The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Director:

John Huston

Writers:

John Huston (screenplay)
B. Traven (novel)

Release Date:

24 January 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Western | Action

Tagline:

The more he yearns for a woman's arms . . . the fiercer he lusts for the treasure that cursed them all!

Plot:

Fred C. Dobbs and Bob Curtin, both down on their luck in Tampico, Mexico in 1925, meet up with a grizzled...

Plot Keywords:

Gold | Mexico | Prospector | Bandit | Friend

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 9 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Humphrey Bogart	...	Dobbs
Walter Huston	...	Howard
Tim Holt	...	Curtin
Bruce Bennett	...	Cody
Barton MacLane	...	McCormick (as Barton Mac Lane)
Alfonso Bedoya	...	Gold Hat
Arturo Soto Rangel	...	Presidente (as A. Soto Rangel)
Manuel Dondé	...	El Jefe (as Manuel Donde)
José Torvay	...	Pablo (as Jose Torvay)
Margarito Luna	...	Pancho

Also Known As:

Treasure of Sierra Madre (USA) (poster title)

Runtime:

126 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | South Korea:12 | West Germany:12 (nf) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Norway:16 | West Germany:6 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:AL | Sweden:15 (1977) | UK:PG | USA:Approved (certificate #12347)

Filming Locations:

Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

John Huston has a cameo as an American tourist. This scene was directed by Humphrey Bogart, who took malicious pleasure on his director by making him perform the scene over and over again.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Dobbs goes back to bury the body, he runs around looking for it, then trips over. As he does so he practically falls off the set, as visible to the left are a large water tank and a hose.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Dobbs: Say buddy, will you stake a fellow Am...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Leaving (1988) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms

All that glitters is not gold

This is one of those great old movies that is worth a repeat viewing every now and again in a person's life. Sure, much of the acting and dialog have gotten corny and dated over the years, and I agree with one of the previous commenters who said that Bogart's acting seems very forced - like he's obviously just reading lines from script. Be that as it may, the story that is told here is every bit as important and thought provoking as something from the Bible. Throughout the film there is a spot-on wisdom about man and his endless quest for wealth (in this case, gold). I always come away from this movie feeling secure in my belief that in life you just can't have it all, and all that glitters is not gold (i.e. there are things in life more important than money).

Since this movie was largely about lost fortunes (literally "dust in the wind" if you think about the end sequence), it must have made quite an impression on audiences back in the forties when it was released. I'm sure more than a few viewers back then still had painful memories of catastrophic losses caused by the 1929 stock market crash and the ensuing Depression of the 1930's. Also, many people lost a lot in the war years that followed, and which predated this movie by just a few years.

That's why I think this movie qualifies for repeat viewings, because just think how appropriate this wisdom is for our current generation of people: just consider the losses from, say, the stock market crash of 2000, the events of September 11th, and of course we just witnessed the horrific losses caused by the Asian tsunami... the cycle repeats. Fortunes come and go, gold is often times nothing but dust in the wind, but life goes on and so man must go on. That's what this movie says to me whenever I see it.