So… I’m a little behind. Crap. Working on it.
Anyway, Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It’s very Indiana Jones-y, in a way. Three dudes (Humphrey Bogart being the most famous) hear about the chance of making a ton of money prospecting illegally for gold in Mexico, decide it’s worth it and strike out to find their fortune. Find their fortune they do, but holding onto their fortune is another matter entirely, and they learn some very important things about the fragility of friendship, the inner workings of the human mind, and the way that material things can turn even the best people to commit violent acts. Basically, Humphrey Bogart goes insane and tries to steal the entire fortune for himself, then ends up dead, and the whole fortune is scattered to the winds.
The underlying moral of the story (GREED IZ BAD) might be a little obvious and cliche, but it doesn’t stop Treasure of the Sierra Madre from being a pretty solid movie. The cinematography is fantastic, roughly on level with Citizen Kane in terms of beautiful shots (although it is lacking several of the groundbreaking camera tricks and angles Citizen Kane employed). Humphrey Bogart puts in an outstanding performance as Fred C Dobbs, portraying his descent into greed, paranoia, and insanity remarkably well. The supporting actors are less memorable, but still put in solid performances. The story (based of a novel of the same name) drags on a little bit in some spots, but I’ve come to realize that this is actually because older movies tend to move at a slower pace, so it’s not necessarily a bad thing – I guess it reflects more on my lack of attention span than on the film’s quality. Except in the case of Lawrence of Arabia. That was still way too friggin long.
Score: 4/5 (A 4 is a movie that I really really liked, and would definitely see again, but some very minor issues kept me from rating it as one of my favorite movies ever. It does come with my completely unqualified recommendation unless you really don’t like that particular genre of movie.)
