The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

 John Huston's "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre"

Often considered one of the best American pictures of all time, John Huston's 1948 film "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" was certainly an integral viewing experience in my deep dive into classic American cinema. Starring Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt, and Walter Huston, the film tells the story of three men as they attempt to find gold in the Sierra Madre mountains. It's a film that pulls from many influences and itself has influenced many films after.

I'm not going to get too much into the plot of the film, because it seems self explanatory. After finding gold in the mountains, the three men, especially the Humphrey Bogart character, become enveloped in paranoia and greed. Their insatiable desire for gold corrupts their human spirit and makes them turn their backs on each other. In the end, one ends up dead and none with the gold.

My biggest takeaway from the film is the film's commentary on America itself and the human condition. The capitalist system that has comprised the nation's framework since its inception has implemented a fixed idea in the minds of many about the nature of material wealth and the greedy obsession for the 'American Dream.' Our characters begin the film on the lower echelons of  this society, forced into a state of dependence on material wealth for survival. This seething dependence creates the very framework for the rest of the film. When wealth = survival, it's no wonder that a raging greed and paranoia takes over. 

The notion that the film is considered a 'Western' film is strange to me. Not because it's not a Western, it absolutely is. However, it doesn't fit the typical framework of the Western genre. There's no impending society encroaching upon the characters, there's no moral battle over the implementation of justice, and there's no 'times are a-changin' and 'we're being swept up by the wind' philosophical anxiety. Rather, the film feels more like an adventure film with the decay of our characters' moral center at the heart of it.

Overall, I did enjoy this film. However, I left feeling a little underwhelmed. I felt the film had really great ideas, but I didn't feel as though those ideas were all-encompassing. The ideas of greed, the corruption of the human soul, and the 20th century modernity of capitalistic venturism all feel very washed over. It was interesting to watch the paranoid mania that comes from this materialistic chase for gold, however I feel that the film that betters soaks in these ideas was the film that this film seemed inspired by, Erich von Stroheim's 1924 silent masterpiece "Greed." I found "The Treasures of the Sierra Madre" to be a glossier version of that film with a bit more adventure for commercial sake. Don't get me wrong, as a commercial film is concerned, "The Treasures of the Sierra Madre" knocks it out of the park. I just feel as though more existential consideration could have been more interesting to me personally. Also, on a final note: This was Humphrey Bogart's greatest acting performance of his career. No questions asked.