David Weddle loses all credibility as a Peckinpah biographer for his treatment of Alfredo Garcia. He barely mentions it in his book and speaks of it like it's a crappy film. It actually bugs me that all the Peckinpah posse: Weddle, Seydor, Simmons, all act like The Wild Bunch is the only great thing he did. I would say Alfredo Garcia is equally great, though in a totally different way.
shareI think he gives it a fair amount of credit for being the kind of movie that Peckinpah had never done before. Nowhere else in Peckinpah is there such a shocking shift between romantic tragedy, black comedy, and outright horror. He also points out that Roger Ebert's assertion that ALFREDO GARCIA will be remembered a long time after the heavy criticism of it has been forgotten has proven to be the right one. It is a strange, weird film, but a complex one the more one really looks at it; and it ranks with THE WILD BUNCH and STRAW DOGS as being among the director's best efforts, even if he was by that time sliding downhill to oblivion.
shareHaving watched it last night for the first time in several years, I must say that I'm shocked by how great it is. I remembered it, as the OP chided, as being little more than a footnote to a great career.
It's a mournful, comic masterpiece, and unlike just about any other film in existence. As the Peckinpah scholar trio suggested, it feels like he made an absolutely gonzo unofficial adaptation of Under the Volcano.
When violence finally erupts in the second half, its both cathartic and senseless. You're sitting there thinking, "What's this going to accomplish?" Then Oates pulls his guns and you can't help getting caught up in the thrill of the bloodbath. What a performance.
Its not my personal idea of a great movie, but it is Peckinpah's gonzo, nihilistic trip to Hell via Mexico, and as such, maybe his most personal one and a very necessary part of his cinema legacy. Warren Oates completely submerges himself, also, in Peckinpah's vision. You may not totally get it all, but Oates' commitment is complete.
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