Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (Peckinpah, 1974)

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (Sam Peckinpah, 1974)

But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.  –Jeremiah 22:17

 The reddish gleam of sun-soaked amber hair resting on an adjacent partner’s straightened legs while fingers tickle the boldly green blades of freshly sprouted grass makes for only a few seconds of filmtime, but it’s the brief sense of peaceful harmony that seems to last forever in a film full of frantic action. While a man hunts the head of an already deceased acquaintance, around every corner hides an unexpected set of circumstances, whether it be varying forms of human roadblock always ending in violence or coming to terms with a past love triangle. The slope becomes steeper and more slippery the further he climbs despite the initial vision of a clear and smooth path. And the sacrifices he makes along the way, of the life he never thought was enough or of the principles he may have started with, tear him apart the further he falls. I think about the moment where time slowed down and all was right, where the wind slid through the leaves across the gravel road and over the hilly horizon, and wonder if he looked back on that moment and thought about what it would have been like to stay in it forever.  7.75/10