{"id":1468,"date":"2015-02-20T15:05:56","date_gmt":"2015-02-20T20:05:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=1468"},"modified":"2026-03-18T16:30:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T20:30:20","slug":"bring-me-the-head-of-alfredo-garcia-1974","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=1468","title":{"rendered":"Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia-1974"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia-1974<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Sam Peckinpah<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Warren Oates, Isela Vega<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #222<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed February 20, 2015<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is a 1974 Mexican cult action film directed by Sam Peckinpah that influenced famed modern movie director Quentin Tarantino in multiple ways.<\/p>\n

The film itself is violent, bloody, and traditionally Peckinpah in tone and look, similar to his other films (Straw Dogs from 1971 and The Wild Bunch from 1967).<\/p>\n

The premise of the film is intriguing- a powerful man known simply as \u201cThe Boss\u201d turns furious and places a bounty on the head of the man who impregnated his daughter, whom he, by the way, tortures to garner this information out of.<\/p>\n

He offers the enormous sum of 1 million dollars to the person who can \u201cbring him the head of Alfredo Garcia\u201d.<\/p>\n

From this point, the action centers mostly on Bennie, a retired military officer intrigued by the bounty on offer.<\/p>\n

Bennie, along with his prostitute girlfriend, Elita, traverses the lands of Mexico in search of Alfredo Garcia, whether he is already dead or still alive, which is a mysterious and fun element of the film.<\/p>\n

I have a tough time taking the film too seriously as much as I enjoyed it- it seems an action farce and, without giving too much away, the scenes involving the carrying of a severed head, arguably the lead character, are as much comical as ghastly.<\/p>\n

The illustrious lighting is a major focal point, especially during the outdoor scenes and specifically the nighttime desert scenes, when two bikers almost rape Elita. The moonlight radiates onscreen.<\/p>\n

Elita’s character is a fascinating to me. On the one hand, she is an aging prostitute madly in love with Bennie and intrigued by a life with him, living off their spoils. However, she almost enjoys the sexual experience with one of the bikers, played wonderfully by Kris Kristofferson, despite being roughed up by him.<\/p>\n

The scene, while certainly violent, is, in a way, almost tender as the biker and Elita realize their attraction for one another. It\u2019s a surreal scene and has almost a sense of clarity for both characters. Are they in lust?<\/p>\n

Peckinpah women are traditionally not treated well, but Elita is an exception.<\/p>\n

The Tarantino influence is undeniable- the mixture of humor amid violence- a severed head being treated as a comical prop, is immeasurable in comparison to later Tarantino films such as the Kill Bill chapters.<\/p>\n

Daring and pure genius, the film has a dark tone but does not take itself too seriously, avoiding melodrama or overwroughtness.<\/p>\n

It is only a film and has fun with that fact. It tries to be nothing more and embraces being bizarre.<\/p>\n

Tarantino films are like Peckinpah films, just made 20-30 years apart.<\/p>\n

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia has evolved into a cult classic after flopping commercially and critically in 1974.<\/p>\n

How wonderful when a gem is rediscovered and laden with influence, in this case as much stylistically as otherwise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia-1974 Director Sam Peckinpah Starring Warren Oates, Isela Vega Scott’s Review #222 Reviewed February 20, 2015 Grade: B+ Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is a 1974 Mexican cult action film directed by Sam Peckinpah that influenced famed modern movie director Quentin Tarantino in multiple ways. The film … Continue reading Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia-1974<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,151,49,179,9821,2866,9820,9819,1021,1060,8973,5833,920,9818,144],"tags":[97,152,252,180,9825,2867,9824,9823,1024,1061,8978,5834,921,9822,145],"class_list":["post-1468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1974-films","category-actionfilms","category-comedies","category-darkcomedies","category-emilio-fernandez","category-gig-young","category-helmut-dantine","category-isela-vega","category-kris-kristofferson","category-mexican","category-richard-bright","category-robert-webber","category-sam-peckinpah","category-warren-oates","category-westerns","tag-1974-movie-reviews","tag-action-films","tag-comedies","tag-dark-comedies","tag-emilio-fernandez","tag-gig-young","tag-helmut-dantine","tag-isela-vega","tag-kris-kristofferson","tag-mexican","tag-richard-bright","tag-robert-webber","tag-sam-peckinpah","tag-warren-oates","tag-westerns-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1468"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22758,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468\/revisions\/22758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}