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.
