The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

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What evil lurks in the hearts of men?  Find out when Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt and Walter Houston search for gold and come up with nothing but trouble in the gripping adventure thriller, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre! Written and directed by John Houston (whose work here garnered him the double whammy of Best Director and Best Screenplay at the 1949 Academy Awards), and based on the classic novel by B. Traven, this two-fisted tale of grand adventure in central Mexico doubles as a searing psychological portrait of greed and corruption run amuck. Two hard-grubbing American wanderers, Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart, in a startling change of pace from his well-established star persona) and Curtin (Tim Holt), meet up with a grizzled old prospector, Howard (played by the director’s father, Walter Houston, who won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his unforgettable turn) in 1920s Mexico and head into the rugged Sierra Madre mountains to find gold. In their search they find plenty of danger in the form of ruthless bandits, harsh weather and natural disaster, but also in their own insecurities, greed and paranoia. (Dir. by John Huston, 1948, USA, 126 mins., Not Rated)