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

  (Complete credited 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 | UK:PG | USA:Approved (certificate #12347)

Filming Locations:

Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Director John Huston had read the book "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" by B. Traven in 1936 and had always thought the material would make a great movie. Based on a 19th-century ballad by a German poet, Traven's book reminded Huston of his own adventures in the Mexican cavalry. When Huston became a director at Warner Bros., the smashing success of his initial effort, The Maltese Falcon (1941), gave him the clout to ask to write and direct the project, for which Warner Bros. had previously secured the movie rights.

Goofs:

Continuity: In subsequent scenes Gold Hat's sombrero is missing the bullet hole that Bogart shot into it at the mountain confrontation.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "The Good Guys: Is This Trip Necessary (#2.8)" (1969)

Soundtrack:

Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms

God Has a Sense of Humor

I think the great lesson of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is the effect civilization has on the behavior of man. Some people are only as good as they ought to be and the case in point is the guys that go out into the Sierra Madre gold prospecting and how their behavior changes.

Dobbs and Curtin a couple of down on their luck Americans stranded in Tampico, Mexico. They meet up with old Howard at a flop house and his tales inspire them to try gold prospecting. The plot of the film is what happens to them when they find the gold they seek.

The Treaure of the Sierra Madre is a film years ahead of its time for the stark realism it portrays. These are not classic movie heroes. I could see this film easily being remade today by some of our contemporary stars like Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Russell Crowe.

It also has probably the most brutal bar fight ever put on film. Before going prospecting, Humphrey Bogart as Dobbs and Tim Holt as Curtin go out on a construction job for Barton MacLane who stiffs them when it comes time to pay up. They catch up with him at a Tampico dive and administer a terrible beating to MacLane. This is not some western saloon fight, this is probably one of the most realistic bar brawls ever filmed.

I like to compare this film to The Oxbow Incident. In both cases, stress and a crisis bring out the true characters in people. Tim Holt is a lot like Henry Fonda's character and Bogart would have definitely been found in the ranks of the lynchers.

Bogart as Dobbs is probably someone who in civilized society is no better than what he can get away with. His descent into uncontrollable paranoia is frightening on the screen, one of his best performances.

Tim Holt who most of the time was content to star in B westerns for RKO shows what a capable player he is. In the flophouse scene look for an unbilled appearance by his father Jack Holt.

Walter Huston capped a long career on the screen with the Best Supporting Actor Award for this film which also was the Best Picture of 1948. And son John Huston won his only Oscar for Best Director, making Oscar night a banner occasion for the Huston family. Huston's character of Howard you can see playing sidekick in many a Hollywood western. That would be a superficial impression. Howard turns out to be a wise old man.

The ending of what happens to the men and their acquired treasure in the Sierra Made mountains is something else. In a location far from civilization and far from law it's shown that the Almighty does have a wicked sense of humor.