THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE

Reviewed 6/17/2015

DVD cover

THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE
DIRECTED BY: John Huston
Genre: DRAMAS
Major Cast
Humphrey Bogartas Fred C. Dobbs
Walter Hustonas Howard, the old prospector
Tim Holtas Bob Curtin
Bruce Bennettas Jim Cody
Barton Maclaneas McCormick
Alfonso Bedoyaas Gold Hat
MPAA Rating:N/R
Distributor:Warner Brothers
Production Company:Warner Brothers
Release Date (US):January 1948
Domestic Box Office:$?
Foreign Box Office:$?
Production Budget:$3,000,000 (Est.)

PLOT SUMMARY

Fred Dobbs is down and out in Tampico, Mexico. He meets Bob Curtin, another down-and-out American, and they sign on with McCormick, who promises $8 a day, but reneges. After hitting up McCormick for what they're owed (literally), Dobbs and Curtin decide to look for gold. They've heard Howard, an old prospector, talk about it, and they recruit him for his experience.

The stake from McCormick, plus Dobbs's lucky win in the lottery, let them buy the gear they need. Ten months of hard toil in the mountains, punctuated by mutual distrust and several brushes with bandidos ensue. Considerable wealth of gold dust is acquired. Howard is called to a native village to help a sick child, which he manages to do. In his absence Dobbs, after shooting Curtin and leaving him for dead, steals his partners' gold and is killed by the bandidos. And the old prospector? I'll leave you to discover that.

Humphrey Bogart had long wanted to play a bad guy, and this film gave him his chance. It really is a marvelous effort all around, and Bogart's performance is called the best of his career. Walter Huston as the savvy and loquacious old prospector, however, steals almost every scene in which he appears.

But there are no slackers in this production. Every aspect is top-notch.

In the DVD I bought, there are background notes by Eric Lax, Bogart's biographer. These are extremely informative, but somewhat long-winded and rambling. No matter; they illuminate many details of a landmark film production from Hollywood's golden era. In 1990, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

My Rating:
10 out of 10

Capsule review: This black-and-white film is one of the best of the western genre. Stellar performances by every member of the cast, along with excellent cinematography, make it a true classic.

IMDB Rating: 8.3 Raters: 78,666
1 Ridley Scott has gone public with an answer to this question: It's because we put a man from Galilee on a cross at Golgotha 2,000 years ago. That man was one of them, it seems. They decided we are incorrigible.
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