Review of Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) by Keenan S — 13 Apr 2018

Disillusioned with Hollywood, drunk off his ass, and God knows what else, Sam Peckinpah decided to make a film that was essentially a giant "fuck you" to Hollywood. That film is Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia - a grimy, ugly, brutal journey through the Mexican underworld that serves as a metaphor for Peckinpah himself - doing the dirty work for others, forsaking the loves of his life, going to Hell and back, and in the end, not getting a damn thing other than cold payment and indifference.

If you want the non-metaphorical plot, this is how it is at face value: when a Mexican land baron learns that his daughter was impregnated by a man named Alfredo Garcia, he puts a $1 million bounty on his head (His actual head, mind you).

Bennie is an American expat running a bar in Mexico City and in love with a prostitute named Elita. He gets wind of the bounty when two mysterious men stop by his bar, asking him questions. He knows of the man, but doesn't say so at first.

He also learns that Elita slept with Alfredo a few days earlier, sparking his interest in the bounty. He learns from Elita that Alfredo is already dead, having died in a drunk driving accident. Still, Bennie intends to claim the bounty (No one else involved knows he's dead), so he goes to the meeting place for a group of mysterious men, taking a $10,000 cut of the reward.

He convinces Elita to come along as a romantic getaway and to see that Alfredo is actually dead. The journey will not only be grim, but filled with self-destruction and violence as many lives are taken in the process of trying to collect the reward.

It's a no-win journey for everyone involved, but a very compelling and gritty one. Even you don't look at the film in the metaphorical sense about the director's career, it's a compelling tale of revenge, violence, and self-destruction.

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is a masterwork that somehow manages to combine trashy exploitation film with art house. It's thoroughly, gratuitously violent, but also thematic and deep. It's grimy-looking, but it's also superbly performed by the actors (Warren Oates as Bennie is one of the greatest performances I've ever seen).

Combine all this with the stunning music by Jerry Fielding, and you've got yourself one hell of a film. I think it's one of the best damn films I've ever seen.