The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Bogart's best film. His portrayal of a callous, miserly disloyal sonofabitch was a marked contrast to the smooth benevolence of Rick in Casablanca; which is why the film flopped at the box office, the audience didn't want the actor they wanted the stereotype.

Bogart, Tim Holt and Walter Huston, the director's father; are roughnecks digging for gold in Mexico. Initial trust crumbles as the trio strike it rich, and greed and suspicion (or in Bogart's case madness) set in. Huston establishes the characters and in his own words "Watches them stew in their own juice." In fact the film is one long complex character study into the effect of wealth on a clan of wretches. Beside the subtextual themes of loyalty and male-bonding is the film's message - life is cheap. Note the motiveless deaths that occur and their effect on the other characters.

Huston's obssession with authenticity lead him to film entirely on location in Mexico (another reason the film bombed, as the audience couldn't accept anything other than a studio look) and include long chunks of Spanish dialogue. He won two Oscars for direction and screenplay and Walter Huston won Best Supporting Actor but the best film award went to Olivier's Hamlet (a mistake I believe). The fight scene in which Bogart and Holt beat up their boss must surely rank as one of the classic moments in cinema history.

Review by Stephen Cox
Taken from EUFS Programme 1994-95