The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

What a powerhouse movie, the themes and performances carry this so far. What starts out as a simple plan has unraveled completely by the end. Just fantastic character work by Bogart especially slipping further and further into paranoia and greed. I feel as if so many stories have become derivative of this narrative, but this still hits where it needs to. The balance of the characters and problems they run into never got boring and kept adapting which really helped the story breathe and let it's themes play out. It also helped me understand the badges scene parodied in Blazing Saddles which... read more

For my classic this week I decided on my second Bogart movie ever and a lot different to the romantic "Casablanca". This one about a trio's search for treasure in the Sierra Madre mountains is directed by John Huston who also wrote it based on a novel. Humphrey Bogart is great as a destitute supported well by Tim Holt but the best part was given to Huston's father Walter who won an Academy Award for supporting actor, also John won for Best Director that year. It's a couple of hours but well worth a look. read more

This film is a sharp-edged study of the effects of greed on otherwise normal men, and one man in particular: Bogart's Fred C. Dobbs. Dobbs and Bob Curtin (Tim Holt) are down and out and meet up with prospector Howard (Walter Huston). When Dobbs wins a lottery, he uses the proceeds to finance a trip for the three to central Mexico to search for gold. The three have to deal with the lawlessness of central Mexico at the time - bandits were actually on the loose in that country killing anybody with stuff, and taking that stuff. The Federales were a violent solution to a violent problem - killing... read more