Half way in our search for the top Western and we reach number three and The Treasure of Sierra Madre starring Humphrey Bogart and directed by John Huston.

By the 1920s the violence of the Mexican Revolution had largely subsided, although scattered gangs of bandits continued to terrorize the countryside.

The newly established post-revolution government relied on the effective, but ruthless, Federal Police, commonly known as the Federales, to patrol remote areas and dispose of the bandits.

Drifters Fred C Dobbs and Curtin share a cheap flophouse and meet Howard, a seemingly crazy old man who regales them with stories about prospecting for gold.

Dobbs and Curtin cobble together what cash they can get a hold of, and along with Howard, plan a prospecting expedition, but the trio run the risk of being killed by the Federal Police if their paths crossed.

Dobbs promises that anything they dig up will be split three ways, but Howard doesn't believe them. As the gold is mined the men become increasingly distrustful, and soon turn against one other.

Despite Bogart's popularity at this time the film was not a box office success upon release because the character of Dobbs was not as an appealing a role, for the audience, as his previous roles in Casablanca and The Big Sleep, for which he was most famous.

However over the years the film has become a classic of it's genre as, unlike many other Western movies, it's not so much a cowboy movie but more of a film that looks at how money and greed can effect a flawed man's character.

The Treasure of Sierra Madre was one of the first Hollywood films to be shot almost entirely on location outside the U.S. (in Tampico, Mexico).

Despite issues at the box office the film went on to win Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for filmmaker John Huston. His father Walter Huston also won Best Supporting Actor, and they became the first father and son to win at the same ceremony.

The film was also nominated for Best Picture but lost out to Hamlet, directed and starring Laurence Olivier.

The Treasure of Sierra Madre is more revered now as a movie than it was at the time of release and 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".

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw