The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

"The nearer they get to their treasure, the farther they get from the law."

1948 2h 6m EN

🙌

8.0

BANGER

🔥

100%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

8.2

IMDB

★8.0TMDB · 1,400🍅100%Rotten Tomatoes●98Metacritic★8.2IMDB · 140,812

AdventureDramaWestern

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Two jobless Americans convince a prospector to travel to the mountains of Mexico with them in search of gold. But the hostile wilderness, local bandits, and greed all get in the way of their journey.

“The nearer they get to their treasure, the farther they get from the law.”

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Cast

Humphrey Bogart
Fred C. Dobbs
Walter Huston
Howard
Tim Holt
Bob Curtin
Bruce Bennett
James Cody
Barton MacLane
Pat McCormick
Alfonso Bedoya
Gold Hat
Arturo Soto Rangel
El Presidente
Manuel Dondé
El Jefe

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: John Huston
Writers: John Huston
Languages: English, Spanish
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $3.8M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

78 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by John Huston, shot by Ted D. McCord. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Max Steiner. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Owen Marks shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston and Tim Holt carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The nearer they get to their treasure, the farther they get from the law.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Huston directs. Ted D. McCord behind the camera. Max Steiner scores. Owen Marks cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $3.8M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
278 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
4Directed by John Huston, shot by Ted D. McCord. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Max Steiner. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Owen Marks shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston and Tim Holt carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "The nearer they get to their treasure, the farther they get from the law.".
9IMDB entry: tt0040897 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 13 themes, including "gold", "mexico", "based on novel or book", "greed".
11Released under 12 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Ted D. McCord
Original score: Max Steiner
Editing: Owen Marks
Makeup / hair: Perc Westmore
Runtime: 126 min · 2h 6m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $3,800,000
Box office: $4,307,000
Return: 113% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 98/100
IMDB rating: 8.2/10 · 140,812 votes
MPAA: Approved

Awards

Won 3 Oscars. 18 wins & 5 nominations total

Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Director

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

John Huston

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Andres Gomez2012-11-29
★ 9/10
Fantastic movie with great cast and a thrilling story. Bogart performs great.
talisencrw2016-08-04
★ 10/10
I wanted something very special to be my 5,000th film (at least to my horrible memory and to my stats on IMDb), and so after brazen and intense thought, I decided on a later-than-expected watch of a classic from Bogart's association with John Huston. I say later than expected because I bought the immaculate 24-film Humphrey Bogart Collection, which was supposed to have it on its 12 double-sided DVDs, but it accidentally had, in its place, the special features disc, which held excellent feature-length documentaries on both John Huston and the making of the film. Thus I waited until recently, when I found the blu for a very good price and went for it. It was worth the wait. The ultimate tale of sordid greed. Without going into detail or spoilers, everyone got exactly what they deserved. My only qualm is that after a splendid cameo by the director (whom when I think of that aspect of his career, I will always fondly think of 'Chinatown'), I was hoping we'd end up seeing more of his character. That would have been even more wonderful for me. Hopefully I will see and rate another 5,000--and I'm very curious if and when I do, what film I'll choose for THAT milestone...
tmdb280390232022-09-06
★ 7/10
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a film whose pleasures lie in the ‘how’ as opposed to the ‘what.’ Not long into the movie, Howard (Walter Huston) spells out the plot in broad strokes: “Never knew a prospector yet that died rich … going with a partner or two is dangerous. Murder's always lurkin' about. Partners accusin' each other of all sorts of crimes … as long as there's no find, the noble brotherhood will last, but when the piles of gold begin to grow, that's when the trouble starts.” The movie then unfolds with all the inevitability of a Greek tragedy (with Howard doing Cassandra one better, because not even he heeds his own prediction). The story’s destination thus secured, writer/director John Huston doesn’t rush headlong for the finish line; on the contrary, he takes the time to establish the characters and the situation at his leisure, with lots of patience and a smattering of humor (including a scene where Bogie throws water in the face of an infant Robert Blake). After the three protagonists – Howard, Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart), and Bob Curtin (Tim Holt) – climb up the titular mountains and Dobbs climbs down from sanity, everything goes pretty much according to Howard’s forecast – which is to say, spectacularly wrong, but spectacular nonetheless; Dobbs becomes paranoid and delusional, convinced that the other two are either going to stab him in the back or ambush him down the line – but never just shoot him on the spot, because they are “yellow.” Even at his most heroic, Bogie had an underlying mean streak; Rick Blaine is a cynical, bitter drunk who is, as one can only be in the movies, Saved by the Love of a Good Woman (even if he doesn’t Get the Girl in the End), and Sam Spade is always looking out for No. 1. It’s in films like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (see also Conflict, In a Lonely Place) that he lets loose that inner darkness which he only taps into elsewhere, and his descent into madness remains the best part of a great movie (and even then Huston finds room for humor, such as when Dobbs asks an interloper “who’s not civilized?!” right before sucker punching him).