The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Written by Filipe Manuel Neto on October 28, 2023

An excellent film that deserves to be remembered today, more than seventy years later.

It's curious to see a film where a group of Americans go to Mexico to experience in Mexican lands what many Mexicans now go through in the USA: hunger, unemployment and difficulties in surviving. However, this is how this film begins, which presents us with a group of three Americans with no prospects for improving their lives who decide to invest everything in a treasure hunt by becoming gold prospectors in the most remote mountains of Mexico.

The film continues with Americans surviving various hardships and revealing the worst of themselves due to gold fever, a type of greed that affects those who seek to get rich quickly by mining the most coveted metals in the world. There is no doubt that it is a very good film and that it treats the characters in a very careful way, with each one making a very interesting psychological and moral evolution. Therefore, it is perhaps one of the best works of the career of Humphrey Bogart, one of the most notable actors of the golden age of cinema. The way he worked on this film is impressive. Tim Holt is not far behind, however his character has a different evolution. Walter Huston also does a good job here.

The film is really worth it: the story is good, John Huston's direction is competent and effective, the black and white cinematography is very beautiful and elegant, the sets are well done, and the costumes also leave nothing to be desired. The film won three Oscars in 1949: Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (for Walter Huston) and Best Screenplay.