The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
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100% of critics liked it
(42 reviews) -
90% of users liked it
(23,504 ratings)
John Huston's 1948 treasure-hunt classic begins as drifter Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart), down and out in Tampico, Mexico, impulsively spends his last bit of dough on a lottery ticket. Later on, Dobbs and fellow indigent Curtin (Tim Holt) seek shelter in a cheap flophouse and meet Howard… More John Huston's 1948 treasure-hunt classic begins as drifter Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart), down and out in Tampico, Mexico, impulsively spends his last bit of dough on a lottery ticket. Later on, Dobbs and fellow indigent Curtin (Tim Holt) seek shelter in a cheap flophouse and meet Howard (Walter Huston), a toothless, garrulous old coot who regales them with stories about prospecting for gold. Forcibly collecting their pay from their shifty boss, Dobbs and Curtin combine this money with Dobbs's unexpected windfall from a lottery ticket and, together with Howard, buy the tools for a prospecting expedition. Dobbs has pledged that anything they dig up will be split three ways, but Howard, who's heard that song before, doesn't quite swallow this. As the gold is mined and measured, Dobbs grows increasingly paranoid and distrustful, and the men gradually turn against each other on the way toward a bitterly ironic conclusion. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a superior morality play and one of the best movie treatments of the corrosiveness of greed. Huston keeps a typically light and entertaining touch despite the strong theme, for which he won Oscars for both Director and Screenplay, as well as a supporting award for his father Walter, making Walter, John, and Anjelica Huston the only three generations of one family all to win Oscars. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Directed By
- John Huston
- Written By
- John Huston
- Genres
- Western, Drama, Action & Adventure, Classics
- In Theaters
- Jan 7, 1948 Wide
- Studio
- WARNER BROTHERS PICTURES
Critic Reviews
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, TIME Magazine
Treasure of Sierra Madre is one of the best things Hollywood has done since it learned to talk; and the movie can take a place, without blushing, among the best ever made.
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Don Druker, Chicago Reader
John Huston has rarely been in better form than in this 1948 study of gold fever and worse obsessions among an unlikely trio of prospectors...
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Stephen Garrett, Time Out
There's a quite enjoyable yarn buried under the hollow laughter.
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Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The movie has never really been about gold but about character, and Bogart fearlessly makes Fred C. Dobbs into a pathetic, frightened, selfish man -- so sick we would be tempted to pity him, if he were not so undeserving of pity.
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Bosley Crowther, New York Times
Greed, a despicable passion out of which other base ferments may spawn, is seldom treated in the movies with the frank and ironic contempt that is vividly manifested toward it in Treasure of Sierra Madre.
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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Humphrey Bogart
as Fred C. Dobbs
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Walter Huston
as Howard
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Tim Holt
as Curtin
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Bruce Bennett
as Cody
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Barton MacLane
as McCormick
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Alfonso Bedoya
as Gold Hat
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Arturo Soto Rangel
as Presidente
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Manuel Donde
as El Jefe
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Jacqueline Dalya
as Flashy Girl
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Roberto Canedo
as Mexican Lieutenant
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Spencer Chan
as Proprietor
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Ralph Dunn
as Flophouse Bum
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Pat Flaherty
as Customer
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Martin Garralaga
as Railroad Conductor
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Jack Holt
as Flophouse Man
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Margarito Luna
as Pancho
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Julian Rivero
as Barber
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Ann Sheridan
as Senorita Lopez
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José Torvay
as Pablo
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Harry J. Vejar
as Bartender
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Clifton Young
as Flophouse Bum
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Robert Blake
as Mexican Boy
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John Huston
as White Suit