Linkshoch Wonderful Movie

Lawbolisted Powerful

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Scott LeBrun This yarn (scripted by director Sam Peckinpah and Gordon T. Dawson, based on a story by Peckinpah and Frank Kowalski) takes place in Mexico, where a powerful land baron (Emilio Fernandez) must deal with scandal. His young daughter has been impregnated by the notorious scoundrel of the title, prompting him to utter that immortal line. Two bounty hunters (played by guest stars Robert Webber and Academy Award winner Gig Young) encounter a small town piano player, Bennie (Warren Oates) in their quest for information, and hire him to help them out. Bennie finds out from his own girlfriend (super sexy Mexican superstar Isela Vega) that Alfredo is in fact already dead. So they set out on a trip to locate where the s.o.b. is buried, and bring back his decapitated head as proof.Peckinpah takes his time spinning this particular yarn, making the film more about the journey - Bennies' journey - than the destination. Therefore, it may not appeal to people who want more action and more bloodshed throughout. But fret not: after a horrible, sombre story turn in the second half, it turns into a revenge saga where our antihero is determined to mete out some punishment. Make no mistake: he IS an antihero, one who does not hesitate to kill others in the pursuit of his goal. Yet he takes no pleasure from it. He just does what he has to do. It's his girlfriend that is more of a moral center for the story. It has some very appealing and poetic moments, gradually working its way bit by bit to a lot of gunfire and squibs going off. It also can boast some fairly funny black humor, since Alfredos' severed head is naturally quite smelly and attractive to flies, and Bennie has to use ice to keep it from rotting too much.Jerry Fieldings' score is excellent, as is the vibrant cinematography by Alex Phillips, Jr. In an offbeat touch, only a few credits are placed up front, with most of them saved for the end, with the films' title coming up just before the fade-out.The cast is superb. The late, great Oates makes the most of this meaty leading role, even emulating his director in his performance. Vega is both delectable (going topless at times) and a tremendous dramatic actress. Webber and Young are very good, subtly underplaying the nature of their relationship. Kris Kristofferson has an effective cameo as a lusty, creepy biker.Highly recommended to fans of both Peckinpah and Oates.Eight out of 10.

dworldeater Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia is a dark and twisted tale of madness and despair as told through the perspective of Benny(Warren Oates). A very unique modern day western that truly showcases Warren Oates talents as an actor in his arguably best and coolest performance, Warren Oates kills it as the lead in this film. What starts out as a quick quest for cash goes all wrong and Warren Oates spends most of the film driving around Mexico with Alfredo Garcia's rotting head. The film has all the slow motion gun battles that has become Peckinpah's trademark, with an insane story that is very character driven with a powerhouse performance by Warren Oates. Close friend and frequent Peckinpah collaborator Kris Kristofferson shows up for a cameo appearance and a very good performance from Isela Vega as Benny(Oates) hooker girlfriend. The film gets much bleaker and violent as it goes until it builds to the film's nihilistic conclusion. Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia is not the sort of film that will appeal to the masses, but for those that understand it, like myself really dig it. The film is very well crafted and layered masterwork from one of the finest directors ever on top of his game.

popcorninhell In a small provincial town outside of Mexico City, the daughter (Maldonado) of infamous crime lord El Jefe (Fernandez) is being interrogated. It is discovered that she is pregnant thus starting a desperate search for the father Alfredo Garcia, a former confidante to El Jefe. To sweeten the pot, El Jefe offers a million dollars to whomever finds Garcia and retrieves the man's head. In enters our protagonist Bennie (Oates), an American who has lost himself in a bottle of tequila and is aching to escape the squalor that surrounds him. He's informed of the bounty by two dispassionate hit men (Young and Webber) who enter the bar he works at. He finds out through his hooker girlfriend (Vega) that Alfredo Garcia died in a car accident weeks prior, thus retrieving the head of an already dead man seems like a walk in the park. Only it's not, and as you can imagine from a Sam Peckinpah joint chaos ensues.Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is an unpleasant movie by design. The movie is designed to coax the viewer into a dark crime- ridden netherworld laced together with fatalism and nihilism. At the center of it are Bennie and Elita, the prostitute who agrees to take a road trip with him to the border. Their relationship is uncommonly sweet given the circumstances; a feeling which doesn't last long. Bennie finds out Elita had been sleeping with Garcia as well, and while he shrugs it off and continues their journey, you can tell he's miffed.At the time of the film's release, the movie was a critical and box office bomb. Many critics were dumbstruck by the narrative disjointedness, the shocking central plot and the chintzy production value. Regardless there were some who found the movie to be a quixotic masterpiece and as years passed, it has gained a critical following. Roger Ebert believed the film to be autobiographical at least in theme. Sam Peckinpah was infamous for his drunken tirades, his scuffles with various actors and actresses and his dealings with the studio. Alfredo Garcia is the only film Peckinpah got final cut thus the movie must be about the auteur's growing frustration with the film-making process.That's all well and good but would the average film-goer be poised to enjoy this film which, while bloody provides little in the way of traditional entertainment? Will audiences be receptive to long periods of subjugated topless women staring into the middle distance? How about extended periods of Bennie talking with the disjointed head in the style of "Revenger's Tragedy" or a rape scene that disturbs not because of its visceral intensity but because of its woebegone normalcy. Would you still watch then?As I said this film is unpleasant by design; thus it's hard to give a movie a bad review for accomplishing what it set out to do. It does so with economy and a surplus of style which you can take out of it what you must. Yet those looking for an intense shoot'em up in the vogue of Smokin' Aces (2006) (which took all the movie's style and none of its substance), will be disappointed. This is art cinema at its most foul. Thus the only people who will end up enjoying Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia are the very same critics that gave the movie a second chance.

seymourblack-1 Sam Peckinpah was an extraordinary and controversial filmmaker who during his career earned both respect and notoriety. "Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia" is a movie which illustrates some of the reasons why he achieved this reputation and also provides an offbeat piece of entertainment which leaves a lasting impression.Some Peckinpah trademarks such as extreme violence, misogyny and well choreographed action scenes are featured on numerous occasions but the movie's most compelling component is its depiction of the journey taken by a guy whose motivation gradually changes from pure greed to a need to escape to a better life and then ultimately, a need for redemption.When an extremely wealthy Mexican landowner called El Jefe (Emilio Fernadez) discovers that the man who'd deserted his pregnant, unmarried daughter is Alfredo Garcia, he offers a $1,000,000 reward for whoever brings him the head of the man who he'd previously treated like a son.A little time later, in a tourist bar in Mexico City, two well dressed bounty hunters called Quill (Gig Young) and Sappensly (Robert Webber) meet Bennie (Warren Oates) who's the establishment's American piano player. The two hit-men are finding it difficult to locate Garcia and after Bennie learns from his girlfriend Elita (Isela Vega) that Garcia has recently been killed in a car accident, he agrees to bring them Garcia's head for a payment of $10,000.Elita, a prostitute who'd previously had an affair with Garcia knows where his body is buried and so she and Bennie go on a cross country journey to locate the hunted man's grave. What follows includes the arrival of two bikers who plan to rape Elita, an attack by some other bounty hunters who steal Garcia's head and another attack by members of Garcia's family. Nearly all these people end up dead and the body count continues to climb inexorably until the movie reaches its violent and spectacular climax.A tremendous number of people get killed in this movie and there are many examples of Peckinpah's propensity for depicting violence very graphically. His penchant for using slow motion sequences in shoot outs is seen by his detractors as a distasteful glamorisation of violence whereas others regard it as an example of his undeniable talent. The most shocking incidents, however, are where El Jefe has his daughter publicly humiliated and tortured and Sappensly, very casually and cruelly knocks a woman unconscious.The milieu within which Bennie makes his journey is bleak and chaotic and his efforts to progress or prosper become utterly futile. In this predicament and despite the obvious dangers involved, all that he's been able to do is follow his destiny and ultimately this is what makes his story so tragic and memorable. Whilst this movie may not be entertaining in the conventional sense, it is unquestionably a very powerful and absorbing drama which is also profoundly existential.