Review of Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) by Jack L — 29 Jun 2010

This is the first Sam Pekimpah film I have watched, and I can truthfully say that I am looking forward to seeing more from this director.

Apparently this was Peckinpah's favourite of all the films he directed and is often overlooked in favour of his more famous ones. After watching this, I understood why he was called Bloody Sam, the level of violence is very high for a 1970's film.

SPOILERS AHEAD.....

The film begins with a powerful Mexican rancher discovering that one of his men, Alfredo Garcia, has impregnated his daughter. He offers a 1 million dollar reward for the man that will bring him the head of Alfredo Garcia, his henchmen set out and search all over Mexico.

Two of the henchmen finally arrive in a small bar where they proceed to ask around for Garcia, one American man named Bennie tells them he knows Garcia and is given their address.

Bennie then goes to see his Girlfriend Elita who tells him that Alfredo Garcia died not long before in a road accident.

Bennie then sees an opportunity to make 10 000 dollars (which is all the henchmen promised him) by cutting the head off a dead body. He goes and buys a massive machete.

Bennie then goes with Elita who knows where Garcia is buried, they travel far and finally arrive at a small village where they find the grave. That night Bennie goes to the grave and starts digging but is attacked by some bounty hunters who want the money for thamselves. upon waking Bennie finds the head gone and Elita dead.

After Elita death Bennie gradually descends into insanity and wades through bloodbath after bloodbath until arriving at the rancher's house where the film ends in a massive shootout.

The direction was very good, Peckinpah is definitely a director I want to see more of. The run down conditions that Mexicans live in is well captured in this film, in fact that's pretty much the only aspect of Mexico that we see.

The pacing was a bit of a problem though, I thought the first hour or so (up until Elita's death at the grave) was very slow in building momentum but then during the last 40 minuted or so the film is pretty incredible. The action scenes were extremely violent and graphic and guns are always used, Peckinpah seems to really have mastered the direction of shootout scenes.

The acting was good all around, but Warren Oates was just amazing, I think this is the first time I've seen him in anything and I was very impressed. He portrays the washed up American veteran who desperatly needs money to get away from his situation very well, the gradual descent into madness was also very well portrayed by him (he ends up having conversations with the head!).

The characters in general were nothing very original apart from Bennie, he is a complex and rather amusing character and also seems to be able to walk through gun-fight after gun-fight without getting shot. The character undergoes a major transformation after the death of his beloved, he begins to forget about the money and becomes obsessed with knowing who Alfredo Garcia was and why his head was worth loads of money and many human lives including Elita's.

The soundtrack was good, it added to the overall tense atmosphere of the film very well. This film is very unpredictable and the actions of the characters are volatile and sometimes confusing. The music adds to this atmosphere of uncertainty. But overall I felt it could of been more powerful and present in the film instead of being more of a background music. The Mexican songs accompanied by guitars were entertaining and well suited to the film even though I not really a fan of that genre.

The dialogue was always pretty vague and is used very well to hide the real intentions of many characters. I found some scenes hard to understand as I watched them but with time it all comes together.

I thought the plot was very original and also very strange, the object everyone searching for being a man's head. I liked the fact that it all took place in Mexico . I also thought that several scenes were very amusing, in a dark kind of way.

Overall this is a very bleak film that shows human beings at their worst, but it's also a very entertaining watch despite the slow first part. This film is very much of it's time and hasn't aged very well but I didn't find that to be much of a problem.

Recommended if you like Peckinpah's films but can be rather depressing due to the overly bleak outlook used by the director.

Cinematography 9/10.

Acting 8/10.

Soundtrack 8/10.

Screenplay 7/10.

Plot 10/10.