Seeking a way out of Mexico and to riches, Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) and Curtin (Tim Holt) join forces with veteran prospector Howard (Walter Huston) to go prospecting.
Finding a new deposit of gold proves relatively easy - getting their new fortune out is another story.
Not only is there the threat of rival prospectors and bandits, but the characters’ own most base desires…
Easily one of the best Bogart movies I have seen, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a must see.
It took me decades to finally watch it, and I wish I had seen it sooner.
I did try watching it at home a few years ago, but stopped - something told me it needed to be seen on the big screen.
And it was worth the wait!
A great movie about greed - hell, you could make a good case the film is a metaphor for capitalism - Treasure sees Bogart at his most craven. It is not the darkest Bogart performance (In A Lonely Place has that spot), but it was one of his most compelling scumbags.
Dobbs is a classic example of against-type casting.
By this point in his career, Bogart’s persona was firmly established: the tough guy, the cynic, the smartest guy in the room.
What is key is that beneath the toughness is a sensitivity, and part of the character's journeys (Maltese Falcon, Casablanca) is that he reaches the right decision - whether that is to let his lover go, or to arrest the beautiful woman who killed his business partner.
Dobbs is not the smartest guy in the room - he just thinks he is. Instead of his usual coolheaded persona, Bogart leans into Dobb’s impulsiveness.
He is excited by the experience of violence but in the one real tussle, he gets beaten to a pulp - he wins because he has a compatriot, not because of his toughness or skill.
Dobbs is ultimately brought down by his selfishness - in betraying his companions, he is forced to face the world on his own, and his fate is an inevitable consequence.
The theme is stated up the top, but the movie embodies it with such humanity and lack of varnish.
The film is also not burdened with darkness.
Walter Huston, the writer-director’s father, is fantastic as the veteran prospector - he has been dealt so many bad hands he can guess how this latest round is going to play out, but he is not burdened with fear or guilt.
As Curtin, Dobbs’ more equitable sidekick, Tim Holt is solid. His relative anonymity compared with his co-stars is a bonus to their collective dynamic - you never quite sure which way he is going to go.
This is important because the film’s theme is centred around the biggest star.
While Dobbs is clearly swayed by the promise of fortune, he is not alone - and the constantly evolving dynamics between the characters provide a simmering tension than never abets.
The film is so well-structured and unmannered.
The first section of the film, set in a town, sets out the characters:
We get a brief sojourn where Dobbs and Curtin work in an oil field before getting cheated out of their money. The pair end up fighting and beating the con artist in a fantastically scrappy fight. Significantly, they only take what they are owed and leave the rest of the man’s money.
The second act is based around finding the gold, and once it is found, holding onto it.
Like John Huston’s later The African Queen, part of the film was shot on location and benefits from the sense of verrisimilitude.
The film also features a number of Latinx actors, and a lot of the dialogue is in Spanish without subtitles - the Anglo viewer is as lost as Dobbs and Curtin, who have to hang on Howard for translation.
When their mentor breaks away on his own journey, this is the final unmooring for the pair we started out with. Howard’s departure is the loss of a balancing force, and when Dobbs’ paranoia returns, there is no one to stand in his way.
The third act is a slow descent into madness, ending with Dobbs’ death at the hands of some local bandits. Ironically, the hard-won gold is tossed away by the bandits who have no idea what the bags are filled with (another sad, bitter touch is the bandits’ brief, childish tussle over Dobbs’ shoes).
A great, fun adventure movie, and a fantastic showcase for Bogart and Walter Huston.
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