The Treasure of the Sierra MadreThey say that money is the root of all evil; it is the thing which is always eluding the surly drifter Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart). Stuck in Tampico without two pesos to rub together, he tries to claw his way out of the gutter, taking the first job that comes his way, and putting "the bite" on the wealthiest looking white man he can come across--often more than once, as is the case with the man in the white suit, played by director John Huston. Dobbs' fortunes change when he--and fellow homeless American Bob "Curt" Curtin (Tim Holt) get wind of the idea to prospect for gold, having been inspired by the tales told by the venerable prospector, Howard (Walter Huston).
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The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is not a Western in the traditional sense, although it is set in the wilderness of the uncivilized badlands of Mexico, where bandits and hela monsters are as much a threat as dehydration and sunstroke. It is a tale of the greed of men, and how when confronted with riches, men show their true colors. Unfortunately, that means that a guy like Dobbs reveals his devastating paranoia in full at the expense of his new partners. Dobbs and Curt became working friends back in Tampico, having both been screwed out of their hard earned pay by a local conman named Pat McCormick (Barton MacLane), their bond made stronger over mutual rage at the swine and their intake of beer--a combination primed for a saloon showdown--not to mention the thrashing they give the lout upon finding him in the streets. It's been a while since they had any real money to work with, but they both recall with clarity the story Howard told in a little flophouse they bedded down in called "Le Oso Negro", his tales and golden tongue making it clear that he spoke from experience. Dobbs and Curt seek him out for advise and consultation in their efforts to mine for gold, but end up recruiting him as a partner in the process. Howard's experience proves the sole reason that they are able to make any headway searching for gold. As Howard says of why gold is valuable at all, is that it has to do with its rarity, sure, but mainly the amount of work that goes into it; if one in five hundred finds gold, this makes the gold worth five hundred times what it really should be. Howard always seems to know more than he lets on, and is eerily tactful when he needs to be. Dobbs and Curt understand that he is really running the expedition, and have to defer to him if they have any hope of making it rich, discovering that their inexperience is holding them back. Curt is more receptive and appreciative to the help, a team player--Dobbs, not so much. John Huston plays a bit of a trick on us with Dobbs; he is ostensibly the main character of the piece--who we're with from the start--and we can appreciate that hunger and shame does much to make a man cruel...at least that's the justification we tell ourselves, even when Dobbs throws a glass of water into the face of a persistent lottery-selling boy in anger. And we may pity Dobbs, because he lets his money (and other people's money) slip through his fingers with surprising ease. After he fishes for a peso, he gets a meal, but blows the change on the lottery we know he previously lost at from the very start. His second peso--the same ploy of begging for a meal--goes right to a shave and a haircut. So it should come as no surprise that when the trio discover and begin to mine the gold--and as they plan out their dreams to put their hard efforts to meaningful use, Dobbs' expectations are to blow it fast on fancy extravagances, which would no doubt leave him in as dire of straits as he was in when they found him.
Slowly but surely, Dobbs descends into paranoid madness;. The first preview of this in the camp comes when he intimates that the three should divide up the gold, so that each man would be responsible for his own share. Since they are equal partners, this is an entirely foolish and impractical suggestion, but it underscores that regardless of the camaraderie and fellowship of his partners (and presumably friends), he doesn't trust them any more than anyone who isn't Fred C. Dobbs. It is clear that Howard recognizes the signs of Dobbs' onset of gold fever, but he is an old man who doesn't relish the thought of antagonizing a madman. Curt tries to reason with Dobbs' progressive downfall, but he simply can't keep up with the hold which has taken Dobbs over. Frankly, Dobbs is not exclusively the wild card; there are a few, scant moments where it is clear that the greed has a tendril or two in Curt. When the cave-in almost claims Dobbs' life, there is a brief hesitation when Curt almost considers leaving his friend behind, but out of goodness, he rushes in to save him. When Curt goes into town for supplies, he is approached by a fellow American from Dallas, Texas--James Cody (Bruce Bennett)--who presses Curt for a little knowledge of what he's really doing up in those hills, since he doesn't buy the story about hunting. Unfortunately for Cody, his curiosity gets the better of him and leads him to an icy reception when he trespasses into their camp. Although Cody proposes that they could either kill him or make him a working partner in their future mining efforts, it is Curt's deciding vote which is to put him down, a fate which ends up being rerouted when they discover that bandits are arriving at the threshold of their work site, led by a familiar figure. Mexico is a dangerous country, with the outlaws roaming the wilds, attacking trains and provoking passersby. The leader of the local bandits, identified by his insidious manner and his golden sombrero (Alfonso Bedoya)--who gets the classic, always-misquoted line about "stinking badges"--is a persistent threat, always showing up like a bad card for Dobbs, the shadow of his miserable fate. The land itself is like a character in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre--it gives the gold to the men who take it from her (Howard refers to the mountain as "her"), it is the expanse which is harsh and tries the will of the men who attempt to brave it. Howard is a wise man--he is regarded by natives of the range as a medicine man, after he saves a young boy from the after effect of near drowning--and he is acutely aware of the destructive power of gold over men, something which Dobbs and Curt are willing to ignore in light of their dissatisfaction of being completely broke. Dobbs frequently tries to convince himself of the merits of his own selfishness, but it is no more than reinforcing his own delusions. He tells Howard at the hostel that he would be content with a set amount, and not drive himself crazy seeking more, a claim which he doubles back on when the times comes up in the hills. He claims that gold is neither a blessing nor a curse, but that man makes it so. Dobbs may be right, but what does that say about Dobbs, when he's ready to off his partner for looking at him sideways? And as Dobbs ultimately finds himself alone and driven mad by his greed and paranoia, his thin veneer of sanity finally rubbed away for good, he lays down by the campfire to sleep, talking to himself like the madman he has become about the virtues of being without a conscience. As the flames which give him no warmth rise up, a conflagration of hellfire growls forth over the scene; it is a sure sign that his reservation in the underworld is assured. A lot of what we end up getting to know about this trio of wealth seekers comes across in the subtext of their expressions. We can see that no matter how much Dobbs tries to clean himself off, he always seems to get a bit more grizzly with a growing wild look in his eyes from scene to scene. Even a moment such as when Howard is directed to accompany the natives back to their village, so they may show their appreciation for saving the boy, means that he must leave Dobbs and Curt alone with all the gold. His expression is worrisome, but we suspect that it is not because he is actually worried about his own share of the wealth, but of the inevitable confrontation between the manic Dobbs and the inexperienced Curt. One of the most telling scenes in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre happens after Cody has met his unfortunate fate, and the three men discover among his possessions a letter written to him by his wife, Helen. As Howard reads the letter aloud, Curt appears increasingly crestfallen, the shame on his face more evident, since he had considered actually killing a man simply because he was invasive, a man who was friendly enough, just in the wrong place at the wrong time. By comparison, Dobbs callously rolls a cigarette during the reading. Another part of this scene which resonates is how Helen describes the love she and Cody had as the only treasure she cared about; the word "treasure" is said often, mostly referring to the literal treasure of gold, but the message is that it is no treasure if the pursuit of it means sacrificing any part of your soul, and that what we value may not be confined solely to saddlebags full of gold dust.
Recommended for: Fans of an exciting tale of men whose limits of decency are tested when the lure of riches is dangled before them. It is also a departure for Humphrey Bogart, who plays Fred C. Dobbs with such callow and skittishness so as to be unrecognizable from the collection of suave and clever men he had portrayed in other cinema classics, but it may be his best performance as well.
Slowly but surely, Dobbs descends into paranoid madness;. The first preview of this in the camp comes when he intimates that the three should divide up the gold, so that each man would be responsible for his own share. Since they are equal partners, this is an entirely foolish and impractical suggestion, but it underscores that regardless of the camaraderie and fellowship of his partners (and presumably friends), he doesn't trust them any more than anyone who isn't Fred C. Dobbs. It is clear that Howard recognizes the signs of Dobbs' onset of gold fever, but he is an old man who doesn't relish the thought of antagonizing a madman. Curt tries to reason with Dobbs' progressive downfall, but he simply can't keep up with the hold which has taken Dobbs over. Frankly, Dobbs is not exclusively the wild card; there are a few, scant moments where it is clear that the greed has a tendril or two in Curt. When the cave-in almost claims Dobbs' life, there is a brief hesitation when Curt almost considers leaving his friend behind, but out of goodness, he rushes in to save him. When Curt goes into town for supplies, he is approached by a fellow American from Dallas, Texas--James Cody (Bruce Bennett)--who presses Curt for a little knowledge of what he's really doing up in those hills, since he doesn't buy the story about hunting. Unfortunately for Cody, his curiosity gets the better of him and leads him to an icy reception when he trespasses into their camp. Although Cody proposes that they could either kill him or make him a working partner in their future mining efforts, it is Curt's deciding vote which is to put him down, a fate which ends up being rerouted when they discover that bandits are arriving at the threshold of their work site, led by a familiar figure. Mexico is a dangerous country, with the outlaws roaming the wilds, attacking trains and provoking passersby. The leader of the local bandits, identified by his insidious manner and his golden sombrero (Alfonso Bedoya)--who gets the classic, always-misquoted line about "stinking badges"--is a persistent threat, always showing up like a bad card for Dobbs, the shadow of his miserable fate. The land itself is like a character in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre--it gives the gold to the men who take it from her (Howard refers to the mountain as "her"), it is the expanse which is harsh and tries the will of the men who attempt to brave it. Howard is a wise man--he is regarded by natives of the range as a medicine man, after he saves a young boy from the after effect of near drowning--and he is acutely aware of the destructive power of gold over men, something which Dobbs and Curt are willing to ignore in light of their dissatisfaction of being completely broke. Dobbs frequently tries to convince himself of the merits of his own selfishness, but it is no more than reinforcing his own delusions. He tells Howard at the hostel that he would be content with a set amount, and not drive himself crazy seeking more, a claim which he doubles back on when the times comes up in the hills. He claims that gold is neither a blessing nor a curse, but that man makes it so. Dobbs may be right, but what does that say about Dobbs, when he's ready to off his partner for looking at him sideways? And as Dobbs ultimately finds himself alone and driven mad by his greed and paranoia, his thin veneer of sanity finally rubbed away for good, he lays down by the campfire to sleep, talking to himself like the madman he has become about the virtues of being without a conscience. As the flames which give him no warmth rise up, a conflagration of hellfire growls forth over the scene; it is a sure sign that his reservation in the underworld is assured. A lot of what we end up getting to know about this trio of wealth seekers comes across in the subtext of their expressions. We can see that no matter how much Dobbs tries to clean himself off, he always seems to get a bit more grizzly with a growing wild look in his eyes from scene to scene. Even a moment such as when Howard is directed to accompany the natives back to their village, so they may show their appreciation for saving the boy, means that he must leave Dobbs and Curt alone with all the gold. His expression is worrisome, but we suspect that it is not because he is actually worried about his own share of the wealth, but of the inevitable confrontation between the manic Dobbs and the inexperienced Curt. One of the most telling scenes in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre happens after Cody has met his unfortunate fate, and the three men discover among his possessions a letter written to him by his wife, Helen. As Howard reads the letter aloud, Curt appears increasingly crestfallen, the shame on his face more evident, since he had considered actually killing a man simply because he was invasive, a man who was friendly enough, just in the wrong place at the wrong time. By comparison, Dobbs callously rolls a cigarette during the reading. Another part of this scene which resonates is how Helen describes the love she and Cody had as the only treasure she cared about; the word "treasure" is said often, mostly referring to the literal treasure of gold, but the message is that it is no treasure if the pursuit of it means sacrificing any part of your soul, and that what we value may not be confined solely to saddlebags full of gold dust.
Recommended for: Fans of an exciting tale of men whose limits of decency are tested when the lure of riches is dangled before them. It is also a departure for Humphrey Bogart, who plays Fred C. Dobbs with such callow and skittishness so as to be unrecognizable from the collection of suave and clever men he had portrayed in other cinema classics, but it may be his best performance as well.