Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)

An American barroom pianist and his prostitute girlfriend go on a road trip through the Mexican underworld to collect a $1 million bounty on the head of a dead gigolo.

Director:

Sam Peckinpah

Writers:

Gordon T. Dawson (screenplay) (as Gordon Dawson), Sam Peckinpah (screenplay)

Stars:

Warren Oates, Isela Vega, Robert Webber

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Warren Oates	...	Bennie
Isela Vega	...	Elita
Robert Webber	...	Sappensly
Gig Young	...	Quill
Helmut Dantine	...	Max
Emilio Fernández	...	El Jefe (as Emilio Fernandez)
Kris Kristofferson	...	Biker
Chano Urueta	...	Manchot, the bartender
Donnie Fritts	...	John (as Donny Fritts)
Jorge Russek	...	Cueto
Chalo González	...	Chalo (as Chalo Gonzalez)
Don Levy	...	Frank
Enrique Lucero	...	Esteban
Janine Maldonado	...	Theresa
Tamara Garina	...	Grandmother Moreno

Storyline

A family scandal causes a wealthy and powerful Mexican rancher to make the pronouncement--'Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia!' Two of the bounty-hunters thus dispatched encounter a local piano-player in their hunt for information. The piano-player does a little investigating on his own and finds out that his girlfriend knows of Garcia's death and last resting place. Thinking that he can make some easy money and gain financial security for he and his (now) fiancée, they set off on this goal. Of course, this quest only brings him untold misery, in the form of trademark Peckinpah violence.

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Plot Keywords:

character name in title | piano player | death | bounty hunter | neo noir | 

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Taglines:

Was one man's life worth 1 million dollars and the death of 21 men?

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller | Western

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

Mexico USA

Language:

English Spanish Latin

Release Date:

13 March 1975 (Mexico)

Also Known As:

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia

Filming Locations:

Chalco, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Box Office

Budget:

$1,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Optimus Films, Estudios Churubusco Azteca S.A.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When the priest baptizes Alfredo's son, he says the child's name in Latin; David Samuel. Sam Peckinpah's full name is David Samuel Peckinpah.

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Goofs

In the driving scene, when Bennie tells Elita he is going after Alfredo's head, the same blue and white Dodge Dart appears twice within seconds.

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Quotes

Bennie: Hell, I wasn't trying to hit them, you know
Elita: I know you weren't.
Bennie: I used to shoot a lot of pistols when I was in the army.
Elita: You're a nice gringo. You didn't have a thing to do in the army anyways.
Bennie: You'd be surprised, honey.

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Crazy Credits

There are only three credits at the beginning of the film: The production credit, the two stars, and the story/screenplay. Everything else is at the end, and the film's title is the very last credit.

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Connections

Referenced in Gilmore Girls: Welcome to the Dollhouse (2005)

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Soundtracks

J.F.
by Arturo Castro

User Reviews

Unrivaled.

It is my humble opinion that Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia comes as close to capturing the maddening drive of man as any movie. That is to say that it sits at the same table as the greats, perhaps across the way from Citizen Kane or Raging Bull. If you contest this it is perhaps only because the film is not as beautiful, not as magnificent, as the rest of its ballpark. I would argue that that is partially the point.

Bennie's quest is stripped to its core so that the brutality of the film is expressive of Bernie himself. There is not a violent film with more validity for its actions than this one, it is the maddening human mind which causes deaths here. Peckinpah shows us everything that is important in this man's life and then shows us what a man is capable of doing once all that is taken away. The difference between this film and other similar films is perhaps that the movie has such humble beginnings. We build ourselves inside of Bennie. When we first meet him he is casually and happily playing the piano, quietly dreaming of settling into a different kind of love. We share a quiet picnic with him, witness his wedding proposal.

Perhaps also there has never been a chaotic killing spree that has seemed this environmental. While usually the hero goes on a rampage in a way that is appropriately heroic itself, Bennie is no hero. He is a man forced into a situation by the world around him, as it seems he is always forced into situations. Since he is never the man he wants to be it seems natural that he would become the kind of man that is the amalgamation of love and hate.

All the emotion a movie in this genre could handle.