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Author Charles Taylor will sign copies of Opening Wednesday at a Theater Or Drive-In Near You: The Shadow Cinema of the American ‘70s before the screening.
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
Nobody loses all the time—except perhaps Bennie, the misbegotten, desperate hatchet man of Sam Peckinpah’s grit- and grime-filled late-career sojourn through the lawless Mexican underworld. Nodding toward its precursor The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (John Huston, 1948), this unhurried “brutalist fable” swaps gold-rushers for headhunters as a craggy Warren Oates dodges transient bikers, wielded shovels and multi-generational ambushes on his languid, ill-fated quest for the titular, coveted cranium. Considered the last “true” Peckinpah film, Alfredo Garcia was an utter flop upon initial release that now rests atop the cult film pedestal as an unromantic, illimitable reflection of the “Me” decade.
Charles Taylor will be joined on stage by writer and film historian Kim Morgan for a post-screening conversation.
DCP, color, 112 min. Production: Optimus Productions; Estudios Churubusco. Distribution: United Artists Corps. Director: Sam Peckinpah. Producer: Martin Baum. Screenwriter: Sam Peckinpah, Gordon Dawson. Cinematographer: Alex Phillips, Jr. Editor: Dennis E. Dolan, Sergio Ortega, Robbe Robert. Music: Jerry Fielding. Cast: Warren Oates, Isela Vega, Robert Webber, Gig Young, Helmut Dantine.
