In this classic film, three down on their luck American adventurers astray in Tampico, Mexico set out for easy fortune.
It's a situation not far removed from those of the film's first audiences: soldiers just home from WW II, faced with unemployment and on the hunt for a much-needed nest egg.
No doubt this was one of the many reasons that made John Huston's 1947 The Treasure of the Sierra Madre so popular upon its initial release.
Other moments in the film tag it as a product of the immediate post-war period just as well: the reading of a letter from the estranged wife of the gunned-down fourth party (Bruce Bennett), and the mental machinations of the threesome's Judas, Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart), as he is forced to reflect on the dirty deeds circumstance has compelled him to commit - a post-battle weightiness then being experienced by many.
Normally, a collection of big moments this size would be enough to date a film irreparably.
But Sierra Madre transcends anachronism. As such, it belongs on that small list of movies that can be as fully appreciated today as they were in their own time.
So...what makes it so timeless?
First, the film is a fable, and thus, universal. It's a dark, playful Aesopian tale, its moral enwrapped in the words of Howard (Walter Huston), the Methusalan motor mouth who is the group's elder statesman. Discovering that the gold the men have risked their lives for has found its way back into the hills from where it came, he laughingly surmises to the Zen-like Curtin (Tim Holt), "It's a great joke, son, played on us by the Lord or fate or nature."
Second, the film's politics, even after all these years, still suit. Its reverence for geographical and cultural Mexico continue to be relevant as arguments against the scourge of American invasion, as well as serve as pro-active statements on environmental protection and the importance of the preservation of natural resources.
Last, and by all means not least!, are the writing, directing, and editing. Sierra Madre is a true rarity: a perfectly paced picture, with human interaction and grand adventure expertly mixed throughout.
If it has been awhile since you have revisited this film, by all means, head to those Mexican hills. Better yet, procure it on 2 disc DVD.
You can best Howard, Curtin and Dobbs by securing yourself a lasting treasure.
