:Hamlet:
Not available via Netflix
:The Treasure of the Sierra Madre:
This is a morality tale about the evils of greed. When I first received this movie in the mail, I thought it was going to be a western. But one of my colleagues that I play euchre with during Friday lunch pointed out that it’s a mid-century modern-day tale complete with automobiles and doesn’t really qualify as a western.
The Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score for this movie was 100% fresh but I wasn’t entirely thrilled with all the acting. I thought Humphry Bogart (Dobbs) was a little hammed up and the initial big fight scene between two of the main characters and a man who stiffed them out of a week’s wages was simply poorly done. Curtin (Tim Holt) and Howard (John Huston who won an Oscar for his work in this film) were portrayed well though.
This movie is engaging and interesting as we watch three prospectors go from being down and out in Mexico, to scraping up enough for supplies to go out and pan for gold, to finding it, to ruining their friendship and becoming obsessed with their growing pile of loot. In the end, of course… Well, I won’t ruin it for you except to say there’s nothing original about this morality tale.
Oh, and feel free to shoot me if you must but I have no natural inclination to like Bogart as Casablanca wasn’t a hit with me so he doesn’t get bonus points walking in.
Plus there were no female characters. Bummer.
:Johnny Belinda:
Not available via Netflix
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