• Release Date: 2010-10-05
• Genre: Adventure
• Artist Name: Alfonso Bedoya, Bruce Bennett, Humphrey Bogart, Jacqueline Dalya, Manuel Donde, Tim Holt, Walter Huston, Barton MacLane, Arturo Soto Rangel
• Director: John Huston
• AMG Rating:
• MPAA Rating: Unrated
• Category: Feature Films
• Cautions: Violence, Profanity
• Year: 1948
• Running Time: 126
• Movie Country of Origin: USA
• Available Language: English
• Subtitles: Eng/Fre/Spa
  

John Huston's 1948 treasure-hunt classic begins as drifter Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart), down and out in Tampico, Mexico, impulsively spends his last bit of dough on a lottery ticket. Later on, Dobbs and fellow indigent Curtin (Tim Holt) seek shelter in a cheap flophouse and meet Howard (Walter Huston), a toothless, garrulous old coot who regales them with stories about prospecting for gold. Forcibly collecting their pay from their shifty boss, Dobbs and Curtin combine this money with Dobbs's unexpected windfall from a lottery ticket and, together with Howard, buy the tools for a prospecting expedition. Dobbs has pledged that anything they dig up will be split three ways, but Howard, who's heard that song before, doesn't quite swallow this. As the gold is mined and measured, Dobbs grows increasingly paranoid and distrustful, and the men gradually turn against each other on the way toward a bitterly ironic conclusion. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a superior morality play and one of the best movie treatments of the corrosiveness of greed. Huston keeps a typically light and entertaining touch despite the strong theme, for which he won Oscars for both Director and Screenplay, as well as a supporting award for his father Walter, making Walter, John, and Anjelica Huston the only three generations of one family all to win Oscars. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Adventure, Drama

Down on Their Luck, Treasure Hunts, Cons and Scams, Faltering Friendships

Disturbing, Biting, Paranoid, Tense, Wry, Grim

DVD Features

• Commentary by Bogart Biographer Eric Lax
• Discovering Treasure: The Story Of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
• Documentary Profile John Huston
• Warner Night At The Movies 1948 Short Subjects Gallery: Leonard Maltin Introduction, Newsreel, 2 Classic Cartoons, Comedy Short, Theatrical Trailers
• Audio-Only Bonus: Radio Show with The Movie's Original Stars

Review

Loosely based on the Biblical parable of the thieves and the "Pardoner's Tale" in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, John Huston's morality tale is one of the great cinematic proofs of the Biblical adage radix malorum est cupitidas, or, the root of evil is the love of money. The film is a clever study of the erosive effect that money can have on flawed men's characters. Shot entirely on location in Mexico, the film's dry and dusty atmosphere is clearly authentic. Humphrey Bogart's maniacal Fred Dobbs is one of moviedom's great characterizations, a conglomeration of cunning, greed and paranoia. As his wealth mounts, so does his distrust. While external threats abound, the real enemy lies within. The Treasure of the Sierre Madre examines the essential existential hopelessness and loneliness of the avaricious man, drawing an implicit parallel between the prospectors and man's contemporary pursuit of material wealth. A failure with audiences who apparently didn't want to see Bogie playing such a nefarious anti-hero, the movie is now recognized by most critics as an American classic: AFI voted it #30 on the list of 100 all time great American films, while for the first time ever, a father and son -- John (for directing and screenplay) and Walter Huston (for best supporting actor) -- won Oscars for their stellar work. ~ Dan Jardine, Rovi