The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

 75 years later, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre remains a stark example of the boundaries Hollywood was able to push in the golden age of cinema. Many people may think of old black-and-white movies from the 40s as lacking any teeth, of being reasonably chaste or easy-going films where the good guys win, and the bad guys get theirs.

But 1940s Hollywood, especially post-WWII Hollywood, was particularly cynical, and that was reflected in the films made in the wake of the great conflict. Eventually, optimism would win over in the 50s (before naturalism wormed its way into the movies of the late 60s and 70s), but out of that cynicism, we got the terrific The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Humphrey Bogart stars as Fred C. Dobbs, an American wandering through Mexico in the 1920s, begging other Americans for spare change to get by. He's tipped off at the potential of gold in the nearby mountains and sets out with two other estranged Americans, Curtin (Tim Holt) and Howard (Walter Huston), to go prospecting. Along the way they encounter bandits, other enterprising Americans with a nose for gold, and of course the envy and suspicion that builds when the treasure is finally found.

Directed by John Huston (The African Queen, Key Largo), the film contains a remarkable amount of plot packed into a tight two-hour running time. There's a certain economy to the storytelling that is remarkable, and you get a good sense of who everyone is pretty quickly. It's also a film that doesn't pull any punches; Bogart is wonderful as Dobbs, a man who is friendly enough but demonstrates a deep mistrust of everyone, and as their gold stock slowly grows he gets more and more greedy, hoarding his share and suspecting his companions of ill intent. It's a standout performance by Bogart that proves he really was one of Hollywood's greatest stars.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is one of those films that truly is timeless. The story of man's greed and hunger for more never ages, and the performances and filmmaking are some of the finest of the decade. It's remarkable Warner Bros took a chance on such a dark film with few redeeming characters. I had seen the film many years ago and had forgotten just how great this was, but it really is one of the best Hollywood films of the 1940s.