The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)


John Huston’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a beautiful, engaging feature which describes, in great detail, how greed can destroy and ravage a human soul. This is a film which has been replicated many times but never to the degree in which this film is, This classic was written and directed by John Huston, the main behind The Maltese Falcon and The African Queen and Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt, and Huston’s own father, Walter Huston were the stars with the senior Huston winning an Oscar for his performance. This film is beautiful to look at with its gorgeous cinematography. The story itself paid off thanks to Huston’s meticulous research and his characters were three-dimensional. Huston generally worked at his best when bromances were created…or destroyed. We clearly see how gold can negatively affect a person’s life. How it can make a person paranoid to the highest degree, where he could trust absolutely no one. Where it could leave to a devastating final outcome.

Huston became aware of the film’s source material in the mid-1930’s, which was authored by B.Traven. Huston wanted to option the movie but World War II intervened. He created several documentaries about the warfront. After the war and the raging success of his debut The Maltese Falcon, he had the clout to make whatever he wanted, and this is what he chose. He understood the source material well enough to create characters with such depth to them. When Humphrey Bogart learned about the film, he lobbied Huston to play the lead role. He once famously told a film critic that is next role would be someone who is not too nice, but with a curse word added. There are many stories about the film’s production. It is one of the first movies to be shot on location in Tampico, Mexico. The film’s budget ballooned to over three million dollars and Jack L. Warner called the cast and crew home. Warner thought he would be getting a B-western and the initial box office was not great. Eventually, success did find Warner when this film became the instant classic.

Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) and Curtin (Tim Holt) are American prospectors down on their luck in Mexico. They meet a contractor who promises to pay them for remote work. Once the job is finished, the contractor scrams without paying the men. Meanwhile, the two men overhear an older prospector, Howard (Walter Huston) saying there is still gold in the mountains. Once the Americans beat the money out of the prospector, they have the money to pay for their trip to the mountains and they recruit the wise prospector. Once they find gold, that is when it really begins. On their journey, they encounter bandits, Indians, and Federales. While those encounters may seem intense, the most intense encounter will be within themselves. Will the power of greed undermine the men’s goals to find wealth?

The performances are excellent. Humphrey Bogart played someone who wasn’t even a good guy to begin with. Then we watch how greed slowly, but surely overtakes him. This sort of role is different from previous roles. Certainly different from Casablanca. Still, all of his performances are full of depth and insightful and this one is no different. As for Walter Huston, he originally resisted this part. He felt like he is still a leading man and was skeptical of any supporting roles, but he was eventually won over…and gave the film’s best performance! Sorry, Humphrey. He seems like a bit of an oddball at first, but he really is a wise, calculating old man who seems to be knowledgeable in just about anything.

Overall, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is an excellent character film set within an adventure mind. It really is not a movie about treasure, but about how greed can easily overcome a man’s mental mindset. This film was a major influence on future television shows and movies. Breaking Bad, my favorite television show, received major influence from this film. Huston did his research in making his script as tight as possible. Fun trivia fact! Bogart starred in two films where major lines are often misquoted; Casablanca and now this film where we meet the bandits masquerading as Federales for the very first time. In addition to the script, excellent direction and performances, this film is beautiful to look at and has a wonderful score from Max Steiner. Oh, one more piece of trivia! This is the first film to have a father/son duo win at the Oscars! Anyhow, check this film out. It does not get much better than this.

My Grade: A

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