 Tagline: They Sold their Souls for the Treasure of the Sierra Madre Tagline: The nearer they get to their treasure, the farther they get from the law. Memorable Quote: We ain't got no stinkin' badges! Actual Quote: Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges. John Huston won the Academy Award for writing and directing this powerful saga that pits gold and greed in the wilds of Mexico and stars his father (Walter Huston) and Humphrey Bogart. Gold in the hills, avarice in the hearts of men. Two hard-luck drifters (Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt) and a grizzled prospector (Walter Huston) discover gold. Then greed and paranoia set in. Shot mostly on location in Mexico, The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre cost a then whopping $3 million--and led to a showdown. At that price, Jack Warner argued, the top-billed Bogart shouldn't be bumped off before the finale. But director John Huston stood his ground and went on to win high honors: two Academy Awards for his direction and screenplay. And his father won the Oscar as Best Supporting Actor. Without awards, but with enduring acclaim, is Bogart's performance, transforming before our eyes from a likable hobo to a heartless thug who simmers in his own greed. A half-century later, it's placement on the American Film Institute's Top 100 American Films confirms it's still a powerful movie. "One of the greatest American films... Masterful storytelling." -- Danny Peary, Guide For The Film Fanatic Storyline: Fred C. Dobbs and Bob Curtin, both down on their luck in Tampico, Mexico in 1925, meet up with a grizzled prospector named Howard and decide to join with him in search of gold in the wilds of central Mexico. Through enormous difficulties, they eventually succeed in finding gold, but bandits, the elements, and most especially greed threaten to turn their success into disaster. Written by Jim Beaver Cast Notes: Humphrey Bogart (Fred C. Dobbs), Walter Huston (Howard), Tim Holt (Bob Curtin), Bruce Bennett (James Cody), Barton MacLane (Pat McCormick), Alfonso Bedoya (Gold Hat), Arturo Soto Rangel (El Presidente [as A. Soto Rangel]), Manuel Dondé (El Jefe), José Torvay (Pablo), Margarito Luna (Pancho). User Comment: Dennis Littrell (dalittrell@yahoo.com) SoCal • This, one of the funniest lines in cinema, certainly one of the most famous, is actually (as afficionados know) a misquote. What Alfonso Bedoya, who plays "Gold Hat," actually says, when he and his bandito friends are asked for their badges, is "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!" I wonder if anybody at the time had any idea how funny this would hit audiences. John Huston wrote the screenplay (adapting B. Traven's novel) and directed his father, Walter Huston along with Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt, and Bruce Bennett in this classic from my favorite age of cinema (the late forties/early fifties). Walter Huston won an academy award as Best Supporting Actor in 1948 and John Huston garnered Oscars for his direction and his screenplay. Bogart won nothing, but I have to say he did a great job. It's easy to think of Humphrey Bogart as always playing Humphrey Bogart as he has done in so many movies, particularly in mysteries and especially as a private eye. But here we see a different Bogart, one who is not entirely sympathetic; indeed as the down and out Fred C. Dobbs he is a bit of a scoundrel and more than a little paranoid. In watching this one realizes that Bogart had a much greater range than he is sometimes given credit for. I also recall him alongside Katharine Hepburn in The African Queen (1951) also directed by John Huston, and in The Caine Mutiny (1954). In the former he did win an Oscar, and in the latter, as Captain Queeg, he gave perhaps his most unforgettable performance. This is a tale of greed and the fever that arises when one hunts for gold. Walter Huston plays a crusty old miner named Howard who tries one more time to strike it rich. Dobbs and Bob Curtin (Tim Holt) are seduced by the wily old miner's romantic tales and the three of them go off into the Sierra Madre mountains near Tampico, Mexico to prospect. Naturally they hit pay dirt, but in-between the growing madness of Dobbs and the Mexican bandits, theirs is an uneasy existence. What happens to the gold and to the three men is fascinating to watch, and we sense a timeless human psychology at work. Bob Curtin expresses part of it this way: "You know, the worst ain't so bad when it finally happens. Not half as bad as you figure it'll be before it's happened." This movie is as good as its reputation, which is considerable, but it's not perfect. Some of it plays a little too simplistically, as when Howard saves the Mexican boy amid the worshipful natives, and some of it is a little silly, as when the bandits mistake gold for sand--not likely! But the almost epic quality of the tale and the felicitous direction as well as many interesting and humorous touches, make this one of the best ever made, and something no true film buff should miss. By the way, the little Mexican boy who sells Dobbs the lottery ticket is a bronzed up Robert Blake. Summary: We ain't got no stinkin' badges! IMDb Rating (07/25/14): 8.4/10 from 61,731 users Top 250: #94 IMDb Rating (10/15/07): 8.4/10 from 18,937 users Top 250: #50 IMDb Rating (09/29/03): 8.4/10 from 7,147 users Top 250: #69
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