Grade: A
Synopsis: Two men (Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt) join up with an old prospector (Walter Huston) to search for gold in Mexico.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a textbook example of great storytelling. Director John Huston uses his cast, the location, and even his own family to tell an intimate story about the nature of greed that holds up to this day.
The script, also by Huston, does an excellent job of efficiently establishing all the characters, and features Huston’s signature cracker-jack dialog, but it’s the performers who really shine.
Bogart gives perhaps the best performance of his career, pulling off a very believable, and very chilling, descent into madness, but it’s Huston’s own father, Walter Huston who steals the show.
Winning an Academy award for his performance, the senior Huston is completely believable, so much so that you’d have trouble believing he was a leading man not ten years earlier.
Bottom Line: Another classic by Huston. Highly recommended.
