The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Directed by John Huston
Written by John Huston based on the novel by B. Traven
1948/USA
Warner Bros.
Repeat viewing/Warner Bros. DVD
#223 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

[box] Fred C. Dobbs: This is the country where the nuggets of gold are just crying out for you to take them out of the ground and make ’em shine in coins on the fingers and necks of swell dames.[/box]

John Huston’s tale of gold lust will never grow old.

Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) is a vagabond who has been reduced to soliciting hand-outs on the streets of Tampico, Mexico.  He gets three windfalls in one day from the same American (memorably played by John Huston) and his luck appears to be changing.  So much so that he takes a chance on purchasing 1/20 of a lottery ticket from a street urchin.

Eventually, Dobbs meets up with fellow-American Curtin (Tim Holt) and they get work as laborers.  But their boss disappears with their wages and they end up sleeping in a flop house with old-time prospector Howard (Walter Huston).  Howard tells them a cautionary tale about the effects of gold on men.  When they finally recoup their money from the boss in a fight, they remember what the old man said and go to find him.  Between their wages and the money Dobbs wins on his forgotten lottery ticket, they have the stake to go prospecting.  They take Howard along for his expertise, figuring they will eventually have to carry him.

It turns out that Howard is in the best shape of all of them and the two younger men are unprepared for the long journey.  Then they find a rich vein of gold and find they are in for months of back-breaking labor to mine it.  As the gold piles up, Dobbs get increasingly paranoid about losing it.  Early on, he demands that the men divide it equally at the end of each day.

The men are constantly in danger from rival prospectors and bandits.  After they start back to civilization with their loot, however, it appears that the greatest danger is from each other.  With Barton McLane as the crooked boss and Robert Blake as a street urchin.

This has to rank with the best screenplays ever written.  The moral is clear early on but the psychology behind the greed is masterfully done.  I love the way Dobbs starts referring to himself in the third person more and more as he slips into madness.  This is the role Bogart should have won his Oscar for.  It’s incredible he was not even nominated.  Walter Huston is fantastic.  He is unrecognizable without his teeth and even his distinctive voice is not much in evidence.  A true classic.  Very highly recommended.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre won Academy Awards in the categories of Best Supporting Actor (Huston), Best Director, and Best Writing, Screenplay.  It was nominated for Best Picture.

Trailer