Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Sam Peckinpah

Writers:

Frank Kowalski (story) and
Sam Peckinpah (story) ...

Release Date:

August 1974 (Austria)

Genre:

Adventure | Crime | Drama | Thriller | Western

Tagline:

It's got guts!

Plot:

An American bartender 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.

Plot Keywords:

Piano Player | Mexican | Prostitute | Violence | Bounty Hunter

Cast

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

Also Known As:

Tráiganme la cabeza de Alfredo García (Mexico)

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA | Mexico

Language:

English | Spanish

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Germany:16 (re-rating) (2005) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Singapore:M18 | New Zealand:R16 | Australia:R | Finland:K-18 | France:-12 | Italy:VM14 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (video rating) (1987) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Chalco, México D.F., Mexico

Company:

Estudios Churubusco Azteca S.A.

Trivia:

One of the few critics to actually praise the film was Roger Ebert, who would win the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism the following year.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: At a little after 1:33 in the movie, as Bennie crosses inside his apartment, alone and talking to Alfredo's head ("A friend of ours used to take a shower in there...You know that? You know that!"), a crewman in black clothing can be glimpsed ducking behind an adjacent transom. A second later, his arm reappears as Bennie reaches for a bottle in the pantry.

Quotes:

Bennie: [as he keeps shooting a man he has already killed] Why? Because it feels so damn good!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Fletch (1985)

Soundtrack:

Bad Blood Baby

Violent, Beautiful, Ugly, Haunting.

Watching this unforgettable near masterpiece for the first time it's impossible to understand why it isn't regarded as one of the greatest movies of the 70s - a decade that produced an astonishing amount of classics. How Maltin can dismiss it with the throwaway comment "sub-par bloodbath" defies belief! Almost everything about this movie is perfect, but the cornerstone is Warren Oates performance, perhaps his greatest. Rarely do you see such a completely engrossing, believable portrayal of a man who has lost EVERYTHING, who knows he cannot win, but also knows that he must keep going to the very end. Once seen, never forgotten may seem like a trite comment, but in this case it says it all. You will NEVER forget this movie!