Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Tim S

  
  Not all moments in this film are winners - specifically the first half of the film. It's all spent getting to know Bennie and his friend/girlfriend/whatever she is to him. All of this leads up to the cemetery scene. Everything after that is great. It's just that first… More
  Not all moments in this film are winners - specifically the first half of the film. It's all spent getting to know Bennie and his friend/girlfriend/whatever she is to him. All of this leads up to the cemetery scene. Everything after that is great. It's just that first half that needed some work. I like Warren Oates, but I felt like he wasn't on top of his game here. I wouldn't call this a bad film, just unbalanced in that it doesn't get interesting until halfway through.

• AJ V

  
  Another movie I want to see again sometime, I don't remember it well.

• Michael G

  
  The first hour of Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia was one of the most gruelingly dull movieviewing experiences of my life. Yes, Sam Peckinpah perfectly nailed the daunting grittiness of Warren Oates' (who stole the show, by the way) miserable existence but all I saw was some… More
  The first hour of Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia was one of the most gruelingly dull movieviewing experiences of my life. Yes, Sam Peckinpah perfectly nailed the daunting grittiness of Warren Oates' (who stole the show, by the way) miserable existence but all I saw was some trudgingly slow storytelling that not even multiple shots of Isela Vega's ample bosom were able to redeem. The second hour was a different story. Once Oates cracked, shots were fired and the pain train left the station in a way that only Peckinpah could portray, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia became an almost entirely different movie and all its misgivings (even if only in my mind) are forgiven. The performances were generally solid and seeing a square like Gig Young drenched in sliminess was a nice touch. The more I think about Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia the more I like it. "Why? Because if feels so goddamned good...!"

• Tsubaki S

  
  Peckinpah's nihilistic trip is still fresh to this date, and still capable of split opinions as much as in it's time. It's in the vein of Corbucci's "The Great Silence", a bleak and dark story where there is no glory for anyone involved. It's a one… More
  Peckinpah's nihilistic trip is still fresh to this date, and still capable of split opinions as much as in it's time. It's in the vein of Corbucci's "The Great Silence", a bleak and dark story where there is no glory for anyone involved. It's a one way trip to doom and tragedy, and you just can't help but watch it. It's my kind of story, and Peckinpah's direction, along with the whole cast, make it work. It's the kind of story that few directors dare to tell, it makes sense that so many people hated this. This is the exact opposite of the "feel-good" model of cinema that most embrace.

• Stella D

  
  bloody fantastic 70's grindhouse style thriller. it doesn't get any grittier. warren oates goes from loser to total badass! great atmosphere. this is the kinda stuff tarantino and rodriguez try to manufacture with varying results. see the real deal

• Ken S

  
  Pure Peruvian Pekinpah...this shit will make you loco!

• Michael S

  
  Peckinpah's masterpiece; One of the greatest films I've ever seen.

• xGary X

  
  Slated by critics at the time, if Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid was Peckinpah's tale of the death of the west, this is it's "resurrection". QT and particularly Robert Rodriguez has obviously taken a lot of cues from it, and it deserves it's cult status. My… More
  Slated by critics at the time, if Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid was Peckinpah's tale of the death of the west, this is it's "resurrection". QT and particularly Robert Rodriguez has obviously taken a lot of cues from it, and it deserves it's cult status. My favourite Peckinpah film.

• Eric B

  
  Warren Oates is always fun to watch, and this film has one of the greatest titles ever. But I just don't relate to director Sam Peckinpah's ugly fascination with violence and machismo. And his trademark, slow-motion gimmick is grossly overused. "Alfredo Garcia"… More
  Warren Oates is always fun to watch, and this film has one of the greatest titles ever. But I just don't relate to director Sam Peckinpah's ugly fascination with violence and machismo. And his trademark, slow-motion gimmick is grossly overused. "Alfredo Garcia" surprised me, though -- I hadn't read much about it, and assumed it was an old-time Western. Instead, it is not only set in the present but isn't even a Western. I suspect Peckinpah anticipated this confusion, because there's a jarring early moment where modern automobiles thunder into the frame after an ambiguous opening scene fails to reveal the setting.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]In "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia", Benny(Warren Oates) spends his nights toiling in a dive bar in a Mexican resort town when opportunity suddenly appears in the form of two hitmen(Robert Webber & Gig Young) who are looking for Alfredo… More
  [font=Century Gothic]In "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia", Benny(Warren Oates) spends his nights toiling in a dive bar in a Mexican resort town when opportunity suddenly appears in the form of two hitmen(Robert Webber & Gig Young) who are looking for Alfredo Garcia.(It seems Alfredo is quite the ladies man and got the daughter of a wealthy landowner in Spain pregnant. He was none-too-pleased and hired the hitmen.) Through his fiancee, Elita(Isela Vega), who also slept with Alfredo, Benny finds out that he has already died in an accident. Benny then goes back to the hitmen and negotiates a fee of $10,000 in exchange for proof of Alfredo's death, specifically his head.[/font] [font=Century Gothic]Directed by Sam Peckinpah, "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia" is a surprisingly restrained movie that defies expectations by being a character study of a man who does not recognize what is truly valuable in life.(Most of the men in the movie do not either but I think perhaps the late, great Alfredo Garcia did.) Throughout the movie, violence lurks in the background until it suddently comes to the fore but it is never the solution the characters think it will be. And Warren Oates gives a staggering performance.[/font]

• Alec B

  
  The film plays out in a totally different way than I expected and that isn't a bad thing. I've heard that it was Peckinpah's personal favorite of all his films and his most personal. The whole film permeates with this incredible anger that is barely contained until the… More
  The film plays out in a totally different way than I expected and that isn't a bad thing. I've heard that it was Peckinpah's personal favorite of all his films and his most personal. The whole film permeates with this incredible anger that is barely contained until the end. Peckinpah was clearly pissed off at someone when he made it. I can see why some people despise the film, but I loved it particularly because Warren Oates is so damn good in the lead role and because everything the characters do is an exercise in futility. A great number of people die for no apparent reason and there is no real resolution in the end.

• rocko p

  
  It's got that great grindhouse feel with blockbuster action. It's so much fun. Greatest title in the world by the way.

• MJS M

  
  Critically panned in its time, this is a film that many have come to respect over time. I can see where some of the criticism was coming from, Warren Oates is not great here, and some of the violence gets a little silly by the end. But, I?ll maintain that this is a very well made… More
  Critically panned in its time, this is a film that many have come to respect over time. I can see where some of the criticism was coming from, Warren Oates is not great here, and some of the violence gets a little silly by the end. But, I?ll maintain that this is a very well made film, Peckinpah?s slow motion is in full swing here and the film also deserves compliment for having a really cool title.

• Patrick D

  
  It really is all about Warren Oates in this film. The first film I've ever seen with him. Of course going in knowing it's a Peckinpah, you should be expecting something completely different.

• Wu C

  
  Not my favorite Peckinpah, but its his most personal film. Some cool shootout sequences with stylish violence.

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