This in many ways is my favorite film of all time. It’s one of those greats that can help a person to get into movies released before The Godfather as that seems to be the hump that many cannot get over
Ya, it's my favorite film of all time as well. Funny thing, I first saw the film on TV in the early 50's watching it with my father. Now it's 70's years later and it's STILL my favorite film of all time even tho there's been a total revolution in the technology of film making and we've gone through so many cultural changes. That's just a testament to the skills of John Houston and the brilliant story telling, acting and score by Max Steiner
This is one of my favorite films! I agree about how complex the story is…I love Howard’s line, “I know what gold does to men’s souls”, foreshadowing Dobbs’ descent into madness. The ending has stood as a parable for life itself…that we find “life’s true treasure” as Cody’s widow puts it, in our family and friends. Great job on the review!
I'm glad you mentioned the astonishing black and white photography. This is perhaps the most beautiful B & W movie I've ever seen. You just can't believe the richness of the tones and the contrasts.
The greatest American film of all-time. It is the finest combination of realism and creative expression ever put on film. However, it is neither a western or a noir film. What it does is touch on many different genres (adventure, character study, culture contrasts, murder & crime, materialism, psychology, nature & ecology,) all rapped around the central theme of greed. The incomparable team of John Huston & Bogart reaches their zenith with this masterwork of art enahanced by Walter Huston's career performance.
My late Father and I used to watch this movie often. One of my favorites. Living in the West, the dream of mining for gold, like Paint Your Wagon, is strong. The Dobbs character is self centered throughout the picture. His desperation, his disrespect of throwing his drink in the young Robert Blake's face, his msuse of charity using begged food money to buy cigarettes and getting a shave and a haircut, and on and on. Dobbs burns the very people who aided in his fortune, trusted people. He ultimately gets what he deserves, and a few machete chops. His was a tale of the self interested opportunist. You feel sorry for Walter Houston and Tim Holts charachters, both of which had only good intentions. "As long as there is no find, the noble brotherhood will last, but when the piles of gold begins to grow, that's when the trouble starts." The movie foreshadows opportunity with a warning. Walter Houston does such a great job laying it all out in the beginning. If you watch it enough times, you can pick it apart for fun. In the opening scene the calendar shows it to be 1925, but a 1940's car drives by. I can watch this movie again and again. Reminds me of Dad.
I think Dobbs changes, for he was a fairly generous and decent man prior perhaps to the cave-in injuring him. He paid Curtin's way into the enterprise and he only took what the contractor owed him, no extra money. I wonder if anyone is still around from the film now that Blake passed away -- he was not the very youngest person to appear and even the young woman attending to Howard could still be alive in her 90s. If anyone knows, that would be interesting.
Its a fabulous storyline which highlights greed; mistrust: human weakness and propensity to self destruct and the acting from all the main characters is memorable but Bogie is absolutely sublime as Fred C Dobbs. The film cements his greatness as the finest Hollywood actor of them all ... a real classic film which you can watch time and time again ...
The musical score was written by Max Steiner, a Warner Brothers contract composer who had a real talent for mixing late romantic music with vernacular themes. The Sierra Madre score shows influence from an early 20th century Mexican composer, Silvestre Revueltas, and particularly from his piece Sensemaya.
I just watched this again after not having seen it for many years. Sooooo good on so many levels. And it's not just about greed, it's about wisdom, foolishness vs. trust, responsibility (or lack thereof), kindness, desperation, environmental and societal pressures, and how all these things interact to make the world spin.
One of my most favourite hollywood golden era movies.Its a previlage to have watched this movie.One of the best of Humphrey bogart movies.The ending is so meaningful.
One of the countless, perfectly cut facets of this picture is its remorseless depiction of the way well-to-do Americans abroad ruthlessly cheat down-on-their-luck expats (Hemingway's To Have and Have Not?). I lived abroad for years, and encountered such ruthless, well-to-do Americans. The scene where Bogey and Tim Holt get paid is s-o-o-o satisfying!
I saw this movie out of boredom some 25 yrs ago, or so, and it really turned out be one the better movies I've ever seen; the acting, the character development, the story and plot - first rate .. but what got me was the realism, men down so far on their lives and luck - seaking this treasure in danger, and desperation .. very well done 🏆
This is without doubt my favorite movie of all time. I watch it every chance I get. The message in it speaks to the heart. I'm not a marxist, socialist, nor a communist, just a person who holds a philosophy that greed corrupts, and any of us can be pulled in if we are not conscious of it. I've always loved this movie; I see no socialist propaganda in the story, only truth about human nature. The actual "treasure" that was found wasn't the gold, but the place that Howard and Curt found for themselves in life; the realization that all they had worked so hard for wasn't truly that important; that helping the villagers and Cody's family was really a more important cause. Dobbs simply was not a stable individual, and the strain of greed and paranoria overcame him; basically he had a mental breakdown. Overall I believe the fim speaks to the soul, saying that at the end of it all, was having wealth really what mattered in our lives, or is there a higher meaning? I believe it's the latter.
I think this movie is amazing in so many ways. I think your thread about luck is even consistent with the way that Bogart's character asks for money. I also think it's an interesting commentary that an american would have to go to Mexico to seek his Fortune. I mean he is a begger, wouldn't it be better for him to go back to America if things hadn't woked out in Mexico? I mean it's almost as if the movie is suggesting that being a begger in Mexico affords him more opportunities than he would have back in America. It's also interesting that when Americans are poor their solution is to take wealth from less advanced people. This movie is packed with so many layers! It's one of my favorites.
well put. The American tradition, if it can be called that, is to start a boom or rush for the new resource to be mined. When it becomes cheap enough, we'll all be flocking to the asteroid belt for just that reason.
That being said, you will probably mock me, I would love if you did a review of " The Man Who Would Be King". It is one of my favorite movies of all time and I would love some other people to get some awareness of it. I think the movie has a lot to say and it's a great movie.
@@LearningaboutMovies I am so glad I subbed to this channel! Honestly, everytime I tell people I love that movie, they have never seen it and they tell me the title is funny. I guess over time I've just gotten used to that response. I think the chemistry between Michael Kane and Sean Connery is unbelievable in the film and really carries. It's one of the best buddy movies ever.
heh, many of us are actually alone in our movie loves. I have a hard enough time in my real life discussing movies released before 2010, simply because few have seen almost none older than that. at least we have the Internet.
Great review on one of the greatest films of all time imo. There's So many layers of depth here in the characters, would you consider the cave collapsing on Dobbs causing a possible brain injury and adding extra paranoia as he complains of a head knock straight after? He doesn't seem the same as he was beforehand he starts talking to himself etc. Maybe it's just gold fever, anyhow much to ponder with this masterpiece.
that's an interesting observation, I've never heard that before, but there really wasn't much personality changes of Dobbs considering that he was ready to smack that little kid for pestering him to buy the lottery ticket. But you bring up a good point
John Huston's The Treasure of Sierra Madre is best viewed back to back with ... nothing! To sandwich a Top 30 picture with anything else is to diminish it. You'll confuse the meat with the condiments.
This is an incredible movie. One of my favorites! When I'm driving or resting, I often listen to the Lux Radio version/adaptation. But the Wokester/Feminists will probably try to cancel this movie (and many other old classics) because Fred C. Dobbs used the phrase "swell dames."
I just heard Danny H talk about his grandpa in TOSM - burst into tears because I love W H. And grieving for my parents and gps. So I returned for the 100th? time - such an important story of us - of humans - dirty, filthy, greedy, wonderful, kind etc etc. etc…
I grew up with this movie. My dad was into old black n white movies. So, I got a lot of exposure to some classics. Very entertaining movie! The Walter Huston scene where he's dancing and calling them dumb, hilarious!
Yep, I loooovvvve this movie and have to see it every 4-5 yrs. Very glad to stumble across this episode of analysis, thank you. I like 'authenticity' in westerns and this film oozed authenticity, realism. I like that some of it was filmed in Mexico. Colorization would ruin it for me. Its a 'masterpiece' as far as I'm concerned, for all the reasons mentioned in this video, plus everyone's comments below.
Movie as critique of cutthroat capitalism? Oh yeah. B Traven did this a lot. The presenter’s notion that TSM is “more than about that”? Well of course, but a film re greed that works well is difficult to pull off without seeming preachy, even though Timothy says the love of $ is the root of all evil. (The nerve of St Paul!) I’m not sure what the earliest version of the story is, but at least the late 14th century and Chaucer’s Pardoner. (He’d be a politician today, sell phony Reagan relics!) Anyway, Bogart at his best here! Meant to say I agree with the stoicism at end. Well put.
Because it's a character study about values. All the men wanted gold for obvious reasons. But only one worshipped gold to the point he was corrupted and would kill for it. Another was so desperate for it he risked and ultimately lost his life for it.. The other two men when the gold was lost, they were able to take it in stride. The old man was content to be accepted by and provided for by the villagers as a medicine man. And it's heavily implied the young man will head to the peach orchard and find his place in that community. But the brilliance of the film is watching the slow decay and corruption of the lead character....and ultimately how he met his end by men even more desperate and willing to kill for gold than him.
On the soundtrack album, Bogey gets the big portrait, and in color, too, but old man Huston was the secret star. Someone else could have played Bogey's role (e.g., Spence), but no Huston, no masterpiece. Was Walter Huston that great? By crackey, he was! But who was the girl? (I didn't listen to the spiel...yet.)
I am relatively new to movies starring Humphrey Bogart. But would it be a coincidence he went mad in "Treasure of The Sierra Madre" as well as "The Caine Mutiny"?
I just watched this film and I thought about There will be Blood the entire time. The scene where Dobbs shoots Curtin reminded me a lot of the scene in There will be Blood where Plainview kills the man who pretended to be his brother
"Too Much Paranoias" is a great song by the band DEVO. The little kid in Tampico who sells Fred C. Dobbs a fortuitous lottery ticket and gets splashed with water, is played by Robert Blake, from the TV show "Baretta", and also the movie "In Cold Blood". I also have "The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre" on Blu-Ray, and it does look awesome, but you left out one of the key lines in the movie, spoken by the lead bandito, "Badges, We don't have no badges, we don't need no stinking badges." That line hows up in several films, including the comedy "Blazing Saddles".
The little kid in Tampico who sells Fred C. Dobbs a fortuitous lottery ticket and gets splashed with water, is played by Robert Blake, from the TV show, I Murdered My Wife, and Got Away with It! FIFY
I also think that The Bible In the Beginning is a great John Huston film that is underrated. It feels like 2001 A Space Odyssey even before Kubrick made that, except from a Biblical standpoint of where we come from
@@LearningaboutMovies It consists of 4 major Bible accounts and let me tell you…if you like set pieces the tower of Babel is breathtaking. A great film regardless of religious convinctions
@@randywhite3947 i think of it as more of an adventure film but open to interpretation i guess. I also find film scholars just to copy each other in how things are described rather than just thinking critically. Much like how i hate music scholars who use the term “grunge”. That never existed! But i digress…i dont much care for categorizing things but it does help that there are people who do it for a living because it helps me find films with a certain feel when im in the mood for it
A masterpiece on this level typically transcends genres (or creates them, as in The Best Years of Their Lives). Think Lawrence of Arabia, or The Third Man. Besides, the whole concept of "film noir" is stupid. They're just crime movies. In German, they simply call them "Krimis."
Remade but never duplicated, this darkly humorous motality tale represents John Huston at his finest. I give this a 9.4/10. Overall this is definitely one of Huston's greatest repertoire. 😊😊👍👍
Agreed, but it is far more than a mere morality tale. One of the few movies that can be said to supersede the book (depending, of course, upon your imagination). The essence of the pot is the space within, as the abstract can reveal more than a tedious copy (always impossible). It DOES NOT PREACH!
Some of the strengths of the movie are new ideas that John Huston came up with that are not present in the book as well as omitting large sections from the book. One question, with Blake's passing, is there anyone left who appeared in the movie? Not impossible that, for example, the little kid whom Howard revived is still around in his late 70s or early 80s. Everyone else would be over 90 and certainly any adult in the movie would be pushing 100 if not significantly over that. Tim Holt, gone for years, would be 106 this year.
When I combine the scores of IMDB, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, this is the best western film of all time making 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' second.
