"A strange, weird masterpiece..." says Robert Ebert of this Peckinpah classic. The story opens with a rich Mexican landowner (Fernandez) swearing revenge (and putting out a bounty) on a man named Alfredo Garcia, who has made the grave error of impregnating his young daughter. Several hitmen are soon deployed with the order to "Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia." An American lounge piano player (Oates) and his girlfriend (Vega) soon become involved in the search. Violent confrontations begin to complicate matters as the various parties close in on their valuable prize.

Alfredo Garcia is similar in many ways to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), which Peckinpah often cited as one of his favorite films. In both films, unbridled greed and revenge fuel the proceedings with diasastrous results for nearly everyone involved. One of the hitmen even jokingly goes under the name of Fred C. Dobbs, which was Humphrey Bogart's character in Sierra Madre.

Warren Oates is superb in one of his regretably rare leading roles. His alcohol-fueled descent into greed and eventually revenge is alternately fascinating and painful to watch as the film approaches its conclusion.

Alfredo Garcia is perhaps Peckinpah's most openly nihilistic film. In my opinion, it closed a five year period, beginning with The Wild Bunch (1969), in which he produced seven films which were often classic and never less than outstanding.