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Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia (DVD)
Year: 1974
Rating: R
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Cast: Kris Kristofferson, Warren Oates, Gig Young
Release Date: August 11, 2010
Distributor: Shock
The Film: 5.0
The Disc: 3.0
FILMINK rates DVDs and Blu-rays out of 5One of the classics of the era, this brutal but incredible film from the '70s deserves rediscovering.
From its opening scene of a young pregnant woman being brutalised on the orders of her father, El Jefe (Emilio Fernandez), who demands to know the identity of her lover, Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia descends into a miasma of relentless nihilism as interested parties attempt to locate the titular lover and claim El Jefe's reward. Dive bar pianist Bennie (Warren Oates) becomes involved in the search for Garcia, driving across rural Mexico, but others are also interested in the reward.
Director Sam Peckinpah is at his stylistic best here, painting a picture of Mexico in which claustrophobic brutality lurks just beneath the surface. Oates' performance is a virtual essay in human degradation - Bennie is a true anti-hero, straight from the pages of grizzled hardboiled literature. Legend has it that Oates' sneering, leering performance was based on the director. An incredible film that was poorly received on its release in 1974, Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia has subsequently been reappraised as one of the classics of the era. Notable for being the only Peckinpah movie that wasn't recut by the studio, it's a remarkable examination of one man's greed and descent into personal darkness. The sole extra is a discussion by Peckinpah experts on the movie. Essential viewing.