Don't Make a Scene: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

The Story: The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is one of THE great adventure stories.* It has all the elements: a struggle against Nature (the mountain, and its denizens), struggles against participants (the internal squabbling of the trio of gold-scrabblers—The Old Man, Curtin and Dobbs**), and internal struggles of self (Curtin, particularly, who must find the proper path, influenced by Angels on each shoulder—The Old Man, the better angel of the two, who sacrifices, despite potential loss, and increasingly third person Fred C. Dobbs, who greedily succumbs to a paranoid sociopathy). Which Angel will lean more heavily on Curtin, determining where he turns? How will forces both external and internal shape the man?

Like all great John Huston films, it is a test of spirit and mettle, with an indifferent Nature hammering on the nature of Man, creating a Hero's Journey, fraught with peril, ending with a lesson learned, a goal reached, if not necessarily the one that started the trip. A treasure, to be sure, just not the one had in mind.

Today's scene is one of the creepiest in the film—but not the creepiest—where, due to circumstances, the "Good Angel" of the group is separated from the others to perform a Samaritan act, and Curtin is left alone with the "Bad Angel" in the dark night of the soul, when temptation and greed grins from ear to ear, and the twisted logic of Fred C. Dobbs—in the words of Jim Morrison, his "brain is squirming like a toad"—exasperates and confounds the conflicted nature of Curtin. You can't argue with the devil, and Bogart's Dobbs is so deep in the Dark Side, that it actually garners a kind of evil strength in the exhausted gold-miner.

Bogart's great in this. He loved playing complex characters who spent time in both sun and shadow, and Fred C. Dobbs may be his best role, and his best performance. Oh, sure, we love Richard Blaine, and Charles Allnut won him the Oscar, but there is so much raw evil power emanating from Bogart's small frame, that Dobbs seems almost supernatural. And when he laughs, in his words, he laughs like the devil. And the fade to the next scene—on Dobbs' full-throated demonic cackle—leaves an audience in dread for what can happen next.

In 1990, this film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

The Set-Up:  In Mexico's Sierra Madre mountains, full of hidden bandits and gold dust, three vagabond prospecters—Howard (Walter Huston), Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart) and Curtin (Tim Holt) are making the way out of the hills with their riches. But, Howard is called away to administer to a sick child in a nearby village, and the two expatriate Americans have had carry the burden alone for the first time. Now, exhausted, they make camp for the night. But Dobbs' increasing "gold fever" has made him greedy and suspicious. The scene begins...as it will end...with his laughter.

It can't come to any good, can it?

And yet the movie also ends with laughter—bracing, cleansing, and purging of all demons.

Action!

114 NIGHT - DOBBS AND CURTIN BY THE CAMPFIRE

CURTIN: I wonder what the old man's doing now?

DOBBS: Finishing a meal of roast turkey and a bottle of tequila most probably.

CURTIN: This is the first day we've had to handle everything without his help.

CURTIN: Once we get the hang of it, it'll be lots easier.

DOBBS: How far from the railroad do you think we are?

CURTIN: Not so far as the crow flies.

DOBBS: But we ain't crows.

CURTIN: I figure we can make the high pass in two days more. Then it'll be three of four days before we get to the railroad. That's figuring no hard luck on the trail.

Curtin puts more wood on the firs. Dobbs sits staring into space. All at once he laughs.

CURTIN: (looks around at Dobbs): What's the joke?

Dobbs laughs again, louder this time.

CURTIN: Won't you let me in on it, Dobbsie?

DOBBS: In on it? Sure I will. Sure. (he keeps on laughing)

CURTIN: Well, go ahead. Spill it. What's so funny?

DOBBS: It just came to me what a bone-head play that old jackass made when he put his packs in our keeping.

CURTIN: How do you mean?

DOBBS: Figured to let us do his sweating for him, did he? We'll show him! (he laughs again)

CURTIN: What are you getting at?

DOBBS: Man, can't you see? It's all ours now. We don't go back to the port, savvy. Not at all.

CURTIN (unable to believe his ears): I don't follow you, Dobbsie.

DOBBS: Don't be such a sap. Where'd you grow up?

DOBBS: All right, to make it plain to a dumb-head like you---we take all the good and go straight up north leaving the old jackass flat.

CURTIN: You aren't serious are you?

CURTIN: You don't really mean what you're saying?

DOBBS: Fred C. Dobbs never says anything he don't mean.

Curtin puts another stick of wood on the fire then he gazes up at the clear night sky.

CURTIN: (finally): As long as I can stand on two legs you won't take a single grain from the old man's goods. You understand?

DOBBS: (craftily): Sure, babe. Sure, I do. I see very plainly what you mean.

DOBBS: You want to take it all for yourself and cut me out.

CURTIN: No, Dobbs. I'm on the level with the old man. Exactly as I'd be on the level with you if you weren't here.

DOBBS: (takes up his pouch and starts filling his pipe): Maybe I don't need you at all. I can take it alone. I don't need no outside help, buddie (he laughs)

CURTIN: (looks him over from head to foot) I signed that receipt.

DOBBS: So did I. What of it. I've signed many receipts in my life.

CURTIN: I guess I've signed things, too, which I forget about before the ink is dry. But this case is different. The old man worked like a slave for what he got. It was harder on him old as he is than it was on us. I don't respect many things in life, but one thing I do respect -- a man's right to what he's worked and slaved for honestly.

DOBBS: Get off your soapbox, will you. You only succeed in sounding funny out here in the wilderness...

DOBBS: Anyway, I know you for what you are. I've always had my suspicions about you. Now I know I'm right.

CURTIN: What suspicions are you talking about?

DOBBS: You can't hide anything from me, brother. I see right through you.

DOBBS: For some time, you've had it in your mind to bump me off at the first good opportunity and bury me somewhere out here in the bush like a dog...

DOBBS: ...so's you could make off not only with the old man's goods but mine in the bargain.

Curtin shakes his head in a dazed way. His pipe drops from his fingers.

DOBBS (continuing): When you reach the port safely you'll laugh like the devil, won't you, to think how dumb the old man and I were not to guess what was brewing. I'm wise to you, babe.

Curtin looks into Dobb's eyes, at once fascinated and terrified by the malignancy he sees. He tries to pull his eyes away from Dobbs - cannot. To cover his agitation he bends down to pick up his pipe. Dobbs, mistaking this for hostile, draws his gun.

DOBBS: Another move, brother, and I pull the trigger.

DOBBS:  Get your hands up. (shouting) Up!

Curtin raises his hands

DOBBS: Higher.

Curtin obeys. Dobbs smiles, satisfied, nods his head.

DOBBS:  Was I right or was I?  You and your Sunday school talk protecting other people's goods. You.

(yells suddenly)

DOBBS: Stand up and take it like a man!

Curtin rises slowly, his hands still in the air.  Dobbs reaches for Curtin's gun.  As he does so his own gun goes off.  For a fraction of a second, he is surprised.  Curtin, instinctively sensing his opportunity, lands Dobbs a hard blow, knocking him to the ground. 

He throws himself upon Dobbs quickly and disarms him.  Then he springs up and steps a few paces back.

CURTIN (two guns pointed at Dobbs): The cards are dealt the other way now, Dobbsie.

DOBBS:  So I see.

CURTIN (calmly): Listen to me.  You're all wrong.  Not for a moment did I ever intend to rob you or do you any harm.  Like I said, I'd fight for you and yours just as I'd fight for the old man.

DOBBS:  If you really mean what you say then hand me my cannon.

Curtin waves the gun in his hand, then breaks it open and empties the cartridges out.  He throws the gun in the air and catches it, cowboy fashion, then holds it out towards Dobbs. Dobbs looks at it sneeringly.

DOBBS:  My pal.

He spits, then retires to his former place by the fire.  A long silence follow, broken only by Curtin.

CURTIN: Wouldn't it better, the way things stand, to split up tomorrow---or this very night?

DOBBS: That would suit you fine, wouldn't it?

CURTIN (perplexed):  Why me more than you?

DOBBS:  So you could fall on me from behind, sneak up and shoot me in the back?

CURTIN: I'll go on ahead.

DOBBS: And wait for me on the trail and ambush me?  My pal.

CURTIN: Why shouldn't I do it here and now if I meant to kill you?

DOBBS:  I'll tell you why.  You're yellow.  You don't dare pull the trigger while I'm looking you in the eye, that's why.

CURTIN (shakes his head again): If you think that, I can't see any way out but to tie you up every night.

DOBBS (sneering): Come on and try and tie me up.

Curtin and Dobbs sit looking at each other. Both men are exhausted after the hardships of the day. Curtin knows he is in for a night of horror.  He cannot afford to go to sleep even if Dobbs does for how is he to know if Dobbs is really asleep.  Or, on the other hand, if Dobbs is not feigning, what is to keep him from waking up.  Curtin yawns.

DOBBS (laughs): I'll tell ya what.

DOBBS: I'll make you a bet.  Three times thirty-five is a hundred and five. I bet you a hundred and five thousand dollars you go to sleep before I do.

He laughs again.

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Words by B. Traven, Robert Rossen *** and John Huston

Pictures by Ted D. McCord and John Huston

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is available on DVD from Warner Home Video.

* Written by one of the great "mystery men" in letters, B. Traven. The Wikipedia article on him is fascinating reading. His widow just died in 2009, and there is still one late novel, written in 1960, that has not been published in English.

** The Wiki articles on both book and film amusingly describe Curtin and Dobbs as, respectively, "penurious," and "impecunious." I suppose they're being polite, but those are $5 words for bums without a penny to their names, or in the words of Fred C. Dobbs "a fellow American down on his luck." Dobbs makes a couple cameos in Chuck Jones' Warner Brothers cartoon "8 Ball Bunny," ("OOO! I'm DYYYYY-in'!!") which is included in Warner Home Video's encyclopedic DVD of the film.

*** The transcript of the scene is taken from Rossen's "First Temporary White" script (found on-line) dated January 1, 1947.  Huston won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for his polish of it, as well as Best Director for the film.  Best Picture went to Laurence Olivier's production of William Shakespeare's "Hamlet."  Rossen would go on to win, the next year, for his work writing-directing All the King's Men, which also won Best Picture.  There is, no doubt, much hearty Hustonian laughter over all of this around the bar in Director-Heaven.

Edge of Darkness (2010)

Written at the time of the film's release....

"Losing Your Edge"*
or
"I Love the British. They Deserve the Falklands."**

Those who've been reading this blog for awhile know of my deep and abiding love for the 1985 British mini-series "Edge of Darkness," Troy Kennedy-Martin's attempt to "politicize" the police procedurals that had become so prominent on the BBC. Martin took the standard murder mystery and made it a comment on the Thatcher era of politics,as well as on the growing nuclear industry in Britain and the apparent entanglements of British and American interests. Then, with director Martin Campbell, it became something more: not only a murder mystery, but a ghost story, a psychological drama and an almost mythological fable, with the Earth itself as a participating character in the balancing of the scales of justice. It also had strains of comic loopiness amid the gritty brownstones and harsh fluorescent lights of urban crime investigation, and an overall tragic tone of inevitability. Over six hours, it covered a lot of ground above and below the surface.

Campbell desired for many years to make a film of it and with his box-office clout resulting from resurrecting the Bond franchise with Casino Royale, he has finally managed to do it, bringing along many members of his Bond-team, including cinematographer Phil Meheux, editor extraordinaire Stuart Baird and costumer Lindy Hemming. Adapted by Andrew Bovell and William Monahan (he wrote The Departed), I've been curious (with an undercurrent of dread) of what the new version of one of my favorites would be like.

Well, this Edge of Darkness is not as good as the original, compressing and tossing a lot of the story to accommodate a two hour length. But, it's not half-bad either—efficient, taut, and, if you're paying attention, weaving its own commentary on the bad marriage between government and industry, especially in the post-911/W.years in which it is set. Gone is the humor, the tilted quality, the psychology and the Big Picture aspects of the tale. The ghost story is given up, as well, but it still manages to have the haunted quality of the original, while buttoning up the story for a less-delayed, more visceral conclusion.

Thomas Craven (Mel Gibson) is a widowed detective in the "Bahston" police force, welcoming his daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic) home from a long absence. She's been using her Masters of Science degree interning at a local facility, the Northmoor nuclear facility working on cold fusion energy production ("It's very green," says its slimy CEO Bennett, played by a dead-eyed Danny Huston). But, at dinner, she begins to vomit uncontrollably and as Craven is desperately trying to take her to the hospital, they are attacked in the night. A single yell—"Craven!"—pierces the darkness and Emma is shot-gunned, mortally wounded.

The conventional wisdom is that it is one of Craven's enemies seeking revenge and missing his target, combining murder and accident. But Craven doggedly pursues clues, haunted by his daughter's memory, to pursue the assassin and get justice. Very quickly, the murder weapon and an old perp of Craven's is found—dead of a particularly nasty head-wound—the case apparently closed.

But not so fast. Acting alone, Craven digs further into Northmoor and his daughter's recent past to find out what happened, her cell-phone leading to a line of suspects that he questions seeking the truth. His lone-wolf quest puts him on the radar of Northmoor's private security firm and the U.S. government, particularly a "cleaner" named Darius Jedburgh (Ray Winstone), who makes his own inquiry, deciding if Craven should be allowed to proceed further or be stopped.

That's pretty much the opening thread of the original, too, except that the locales and characters are different. In the mini-series, British Intelligence is following Craven's investigation and they bring C.I.A. operative Jedburgh to provide Craven with information—a situation that creates an odd bond between the two men. In the original, Ronnie Craven is fragile, having had a break-down when his wife died, and keeps himself together by suppressing his emotions, except for the odd conversation he has with his dead daughter, whose clues lead him to different corners of the investigation. That may be his mental condition coming to hand, but it might not. He also has to deal with the guilt of being part of the authority that his activist daughter is working against. But Tommy Craven, of this version, is a coiled spring that only loosens in moments of extreme violence, periodically reliving his memories of his daughter and anything she says is non-specific to the case. A similar scene of Craven identifying his daughter's body is handled completely different. When the morgue nurse attempts to cover Emma's face after the identification, Gibson's Craven suddenly and violently hisses "Leave her alone!" Bob Peck's reaction was a loud wounded animal howl—"Leeeeave her!"

Jedburgh is a different creature, as well. Joe Don Baker's C.I.A. operative from the mini-series was a loud, Stetson-wearing Texan who waxed philosophically on the roots of all problems, arcane and mundane. Ray Winstone's British character is a low rumbling bear with a lower class argot, a disappearing act and an expression that gives nothing away but by what he says. In the mini-series, Craven and Jedburgh team up as an assault force to get clues, but in the 2010 film, they play opposite sides, aware of each other's presence and linked by common maladies and points of philosophy. The character is still amusing, but not a tragic-comic high wire act the way Baker played him.Tommy Craven (rather than his older mini-series brother Ronnie) is more aggressive, and frequently yells his dialogue in a cynical sneer ("I'm the guy with nothing to lose and I don't give a shit. So, fasten your seat-belt"), and, since there's less of a mystery to be solved due to the thuddingly obvious machinations of the bad guys, it all boils down to one man seeking revenge, something that was out of the question in the original. Those action set pieces are stunningly conceived and delivered by Campbell and shaped by Baird into especially visceral short bursts, with one bit of film mayhem coming so fast and so out of the blue that it practically knocks you out of your theater seat. It's refreshing in these days of salad-shooter editing to see fast, punchy dust-ups (and wet-works) that one can actually follow and has so much impact.

The new version is probably more satisfying for contemporary audiences jacked up on Red-Bull and obsessed with "closure;" I, for one, enormously enjoyed the hopeless quality of the original's ending with its ghoulishly ironic end-joke (which made everything all right in my eyes). But, the politics are still there, and this Edge does a fine job of being morphed into something for its time, with its stated philosophy of "It's not what it is—it's what it can be made to look like." In other words, you can have your yellow cake and eat it, too. Words to live and die by.

So, take it for what it is, it's a good boiling down and re-vamping, which has the dual effect of making it both fresh and too familiar, as so many things that made the original unique have been jettisoned out the old chute. But, as a display of technical craftsmanship, it is quite impressive.***

* I've known, ever since this project was announced, that whatever was done with it, it couldn't impact my admiration for the original mini-series. And it doesn't. It's like the story of a visitor to Raymond Chandler, asking him if he he felt bad about what the movies had done to some of his novels. Chandler took the guest into his library. "They haven't done anything to my novels," he said. "Look. They're still there." The mini-series is still a classic. And this one is good for what it is.

** A line from the original's Darius Jedburgh (played brilliantly by Joe Don Baker), as he and Craven sit, watching a dancing competition on the telly. "Look at that," says Jedburgh, before that particular line. "They don't have anything like this in the States." Well, they do now.

*** Since writing this, I've been looking at a smattering of reviews, and finding myself appalled. First off, a lot of reviewers seem to see this as a Mel Gibson production. It isn't, and although it makes it easier to knock the film if you mis-characterize it as such, Martin Campbell directed it. And too many reviews have led off with "Mel's being a martyr again" (which I suspect were cribbed from one AP review) which may be so, but he's got a way to go before he beats Charlton Heston's record. Quite a few get it wrong to compare it to Taken. Edge of Darkness isn't very original, no. It's based on the 1985 British mini-series (that's been established). Taken, however, isn't the heighth of originality, either, as it's a contemporary urban version of The Searchers. Finally, what genius over at "The Atlantic" hired Ed Koch to review movies, as he displays that he knows nothing about them? "How're you doing, Ed?" Badly.

Avengers: Endgame

It's (Marvel) Clobbering Time
or
"Get Back What We Lost—Keep What I Got (Would Be Nice)—And Not Die Trying"

Dr. Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) said (in Avengers: Infinity War) that he had gone forward in time to see the outcome of the Avengers' battle with Thanos and that he saw 14,000,605 outcomes in which they lost and only one in which they survived.

When Marvel announced that their Avengers: Endgame would be just over 3 hours long, I thought, "Geez, do they have to show us ALL of them? Can't we just see the one?"

It turns out the one is enough to fill those 3 hours, but along with the idea of solving the problem of Thanos' grand scheme of culling 50% of the Universe's population—which takes relatively little time—it also has to reward movie-goers who have stayed through every frame of past Marvel Studios' films (starting with Iron Man in 2008) to give them what they want. 

Fan service takes a lot of time, it turns out.

There's a lot of that. "Fan service," I mean. There's a lot of call-backs, reflections, echoes, and cameo's—lots of cameo's—from past Marvel movies that they re-visit to give you that warm feeling that you're being rewarded for your recognition and thanked for your support throughout the whole, slow dissemination of the Thanos/"Infinity Stones" storyline.

And it has been a slow dissemination. My sister needed to know what movies to see in order to follow Endgame and I replied that she needed to see the Avengers series and the Captain America movies as essential (in this order: Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Avengers: The Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, and finally The Avengers: Infinity War), but if she wanted "electives," then the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie and Dr. Strange (maybe Captain Marvel, but not really). And that is as close to spoilers as I'm going to vault. This movie, in particular, needs a bit of background to fully appreciate it.

But, I can say the movie picks up at a singular moment for one of the Avengers after the "Finger-snap Heard 'Round the Universe." The one Avenger we didn't see in Infinity War—Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) has his little dust-up, and it sets him on a path of retribution and vengeance that attracts the attention of the remaining Avengers, although they stay out of it and away from him for the time being. There are other issues to take care of. Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) are marooned in space after leaving Titan following their disastrous encounter with Thanos, who is still out there...somewhere. And—lest we forget—Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) is still trapped in "the quantum realm."

And that...is all I will say about that.

I will, however say, that it goes in a completely different direction than I thought it would, thinking that Captain Marvel would play more of a role—she doesn't, but manages to be efficiently useful when the Deus' are Machina'd. Core Avengers are utilized with special emphasis on The Big Three: Downey's Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth's Thor and Chris Evans' Captain America. They are given considerably more screen-time to complete their character arcs.

And there actually are character arcs (which is why the movie ballooned to such a length). I'd groused that Infinity War was all desperate action, with little emotional resonance to it, save for the actual culling of the Universe at Thanos' left hand. Here, the emphasis is on that resonance and it gives all the actors a chance to strut their stuff rather than just furrowing their brows and assuming the position. It also separates itself from the Marvel Comic Universe by taking those characters places they just wouldn't and couldn't in the comics. I liked that.

And as good as all these performances are, I thought the acting kudo's should go to Jeremy Renner, who must serve as the audience's emotional touchstone, starting with the very first scene and to almost the very end. He is quite amazing in this.

If the movie suffers, it is from too many endings, all in the service of character, which is a worthy thing to do, especially in a superhero movie.

"Okay, how many of you have never been in space? Raise your hand."

Also, Endgame is a different Marvel movie as it is more reflective and nostalgic, looking back, rather than facing forward ("true believers") and serving as a launching point for the next one, it is a completion. For that reason, you have no need to sit through the entire end credits. There is no teaser, no preview, no dangling thread. I only wish I knew that before I sat through the entire thing.

I have quibbles—I always do. There's the "too many endings" issue, a large continuity problem, the disparate fire-power issue, a few cute lines that land with a thud (and are repeated), and Thor's hammer. I have an issue with Thor's hammer. But, that's probably just me.

"Hey, Cap, do you read me?...Cap, it's Sam, can you hear me?...On your left."

It's well-done with a lot of fine grace-notes, and a climax that is, frankly, thrilling to behold. It's quite an experience...and very, very satisfying.