The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Synopsis: 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.
Director(s): John Huston
Production: WARNER BROTHERS PICTURES
  Won 3 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 5 nominations.
 
IMDB:
8.3
Metacritic:
99
Rotten Tomatoes:
100%
NOT RATED
Year:
1948
126 min
3,174 Views


[Dramatic instrumental music]

[Ominous instrumental music]

[Cheerful instrumental music]

DOBBS:
Say, buddy,

will you stake a fellow...

Hey, mister, will you stake

a fellow American to a meal?

[Shop owner speaking Spanish]

[Slow instrumental music]

- State lottery, seor?

- Beat it. I ain't buying no lottery tickets.

4,000 pesos is the big prize.

DOBBS:
Get away from me,

you little beggar.

The whole ticket is only 4 pesos.

It's a sure winner.

I ain't got 4 pesos.

Buy a quarter of a ticket for 1 peso silver.

DOBBS:
If you don't get away from me,

I'll throw this water right in your face.

Then one tenth of a ticket, seor, for 40...

Seor, buy one twentieth.

One twentieth costs you only 20 centavos.

Look, seor, add the figures up.

You get 13.

What better number could you buy?

It's a sure winner.

- Yeah, how soon's the drawing?

- Only three weeks off.

Give me a twentieth

so I don't have to look at your ugly face.

[Speaking Spanish]

Come again next time.

I always have the winners,

all the lucky numbers. Good luck.

Thirteen.

DOBBS:
Excuse me.

Cigarette?

Thanks.

- It's hot.

- Yeah.

What a town, Tampico.

You said it, brother.

If I could get a job

that'd bring enough to buy passage...

I'd shake its dust off my feet

soon enough, you bet.

If I was a native,

I'd get a can of shoe polish...

and I'd be in business.

They'd never let a gringo.

You can sit on a bench

till you're three-quarters starved.

You can beg from another gringo,

or even commit burglary.

You try shining shoes in the street...

or peddling lemonade out of a bucket

and your hash is settled.

You'll never get another job

from an American.

CURTIN:
And the natives

would hound and pester you to death.

- Some town to be broke in.

- What town isn't?

Can you stake a fellow American

to a meal?

[Upbeat instrumental music]

[Cash register dinging]

DOBBS:
Hey, mister.

Will you stake a fellow American

to a meal?

MAN:
Such impudence

never came my way.

Early this afternoon, I gave you money.

When my shoes were being polished,

I gave you more.

Now you put the bite on me again.

Do me a favor.

Go occasionally to somebody else.

It's beginning to get tiresome.

Excuse me. I didn't know it was you.

I never looked at your face, just

your hands and the money you gave me.

Beg pardon. I promise

I'll never put the bite on you again.

This is the very last you get from me.

Just to make sure you don't forget

your promise, here's another peso.

DOBBS:
Thanks, mister.

MAN:
But from now on...

you have to make your way through life

without my assistance.

[Spanish music]

Hey, buddy, will you stake

a fellow American to a meal?

McCORMICK:
I won't give you a cent.

If you want to make some money

I'll give you a job.

- What's the catch?

- There's no catch.

I got a job if you want.

It's hard work, but good pay.

McCORMICK:
You ever rig a camp?

DOBBS:
Sure.

The ferry's making off,

one of my men hasn't shown up.

I don't know what's happened to him.

He's probably drunk in some dive.

DOBBS:
What's the pay?

McCORMICK:
$8 a day.

Don't just stand there.

Make up your mind, the ferry doesn't wait.

DOBBS:
I'm your man.

McCORMICK:
Come on.

[Ferry chugging]

- Hello, there.

- Hello, yourself.

McCORMICK:
Okay, you guys, get aboard.

[Ferry horn blaring]

[Siren blaring]

DOBBS:
Take it your way.

[Bell ringing]

[Siren blaring]

McCORMICK:
What's the matter

with you two? Can't you take it?

It's 130 in the shade, and there ain't

any shade up there on that derrick.

Just figure you're a couple of millionaires

in your own private steam bath.

And the sooner we're through...

the sooner we'll be back in town

drinking cold beer.

We finish within two weeks,

I'm giving you fellas a bonus.

Yeah, it's coming to us

working 16, 18 hours a day like we do.

Don't go crying to your mamas.

What do you want?

I'm paying top salaries and a bonus.

What about our pay anyway,

and when do we get it?

- I ain't seen a buck out of you yet.

- You'll get your dough, all right...

don't worry about that,

when we get back to Tampico.

What could you do with money out here

anyway, except gamble and lose it?

You'll be paid as we step off the ferry.

[Ferry horn blaring]

The agent was supposed to be here

with the dough.

Don't know what could've happened.

But don't worry.

I'll go to the office and pick up the money.

You men stay here.

Any objection to a couple of us

coming with you?

Don't you trust me?

You think I'd run out on you?

I don't think you'd do that.

But I ain't got a cent, not even enough

to buy me a glass of beer.

Say, you two guys meet me

over at the Cantina Madrid.

It's 2:
15 now and I'll be over there

no later than 3:
00.

BARTENDER:
Pat McCormick.

He comes here from time to time.

I haven't seen him lately.

CUSTOMER:
Pat McCormick?

What about Pat McCormick?

- He's supposed to meet us here.

- Does he owe you any money?

CURTIN:
Yeah.

Say, how long you guys

been around Tampico, anyway?

DOBBS:
What's that got to do with it?

Only foreigners and half-baked Americans

fall for McCormick's tricks.

CURTIN:
How do you mean?

I mean, he hires dumb guys like you

to work for him.

When it comes time to pay off,

he takes a powder.

[Spanish music]

How much we got left

of that $10 he gave us, Dobbsie?

DOBBS:
$2.50.

CURTIN:
Not even enough for one bed.

DOBBS:
I know a joint that's full of rats,

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John Huston

John Marcellus Huston (; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an Irish-American film director, screenwriter and actor. Huston was a citizen of the United States by birth but renounced U.S. citizenship to become an Irish citizen and resident. He returned to reside in the United States where he died. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The African Queen (1951), The Misfits (1961), Fat City (1972) and The Man Who Would Be King (1975). During his 46-year career, Huston received 15 Oscar nominations, won twice, and directed both his father, Walter Huston, and daughter, Anjelica Huston, to Oscar wins in different films. Huston was known to direct with the vision of an artist, having studied and worked as a fine art painter in Paris in his early years. He continued to explore the visual aspects of his films throughout his career, sketching each scene on paper beforehand, then carefully framing his characters during the shooting. While most directors rely on post-production editing to shape their final work, Huston instead created his films while they were being shot, making them both more economical and cerebral, with little editing needed. Most of Huston's films were adaptations of important novels, often depicting a "heroic quest," as in Moby Dick, or The Red Badge of Courage. In many films, different groups of people, while struggling toward a common goal, would become doomed, forming "destructive alliances," giving the films a dramatic and visual tension. Many of his films involved themes such as religion, meaning, truth, freedom, psychology, colonialism and war. Huston has been referred to as "a titan", "a rebel", and a "renaissance man" in the Hollywood film industry. Author Ian Freer describes him as "cinema's Ernest Hemingway"—a filmmaker who was "never afraid to tackle tough issues head on." more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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