The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Classic portrait of the worst and best of human nature

Serpentine story of how three gold-diggers are perverted by their success. Well-acted and strikingly directed. Has interesting parallels to Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" in its contrasting portrayal of Mexicans. October 6, 2008

John Huston's classic Western of greed

The great director John Huston made many wonderful classic films like "The Maltese Falcon", "The Africain Queen", "Prizzi's Honor" & "The Man Who Would Be King" (he intended as a vehicle for Gable & Bogart but both had passed and Connery and Caine were chosen) but none can compare to this all time top 10 classic!! Though Walter Huston won for Best Supporting Actor, many felt that Bogie was robbed of his Best Actor Oscar for which he was compensated years later for "The Africain Queen". His performance ranging from being proud to outright paranoia is a masterpiece of acting that was only equalled by his portrayal of Captain Queeg, several years later. Along with another classic Western set in Mexico, "The Wild Bunch", this film belongs in the all-time top 10!! August 4, 2008

Well-made movie, badly-made discs.

I love the movie itself. The dialogue is humorous and carries a great deal of wisdom but the real treat is in seeing Bogart's performance as he gradually slips into madness, corruption and paranoia.

The reason I give this 4 stars instead of 5 is because I had to buy this twice. On the second disc, there had been a part in the documentary about Walter Huston that the DVD froze on and didn't play any further. I didn't have this problem when I ordered another copy, though. If this type of problem is extremely uncommon for this particular DVD release, then I classify this as a "must-see". June 20, 2008

Life altering film

I'm embarrassed to say that "Treasure of Sierra Madre" changed my life. I saw it as a child and was enchanted by three American ex-pats kicking around in Mexico and searching for Mexican treasure. By the age of 21 I was spending every other weekend in Baja and Sonora and did so for years. Since then, I've spent a lot more time there, bought a home in Jalisco and am, even now, living directly on the Rio Grande in South Texas. My interest in Mexico has culminated with my writing two novels, "Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God" on the glorious, brutal, gold-plated Conquest of Mexico.

None of these things speaks to the quality of the film itself but clearly this is one of the really great films. In my opinion, it is very nearly perfect. I only disagree with one part. There is a cave-in and the Dobbs/Bogart character suffers some kind of head injury. Afterwards, he shows signs of increasing paranoia terminating with theft, attempted murder and Dobbs' own death.

I have no doubt that the film was deliberately scripted this way so that the viewer had alternative options for Dobbs' deteriorating behavior--brain injury or pure greed. In that this is a story of greed, I would have ommitted the head injury. Dobbs' behavior springs from the depths of his own darkening soul. Other than that, the film is simply wonderful.

We learn a lot of interesting things. A down-and-out gringo can beg but he can't stoop to the level of a shoe-shine boy, otherwise his "goose is cooked." We learn that ordinary men are capable of murder when their financial interests are threatened and we learn that gold dust doesn't necessarily shine.

The banditos are terrific. I loved it when the one bandit tries to talk his way out of possessing a burro that belongs to somebody else. I love the rough-and-ready Mexican justice and I love it when the condemned bandito--unawed or too stupid to fear his impending death--asks for a pause in his execution as he retrieves his battered sombrero blown off by the wind.

I love it when the two gringos discover that their gold, which has been blown away by the same gusting wind, is gone forever. They erupt into hysterical laughter. After all, what the Hell else can they do? Months of hope and back breaking labor shot to hell. I love it all... especially the truth that the real Treasure of the Sierra Madre isn't the gold, at all. It's the love that the Indians have for the old man.

Ron Braithwaite

June 6, 2008

An Excellent Film Has Just Gotten a Whole Lot Better!

Now this is how you are supposed to treat a film classic! This DVD version of an all-time classic film that has a great storyline, excellent acting and compelling drama to the very end has been restored very well here and although there are still a few picture quality imperfections at some spots, overall, the restoration has been very well done. The only thing I would have liked to have seen is an audio option included that would allow for at least Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround or DTS/THX quality in addition to just the Dolby Digital Mono quality here which as far as Mono goes is very well remastered.

The mostly cardboard digipak packaging is also very well put together making me wish all dvds would be packaged in this way as well. This DVD represents great value for money as well as we get excellent bonus features on both discs and the best one of all is the 2 hour-long documentary on the life of John Huston. I enjoyed that documentary almost as much as the movie itself and I also appreciated the Bugs Bunny cartoons and the other documentary on the making of the film as well.

Until perhaps an even better restored version on Blu-Ray comes around, this here is the best version of the film that you can get. I thought this is Bogie's best ever performance and yet he pales in comparison with that of Walter Huston who put in among the best 5 performances that I've ever seen by a male actor. John Huston the director also shows that he's a good actor with his small part at the start of the film. Even the small boy selling lottery tickets was excellent and I can't think of any bad acting at all among any of the cast.

This film fully deserves its top 30 ranking among AFI's Best American Films list. The story of how Bogie's honorable character degenerates because of greed to the horrible lowlife that he became in the end as compared to what became of his companions is a study in great story-telling and great acting. You start out liking Bogie but end up totally hating his guts at the end. If that's not great acting, I don't know what is.

Excellent film, great extras, great value for money, excellent dvd makes this highly recommended! April 15, 2008

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