Google Ads
Login | Sign Up

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Overview:

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) was a Adventure - Drama Film directed by John Huston and produced by Henry Blanke and Jack L. Warner.

The film was based on the novel of the same name written by B. Traven published in 1927.

SYNOPSIS

Many consider this to be John Huston's finest moment, though he supplied many to choose from. It is in any case a classic tale of greed and its corrosive effect on the human soul. Two drifters on the bum in Mexico (Bogart and Holt) see their fortunes rise after working for some pocket money and Bogart wins a lottery. They take their new means and team up with an old prospector they meet in a flophouse (Walter Huston) to venture into the mountains to dig for gold. Bogart declares that he won't fall prey to Huston's warning about riches turning men's heads, wanting only his fair share. Their luck seems to hold after surviving a bandit attack and hitting a strike, but as the gold dust piles up, the wariness sets in. Bogart is magnificent as he slowly lets the greed and suspicion eat him alive, pulling a gun on his onetime partner and succumbing at last to the bandit's gun. Essential viewing for any classic-movie fan.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was inducted into the National Film Registry in 1990.

Academy Awards 1948 --- Ceremony Number 21 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Supporting ActorWalter HustonWon
Best DirectorJohn HustonWon
Best WritingJohn HustonWon
Best PictureWarner Bros.Nominated
See More Oscar Winners

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre BlogHub Articles:

Field Trip: Screening of "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" at AMC River East 21

By Stephen Reginald on Jan 12, 2018 From Classic Movie Man

Field Trip: Screening of "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" at AMC River East 21 Treasure of the Sierra Madre on the big screen Date: January 14 at River East 21, 322 East Illinois · Chicago, IL Time: 2:00 p.m. TCM Big Screen Classics Presents The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, A Sp... Read full article

Win Tickets to see “TCM Big Screen Classics: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (70th Anniversary) (Giveaway runs December 14 – December 30)

By Annmarie Gatti on Dec 13, 2017 From Classic Movie Hub Blog

Win Tix to see “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” on the Big Screen! In Select Cinemas Nationwide Sunday, Jan 14 and Tuesday, Jan 16! “Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you any stinking badges.” CMH is thrilled to announce th... Read full article

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

By 4 Star Film Fan on Nov 17, 2015 From 4 Star Films

... Read full article

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

By Beatrice on Mar 21, 2015 From Flickers in Time

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Directed by John Huston Written by John Huston based on the novel by B. Traven 1948/USA Warner Bros. Repeat viewing/Warner Bros. DVD #223 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die John Huston’s tale of gold lust will never grow old. Fred C. Dobbs (Humphr... Read full article

Lux Radio Theater – The Treasure of the Sierra Madre – 1949

By Bogart Fan on Aug 24, 2014 From The Bogie Film Blog

My Review —Huston and Bogart are Awesome— Producer: William Keighley Honorary Bogie Radio Fix: out of 5 Bogies! The Lowdown Two down-on-their-luck men pool their resources with an old prospector to search for gold in Mexico. You can read my original write up on the film here. What I ... Read full article

See More The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Articles

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Quotes:

Howard: Now here's where we're bound for, hereabouts. Don't show properly whether there's mountains, swamp, or desert. That shows the makers of the map themselves don't know for sure. Once on the ground, all we gotta do is open our eyes and look around. Yes, and blow our noses, too. Believe it or not, I knew a fellow once who could smell gold like a jackass can smell water.
Dobbs: You two guys musta been born in a revival meeting.
Howard: Aah, gold's a devilish sort of thing, anyway. You start out, you tell yourself you'll be satisfied with 25,000 handsome smackers worth of it. So help me, Lord, and cross my heart. Fine resolution. After months of sweatin' yourself dizzy, and growin' short on provisions, and findin' nothin', you finally come down to 15,000, then ten. Finally, you say, "Lord, let me just find $5,000 worth and I'll never ask for anythin' more the rest of my life."
Flophouse Bum: $5,000 is a lot of money.
Howard: Yeah, here in this joint it seems like a lot. But I tell you, if you was to make a real strike, you couldn't be dragged away. Not even the threat of miserable death would keep you from trying to add 10,000 more. Ten, you'd want to get twenty-five; twenty-five you'd want to get fifty; fifty, a hundred. Like roulette. One more turn, you know. Always one more.
Howard: Say, answer me this one, will you? Why is gold worth some twenty bucks an ounce?
Flophouse Bum: I don't know. Because it's scarce.
Howard: A thousand men, say, go searchin' for gold. After six months, one of them's lucky: one out of a thousand. His find represents not only his own labor, but that of nine hundred and ninety-nine others to boot. That's six thousand months, five hundred years, scramblin' over a mountain, goin' hungry and thirsty. An ounce of gold, mister, is worth what it is because of the human labor that went into the findin' and the gettin' of it.
Flophouse Bum: I never thought of it just like that.
Howard: Well, there's no other explanation, mister. Gold itself ain't good for nothing except making jewelry with and gold teeth.
Dobbs: [in one sentence] Do you believe that stuff the old man was saying the other night at the Oso Negro about gold changin' a man's soul so's he ain't the same sort of man as he was before findin' it?
See More Quotes from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Facts
John Huston played one of his infamous practical jokes on Bruce Bennett in the campfire scene in which he eats a plate of stew. Bennett knew that his character was starving so he wolfed down the food as quickly as possible. Huston then demanded another take. And another. In both extra takes the rapidly filling-up Bennett again had to eat a large plate of stew. Unbeknownst to him, Huston had been happy with the first take. The cameras weren't even rolling for the second and the third. He just wanted to see how much food Bennett could lower before he became too stuffed. As soon as the joke was revealed, Huston added insult to injury by calling for a lunch break.
Director John Huston had read the book "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" by B. Traven in 1936 and had always thought the material would make a great movie. Based on a 19th-century ballad by a German poet, Traven's book reminded Huston of his own adventures in the Mexican cavalry. When Huston became a director at Warner Bros., the smashing success of his initial effort, The Maltese Falcon, gave him the clout to ask to write and direct the project, for which Warner Bros. had previously secured the movie rights.
The film took 5-1/2 months to shoot and was 29 days over schedule.
Walter Huston, father of director John Huston, won the Academy Award for best supporting actor. John won for best direction. This was the first father/son win.
John Huston's original filmed depiction of Dobbs' death was more graphic - as it was in the book - than the one that eventually made it onto the screen. When Gold Hat strikes Dobbs with his machete, Dobbs is decapitated. Huston shot Dobbs' (fake) head rolling into the waterhole (there's a quick shot of Gold Hat's accomplices reacting to Dobbs' rolling head that remains in the film and in the very next shot you can see the water rippling where it rolled in). The 1948 censors would not have allowed that, so Huston camouflaged the cut shot with a repeat shot of Gold Hat striking Dobbs. Warner Bros' publicity department released a statement that Humphrey Bogart was "disappointed the scene couldn't be shown in all its graphic glory". Bogart's reaction: "What's wrong with showing a guy getting his head cut off?"
See More Facts about The Treasure of the Sierra Madre >>