"Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia" is more interesting than beautiful. The film has great merits, but it somehow gets lost along the development of the story. The idea the plot is based on is simple but very unusual. Luckily enough, the viewer is not distressed by over-macabre scenes. The very beginning is sensational. The scene of the clash between the over-bad Emilio Fernandez (great actor even in a small role) and his proud daughter is an actual punch to the stomach of the audience. Follows a long, slow-paced and (let's say it) boring search for Alfredo Garcia or, at least, his head. When finally Bennie (Warren Oates) finds the head, the film improves remarkably.
There are some action scenes, but not so well-done as it's usual by Sam Peckinpah. That's a disappointment for us Peckinpah's fans, no reason to deny it. The director seems more interested in representing the psychology of Bennie and Elita (Isela Vega) and in telling their love story: a so-and-so job. The cast is good, but, in my opinion, Warren Oates is not fit to be the main star, great supporting actor as he is.
The cinematography is stylish and accurate. The director shows Mexico as the country of decay. Everything is bleak, dirty, scraped off, worn-out. All the automobiles are terribly damaged. Nothing is clean and in order (save the hotels for the rich Americans). The Mexicans seem to be just desperate, under-developed, cruel savages. Yet Peckinpah notoriously adored Mexico: it was his own Paradise... It is difficult to get the director's point.
In the film we find a number of unexpected flaws and inaccuracies. The scene of the shoot-out in the hotel room is just clumsy. The guy at the reception of a modest Mexican motel says to Bennie and Elita that they don't take "that sort of women". But Elita has nothing of a prostitute, nor her plain dress justifies such a magical intuition by the guy... so? As a matter of fact, the choice of a looking-next-door-girl (Vega) to play a professional prostitute is a flaw of the movie. The scene of the motor-bikers is stuck to the film. It has no meaning for the remainder of the movie, save perhaps in showing that Bennie is a tough guy who can kill.
"Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia": interesting work for people who admire Sam Peckinpah.
There are some action scenes, but not so well-done as it's usual by Sam Peckinpah. That's a disappointment for us Peckinpah's fans, no reason to deny it. The director seems more interested in representing the psychology of Bennie and Elita (Isela Vega) and in telling their love story: a so-and-so job. The cast is good, but, in my opinion, Warren Oates is not fit to be the main star, great supporting actor as he is.
The cinematography is stylish and accurate. The director shows Mexico as the country of decay. Everything is bleak, dirty, scraped off, worn-out. All the automobiles are terribly damaged. Nothing is clean and in order (save the hotels for the rich Americans). The Mexicans seem to be just desperate, under-developed, cruel savages. Yet Peckinpah notoriously adored Mexico: it was his own Paradise... It is difficult to get the director's point.
In the film we find a number of unexpected flaws and inaccuracies. The scene of the shoot-out in the hotel room is just clumsy. The guy at the reception of a modest Mexican motel says to Bennie and Elita that they don't take "that sort of women". But Elita has nothing of a prostitute, nor her plain dress justifies such a magical intuition by the guy... so? As a matter of fact, the choice of a looking-next-door-girl (Vega) to play a professional prostitute is a flaw of the movie. The scene of the motor-bikers is stuck to the film. It has no meaning for the remainder of the movie, save perhaps in showing that Bennie is a tough guy who can kill.
"Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia": interesting work for people who admire Sam Peckinpah.