7 Things You Didn’t Know About Humphrey Bogart’s ‘Treasure of the Sierra Madre’

Gerry Strauss April 27, 12:26 pm

THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, Tim Holt, Humphrey Bogart, 1948 — Everett Collection

Does this movie plot sound familiar? Downtrodden men join forces with a grizzly old prospector to search for long-lost gold. If you’re a ’90s kid, your first guess might be City Slickers, the 1991 buddy Western starring Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, Bruno Kirby, and the legendary Jack Palance (or even its 1994 sequel, which traded in originality for Jon Lovitz). However, if you know your stuff, you’ll immediately hone in on one of the most celebrated Westerns in cinematic history: 1948’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Based on a 1927 novel by B. Traven, this classic film starring Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, and Bruce Bennett, has influenced many of the movies and filmmakers we know and love. Ahead of its upcoming broadcast on FETV at 3pm EST on April 27 , here are seven little-known facts about the Academy Award-winning film — in fact, the only Oscars celebrated director John Huston won in his entire life were the Best Director and Best Screenplay awards he picked up for Sierra Madre.

1Crossing borders and breaking barriers

THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, Humphrey Bogart, 1948

Everett Collection

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was one of the first Hollywood movies to shoot many scenes outside of the USA. While select scenes were still filmed in various parts of the United States, significant portions of the film were shot in Durango and Tampico, both in Mexico.

2 It inspired cinema’s greatest filmmakers

THE SHINING, director Stanley Kubrick setting up a shot, on set, 1980.

Warner Brothers/courtesy Everett Collection

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is often cited as a major influence on some of the biggest names in movie history. In particular, Stanley Kubrick was a well-known fan of the film and drew inspiration from it for The Killing and several of his other classics. George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were heavily influenced by the film’s overall aesthetics, especially the fedora and unshaven face of Fred Dobbs, while creating the original look for Indiana Jones.

More recently, Paul Thomas Anderson watched the film multiple times while conceptualizing 2007’s There Will Be Blood, exploring the wonderful parallels between the two stories.

3Huston, we have… more Hustons!

THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, from left: director John Huston, Walter Huston, (Best Supporting Actor), compare Academy Awards, 1948

Everett Collection

Director John Huston altered the part of Howard, who was much older in the novel, so that it would be a perfect fit for his father, Walter Huston, to play. John later claimed that working with his father and directing him to an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor were major highlights of his life. John’s son, Walter Huston II, also made a brief cameo in the movie.

4Bogart wore a wig during production

THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, Humphrey Bogart, Julian Rivero, 1948

Everett Collection

Thanks to a noxious combination of Vitamin B deficiency, hormone shots he’d been taking to improve his chances of having a child with wife Lauren Bacall, and habitual drinking, Humphrey Bogart began balding in 1947 and showed up to begin production of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre with almost all of his hair gone. While some of it grew back after he began taking Vitamin B shots, he was forced to wear an artfully-matted wig for the duration of the shoot.

5The film was a hit on radio, too

Much like how many present-day podcasts offer their content in both audio and video formats, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre did the same thing … sort of. On April 18th, 1949, “Lux Radio Theater” presented a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie with Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston lending their voices to the broadcast to reprise their film roles.

6A mysterious visitor

THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, Walter Huston, 1948

Everett Collection

Huston had been fascinated with The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and its reclusive author B. Traven for years prior to the success of his first project with Warner Brothers, The Maltese Falcon, which gave him the courage to ask to write and direct the film adaptation.

Huston invited Traven to join the production as a technical advisor, even offering him $1000 per week for the gig. The ever-mysterious author declined, instead sending close friend “Hal Croves” to attend in his place. Most people on set (including Huston’s then-wife Evelyn Keyes) wholeheartedly believed that Croves was actually Traven himself under a pseudonym, as he was frequently caught accidentally referring to the novel as his own and using phrases that were found in Traven’s letters to Huston.

7The movie almost caused an international incident

THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, Humphrey Bogart, Tim Holt, 1948

Everett Collection

During production, Tampico’s local government became convinced that The Treasure of the Sierra Madre would portray the country of Mexico in an unflattering light, thanks to a false story published in a small local newspaper. Two of Huston’s associates, Diego Rivera and Miguel Covarrubias, were famously forced to lodge a desperate appeal with the President of Mexico, causing the accusations to be dropped so filming could continue.