Review of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) by Rick R — 17 Feb 2011

The Treasure of Sierra Madre (1948).

This is another great American classic movie with the award-winning direction and screenplay of Walter Huston from B. Traven's novel. The new DVD release is so clean, crisp and clear that it's just like it just came out from the theaters.

This movie is set during 1925, in Tampico, Mexico. An American drifter, Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) meets up with another, Bob Curtin (Tim Holt). Their terrible luck brings them to a flop house where they meet up with an old-timer, Howard (Walter Huston) who tells them stories about his younger days prospecting for gold.

Fred bankrolls the prospecting expedition led by Howard up into the hills of central Mexico. Fred and Bob quickly find that they're babes in the woods about prospecting and Howard's experience becomes invaluable to surviving the ordeal. The three of them work hard at digging for gold and keeping it a secret from villagers, banditos and other Americans that show up.

But, the biggest obstacle is what the greed for gold does to them. Fred, who swears that he wouldn't sink to that level becomes the most obsessed with gold fever and he slowly starts to lose it.

The movie is best known for the bandito scene, but the majority of the Mexican people are portrayed as good, peace-loving people, which I really loved about that.