THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE

There is no more perfect study of avarice gone to obsession and paranoia than John Huston's story of a threesome—Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt and Huston's father Walter—hunting for gold in the mountains of Mexico, where they come face-to-face with bandits, federales, and their own basest instincts. In one of his finest roles, Bogart reveals here the brittleness and menace his 1940s characters barely held in check.

Adapted from B.Traven’s explicitly anti-capitalist novel (published in 1920s Europe, in non-capitalist societies only), Huston’s film cuts back on those overt sentiments, but the indictment of the profit motive remains the same. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE remains one of the most insightful films ever made about greed and the thorny effects of temptation on human nature.

“Partly realistic, partly poetic, fully moral, this deservingly canonized behemoth is one of the relatively few films that transcends the medium to become a mandatory viewing experience for anyone that identifies themselves as a human being, period.” - Rob Humanick, Slant

“THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE is just mad. It’s great because it’s really just watching someone go slowly insane, over ninety minutes—and what could be better? When I watch it again, all of life’s questions and answers are there in the movie; the way to make movies, live your life, get along, everything.” - Paul Thomas Anderson