The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Two down and out Americans (Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt) have a chance meeting with an old prospector (Walter Huston) who is up for one last try to strike it rich. When Bogart’s Dobbs comes into a bit of cash, the men pool resources, buy supplies, and head to the mountains.

This film is the origin of the famous Blazing Saddles line regarding badges. You know the one. Beyond that, a campfire beans scene and Huston’s prospector character seem familiar. I don’t know if Brooks intentionally referenced them, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

Director John Huston (Walter’s boy) tricked the studio to get the film made. Westerns were cheap, quick, easy, and profitable. That’s what studios want so that’s what Huston told them he was making. Who read scripts? Instead, they got something else, and something better. Jack Warner had a fit when he saw the rushes. A few issues he had was that big star Bogart’s character wasn’t quite as heroic as he wanted, and was frequently upstaged by Walter’s prospector. Oh, and the ending. Walter himself wasn’t too keen on taking the part, thinking at 65 he was still a leading man type. Two years and three films later, he’d be gone. And so it goes.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a special film. It says a lot about how desperation, and the prospect of fortune changes a man. That is, if he’s the kind of man to allow it to. And Walter’s performance was a tour de force. AMRU 4.5.

“Do you believe that stuff the old man was saying the other night at the Oso Negro about gold changin' a man's soul so's he ain't the same sort of man as he was before findin' it?”