NFR Project: “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”
Dir: John Huston
Scr: John Huston
Pho: Ted D. McCord
Ed: Owen Marks
Premiere: Jan. 24, 1948
126 min.
It’s one of the best films ever made.
This remarkable project was just another great job done by director and screenwriter John Huston (1906-1987), and is perhaps the best of his 37 feature films.
Huston was inspired by B. Traven’s 1927 novel. Traven was a mysterious figure. Much speculation exists as to his true name and background, but he was definitely known as an anarchist in Germany under the name of Ret Marut in post-World War I Berlin. Forced into exile, he made his way to Mexico in 1928 and began writing novels about politics, greed, and social injustice.
For Traven, capitalism was the chief cause of suffering, poverty, and death in the world. Sierra Madre is his second novel; after that, he wrote the extraordinary The Death Ship, followed by a series of historical novels outlining the exploitation of indigenous peoples in Mexico. He jealously guarded his anonymity and remained an unseen factor in the creation of this film adaptation.
This was the first film project Huston made after his service in World War II, during which he made documentaries for the Army, two of which, The Battle of San Pietro and Let There Be Light were reviewed in this series. Huston wrote the screenplay and set to work. He gathered a solid trio of actors to play his leads – his own father, the venerable Walter Huston as Howard, a grizzled old prospector; Tim Holt as Curtin, a young man down on his luck; and the incomparable Humphrey Bogart as Fred C. Dobbs, whose descent into madness takes up most of the film.
The movie opens in Tampico, Mexico. Dobbs is impoverished and stranded, reduced to begging for handouts from affluent American tourists. He meets Curtin, and the two sign on to work on an oil rig. They are cheated out of their pay, and later find the contractor who bilked them and beat him into submission, taking their pay from his wallet. Huston captures the desperation of the down and out.
However, the two rapidly run out of money. They go to sleep in a flophouse, and there discover Howard, who spins tales about prospecting for gold. Dobbs wins a small amount of money in a lottery, and the three use the money to equip themselves for an expedition.
Off they go into the wilderness, fighting off bandits on the train ride in (they see one bandit with a distinctive “gold hat,” but Dobbs fails to shoot him). They reach the wilderness and begin searching for a vein. Howard, unexpectedly much hardier than the other two, sets the pace. Huston went on location to get an unvarnished look at the harsh, dry landscape the trio finds themselves in. Eventually, Howard strikes paydirt and the three get to work mining the gold.
As the profits in gold dust accrue, Dobbs suggests that each man take care of his own share of the treasure. This leads to a change in the men – suddenly distrustful, they hide their shares from each other. Another American, Cody, (Bruce Bennett) finds out about their mine and asks to be included. The three determine to kill him, but they are interrupted by the bandits, led by Gold Hat, before they can execute their plan. Trapped by the bandits, the men appear to be out of luck, until federal troops come along and chase the bandits away. Cody is killed in the battle with the bandits.
Finally, the vein peters out and the men prepare to go home. On their way back, Howard is kidnapped by some indigenous people who seek his help in reviving an unconscious child. Trusting his goods to his partners, Howard goes with them. In an extraordinary and silent scene, he brings the child back to life. Now the people adopt him and treat him to a kingly existence.
Meanwhile, Dobbs and Curtin struggle on through the desert. Dobbs becomes more and more paranoid, accusing Curtin of planning his death. Eventually, Dobbs becomes so homicidal that Curtin covers him with a gun, refusing to sleep. Of course, Curtin falls asleep and Dobbs takes his gun away and shoots him. Curtin crawls off into the brush to die.
Dobbs continues alone, and is almost to the nearest town when the bandits, still led by Gold Hat, encounter him. They attack him for his mules, brutally cutting his head off. The bandits find the gold dust and, not knowing what it is, dump it out on the ground.
Curtin survives his wound and reconnects with Howard. The two race to the town to find their treasure, but find that it has all blown away in the wind. Crestfallen at first, the two finally laugh off their futile 10-month quest for gold, and part amicably.
Greed is the driving force in the movie. Dobbs without gold is simply grumpy and a bit caustic; once the stakes are high he transforms into an inhuman, murdering monster. Bogart’s performance is one of his best – his slow dehumanization is a portrait of the human soul distorted and ultimately destroyed by selfish desire.
Played out in an unforgiving landscape, Sierra Madre serves as a cautionary tale about wealth and what it does to people. Those who maintain their morality are largely untouched, but flawed characters such as Dobbs find their negative traits ballooning to deadly proportions. Huston relishes the labor of the prospecting trio, outlining it in detail. Dobbs’ march through the desert becomes an expedition through his personal Hell, Dobbs reduced to the status of demon.
The movie is compulsively watchable. We are invested in the miners’ struggle, and sit in appalled attention as the scheme unravels. In the end, we too must laugh off the whole affair and move on, humbled by the demonstration of man’s frailties.
When Oscar time rolled around, Huston won for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, and his father won for Best Supporting Actor.
The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: On the Town.
