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Directed by: John Huston Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt, Walter Huston The Treasure of the Sierra Madre follows Humphrey Bogart's Fred C. Dobbs, a blue-collar migrant worker trying and failing to eke out a living in Mexico. After being enticed by the stories of a old prospector (Walter Huston), Dobbs and his friend Bob Curtin (Tim Holt) take to the dangerous Sierra Madre mountains to dig for gold. They strike it rich, but have to contend with bandits, scavengers and their own mistrust in one another to escape with their riches. My biggest problem with golden era movies, this one being from 1948, is that movies had not really discovered their identity yet. The silent-era was largely explorative and film was purely visual, so filmmakers had to innovate ways to convey their stories rather than presenting them as if they were just recorded stage plays. When 'talkies' became the norm, it's almost like the directors were each rubbing out their blue balls that had been accumulating over the years. The characters talk too goddamned fast, not allowing for normal pauses in conversation. They convalesce their thoughts too quickly, and the acting is hammy and none too subtle. As much as I like Bogart, I never truly believed the lines were coming from his character and not some writer. That said, I can still identify with the problems at this movie's core. The friends go up the mountain and dig out modest returns to satisfy their modest plans. But for Dobbs it isn't enough--he gets a taste for the gold, and soon his share isn't enough. What was once an earnest desire to make the ends degenerates into greed, fear and insecurity. Dobbs can't imagine anyone not having the impulses he does--to kill his partners, take their gold and blow the money on hookers and booze. The writing and characterizations are strong. Huston's take on the grizzled, seen-it-all veteran was my favourite. He just sounds like one of the kindly, passive-aggressive old lunks you see at the park feeding ducks and using silly metaphors from the 30s. Bogart, as disembodied as he seems, is fun to root against as Dobbs. The action is good considering when it was made, and the score is also decent. Also, this movie is the source of the timeless "stinkin' badges!" line although it's commonly misquoted. I really liked this movie as a kid, but watching it objectively now that I'm older exposes some of its weaknesses. Lots of stuff happens that has figures very little into the plot when it could have, for example, Curtin saving Dobbs from the mine collapse. Dobbs degenerates into something of a tyrannical miser, cartoonishly one-dimentional and irrational. I thought Huston copped out with the scavenger subplot. Don't get me wrong, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is still a decent adventure flick with some great inner conflicts and interesting morals. I just don't think it's the classic some folks make it out to be. RATING: 4 PROS: Adventurous, complex morals, good script CONS: Disjointed plot, hammy acting ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040897/
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Nov 12, 2004 02:38
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quote:NADZILLA came out of the closet to say: I think this is also a byproduct of the double-bill economic model and the desire to keep films under a certain length to have as many showings a day/make as much money as possible. Keeping the focus on the dialogue also helped to get around low production values. This is a really cool movie, though I agree there is some imbalance between the different story points. I'm a big fan of golden era Hollywood though, and this film has a lot of charm in that aspect.
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Nov 12, 2004 03:38
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The acting is very hammy, but it didn't bother me except for the final scene. Besides that scene, the only thing I found problematic was the awful musical score. Great movie otherwise, very watchable. 3.5
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Nov 30, 2004 18:08
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