History Film / TheTreasureOfTheSierraMadre

* DeathByMaterialism: [[spoiler:Dobbs.]]

* AllThatGlitters

* NiceHat: Gold Hat insists on putting his sombrero back on before being executed.

* BadassBeard: Except for the scene where he gets a haircut and a shave, Creator/HumphreyBogart sports an impressive one as Fred C. Dobbs. Curtin grows one over the course the story, and Howard's facial hair is firmly in "grizzled prospector" territory.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Dobbs and Curtin quickly realize that prospecting isn't what they thought it was, even after they find the gold. Instead of getting gold nuggets or a metallic vein, they have to work their asses to dig out dirt that's barely recognisable as gold in the first place. And after ''few months'' of hard labour, exhausting the deposit in the process, they've got gold dust that's worth (even when adjusted by inflation) a quite humble sum of money. No motherload, no get-rich-quickly, all the tough job of actual prospecting.

-> '''Howard:''' Aah, gold's a devilish sort of thing, anyway. You start out, you tell yourself you'll be satisfied with 25,000 handsome smackers worth of it. "So help me, Lord, and cross my heart." Fine resolution. After months of sweatin' yourself dizzy, and growin' short on provisions, and findin' nothin', you finally come down to 15,000, then ten. Finally, you say, "Lord, let me just find $5,000 worth and I'll never ask for anythin' more the rest of my life.
-> '''Flophouse Bum:''' $5,000 is a lot of money.
-> '''Howard:''' Yeah, here in this joint it seems like a lot. But I tell you, if you was to make a real strike, you couldn't be dragged away. Not even the threat of miserable death would keep you from trying to add 10,000 more. Ten, you'd want to get twenty-five; twenty-five you'd want to get fifty; fifty, a hundred. Like roulette. One more turn, you know. Always one more.

* SurprisingyRealisticOutcome: Dobbs and Curtin quickly realize that prospecting isn't what they thought it was, even after they find the gold. Instead of getting gold nuggets or a metallic vein, they have to work their asses to dig out dirt that's barely recognisable as gold in the first place. And after ''few months'' of hard labour, exhausting the deposit in the process, they've got gold dust that's worth (even when adjusted by inflation) a quite humble sum of money. No motherload, no get-rich-quickly, all the tough job of actual prospecting.

* SurprisingylRealisticOutcome: Dobbs and Curtin quickly realize that prospecting isn't what they thought it was, even after they find the gold. Instead of getting gold nuggets or a metallic vein, they have to work their asses to dig out dirt that's barely recognisable as gold in the first place. And after ''few months'' of hard labour, exhausting the deposit in the process, they've got gold dust that's worth (even when adjusted by inflation) a quite humble sum of money. No motherload, no get-rich-quickly, all the tough job of actual prospecting.

* RealityEnsues: Dobbs and Curtin quickly realize that prospecting isn't what they thought it was, even after they find the gold. Instead of getting gold nuggets or a metallic vein, they have to work their asses to dig out dirt that's barely recognisable as gold in the first place. And after ''few months'' of hard labour, exhausting the deposit in the process, they've got gold dust that's worth (even when adjusted by inflation) a quite humble sum of money. No motherload, no get-rich-quickly, all the tough job of actual prospecting.

-->'''Gold Hat''': Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. [[Film/BlazingSaddles I DON'T HAVE TO SHOW YOU ANY STINKIN' BADGES!]]
* BarBrawl: Dobbs and Curtin get into a fistfight with [=McCormick=] at a cantina. [[note]]Odd trivia: Humphrey Bogart (Dobbs) and Barton [=MacLane=] ([=McCormick=]) both shared Christmas Day as a birthday[[/note]]

* StupidCrooks: Gold Hat and his gang really aren't that bright. They try to rob a train that has Federales on it, then laughably attempt to pose as Federales, and [[spoiler:don't know what gold dust looks like]]. They then top it off by [[spoiler: riding into Durango with stolen donkeys, each of them marked and thus tracable, [[TooDumbToLive selling them on a market right next to a precint]]]]. Their one success, [[spoiler:ambushing Dobbs]], was basically dumb luck.

* {{Greed}}: This is the whole point of the story. Frank Dobbs starts as a normal guy just trying to get by while constantly being swindled and scammed. Once he starts getting his hands on gold his sanity starts to spiral downhill to the point where he's quite content to torture and then attempt to ''murder'' his best friend just so he can make off with everybody's share of the gold as well as his own. [[spoiler: This ends up being his undoing, as his eagerness to get away gets him ambushed and murdered by the bandits, which results in the loss of ''all'' the gold]].

* BarBrawl: Dobbs and Curtin get into a fistfight with [=McCormick=] at a cantina.

* RealityEnsues: Dobbs and Curtin quickly realize that prospecting isn't what they thought it was, even after they find the gold.

* BreakingTheFourthWall: Howard is being wined and dined by indians for saving a child. He's swinging in a hammock, being fed meat and fruit and Tequila. Then a beautiful woman lights a cigarette for him and rubs his beard. He looks directly into the camera and shudders with amazement at his good fortune.

* IfIWereARichMan: Each of the three prospectors tell the others what they will do now that they've struck it rich. Howard, the old prospector, is done looking for gold. He'll settle down with some kind of store and spend his days reading adventure stories. Curtin, an orchard because of his (somewhat idealized) memories of picking fruit one summer when he was a kid (read ''Literature/TheGrapesOfWrath''). Fred C. Dobbs? First a Turkish Bath to clean out all the dirt. Then clothes — a dozen of everything. Then a fancy restaurant ordering everything on the Bill of Fare and if it isn't just right, and maybe even if it is, he'll send it back and bawl out the waiter. When Curtin asks "Then what?" Dobbs answers "Well, what would be?" The two younger man stare into space with very intense looks until Howard interrupts them to remind them it wasn't all that healthy to be thinking about women in their current situation. Big dreams for $30,000 each but it was 1925.

* TokenGoodTeammate: Howard, being the only one who doesn't consider killing his comrades. He ''does'' kill off a few bandits (but that was purely in self-defense), and the only voluntary killing he comes close to doing is [[spoiler:shooting Cody (which in turn was a result of being overruled in the decision by Dobbs and Curtin).]] When Cody is given a chance to prove himself by keeping an eye on the fake Federales, Howard is all for it.

* UngratefulBastard: Even getting rescued from a mine collapse and then a Gila monster doesn't make Dobbs any less suspicious of his partners. [[spoiler: And when Curtin has every reason to just shoot him, but still doesn't, Dobbs doesn't pay it back and tries to kill the man first given chance]].

* CreatorCameo: That's John Huston as the [[ManInWhite white-suited man]] Dobbs keeps accosting for a handout in Tampico.

* ManInWhite: The rich American in a white suit, Dobbs is constantly panhandling money from.

* HonorAmongThieves: Early on, Dobbs and Curtin beat the shit out of a foreman who swindle them from money. After finally going for their wallet, they only take the exact amount the man owed them, then throw the rest of it - about five times as much - into his face. And then they pay for damages they caused - from the pay they just retrived. But once gold enters the equation, Dobbs stops having any qualms whatsoever.

* LeftYourLifesaverBehind: Curtin takes away the insane Dobbs' revolver. He returns it only after unloading it. Dobbs forgets to reload it and finds himself defenseless at the end.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Dobbs and Curtin give [=McCormick=] (the foreman of their work crew) one of these after he cheats them out of their pay.

* StupidCrooks: Gold Hat and his gang really aren't that bright. They try to rob a train that has Federales on it, then laughably attempt to pose as Federales, and [[spoiler:don't know what gold dust looks like]]. Their one success, [[spoiler:ambushing Dobbs]], was basically dumb luck.

* UngratefulBastard: Even getting rescued from a mine collapse and then a Gila monster doesn't make Dobbs any less suspicious of his partners.

!!This film provides examples of:

-->'''Gold Hat''': Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. [[Film/BlazingSaddles I don't have to show you any stinking badges.]]

* AudienceSurrogate: Curtin, as the most relatable and least shady of the main trio, essentially fulfills this role in the movie.

''The Treasure of the Sierra Madre'' is a 1948 film directed and written by Creator/JohnHuston, starring his father Creator/WalterHuston and Creator/HumphreyBogart, and adapted from a 1927 novel by B. Traven. Father and son both won UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s for their achievements in the film, which was also nominated for Best Picture.