Yesterday I had the opportunity to see The Treasure of the Sierra Madre for the first time on the big screen in honor of its 70th Anniversary. I love being able to see these classic movies as they were meant to be seen and this one about greed and betrayal is spectacular. Frank Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) and Bob Curtain (Tim Holt) are down and out in Tampico, Mexico in the 1920s when they meet an old prospector (Walter Huston) full of wild stories about the fortune to be made in the mountains. Dobbs and Curtain decide to put in with him and they endure many hardships before finding the mother lode. Even after acquiring enough gold for all three of them to live comfortably for the rest of their lives they still want more and soon begin to distrust each other. When a stranger happens upon their mine they contemplate killing him to avoid taking him on as a partner. After fighting off a group of bandits they decide to close down the mine but Dobbs turns against them in one of the most ironic endings I've ever seen. This movie does move at a very slow pace but the point is not really the adventure but what the adventure does to the men and this theme is very compelling. Bogart gives an incredible performance as a man slowly driven mad by his own greed and I also really enjoyed Huston as the grizzled old prospector, especially when he does his famous jig when they discover gold. This movie also includes one of the most famous lines when a bandit says, "We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges." My Dad quotes this line to me all of the time but I never knew what it meant. Now I do! This is a fantastic movie and I recommend seeing it on the big screen. You have another opportunity on Jan. 17 (go here for tickets).
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