Bring Me the Head Of Alfredo Garcia | Warren Oates, Isela Vega

Bring Me the Head Of Alfredo Garcia | Warren Oates, Isela Vega | "I've been no place I wanna go back to, that's for damn sure!"

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Bring Me the Head ...

	Bring Me the Head Of Alfredo Garcia Warren Oates, Isela Vega MGM (Video & DVD), 1995 average customer review:based on 59 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Grab your tequila and a gun...we goin' on a road trip!

I bought this flick after i watched the WILD BUNCH. I must confess, i am new to Peckinpah as a whole, but DAMN! this movie starts weird, a pregnant chick gets her finger broken and then the search for Garcia begins. The two old sadists, tossin an elbow chop to some hooka's mug, start looking for info on garcia. Once they get Billy (warren Oates) on the case, with his girl (she's kinda plain looking but type sexy), the fun begins. Only Peckinpah could envision Kris Kristofferson as a bike riding rapist. Oates rocks sunglasses ALL the time, epitomizing "loser" cool. He's a man looking to make his piece in this unforgiving world. And he replies in kind, no mercy, no bull$%t.
If you're into rugged films charged with testosterone, pick this up. It will annoy your girlfriend and parents, easily, while you watch every gritty minute with guilty, smitten glee. Do it. You know you want to.
And if you don't, i guess it's because you're late for your ballet lesson, sissies!

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"I've been no place I wanna go back to, that's for damn sure!"

Sam Peckinpah's 1974 crime drama/modern-day western, BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA, is a bloodbath to be sure; some simply feel it is a bloody mess of a movie. However, the movie is notable for Warren Oates's strong performance as Bennie, an expatriate American hanging out in Mexico and for Peckinpah's signature slow-motion shoot-em-ups which occur with regularity throughout this film.

When wealthy rancher "El Jefe" (Mexican director Emilio Fernández) offers a million dollars for the head of lothario Alfredo Garcia in the wake of his daughter's disgrace, bounty hunters spread out across Mexico in search of the big prize. Among those searching for Garcia are the ambiguously gay hit men, Sappensly and Quill (Robert Webber and Gig Young), who soon encounter the loser Bennie in a hole-in-the-wall bar where he plays the piano and sings "Guantanamera" for loose change from tourists. When it becomes evident he may know the whereabouts of Garcia, they offer him a couple of grand for the head. As it turns out, Bennie's hooker/girlfriend Elita (Isela Vega) has been shacked up with Garcia of late.

As is the case with many Peckinpah characters, Bennie's moral code is non-conventional and seemingly loose, and he has no problem going back to Elita in order to get to Garcia. When it turns out that the title character is already dead, Bennie and Elita set off in search of his gravesite in search of the head. Then, things start to turn a bit bloody.

Peckinpah was never a director to shed a tear over a little collateral damage, and he certainly doesn't hold back in BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA. Once a dozen or so bodies have piled up on the wayside, Bennie begins to think that the titular head may be worth more than a few thousand dollars after all. Queue the slo-mo a few more times...

I don't think that it pays to think to much about the moral values of BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALREDO GARCIA. Suffice it to say that they are not the values we should seek to live by in our own lives. But, this movie is an enjoyable release with some memorable performances by Oates, Webber, Young, and others (look for Kris Kristofferson as a greasy biker). The film ends in classic Peckinpah style as Bennie, refusing to compromise his own moral code by taking his money quietly, makes his stand in a final blaze of gunfire and glory.

Jeremy W. Forstadt

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The title is perfect, but can obscure the emotional core of this film

I won't repeat details of the film that have been admirably described in several other reviews. I will say, though, that the description of this film as a bloody, raw, existential revenge pic can obscure the fact that at the heart of this film is a very subtle and tender relationship that is destroyed by the pragmatics of life in a dog eat dog world.

Bennie is an undercompensated piano player (living in Mexico) who loves Elita, a local prostitute. He has to prostitute his talents to stupid gringo tourists in the way she must sell herself to get by; while neither seem fully satisfied, both are pragmatic about it, but only she seems resigned to her occupation. He can't ask her to quit and marry him because he can't afford it. There is also the chance that she would not want to be totally dependent upon one man, although she clearly does love him. He is no killer, just down on his luck, and jumps at the chance to make some money when he realizes that Alfredo Garcia is already dead and he can do what is necessary without hurting anyone. After all, the dead Garcia owes something to Elita, doesn't he? The problem is that he has no idea what he's getting himself into.

What I think is most unexpected and wonderful about this film is that it depicts the romanticism of Bennie and Elita in such a tender and thoughtful way (before shooting it down). He plays guitar while she sings. They speak longingly of a future together, that neither can really believe is possible. He is jealous of her relationship with Alfredo Garcia, but not vindictive, and forgives wholeheartedly. He sits nearby, touching her foot, while she crouches fetal position in the shower, weeping after she understands his plan. This is not bloody and brutal after the fashion of recent work such as The Devil's Rejects (which is sometimes compared to Peckinpah); the violence of the film stands in stark contrast to the simple tenderness of two people who can barely see a way out of their difficult lives but hold onto hope while they still have each other.

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weirdly cool & unforgettable

This is some kind of bizarre masterpiece. The title says everything you need to know about the plot. Warren Oates is perfect as the displaced gringo who isn't really a bad guy but who is willing to cut a few moral corners to get what he thinks he wants and he is matched by Isela Vegas as his earthy and sensual girlfriend who is horrified to be on such a mission. Gig Young & Robert Webber seem to be channeling William Burroughs with their off-kilter couple of gay hit-men. Kris Kristofferson shows up as a rapist-biker. And the severed head is carried around in a grisly burlap bag that collects flies at a furoius rate. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?

i am not sure what Sam Peckinpah is trying to say here , maybe, LIFE SUCKS, DIE. or perhaps, "All is vanity--except maybe there is something that isn't." but he has made a strange, sad poem about the human condition, with gunfights!

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Take a chance & buy this. It's not your average candybar movie, it's a masterpiece.

This is a brilliant & riveting movie with terrific acting, terrific pace, terrific ending, terrific everything.

If this had been a Japanese movie starring Toshiro Mifune or Shintaro Katsu it would long since have been considered a classic, at least of its genre.

Just check out Gig Young & Robert Webber as a pair of mean macho gay hitmen totally devoted to each other. Check out Warren Oates' totally unornamented performance, as real as a toothache or a dying best friend.

So get this rarity now that it's out on widescreen DVD. It don't need commentaries & extras. There are so many amazing layers & textures & details in this great film, you'll watch it many times, believe me.

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