Rating: 
Summary: An American Classic
Review: This is a magnificent work, and my hope is that
the studio copy this to DVD post haste! This film
is not a shoot em up adventure but a most excellent
well thought out acount of human nature in the raw.
(.. relax gang there be some gunplay I mean
this aint no opera!)It is subtle and very powerfull. With really
fantastic performances. My favorite remains
Walter Huston's character Howard. Ahh words
fail me .. if you want a classic in your
library (along with all the other stuff) this is it!! By the way this is where the famous line
"We don't need no stinkin' badges" originated!
So it is already a deep part of our American
heritage!
Rating:
Summary: Really, where's the DVD?
Review: Some kind of legal thing? Anyway, I'd like to give a vote to Tim Holt for the all-time unappreciated performance award. He's the necessary element in this film to make it great, aside from merely being a foil to Bogie, who hams it up pretty good, you gotta admit. Bogart's character, well, it didn't come as any surprise that the gold would work on him, but Holt's moral decay into participating in the aborted murder of Bennett, and his redemption through losing the gold, that's what this movie is all about.
Rating:
Summary: Best Bogart Pix ever.
Review: This film is one of the best Bogart films ever. I have personally seen it at least ten times and know other people who have seen it even more times. Truly a classic. Walter Houston is a gem and Robert Blake(lately of muderous fame )plays a small role as the kid who sells Bogie his winning lottery ticket.I hope it comes out soon on DVD. Badges...We don't need no stinking badges...We need this film on DVD
Rating:
Summary: One of the best Bogart/Huston collaborations
Review: When first released in 1948, "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" was not well received. It was a box-office bomb, largely for Humphrey Bogart's transition from his traditional good guy roles started by "Casablanca". People were not just willing to accept Bogart as the amoral Fred Dobbs. Though the film was awarded three academy awards, Best Picture wasn't among them. Time, however, has proven to be kinder to this film (Plot spoilers ahead). One of the three Oscar wins went to Walter Huston as Howard, an old prospector who goes along with Dobbs and Curtin (Tim Holt) prospecting for gold. Huston gets some of the film's best scenes, including his line "You two are dumb, dumber than the dumbest jackass!" I also love the scene where he trails ahead of Dobbs and Curtin as they are climbing up a mountain ("He must be part goat", Bogart remarks) because its so different from Dobbs original remark that they would have to pack him on their backs. But the film's best line is given by Alfonso Bedoya as the bandit Gold Hat. If you don't know already, I'll give you a hint: It involves badges. The trio starts off fine with not problems. But as the money increases, Dobbs becomes increasingly paranoid, talking to himself and muttering phrases like "Fred C. Dobbs says nothing he don't mean". When Howard takes a short leave, that's when things break between Dobbs and Curtin. His appearance during these scenes reminded me of a Mr. Hyde like personality. He even looks and acts like a monster, what with his ability to stay awake for days and his "Wolf Man" like appearance. The ending is very ironic. Due to their own stupidity, the gold has been lost. Yet Howard and Curtin don't seem to care too much in the long run. They have found and thought of other things more rewarding than gold. And while they may have lost much, it was less than what Dobbs lost. With the Oscar winning cast, script and direction, this movie is a winner and belongs in the collection of any film buff. Cameo (Director John Huston): White suited man who gives Dobbs money three times during the beginning.
Rating:
Summary: We ain't got no stinkin' badges!
Review: This, one of the funniest lines in cinema, certainly one of the most famous, is actually (as afficionados know) a misquote. What Alfonso Bedoya, who plays "Gold Hat," actually says, when he and his bandito friends are asked for their badges, is "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!" I wonder if anybody at the time had any idea how funny this would hit audiences. John Huston wrote the screenplay (adapting B. Traven's novel) and directed his father, Walter Huston along with Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt, and Bruce Bennett in this classic from my favorite age of cinema (the late forties/early fifties). Walter Huston won an academy award as Best Supporting Actor in 1948 and John Huston garnered Oscars for his direction and his screenplay. Bogart won nothing, but I have to say he did a great job. It's easy to think of Humphrey Bogart as always playing Humphrey Bogart as he has done in so many movies, particularly in mysteries and especially as a private eye. But here we see a different Bogart, one who is not entirely sympathetic; indeed as the down and out Fred C. Dobbs he is a bit of a scoundrel and more than a little paranoid. In watching this one realizes that Bogart had a much greater range than he is sometimes given credit for. I also recall him alongside Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen (1951) also directed by John Huston, and in The Caine Mutiny (1954). In the former he did win an Oscar, and in the latter, as Captain Queeg, he gave perhaps his most unforgettable performance. This is a tale of greed and the fever that arises when one hunts for gold. Walter Huston plays a crusty old miner named Howard who tries one more time to strike it rich. Dobbs and Bob Curtin (Tim Holt) are seduced by the wily old miner's romantic tales and the three of them go off into the Sierra Madre mountains near Tampico, Mexico to prospect. Naturally they hit pay dirt, but in-between the growing madness of Dobbs and the Mexican bandits, theirs is an uneasy existence. What happens to the gold and to the three men is fascinating to watch, and we sense a timeless human psychology at work. Bob Curtin expresses part of it this way: "You know, the worst ain't so bad when it finally happens. Not half as bad as you figure it'll be before it's happened." This movie is as good as its reputation, which is considerable, but it's not perfect. Some of it plays a little too simplistically, as when Howard saves the Mexican boy amid the worshipful natives, and some of it is a little silly, as when the bandits mistake gold for sand--not likely! But the almost epic quality of the tale and the felicitous direction as well as many interesting and humorous touches, make this one of the best ever made, and something no true film buff should miss. By the way, the little Mexican boy who sells Dobbs the lottery ticket is a bronzed up Robert Blake.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Adventure
Review: I would like to see this movie colorized. It is such a great adventure movie, I think color would enhance the experience. Humphrey Bogart's performance is tremendous, as is Walter Huston's. This is another one of those lost treasure/buried treasure flicks I have a weakness for..but the best of the lot. Starting with panhandling in the streets in Mexico, to high drama in the Sierras, it keeps you on the edge of your seat with suspense. Of course when the banditos come, who can forget the now cultish saying: "Badges?...We don't need no stinking badges!" Great performances by all, and Bogey at his best.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing performance by Bogart!
Review: Most of the time Bogart played likeable characters in his movies. However in this movie, i.e., The Treasure of the Sierra Madre VHS ~ Humphrey Bogart, truly plays a horrid character whom turns paranoid, hostile and most of all a bit manic.At that time when the movie was released audiences didn't accept (or did not want to accept) Humphrey Bogart in a role that was intentionally unappealing since that would shatter their image of him as wholesome, kind and generous which certainly were not chracteristics that were part of this role. However, nowadays many people consider this to be his finest hour as an actor/performer.
Rating:
Summary: A Work Of Art
Review: John Huston created a work of art with this pessimistic, cynical and yet oddly uplifting exploration of human behavior locked in the guise of a simple adventure story. The power of materialistic greed corrupts absolutely and completely in this film, which stands proudly next to the finest stories of Steinbeck and Hemingway and the paintings of Hopper, O'Keefe and Benton. Based on B.Traven's marxist tome, the film centers around three prospectors confronting greed, betrayal and death while searching for gold in the Mexican mountains. I usually despise cyncal films for they usually insult and assault the viewer. Madre instead enlightens and entertains in the best sense. The worst does happen to many of these characters and almost nobody displays true altruism, hence the pessimism and yet all we can do is laugh and therein lies the uplift. Walter Huston's haunting laugh and the end does somehow life the viewers spirit above any tragedy. "Laugh brother, for that is all you can do. The worst isn't so bad once it happens." The rich black and white photography, performances (Bogie's fines hour among many other fine hours) writing, staging and editing all add up to a memorable film going experience. I must say I enjoy the film even more than Citizen Kane. The only drawback? a perfectly awful musical score. I also strongly reccomend watching this in a double feature with Peckinpah's equally excellent The Wild Bunch. The similarities are astounding. This is a definate don't miss!
Rating:
Summary: An American Classic
Review: I saw this movie three times in one day in 1970. O.K., I was obsessive, but this film absolutely fascinated me. Forget Charlie Allnut in the "African Queen", Fred C. Dobbs is Bogart's greatest role. "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" is a grim, but often ironic (and sometimes wickedly funny) study of greed, paranoia, and relationships. John Huston asks the fundamental question - is it nature or nurture (is it the man or the gold?) that causes a person to fall? Walter Huston, who won an Oscar for best Supporting Actor, is magnificent as Howard, the veteran prospector who leads Dobbs and Curtin (Tim Holt) on the hunt for gold. There's a great barroom brawl between Bogart, Tim Holt, and the sinister Barton MacLane which the actor Lee Marvin said he loved to watch. Director John Huston (who won Oscars for Best Director & Best Writing, Screenplay) appears as an American who Dobbs persistently pan-handles. Perhaps the only major flaw in the film is Max Steiner's sometimes annoying score. I also read the novel by B.Traven who was a mysterious presence during the making of the film. A young Robert Blake plays the boy who sells Dobbs the winning lottery ticket. And Alphonso Bedoya is a treat as the bandit called "Gold Hat". This is a wonderful movie that all true fans of the cinema will love.
Rating:
Summary: Bogart gives outstanding performance in this classic film
Review: "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" won Oscars for best director (John Huston), best supporting actor (Walter Huston) and best screenplay (John Huston). The film was also nominated for best picture but unfortunately lost out to Laurence Olivier's "Hamlet". This was yet another marvellous performance by Humphrey Bogart in a difficult role and proves once again what an outstanding actor he can be when given the right material. Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) and Bob Curtin (Tim Holt) are two Americans down on their luck in Tampico, Mexico, who manage to acquire a temporary job working for Pat McCormick (Barton MacLaine) but don't get paid for their efforts as McCormick does a disappearing act with the money. Dobbs and Curtin catch up with him later in a bar and after coming to blows manage to get the money that was owed to them. A young Mexican boy (Robert Blake) approaches Dobbs who reluctantly buys a lottery ticket from him. Dobbs and Curtin spend the night in a flop house where they meet Howard (Walter Huston), a grizzled old timer who tells them stories of the times he went prospecting for gold in the mountains. They are both quite interested in this but don't have the necessary funds to purchase the equipment they would need. Next day the young Mexican boy comes to find Dobbs to tell him that his ticket has won some money in the lottery. It is not a fortune but enough to invest in some tools and equipment so that Curtin and himself can team up with Howard to search for gold in the Sierra Madre mountains. Greed and distrust inevitably take hold of Dobbs and he gets increasingly suspicious of his two companions and becomes more and more paranoid as the days go by. He is sure that they want to steal his share of the gold which is just not so. A group of bandits led by Gold Hat (Alfonso Bedoya) come across their camp and try to rob them of the gold but with the help of James Cody (Bruce Bennett) they manage to fight them off. Some favourite lines from the film: Humphrey Bogart (to John Huston): "Hey, mister, will you stake a fellow American to a meal?". Bogart (to Bruce Bennett): "Tonight you're our guest. Tomorrow morning look out - no trespassing around here, you know, beware of the dog - get it?". Alfonso Bedoya (to Bogart): "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges". Bogart (to Tim Holt): "Fred C. Dobbs don't say nothing he don't mean". Writer/director John Huston played a cameo role at the start of the film as an American tourist ("White Suit") who Bogart approaches for money (three times!). Robert Blake was the small boy who sold Bogart the winning lottery ticket. Blake later went on to appear in many feature films such as "In Cold Blood", "Electra Glide in Blue", "Tell Them Willie Boy is Here", and also starred in the TV seies "Baretta". This was a superlative performance by Humphrey Bogart - one of his best - and completely different to his smooth portrayal of Rick in "Casablanca". His character of Fred C. Dobbs was shifty and devious verging on paranoia and madness. The film has now rightly become a classic and is much admired by "movie buffs". Clive Roberts.
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