Review of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) by Jerry N — 02 Jun 2009

It is a truly fantastic film! Huston is such a oddball, strange character, completely the opposite of Bogey's at first nonchalant and then later, maliciously-suspicious Dobbs. Bogey is fantastic and it baffles me how he was nominated so little by the Academy (even though he did win one), especially not being nominated here for such a blood-curdling performance. I love how the film is at first about gold, but only slightly. It becomes more about the characters and how they react to the gold they are getting; Dobbs obviously being the most affected.

Huston's direction is just perfect. There is not a shot that seems wrong and awkwardly rendered. There are a couple of scenes where we see something appear out of the corner of our eyes (a scythe in the hand of one of the Indians as they make their way to Dobbs', Curtin's and Howard's camp and also when Dobbs is getting some water and we see a bandit appear in the water). These are measured so perfectly and the music is careful to not give away anything before it actually happens (like so many movies these days...). The music, great in these two scenes, is fantastic throughout, as well. It has a constant intensity to marking the strain the gold is having on the relationships between the three men.