MOVIEmeter
Top 5000
Down 19 this week

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

8.4
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 8.4/10 from 51,478 users  
Reviews: 178 user | 93 critic

Fred Dobbs and Bob Curtin, two Americans searching for work in Mexico, convince an old prospector to help them mine for gold in the Sierra Madre Mountains.

Director:

Writers:

(screen play), (based on the novel by)
Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 2173 titles created 6 months ago
 
a list of 100 titles created 28 Feb 2011
 
a list of 1017 titles created 9 months ago
 
a list of 1269 titles created 7 months ago
 
a list of 140 images created 09 Jul 2011
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) on IMDb 8.4/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Top 250 #76 | Won 3 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 4 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Drama | Thriller | Western
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

After outlaw leader Ben Wade is captured in a small town, his gang continue to threaten. Small-time rancher Dan Evans is persuaded to take Wade in secret to the nearest town with a railway ... See full summary »

Director: Delmer Daves
Stars: Glenn Ford, Van Heflin, Felicia Farr
Action | Adventure | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

An oppressed Mexican peasant village assembles seven gunfighters to help defend their homes.

Director: John Sturges
Stars: Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen
Western
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.9/10 X  

A Missouri farmer joins a Confederate guerrilla unit and winds up on the run from the Union soldiers who murdered his family.

Director: Clint Eastwood
Stars: Clint Eastwood, Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke
True Grit (1969)
Certificate: M Adventure | Western | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

A drunken, hard-nosed U.S. Marshal and a Texas Ranger help a stubborn young woman track down her father's murderer in Indian territory.

Director: Henry Hathaway
Stars: John Wayne, Glen Campbell, Kim Darby
El Dorado (1966)
Western
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Hara. Together with an old Indian fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water.

Director: Howard Hawks
Stars: John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, James Caan
Adventure | Drama | Western
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

Lt. John Dunbar, exiled to a remote western Civil War outpost, befriends wolves and Indians, making him an intolerable aberration in the military.

Director: Kevin Costner
Stars: Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene
The Searchers (1956)
Western
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

As a Civil War veteran spends years searching for a young niece captured by Indians, his motivation becomes increasingly questionable.

Director: John Ford
Stars: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles
Hombre (1967)
Western
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.3/10 X  

John Russell, disdained by his "respectable" fellow stagecoach passengers because he was raised by Indians, becomes their only hope for survival when they are set upon by outlaws.

Director: Martin Ritt
Stars: Paul Newman, Fredric March, Richard Boone
Seven Samurai (1954)
Action | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.8/10 X  

A poor village under attack by bandits recruits seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves.

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Stars: Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima
Apocalypto (2006)
Action | Adventure | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

As the Mayan kingdom faces its decline, the rulers insist the key to prosperity is to build more temples and offer human sacrifices. Jaguar Paw, a young man captured for sacrifice, flees to avoid his fate.

Director: Mel Gibson
Stars: Rudy Youngblood, Dalia Hernández, Raoul Trujillo
Action | Adventure
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

A group of passengers struggle to survive and escape, when their ocean liner completely capsizes at sea.

Director: Ronald Neame
Stars: Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons
Certificate: M Adventure | Biography | Crime
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.2/10 X  

Two Western bank/train robbers flee to Bolivia when the law gets too close.

Director: George Roy Hill
Stars: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross
Edit

Cast

Complete credited cast:
...
...
...
...
...
McCormick (as Barton Mac Lane)
Alfonso Bedoya ...
Arturo Soto Rangel ...
Presidente (as A. Soto Rangel)
Manuel Dondé ...
El Jefe (as Manuel Donde)
José Torvay ...
Pablo (as Jose Torvay)
Margarito Luna ...
Edit

Storyline

Fred C. Dobbs and Bob Curtin, both down on their luck in Tampico, Mexico in 1925, meet up with a grizzled prospector named Howard and decide to join with him in search of gold in the wilds of central Mexico. Through enormous difficulties, they eventually succeed in finding gold, but bandits, the elements, and most especially greed threaten to turn their success into disaster. Written by Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

They sold their souls for... See more »


Certificate:

Approved | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

|

Release Date:

24 January 1948 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Treasure of Sierra Madre  »

Filming Locations:

 »

Box Office

Budget:

$1,100,000 (estimated)
 »

Company Credits

Production Co:

 »
Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(RCA Sound System)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Vincent Sherman was all set to direct a version of the story during the WWII years until his script fell foul of the Breen office for being derogatory towards Mexicans. See more »

Goofs

When Howard is trying to revive the Indian boy, there is nothing around the boy. Later a calabash gourd appears on his left side and changes position between shots. See more »

Quotes

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

Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: Time of the Apes (1989) See more »

Soundtracks

"Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms"
(1808) (uncredited)
Music traditional
Played on harmonica by Walter Huston
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

Truly something special
3 June 2004 | by (Washington, DC) – See all my reviews

This film made a huge impression on me when I first saw it at the age of 15 or 16. A recent rewatching on DVD really served to bring home for me what makes this film so special.

The whole thing is quite good, but it really hits you when Howard goes off to celebrate with the Indians, leaving Dobbs and Curtin to care for his gold and burros. The ensuing scenes of their spiraling mistrust and tension are absolutely spellbinding--the kind of thing that makes you lean forward in your seat just to get your eyes a little closer to the raw humanity unfolding in front of you. Their paranoia, the way you can SEE scenarios of betrayal dancing in their eyes, Dobbs' burgeoning madness--these are the moments that make this film one for the ages.

At its best, film noir (which this most certainly is--Western surroundings or no) makes the viewer complicit in the evil depicted on screen. We find ourselves scheming and plotting in our heads along with the unsavory characters we are watching--we start to feel the same temptations and desires that they do. "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" accomplishes this bond with the audience as well as any film you are likely to see.

A magnificent film--one of the few great screen tragedies.


52 of 64 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Does Huston break the 4th wall rayshaw44
water thrown in kid's face onleft23
Dissapointed... filmgutten_432
Great film, but not a western! jbwood421
What's Bogart's best performance? tayman104
The girl Thistle-Rose
Discuss The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page