-going dude (some drops of Tequila helping) played by the late Warren Oates. Robert Webber's character asks him if he knows about a 'hombre' named Alfredo Garcia. Meanwhile, a prostitute puts her hand on his crotch and gets a severe kick in the head. No doubt, this is a Sam Peckinpah film.Yet if "Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" features all the archetypes that cemented the legend of the ultimate Hollywood rebel through its cinematic orgy of booze, flesh and bullets, the sinful quest carries a much deeper meaning through its converging point: the head of Alfredo Garcia. The owner of the deadly grail was a ladies' man who had one woman too many when he impregnated the daughter of a rich Mexican plantation owner (General Mapache from "The Wild Bunch"). Whoever brings 'El Jefe' the head of Garcia would be rewarded 1 million dollars. The bounty hunter is a recurrent figure in Peckinpah films as the quest for money is generally the mark of the antagonistic side. The Gig Young's character leaves a name for Bennie: 'Fred C. Dobbs', much more than a tribute to "The Treasure of Sierra Madre", it's also a pessimistic premonition echoing the demise of Bogart's legendary character. And Peckinpah's films, of the same macho-breed as Hustons', obey to the same sense of Immanent Justice; all the people motivated by lust or greed get punished, while killing for a matter of Honor and revenge generally belongs to the central protagonist. And it's only fitting that Bennie's love interest is Ileta, a prostitute, played by Isela Vega, crystallizing the violent symbiosis of lust and greed: a cocktail beyond redemption. She 'knew' Alfredo Garcia and reveals that after three days they spent together, he died in a car- crash. Bennie expresses an ironic sadness as if Garcia finally paid for his sins and had no reasons to be loathed anymore. Garcia's head was the unlikely symbol of his redemption before becoming the instrument of Bennie's revenge. Bennie accepts the bounty hunter's contract for 10,000 dollars. Yet Bennie strikes as a man who'd be no more motivated by money than Bloody Sam was for awards or peers' recognition. Warren Oates's droopy eyes, hidden in the same dark-tanned glasses that Peckinpah used to wear, betray the hypnotic exhaustion of a totally ravaged soul, torn between a profound desire to be happy and a sort of lucidity governing his actions, as if he was sure that he would never get his break. Bennie desperately tries to reach an oasis of happiness after a life full of torments. No matter what it is, he carries guilt like his conscience's eternal hangover.But the film features a very tender and relieving moment of true love between Bennie and Ileta, during a picnic, set in a nice bucolic garden. Bennie wants to move to some place, one he doesn't know. Apparently, whatever he left behind him left him with sore feelings. And then, there's a heart-breaking exchange when she asks him if he ever thought of marrying her. Oates is too genuine not to be sincere, he's trying to come up with the most honest answer: he thought of it but never asked. "Then ask me", she says and those are the truest words of any woman in love.Bennie starts crying as if he was the closest ever to his own vision of happiness, realizing that maybe things could change for the best. He asks her, and she breaks down crying. She's a prostitute and never thought she could ever find a man who'd love her. These are cries of joy from people who're not used to happiness, each one being the key to the other's redemption. This touching and human moment is ruined by the arrival of two bikers and the rape attempt on Ileta, not a gratuitous display of misogyny but a pivotal scene.The scene is ambiguous because Kris Kristoferson starts as a sexual predator and then gets tenderer with Ileta when she 'gives' herself. The bikers (who sinned by lust) are killed but the experience proved Bennie that his woman is still a prostitute because she played their game, didn't scream or shouted for help, and he's still the same schmuck. Later, he tells Ileta his plan to desecrate Garcia's grave, she's against it, but this time it's for the money. And Bennie would pay his move the biggest price, and the death of Ileta annihilates every possibility of redemption. And under this Divine Justice, Sam, Bennie/Oates and Garcia's ghost are parts of the same trinity, tempted by the worst aspects of human nature and struggling to resist to them because they are not bad guys. Bennie is convinced that Garcia, whose putrid head is packed in a bag with flies buzzing around, would have forgiven him to make money out of his head, just like Bennie forgives him for Ileta. It's not a parallel between money and women, but a way to look of them as elements of happiness. But there's a time in a man's life where he finally sees the true value of things and that no reward, no bounty, not 10,000 not even one million dollars, can buy a man's soul.At the end, like for "The Wild Bunch", the true redemption comes up when the man decides to live his life on his own terms. So, call it modern western, campy B-movies, a bizarre mess, an autobiographical essay; the film is beyond any label. BUT if you take movies as the greatest art form when it comes to convey human emotions, "Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" IS a masterpiece. Like a true author, Peckinpah really opens his soul to the audience and to appreciate this film is to understand him and to respect his legacy.

Sam Peckinpah was an extraordinary and controversial filmmaker who during his career earned both respect and notoriety. "Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia" is a movie which illustrates some of the reasons why he achieved this reputation and also provides an offbeat piece of entertainment which leaves a lasting impression.Some Peckinpah trademarks such as extreme violence, misogyny and well choreographed action scenes are featured on numerous occasions but the movie's most compelling component is its depiction of the journey taken by a guy whose motivation gradually changes from pure greed to a need to escape to a better life and then ultimately, a need for redemption.When an extremely wealthy Mexican landowner called El Jefe (Emilio Fernadez) discovers that the man who'd deserted his pregnant, unmarried daughter is Alfredo Garcia, he offers a $1,000,000 reward for whoever brings him the head of the man who he'd previously treated like a son.A little time later, in a tourist bar in Mexico City, two well dressed bounty hunters called Quill (Gig Young) and Sappensly (Robert Webber) meet Bennie (Warren Oates) who's the establishment's American piano player. The two hit-men are finding it difficult to locate Garcia and after Bennie learns from his girlfriend Elita (Isela Vega) that Garcia has recently been killed in a car accident, he agrees to bring them Garcia's head for a payment of $10,000.Elita, a prostitute who'd previously had an affair with Garcia knows where his body is buried and so she and Bennie go on a cross country journey to locate the hunted man's grave. What follows includes the arrival of two bikers who plan to rape Elita, an attack by some other bounty hunters who steal Garcia's head and another attack by members of Garcia's family. Nearly all these people end up dead and the body count continues to climb inexorably until the movie reaches its violent and spectacular climax.A tremendous number of people get killed in this movie and there are many examples of Peckinpah's propensity for depicting violence very graphically. His penchant for using slow motion sequences in shoot outs is seen by his detractors as a distasteful glamorisation of violence whereas others regard it as an example of his undeniable talent. The most shocking incidents, however, are where El Jefe has his daughter publicly humiliated and tortured and Sappensly, very casually and cruelly knocks a woman unconscious.The milieu within which Bennie makes his journey is bleak and chaotic and his efforts to progress or prosper become utterly futile. In this predicament and despite the obvious dangers involved, all that he's been able to do is follow his destiny and ultimately this is what makes his story so tragic and memorable. Whilst this movie may not be entertaining in the conventional sense, it is unquestionably a very powerful and absorbing drama which is also profoundly existential.