Great story, great acting, great writing/directing by John Huston. Oscars to John Huston (directing) and his father Walter Huston (Supporting actor). It was nominated for Best Picture.
It's an exciting story of 3 prospectors: an experienced old timer (Walter Huston) and 2 down on their luck green horns (Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt) prospecting for gold in the mountains of Mexico and trying to protect their find from interlopers who would want to share in the find and bandits who would want all of it. And they also have to deal with their own greed and distrust of one another as the gold piles up.
It's also a fascinating character study of Bogart's Fred C. Dobbs. The film begins with Dobbs as an out of work American looking to make an honest dollar in Tampico, Mexico. He meets Curtin (Tim Holt), another American looking for work. Although penniless, Dobbs shares his cigarettes with Curtin and the two of them find hard work on an offshore oil rig. They work diligently only to discover the boss had no intention of paying them. When they catch up to him, he attacks them but they knock him out and take only the money he owes them and nothing more. When they meet old prospector Howard (Walter Huston) they are lured by his tales of striking it rich in the mountains and Dobbs uses a winning lottery ticket to finance the expedition.
So Dobbs is played as an honest, generous, hard working man who only wants what he's entitled to. But we see changes occur in him as he experiences greed and distrust as he and his partners sit on a fortune in gold that has to be transported back home from the mountain. But while we see signs of a dark side in Dobbs, we still see goodness in him as he offers to help Howard clean things up and put the mountain back the way they found it before they leave.
But as they make their way down the mountain burdened by mules loaded with bags of gold, we see Dobbs overcome with greed and paranoia as he becomes a danger to Curtin once the calming influence of Howard is lost when Howard goes off to help a sick village child.
It's an outstanding film that makes the most of its great writing, directing and acting.
It's an exciting story of 3 prospectors: an experienced old timer (Walter Huston) and 2 down on their luck green horns (Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt) prospecting for gold in the mountains of Mexico and trying to protect their find from interlopers who would want to share in the find and bandits who would want all of it. And they also have to deal with their own greed and distrust of one another as the gold piles up.
It's also a fascinating character study of Bogart's Fred C. Dobbs. The film begins with Dobbs as an out of work American looking to make an honest dollar in Tampico, Mexico. He meets Curtin (Tim Holt), another American looking for work. Although penniless, Dobbs shares his cigarettes with Curtin and the two of them find hard work on an offshore oil rig. They work diligently only to discover the boss had no intention of paying them. When they catch up to him, he attacks them but they knock him out and take only the money he owes them and nothing more. When they meet old prospector Howard (Walter Huston) they are lured by his tales of striking it rich in the mountains and Dobbs uses a winning lottery ticket to finance the expedition.
So Dobbs is played as an honest, generous, hard working man who only wants what he's entitled to. But we see changes occur in him as he experiences greed and distrust as he and his partners sit on a fortune in gold that has to be transported back home from the mountain. But while we see signs of a dark side in Dobbs, we still see goodness in him as he offers to help Howard clean things up and put the mountain back the way they found it before they leave.
But as they make their way down the mountain burdened by mules loaded with bags of gold, we see Dobbs overcome with greed and paranoia as he becomes a danger to Curtin once the calming influence of Howard is lost when Howard goes off to help a sick village child.
It's an outstanding film that makes the most of its great writing, directing and acting.