One of the best things done over the weekend was watching " The Treasures of Sierra Madre"....what a classic and what a movie!
Adapted from the novel by the mysterious author B Traven...this is a classic story of how Greed corrupts the mind.
This movie has dealt such an amazing treatment to morality issues, its visually stunning in B/W and very ironic as the story ends.
Dobbs ( played by Humphrey Bogart) who is trying to make two ends meet on the street of Tampico ( Mexico) accosts Curtin ( Tim Holt)who is in a similar down and out situation. They chance upon Howard ( Walter Houston) at a flophouse who inspires them to go prospecting for Gold with his stories. Dobbs, drawn by the idea of striking gold...sets off with the two.
The story then proceeds accounting for their journey up the mountains and how Dobbs mind is filled with paranoia and distrust along the way...
This movie is extremely realistic...and its something that very well could have happened and does happen and can happen. Its not for the faint heart , who expect a happy ending and believe all is well in the end.
Humphrey Bogart played a role like never before...very different than that of what he ever played and goes on to play later in his life. He plays an intense character and you see so clearly how corrosive the power of greed is as Bogart's character goes down and down ...
Much of course has also got to do with John Houston who directed and thought it out so vividly. One gets a glimpse of the director as he plays a short stint of a well off American in Tampico from whom Bogart asks some money....
Old Movies esp the B/W variety is really a matter of taste and many of us of today's generation...find them way too "sentimental" or "corny"...but The Treasures of Sierra Madre...catches one by surprise...its relevant and gripping tday as it was back then.
It a definite watch and 10/10 for me.
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