Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)

Director:

Sam Peckinpah

Writers:

Frank Kowalski (story) and
Sam Peckinpah (story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

August 1974 (Austria)

Genre:

Adventure | Crime | Drama | Thriller | Western

Tagline:

It's got guts!

Plot:

An American bartender and his prostitute girlfriend go on a road trip through the Mexican underworld to collect a $1 million bounty on the head of a dead gigolo.

Plot Keywords:

Piano Player | Mexican | Death | Road | Bounty Hunter

Cast

Warren Oates	...	Bennie
Isela Vega	...	Elita
Robert Webber	...	Sappensly
Gig Young	...	Quill
Helmut Dantine	...	Max
Emilio Fernández	...	El Jefe (as Emilio Fernandez)
Kris Kristofferson	...	Biker
Chano Urueta	...	Manchot, the bartender
Donnie Fritts	...	John (as Donny Fritts)
Jorge Russek	...	Cueto
Chalo González	...	Chalo (as Chalo Gonzalez)
Don Levy	...	Frank
Enrique Lucero	...	Esteban
Janine Maldonado	...	Theresa
Tamara Garina	...	Grandmother Moreno
Farnesio de Bernal	...	Bernardo
Ahui Camacho	...	El Chavito
Monica Miguel	...	Dolores de Escomiglia
Paco Pharrez	...	El Carpintero (as Paco Pharres)
Juan Manuel Díaz	...	Paulo
René Dupeyrón	...	Angel (as Rene Dupeyron)
Yolanda Ponce	...	Yolo
Juan Jose Palacios	...	Juan
Manolo	...	Tourist Guide
Nery Ruiz	...	Maria (as Neri Ruiz)
Roberto Dumont	...	Chavo
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Richard Bright	...	Bar Patron (uncredited)
Conrad Hool	...	El Jefe's guard (uncredited)
Whitey Hughes	...	Bar Patron (uncredited)
Sharon Peckinpah	...	Nun (uncredited)
Garner Simmons	...	Hacienda Guard (uncredited)

Directed by
Sam Peckinpah

Writing credits
Frank Kowalski		(story) and
Sam Peckinpah		(story)
Sam Peckinpah		(screenplay) and
Gordon T. Dawson		(screenplay) (as Gordon Dawson)

Produced by
Martin Baum	....	producer
Helmut Dantine	....	executive producer
Gordon T. Dawson	....	associate producer (as Gordon Dawson)

Original Music by
Jerry Fielding

Cinematography by
Álex Phillips Jr.

Film Editing by
Dennis Dolan		(as Dennis E. Dolan)
Sergio Ortega
Robbe Roberts

Casting by
Claudia Becker

Art Direction by
Agustín Ituarte

Makeup Department
Rosa Guerrero	....	makeup artist

Production Management
William Davidson	....	executive production manager (as William C. Davidson)
Carlos Terron Garcia	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
William Davidson	....	first assistant director (as William C. Davidson)
Jesús Marín	....	assistant director (as Jesus Marin)

Art Department
Enrique Estévez	....	set dresser (as Enrique Estevez)
Alf Pegley	....	property master

Sound Department
Michael Colgan	....	sound editor (as Mike Colgan)
Harry W. Tetrick	....	sound re-recording mixer
Manuel Topete	....	sound mixer

Special Effects by
Raul Falomir	....	special effects
Federico Farfán	....	special effects (as Federico Farfan)
León Ortega	....	special effects (as Leon Ortega)

Stunts
Gary Combs	....	stunt coordinator
Duffy Hambleton	....	stunt coordinator (as Duffy Hambledon)
Whitey Hughes	....	stunt coordinator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Adolfo Ramírez	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Garth Craven	....	supervising editor

Music Department
Daniel Allan Carlin	....	music editor (as Dan Carlin)
Dan Carlin Sr.	....	music editor (as Dan Carlin)
Arturo Castro	....	mexican music coordinator
Greig McRitchie	....	orchestrator (as Greg McRitchie)
Lennie Niehaus	....	orchestrator (as Leonard Niehaus)

Other crew
Katherine Haber	....	production assistant: director
Sharon Peckinpah	....	dialogue director
Jim Preminger	....	production assistant
Trudy von Trotha	....	script supervisor
Yannoulla Wakefield	....	production coordinator
Dan York	....	production assistant
'Chema' Hernandez	....	head wrangler: Mexico (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Estudios Churubusco Azteca S.A.
• Optimus Films

Distributors

• United Artists (1974) (USA) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1996) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1997) (USA) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Park Circus (2009) (UK) (theatrical) (re-issue)
• United Artists (1974) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1974) (Sweden) (theatrical)

Other Companies

• Latigo Productions  titles
• Pacific Title  titles

Also Known As:

Tráiganme la cabeza de Alfredo García (Mexico)
Bring mir den Kopf von Alfredo Garcia (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Apportez-moi la tête d'Alfredo Garcia (France) [fr]
Bana onun kellesini getirin (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Bring mig Alfredo Garcias hoved (Denmark) [da]
Dajcie mi glowe Alfredo Garcii (Poland) [pl]
Ferte mou to kefali tou Alfredo Garcia (Greece) [el]
Jakten på Alfredo Garcias huvud (Sweden) [sv]
Quiero la cabeza de Alfredo García (Spain) [es]
Tragam-me a Cabeça de Alfredo Garcia (Brazil) [pt]
Tuokaa Alfredo Garcian pää (Finland) [fi]
Voglio la testa di Garcia (Italy) [it]
Vull el cap d'Alfredo García (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

USA | Mexico

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Germany:16 (re-rating) (2005) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Singapore:M18 | New Zealand:R16 | Australia:R | Finland:K-18 | France:-12 | Italy:VM14 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (video rating) (1987) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Chalco, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Company:

Estudios Churubusco Azteca S.A.

Trivia:

One of the films included in "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (and how they got that way)" by Harry Medved and Randy Lowell.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: At a little after 1:33 in the movie, as Bennie crosses inside his apartment, alone and talking to Alfredo's head ("A friend of ours used to take a shower in there...You know that? You know that!"), a crewman in black clothing can be glimpsed ducking behind an adjacent transom. A second later, his arm reappears as Bennie reaches for a bottle in the pantry.

Quotes:

Bennie: Hell, I wasn't trying to hit them, you know
Elita: I know you weren't.
Bennie: I used to shoot a lot of pistols when I was in the army.
Elita: You're a nice gringo. You didn't have a thing to do in the army anyways.
Bennie: You'd be surprised, honey.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (2008) (TV)

Soundtrack:

A Donde Ir

Dark Latter-Day Western

This dark and brutal film involves Benny, an American piano player in Mexico (played by Warren Oates) who gets involved with bounty hunters searching for the head of Alfredo Garcia. The head is worth one million dollars, because Garcia got the daughter of a very wealthy and powerful man, pregnant.

The film features plenty of Sam Peckinpah's trademark slow-motion violence in some very well-staged action set pieces. The cast (particularly Oates and Isle Vega, as his Mexican girlfriend) are good, and the film conjures up a powerful atmosphere of despair and casual cruelty and violence.

The film , however, features moments of genuine tenderness between Oates and Vega. Oates plays Benny as a man on the edge. Basically decent but forced to do some pretty horrible things to survive.

Reviled by critics on it's first release, this film will prompt some strong reactions in viewers. While not one of Peckinpah's best films, his enormous talent is still visible throughout this film.