The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Grade: 93
"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" is an outstanding film that demonstrates how greed can corrupt one's soul. Humphrey Bogart delivers one of his most memorable performances playing a scraggly down-and-outer, whose gold prospecting windfall leads only to paranoia and violence.
The story begins with Bogart and fellow bum Tim Holt living a marginal existence in rural Mexico in 1925. After winning a small lottery and meeting old-timer prospector Walter Huston, the three seek their fortune in the Sierra Madre mountains, a dangerous land where water is scarce and bandits are common.
After the trio discover and mine a gold bonanza, Bogart becomes mentally unstable. His mind plays paranoid tricks on him, and he turns to violence. Bogart did not receive an Academy Award nomination for his role, but certainly he deserved one. He often played characters that were either good or evil, but were on the wise and in control of their circumstances. Bogart's character here is not as smart as he thinks he is, and is controlled by external events.
The supporting cast is very entertaining. We soon encounter the director, John Huston, playing a man in a white suit who disdainfully gives pesos to a begging Bogart. Huston won Oscars for both Best Director and Best Script. Incredibly, these would be the only Academy Awards of his career, which included work on such films as "The Maltese Falcon", "The African Queen" and "The Alphalt Jungle".
In a cantina, there is a great performance by a Mexican boy peddling lottery tickets. The kid turns out to be Robert Blake, age 14 but looking and sounding much younger.
Walter Huston, John Huston's father, is dynamic as the clever old-timer, who always knows what to do in every situation. He won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role.
Although boring white-bread Bruce Bennett gets fourth billing, that billing was more deserved by Alfonso Bedoya, who plays a bandit leader. His character is treacherous and mercurial, and he has the film's most memorable line: "I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!"
I think that "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" is a little better than "The Maltese Falcon", and thus is probably the best film that John Huston directed.
kollers@mpsi.net http://members.tripod.com/~Brian_Koller/movies.html
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