Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia

Summary

Introduction by scholar Garner Simmons, author of Peckinpah: A Portrait in Montage – The Definitive Edition: 50 Years After “The Wild Bunch” from the Writer Who Knew Him Best: 

Having been at war with MGM over Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid for the better part of a year, Sam Peckinpah decided to turn his back on the major studios and make a film that he had been considering for several years – a low budget personal project for independent producer Martin Baum with the provocative title of Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia.  To be shot entirely in Mexico, it would star Warren Oates who had begun his career as a character actor in television and feature films frequently working with Peckinpah.  A powerful, idiosyncratic actor who had more recently emerged as a leading man with films like Two Lane Blacktop and Dillinger, Oates reminded critics of Humphrey Bogart. As Bennie, the troubled American ex-pat living south of the border, Oates brought the sense of edgy vulnerability that Peckinpah was looking for.  After filming Oates in screen tests with a number of Mexican actresses, Peckinpah cast Isela Vega, a relative unknown to American audiences as Bennie’s lover.  Emilio Fernandez would play El Jefe, the brutal overlord whose daughter is seduced and dishonored by Garcia. The only other American roles went to Gig Young and Robert Webber as El Jefe’s hired guns and Kris Kristofferson and Donnie Fritz as a pair of bikers. Filmed during the fall of 1973, Alfredo Garcia wrapped just before Christmas.  A story of love and madness, brutality and betrayal, it reveals Peckinpah at his most original while capturing a Mexico seldom seen in American motion pictures. It also provides Warren Oates with the part of a lifetime as he delves deep into the darkness of the human soul.

Review

Sam Peckinpah had proven himself as a bankable talent when The Getaway made the studios over thirty million dollars. The success of that film allowed Peckinpah to pursue a couple films that were passion projects that would not be nearly as successful at the box office – Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid was plagued with issues including an overbearing studio head and a warped lens that impacted numerous master shots. Sam was so dismayed with the truncated cut of the film that he attempted to remove his name from the film entirely. Thanks to the financing that producer Martin Baum was able to secure for him, Peckinpah was able to pursue one of his most personal and wild films – Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia. Although not received well upon release, Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia has developed a cult following and some consider it to be his masterpiece. I personally love the film and consider it to be one of Peckinpah’s very best films. Second to The Wild Bunch, it is my favorite film by the maverick director.

The film begins with a wealthy gangster (Emilio Fernandez) in Southern Mexico finding out that his daughter has become pregnant outside of wedlock. He demands the name of the man who has impregnated her. When she reveals that it was a man by the name of Alfredo Garcia, he puts a million dollar bounty on his head. For proof, he demands that the disemboweled head be brought to him. Two of the assassins that work for him, white men in suits named Sappensly and Quill (Robert Webber and Gig Young,) head out to try to locate the man. In their search they come across an American ex-patriate lounge-singer and pianist named Bennie (Warren Oates.) Bennie knows the ins and outs and they offer him $10,000 to bring them the head of Alfredo. Bennie also has a personal connection to Alfredo – his girlfriend Elita (Isela Vega) had been sleeping with him just a week before. Bennie sees a future where his whole life could change and he could be together with Elita. After questioning Elita, he finds out that Alfedo had actually perished a few days before in a car accident and has already been buried. They head out together, him carrying a bottle of liquor and her carrying a guitar, to redeem the bounty on Alfredo’s head.

Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia is going to be a divisive film. Tonally it shifts constantly, sometimes feeling like a strange dark comedy and sometimes feeling like a deadly serious revenge drama. This will aggravate some viewers, but I was excited that the film kept me guessing. This is a work of true originality and it fearlessly veers in the directions that screenwriters Gordon T. Dawson and Sam Peckinpah chose to explore. I can guarantee you that this film is unlike any other film that you have seen and I mean this as the highest compliment.

The overall storyline of the film is really engaging and exciting while basically turning the chase film on its head. There is a scene of sexual assault in the film that will make viewers of the film upset, but it also is a well thought out sequence that helps to show more about Bennie and Elita’s relationship than would be possible otherwise. The scene will give people that dislike Peckinpah’s films enough ammo to dismiss the film completely, but that will only show a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose of the sequence. The film combines so many elements from Peckinpah’s earlier films – the romance of Ballad of Cable Hogue, the chases from The Getaway, the revenge aspects of Straw Dogs, the devil-may-care attitude of The Wild Bunch – all in a Mexican setting that only Peckinpah could fully bring to life. It truly feels like the culmination of the man’s career in one fantastic and truly unique adventure film.

I revisited the film again this week and I still found myself enjoying the movie immensely. Like other Peckinpah films, repeat viewings benefit the film. The central performance by Warren Oates is absolutely fantastic. Oates deserved to be a leading man after all of the memorable parts he played in Peckinpah’s films. He clearly relished the role and it is tremendous fun to watch him act out the entire film in that white suit as Bennie is put through Hell. I also got a kick out of his introduction where he is playing piano and singing. Isela Vega is a good counterpart to the gruff Oates and brings an air of Mexican authenticity to the proceedings. Emilio Fernandez, who worked frequently with Peckinpah, is well cast as Jefe. Both Gig Young and Robert Webber are perfect for their roles as the two guns for hire. Kris Kristofferson is given arguably the second hardest role in the film.

The film has a similar vibe to Under The Volcano by director John Huston. That film shares some of the tonal shifts and similar settings as Alfredo Garcia. It is possible that I just really love films where character actors drink large amounts of alcohol in Spanish speaking countries while facing abject danger. This film also has the benefit of the lead character carrying around a disembowled head for half of the screen time. How great is that? 

Taken all together, it may be too hard to explain why I love this movie so much. The combination of Sam Peckinpah and Warren Oates with a script that allows them to do anything proves irresistible to me. I would definitely recommend checking this film out and forming your own opinion.

Video

Twilight Time used an okay looking transfer of the film provided by MGM using an MPEG-4 AVC codec in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. For a limited release of a forty year old film, the transfer looks good, but not great. There are little white specks in the film throughout the entire picture. The picture is uneven in clarity, sometimes looking spectacular and sometimes looking soft. For fans of the film who own region free Blu-ray players, Arrow Video have done a true 4K scan of the elements for their release which may make it a more compelling choice to own. The Arrow release does lose two of the informative commentary tracks with Nick Redman, so keep that in mind when deciding. 

Audio

The audio treatment of Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia was incredibly competent. Being a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track, it can be expected that range is severely limited, but Twilight Time delivers on the most important aspect: clarity. Dialogue is extremely clear. That said there is the occasional instance of hiss, and sometimes the audio can seem like it has slightly warped, but the majority of the audio sounds great.  The score by Jerry Fielding is fantastic and can be heard on the isolated track provided on the disk. I was happy in this department with minor caveats.

Supplements:

Passion and Poetry: Sam’s Favorite Film – this documentary by Mike Siegel collects some excellent interviews with cast members that look back fondly on the production of the film. Kris Kristofferson, Chalo, Isela Vega, and writer Gordon Dawson are all featured. This feature is really enjoyable. Kris Kristofferson even sings a song, which gets my seal of approval. The only bad thing about this feature is the cropped nature of the film footage which will only fill up a window of your television screen.

A Writer’s Journey: Garner Simmons with Sam Peckinpah in Mexico – this great nearly half hour piece features Garner Simmons’ recollections of how he came to write a biography on Peckinpah and also how he came to be cast in the finale where he was squibbed and forced to lay on the ground for a couple days as the other shots in the sequence were gathered. Garner is always a joy to listen to and this feature is well worth your time.  Garner also wrote the introduction to this review!

Promoting Alfredo Garcia – a picture gallery of various posters and other advertising memorabilia.

U.S. TV Spots 

Original Theatrical Trailer 

MGM 90th Anniversary Trailer

Audio Commentary with Gordon Dawson and Nick Redman.-  Dawson co-wrote the film and was close friends with Peckinpah. This is a great track that is exclusive to this release.

Audio Commentary with Paul Seydor, Garner Simmons, David Weddle and Nick Redman – the four men most closely associated with knowledge on Peckinpah discuss the film at length. Garner’s knowledge from being on set helps the track, but all of the participants sound as if they are having a blast.

Audio Commentary with Assistant to the director Katy Haber and film historians Paul Seymour and Nick Redman – Katy Haber worked with Sam on a number of pictures and their working relationship was very funny and interesting. She is a fountain of knowledge about Sam and Nick and Paul serve well as interviewers.

Isolated Score Track. Jerry Fielding’s varied score is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.

Overall Scores:

Video – 3.5/5

Audio – 4/5

Supplements – 4.5/5

Overall – 4.5/5

Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia is my favorite film by Sam Peckinpah aside from The Wild Bunch. In my estimation, this film allowed Sam to use everything that he had learned on prior films to his advantage and deliver a darkly comic and wildly original revenge film. Warren Oates delivers an unforgettable performance as Bennie. The Twilight Time release features fantastic supplements and solid audio, but the video transfer is only decent. For those that own a region free Blu-ray player, the new 4K transfer by Arrow is supposedly amazing and may be a determining factor for which release you purchase. If you are like me, you will probably end up owning both versions of the film at some point. When I first saw the film, I really enjoyed its original vision. Returning to the film a couple years later, I found myself enjoying it even more. Highly recommended.