The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a 1948 American Western adventure drama film written and directed by John Huston. It is an adaptation of B. Traven's 1927 novel of the same name, set in the 1920s, in which, driven by their desperate economic plight, two young men, Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) and Bob Curtin (Tim Holt), join old-timer Howard (Walter Huston, the director's father) in Mexico to prospect for gold.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Not only is the film an adventure and western story at the same time, it's also an intense character study showing the corruptive and cancerous effects of greed on the souls of men. While John Huston's films having a disparate group on a quest/search for wealth is incredibly commonplace, this film in particular was Huston's first post-war film. One of the film's posters clarified the theme: "The Nearer They Get to Their Treasure, the Farther They Get From the Law!"
 * 2) Fred Dobbs (easily the most noteworthy and well-known) gets a turn to darkness and greed that feels natural and unrushed.
 * 3) Bob Curtin is a flawed man who makes a lot of questionable decisions, but still a decent person who always grows a conscience and chooses to do what's right.
 * 4) Howard's a gentle, experienced and thoughtful old man, who while also being obsessed over finding the gold, manages to serve as the most moral member of the trio who never lets his greed get in the way of his morality.
 * 5) This adaptation strips away much of the novel's background material, exaggerating the story's tragic overtones in the process. Additionally, some of the characters are built up, notably the bandit Gold Hat (played by Alfonso Bedoya) who only got a single mention in the novel. Here, he haunts much of the film, and even gets to mutter the film's signature line about "stinkin' badges".
 * 6) Most of the film is concerned with craft, with the particulars of surviving on the bum in a foreign country. For example, it's like a textbook for panhandling in its opening scenes; then later it provides concrete details about supplying prospecting expeditions, building sluices, coping with the elements, etc. Most filmmakers wouldn't bother with this level of storytelling, but Huston's a notable exception. By revealing these tips and secrets, Huston was making a statement about his own life, with all of its hard knocks and reversals, and this wouldn't be the last time Huston would do something like this.
 * 7) It's notably one of the first US films to be made almost entirely outside the US (more specifically, it was shot in Tampico, San Jose de Purua and in Durango
 * 8) Incredible performances from everyone in the cast
 * 9) *Humphrey Bogart did some of his best acting as Fred C. Dobbs, in what's easily his most aggressive performance. He's basically doing a retread of Rick Blaine, but without his appeal to sympathy or forgiveness, reducing him to a snarling dog.
 * 10) *Walter Huston has the showiest acting in the film, with a masterclass in hamminess, while also managing to be the most moral member of the trio
 * 11) *Tim Holt provided the perfect foil for both Bogart and Huston.
 * 12) *Aside from the main trio, there's also Alfonso Bedoya who plays the brief but memorable antagonist Gold Hat.
 * 13) As Roger Ebert said in his review, "the film's stark pitiless stark realism gives the film its honesty and truth".
 * 14) *Also, the ending scene is full of appropriate karma and irony which only makes the message even more timeless, which includes Dobbs getting brought down by his greed and killed off.
 * 15) There's a meta joke towards the beginning where Fred Dobbs (Bogart's character) constantly goes to a man wearing white for money(played by the director John Huston). This is a reference to Huston often providing the livelihood for Bogart by having him star in six of his films.

The Only Bad Quality

 * 1) Due to fact that the film's concerned with craft as mentioned in pointer #3, it can be very slow-paced and difficult to watch at various points, which will definitely drive some viewers away.