The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Fantastic movie with great cast and a thrilling story. Bogart performs great.

I wanted something very special to be my 5,000th film (at least to my horrible memory and to my stats on IMDb), and so after brazen and intense thought, I decided on a later-than-expected watch of a classic from Bogart's association with John Huston. I say later than expected because I bought the immaculate 24-film Humphrey Bogart Collection, which was supposed to have it on its 12 double-sided DVDs, but it accidentally had, in its place, the special features disc, which held excellent feature-length documentaries on both John Huston and the making of the film. Thus I waited until recently, when I found the blu for a very good price and went for it. It was worth the wait. The ultimate tale of sordid greed. Without going into detail or spoilers, everyone got exactly what they deserved. My only qualm is that after a splendid cameo by the director (whom when I think of that aspect of his career, I will always fondly think of 'Chinatown'), I was hoping we'd end up seeing more of his character. That would have been even more wonderful for me. Hopefully I will see and rate another 5,000--and I'm very curious if and when I do, what film I'll choose for THAT milestone...

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a film whose pleasures lie in the ‘how’ as opposed to the ‘what.’ Not long into the movie, Howard (Walter Huston) spells out the plot in broad strokes: “Never knew a prospector yet that died rich … going with a partner or two is dangerous. Murder's always lurkin' about. Partners accusin' each other of all sorts of crimes … as long as there's no find, the noble brotherhood will last, but when the piles of gold begin to grow, that's when the trouble starts.” The movie then unfolds with all the inevitability of a Greek tragedy (with Howard doing Cassandra one better, because not even he heeds his own prediction). The story’s destination thus secured, writer/director John Huston doesn’t rush headlong for the finish line; on the contrary, he takes the time to establish the characters and the situation at his leisure, with lots of patience and a smattering of humor (including a scene where Bogie throws water in the face of an infant Robert Blake). After the three protagonists – Howard, Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart), and Bob Curtin (Tim Holt) – climb up the titular mountains and Dobbs climbs down from sanity, everything goes pretty much according to Howard’s forecast – which is to say, spectacularly wrong, but spectacular nonetheless; Dobbs becomes paranoid and delusional, convinced that the other two are either going to stab him in the back or ambush him down the line – but never just shoot him on the spot, because they are “yellow.” Even at his most heroic, Bogie had an underlying mean streak; Rick Blaine is a cynical, bitter drunk who is, as one can only be in the movies, Saved by the Love of a Good Woman (even if he doesn’t Get the Girl in the End), and Sam Spade is always looking out for No. 1. It’s in films like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (see also Conflict, In a Lonely Place) that he lets loose that inner darkness which he only taps into elsewhere, and his descent into madness remains the best part of a great movie (and even then Huston finds room for humor, such as when Dobbs asks an interloper “who’s not civilized?!” right before sucker punching him).

**An excellent film that deserves to be remembered today, more than seventy years later.** It's curious to see a film where a group of Americans go to Mexico to experience in Mexican lands what many Mexicans now go through in the USA: hunger, unemployment and difficulties in surviving. However, this is how this film begins, which presents us with a group of three Americans with no prospects for improving their lives who decide to invest everything in a treasure hunt by becoming gold prospectors in the most remote mountains of Mexico. The film continues with Americans surviving various hardships and revealing the worst of themselves due to gold fever, a type of greed that affects those who seek to get rich quickly by mining the most coveted metals in the world. There is no doubt that it is a very good film and that it treats the characters in a very careful way, with each one making a very interesting psychological and moral evolution. Therefore, it is perhaps one of the best works of the career of Humphrey Bogart, one of the most notable actors of the golden age of cinema. The way he worked on this film is impressive. Tim Holt is not far behind, however his character has a different evolution. Walter Huston also does a good job here. The film is really worth it: the story is good, John Huston's direction is competent and effective, the black and white cinematography is very beautiful and elegant, the sets are well done, and the costumes also leave nothing to be desired. The film won three Oscars in 1949: Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (for Walter Huston) and Best Screenplay.