Rent Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Gordon T. Dawson and Sam Peckinpah (screenplay), Frank Kowalski and Sam Peckinpah (story)
Directed by: Sam Peckinpah
Starring: Warren Oates, Isela Vega, Robert Webber, Kris Kristofferson
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
An American barroom pianist and his prostitute girlfriend go on a trip through the Mexican underworld to collect the bounty on the head of a dead gigolo.
Verdict
There's a price on Alfredo Garcia's head, but Bennie doesn't consider the cost. He thinks it's an easy job that will make him rich. It's nothing like he suspected. By the end the reward doesn't matter, because it can't make up for what he paid. Easy money is never all that easy. The themes are stronger than the movie proper.
It depends.
Review
A Mexican crime lord learns that Alfredo Garcia got his daughter pregnant, in turn putting a bounty on him. The boss is disappointed, commenting that Alfredo was like a son to him. Not long after, two Americans in suits are asking around Mexico about Garcia. They end up talking to piano player and fellow American Bennie (Warren Oates).
Bennie asks around and finds out Garcia died in a car crash. He heads back to the suit wearing Americans and makes a deal to get proof Garcia is dead. He negotiates a payment and operating expenses, and then he buys a machete. Bennie wears his sunglasses, even in bed. Why?
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| Isela Vega, Warren Oates play Elita, Bennie |
He thinks he's found a payday. He knows Garcia is already dead, he just needs proof, but I doubt it will be so easy. There's a lot of money in the pot, and Bennie is only a subcontractor at best. The payout will change his life, but it's shady business. He takes his girlfriend Elita (Isela Vega) with him, and their luck is questionable. Immediately after he reveals the plan to her, they're attacked by bikers. Bennie's forced to disarm them, this job already messier than he anticipated.
Bennie made a deal with the devil. Now it's just a question of how much it will cost. The price keeps rising. Elita explicitly warns him about upsetting the status quo. There's a balance, and he's disrupting it. That doesn't come without consequences.
Bennie finds the grave, but he has to wait until night to rob it. He digs up the grave and then he's attacked. He wakes up in the grave half buried. The cost of the pursuit is ever rising. We had seen two guys in a station wagon traveling on the same road as Bennie. You could call it luck that Bennie finds the guys that took the head, but it's also a choice. He's so focused on the money that instead of extricating himself from this, he forges on. It's like gambling. He's down on his luck, but he feels a win coming. He knows the jackpot is close. The smart thing would be to bow out, but he's not thinking straight.
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| Warren Oates plays Bennie |
On the way back, Bennie begins talking to the head. Is it a coping mechanism or a way to disassociate with what he's doing? He delivers it, but he asks the dangerous question. What is it worth? He wants to know what his suffering cost. We know there was a large disparity between what the head was worth and what he was paid. He was content with the payout when he made the deal but not anymore. By how much did he short himself? Was it worth it?
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