Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

When his subordinate knocks up his daughter, a Mexican crime lord (Emilio Fernandez) offers $1 million to whoever can bring him Alfredo Garcia’s severed head. The task of finding the treacherous Garcia is farmed out to Bennie (Warren Oates), a former Army officer turned piano player. With his prostitute girlfriend Elita (Isela Vega) in tow, Bennie sets off to find Garcia, no matter what the cost.




The two most frequently repeated criticisms of Sam Peckinpah are that his movies are misogynistic and gratuitously violent. Both points certainly apply here. The body count soars into double digits and we’re subjected to a near-rape, a brutal interrogation scene and, of course, the titular severed head. All these things make for an unpleasant movie, but not one which should be ignored.



To start with, the diminutive Oates brings both depth and ass-kicking toughness to the lead role (one which was supposedly modeled on Peckinpah himself). Bennie begins the film as a sleazy opportunist, but by the end, it’s clear he’s the moral center, the only one who isn’t chasing Garcia’s head for the money or for simple revenge. Colorful supporting performances include Kris Kristofferson as a menacing biker and Robert Webber and Gig Young as a pair of besuited, station wagon-driving hitmen. Fernandez’s powerful jefe and a few of the minor roles, on the other hand, felt a bit stock.



The film is well-shot too. We get plenty of scenic Mexican countryside, but enough grit (brothels and bars and cemeteries) to create a fuller picture. An iconic sequence of Oates driving en route to collect his reward is an obvious influence on Quentin Tarantino – see the segment he directed for Sin City.



Overall, one’s appreciation of the film will depend on how much the viewer can relate to Peckinpah’s bleak, uncompromising worldview. It’s easy to see the ending as a negation of everything leading up to it, but those final bursts of gunfire are needed to make the film ring true. Supposedly, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is the film Peckinpah was most proud of; not surprising given it was the only one not subject to studio interference.



7.75/10