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The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, a review by Antares

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre





Year: 1948
Film Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures, First National Pictures
Genre: Adventure, Drama
Length: 126 Min.

Director
John Huston (1906)

Writing
John Huston (1906)...Screenplay
B. Traven (1882)...Novel

Producer
Henry Blanke (1901)
Jack L. Warner (1892)

Cinematographer
Ted D. McCord (1900)

Music
Max Steiner (1888)...Music By

StarsReview
       The film Casablanca may have made Humphrey Bogart a star but to me his role as Fred C. Dobbs, the down on his luck drifter who agrees to go in search of gold in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, is his greatest performance. In this one role we get to witness the versatility of his acting prowess as he portrays Dobbs as a troubled individual with a chameleon personality whose mood and mannerisms change like the wind. One moment he is in good cheer as he recounts for his partners how finding gold will not change him personally and the next he is a rambling, quivering mass of paranoia as he believes everyone is out to rob him blind. Bogart walks this fine line with the agility of a skilled tightrope walker, never going so far as to make his character appear a caricature.

       This would be the second time that Bogart worked with director John Huston, and the arrangement must have suited Bogart well as they would make two more classic films together with Key Largo & The African QueenThe African Queen. Yet, one upshot of his role in this film would be the laying of groundwork for his portrayal of another paranoid and delusional character in The Caine Mutiny, Captain Queeg.  

       If you are un-familiar with the film history of Humphrey Bogart, most people will tell you start by watching Casablanca, but The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is all that and more. It could arguably be placed in the top ten films of all time.


Ratings Criterion
5 Stars - The pinnacle of film perfection and excellence.

(From The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) on December 17th, 2009)

Rio Bravo/El Dorado, a review by Rogmeister

You might call this The Howard Hawks-John Wayne Deja Vu Western Experience  


Rio Bravo (1959)
Cast: John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Walter Brennan, Ward Bond, Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez, John Russell, Claude Akins
Music: Dimitri Tiomkin
Director: Howard Hawks

Whenever people start naming the greatest westerns ever made, you don't have to go far down the list to find this movie. It's often placed in the top 5 along with such films as The Searchers, Stagecoach, Red River and The Wild Bunch. I consider The Searchers to probably be the best western of them all but I seem to alternate between that film and this one as to which is actually my personal favorite western. The Searchers is a mighty intense film at times but this one is probably a bit more fun to watch.

In the beginning, we see no-good Joe Burdette (Claude Akins) gun down a man in cold blood in a saloon who is promptly arrested by Sheriff John T. Chance (John Wayne). The town is then surrounded by the men his brother Nathan, a rich rancher (played by Lawman's John Russell) hires and who periodically try to get him out. Chance doesn't want any help, one friend who tries (Ward Bond) is killed within an hour of telling everyone he needs help. Chance still gets help from a gimpy old deputy named Stumpy (Walter Brennan), a usually drunken deputy Dude (Dean Martin) and a young gun named Colorado (Ricky Nelson...yes, that Ricky Nelson) who was riding guard for the wagon train that Chance's friend had brought to town. Chance tries to keep Joe in jail and also try to keep an eye on Dude who seems to be about to come apart at any moment.

The movie moves along at a good pace despite it's over 2-hour running time. There's humor (especially involving Stumpy), romance (between Chance and a girl named Feathers played by a young Angie Dickinson), and lots of action that ends up with Stumpy chucking sticks of dynamite towards the warehouse the bad guys are in as Chance blasts at them with his Winchester, resulting in a quite-explosive finale.

A previous DVD had been issued of this and then a few years ago, in honor of Duke Wayne's 100th birthday, they released a new edition of this (along with some other films).  I bought Rio Bravo: The Ultimate Collection...interestingly, I'm not sure that's still available.  I looked it up at an online retailer and they didn't have it.  They do have a 2-disc special edition and I imagine it's the same discs but you don't get the other extras I was lucky to get...a reproduction of the lobby cards, the movie pressbook and the comic book adaptation.

Disc extras include an audio commentary by Richard Schickel, the movie trailer and also trailers for 4 of Duke's early "B" westerns of the 1930s, and featurettes on the film and on director Howard Hawks.



El Dorado: Centennial Edition
Cast: John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, James Caan, Charlene Holt, Paul Fix, Arthur Hunnicutt, Michele Carey, Edward Asner
Music: Nelson Riddle
Director: Howard Hawks

He was limping when he left...
He was limpin' when he got here!

The interesting thing about Rio Bravo is that producer/director Howard Hawks did a virtual remake of the film 8 years later...a film called El Dorado. The main plot and certain events were so dead-on that no one could believe it was anything else. They did make some changes in that later film, though John Wayne did star in both. In the second film, the younger character was named after a different state (Mississippi) and couldn't hit anything with a gun so they gave him a sawed-off shotgun. He was played by James Caan. And it was the sheriff (Robert Mitchum) who was drunk, not a deputy. The older deputy was playd by Arthur Hunnicutt this time, not Walter Brennan. And to further give the good guys a disadvantage, Wayne's character got a bullet lodged in his back that would occasionally give him temporary paralysis in one side. It's still considered a very good film in it's own right so check it out when you get the chance. Hawks used plot elements from Rio Bravo a third time in Rio Lobo...that film's not so good.  So I'd recommend you watch and enjoy both Rio Bravo and El Dorado...and leave it at that.

This "Centennial Edition" just came out this summer...for some reason, it has the number "9" on its spine but I'm only aware of one other Centennial Edition film that's come out, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.  Maybe there will be more?  Or maybe there are indeed others in the series I'm not aware of.  I was comparing the looks of this DVD with the previous DVD and it looks similar, though the paintings shown during the opening credits seem just a bit darker in this edition.  This edition features quite a few extras (the original had only the trailer).  Besides the trailer, this 2-disc set gives you two audio commentaries (one with Peter Bogdanovich and the other with Richard Schickel, Ed Asner and author Todd McCarthy), a 7-part featurette on the movie, a piece on the art of the Old West and an interview with producer A.C. Lyles about John Wayne.

(From Roger's Ongoing Westerns Marathon on July 9th, 2009)

Smallville Marathon, a review by addicted2dvd

11. Justice
When Lex's Level 33.1 project comes to fruition, Oliver Queen must bring together several of Clark's "heroic" super-powered allies together: Arthur Curry (Aquaman), Bart Allen (The Flash), and Victor Stone (Cyborg).

My Thoughts:
This is one of my all-time favorite episodes. After all... I have always really enjoyed when the other heroes show up in Smallville... and this one brings them all back. Would love to see another episode like this before Smallville goes off the air.

12. Labyrinth
Clark is in his barn one moment... and the next finds himself in a psychiatric hospital where he discovers he's been suffering from delusions that he came from another planet and has super-powers.

My Thoughts:
Another really good episode.... the "What if" episode that many series does... what if Clark is not really an alien... that this whole time the show was nothing but his crazy delusions. And of course we have The Martian Manhunter in this one to help Clark find his way home. Definitely enjoyed this one.

13. Crimson
Clark is once again exposed to red kryptonite, and his "other self" goes on a rampage of sorts on Valentine's Day, kissing the women he's most attracted to and expressing his uninhibited feelings for the various relationships around him.

My Thoughts:
This one is just a fun episode.... once again Clark gets affected by Red Kryptonite... this time along with Lois... so we get to see some fairly hot Lois and Clark scenes. pretty much all I can say is fun.

14. Trespass
Lana has a stalker which leads her to an unexpected hideout. Also, Chloe has to reevaluate her feelings for Clark after she and Jimmy break up due to Jimmy's belief that she isn't really over Clark.

My Thoughts:
This one is a good episode. Though I do admit of getting a bit tired of the whole Lana is in trouble/being stalked type episode. Of course I think this one is just to show that when in trouble she still seeks help from Clark. Basically a good episode for what it was.

This disc only has Deleted scenes for Labyrinth and Crimson... the Crimson one was no big deal... though I am sorry they didn't use the one for Labyrinth... it is a scene where Clark and The Martian Manhunter sit and and had a fairly detailed talk about who he is and the fact that he knew Clark's father and such.

(From Smallville Marathon on September 23rd, 2007)