Review of Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) by Gerry W — 09 Jun 2009

I don't quite see the 'poetry' that others see so clearly in this film. Its an entertaining piece of manly cinema, to be sure, with enough gun toting, breast-baring, blood spurting and tequila guzzling.

And it is an effective nightmare vision. And I also think it is poignant that Peckinpah voiced that this was purely the film he intended to make and that it was close to his heart. But I find it a clumsily made film, and at times an ineptly made one.

This doesn't detract from its roller coaser aspect, its endless stream of negativity and nihilism. But I never see it as a profund character study. Aspects of its ramshackle nature (things I tend to forgive in the works of Cassavetes, a filmmaker who was more interested in prfound character studies than filmmaking technique) I find I cannot ignore and tend to pull me put of the picture more.

Fun, shocking and bleak... but not a revelation.