Neil Young's Film Lounge

Neil Young’s Film Lounge – Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia

BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA

8/10

USA (USA/Mexico) 1974 : Sam PECKINPAH : 114 mins

When local stud Alfredo Garcia gets a rich mans virginal daughter pregnant, a massive bounty is offered for the offending blokes head. Various low-lifes set out across northern Mexico to secure the prize. Trouble is, Garcia is already dead. This fact doesn’t deter American bar-pianist Warren Oates, who digs up the corpse, removes the head, stuffs it in a burlap sack and sets off to deliver the goods Except now our seedy, sweaty hero has his own scores to settle

Though relatively light on plot the dramatic pivots of the story are very generously spaced-out through the running time – Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia is very heavy indeed on character. And as a showcase for the miraculous talents of Oates, who wears dark glasses at all times (even in bed), its terrific. And while Peckinpahs trademark presentation of violence (whenever there’s gunplay, we go into slow motion) becomes repetitive, he creates a thoroughly involving, tequila-hazed, sun-baked world of moral and physical decay, full of inspired touches and moments of black humour (Oates starts chatting to Garcias head, which he refers to as Al). There are some dead patches the Kris Kristofferson sequences are so torpid its a relief when Oates shoots him but by the end Peckinpah has taken us on a remarkable ride. The apocalyptic finale, and the closing freeze-frame, meanwhile, are simply stunning.

5^th June, 2003
(seen 25^th May: CineSide, Newcastle)

by Neil Young

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