Movie Minx

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt
Directed by: John Huston

Plot: Three down-and-out men tackle a mountain in Mexico in search of gold, battling opportunists, bandits - and each other - to get rich.

But is it any good?
Luckily this is one of the films on my list that turns out to be a, erm, treasure. Never heard of it before. Knew Bogart from Casablanca, and the director’s name sounded familiar, but that was it. What a discovery! I highly recommend Treasure of the Sierra Madre to anyone willing to witness some of the finest acting and storytelling around.

The film opens with Bogart playing Dobbs, a loser stuck in Mexico and reduced to begging, although any handouts are spent on booze or even a haircut. Then he meets Pat, a businessman who ‘hires’ Doob and a bunch of other slackjawed men for two weeks and scarpers before they get paid (they’re not the brightest bunch - “I’ll be right back with your wages!” he tells them). Anyway, Dobbs and his new pal Curtin (Holt) meet Howard (Huston), a wise old codger who knows the mountains and promises to take them gold-hunting if they can cough up the expenses. After Dobbs and Curtin ‘extract’ the money they’re owed from Pat (in one of the fakest punch-ups ever caught on camera) and Dobbs wins a lottery, they set off.

Finding the gold isn’t the problem, it turns out. The issue is trust, and as Dobbs isn’t a particularly pleasant character (and is so convincingly played by Bogart you find yourself hating him as time ticks on), it’s a very uneasy partnership indeed. As they work together in the hot, dry, isolated mountains, and their gold pile grows heavier by the day, everything starts to crumble and it’s uncertain exactly who will emerge unscathed (if anyone). It’s made abundantly clear that gold will not necessarily make a man ‘rich’ in terms of happiness.

While there is enough action to keep the boys happy (gunfire and punch-ups at regular intervals), the best moments come in the heated exchanges between the three main characters as their paranoia grows. While Holt and Bogart are both star actors, the show is well and truly stolen by Walter Huston (the director’s father), who is entirely convincing as the toothless sage who sees exactly where things are heading and who keeps his head (for the most part). His chatty snippets of dialogue add spice and humour to a screenplay that might have otherwise worn itself down.

While it’s inevitably dated like most old movies (not just the black and white, but the slightly lagging runtime and amatuerish action scenes), the acting, directing and writing combine to make one truly excellent film.

IMDb’s rating: 8.5/10
My rating: 8.5/10

Next film to be reviewed: American History X

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