Treasure of the Sierra Madre

I'm probably the only person in the world born after 1950 or so that read the Treasure of the Sierra Madre novel prior to watching the film ... also probably one of very few that prefers the novel to the film. That's not to say I don't like the movie - it's a great picture, classic cinematography, Bogey as the unbalanced bad guy , "We don't have to show you no steenkin' badges!" (possibly the most misquoted movie line ever right there), all of that. I just think that, due to the nature of film v.s. writing, a lot of Traven's humor, psychological insight and social commentary had to be excised on the silver screen.



The picture hews pretty close to the book, though there are some notable changes. It still begins with Dobbs (Bogey) and Curtin (Tim Holt) bumming around in Tampico, desperate for work. It excises an early journey that Dobbs takes with two other characters, however, and adds in a bar brawl that was not present in the book. Generally speaking, director Huston "Hollywoodized" the book quite a bit. There's a gunfight on a train that was not present in the novel (the train robbery was a flashback described to Dobbs by another character there, in which the bandits bloodily and systematically murdered everyone on board), and the film makes a recurring villain out of the bandit in the gold hat, whereas he disappears from the book after the standoff at the top of the mountain. Cody (Lacaud in the book) also had a better time of it there - the partners did not vote to bump him off but to take him in, and he does not die in the ensuing bandit battle, but stays behind when they leave to work the claim further. The bandit battle on the mountain was also a lot longer in the book, more drawn out and psychological, and the bandits that ultimately put an end to Dobbs are not related to the gold hat bunch in the book.

Even though I prefer the novel and recommend it over the film, the film is still very much great to watch. Huston's dad plays Harry and he's a gem as a fast-talking and capable old prospector who has seen it all. It's unusual to see Bogey as both a bum and a bad guy, and he's surprisingly good as both, and Tim Holt fits his role pretty well too. Most of the filming was actually shot in Tampico and there are some gorgeous backdrops, though a couple of night scenes are done in front of a too-obvious painted backdrop. Also interesting is that the movie does not pander as you would expect a modern picture to - actual Mexicans and Indians from the region are cast, and they speak Mexican Spanish, including the one long stretch towards the end between Dobbs' untimely end and the execution of the bandits where absolutely nothing but Spanish is spoken for about ten or fifteen minutes straight (as it is nothing but Indian characters on screen during that time). I guess subtitles would have been OK here, but it works particularly well this way, and a modern director probably would have presumed his audience to be idiots and made the Mexican and Indian characters all talk in cheesy accented English all the time or something. It's just nice to trip back to a time where Hollywood had at least a bit more respect for both it's audience and the art of making films.