YMMV / The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

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• Adaptation Displacement: Many people, even fans of the film, are totally unaware that it's based on a book.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: Was Dobbs a decent guy who turned mad due to the powers of gold or was he always evil, the gold only revealed his true nature? Maybe just a Jerkass who became worse because of months of terrible conditions and backbreaking labor?
• Award Snub:
  • This film is often considered more worthy of the Best Picture Academy Award than that year's actual winner, Hamlet (1948).
  • Humphrey Bogart was denied even a nomination for Best Actor, although the role is considered to be one of his finest and he hadn't won an Oscar up to that point despite being one of Hollywood's most popular and bankable stars.
• Awesome Music: The rousing score is by Max Steiner.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Gold Hat is only in four scenes, but Alfonso Bedoya is absolutely iconic in his portrayal.
• Ethnic Scrappy: Gold Hat and his Bandidos. Some could argue that it's just their characterization and that the only thing keeping them from being completely annoying is Alfonso Bedoya's strangely likable performance as Gold Hat.
• Evil Is Cool: Fred C. Dobbs is easily the most popular member of the main trio, for being incredibly complex and having a steady turn to corruption that feels natural. Plus it's Humphrey Bogart, did you expect anything less?
• He Really Can Act: This film features what may be considered Humphrey Bogart's most incredible acting yet, especially during his transition to gold obsession and murderous thoughts, to the point where he feels like a completely different person.
• Magnificent Bastard: Howard is a cooky old prospector who conscripts the amateur miners Dobbs and Curtin in hunting for a mother lode of gold. Vastly outpacing the far younger men in both physicality and wits, Howard finds an untapped gold vein and sets up a brilliant mining system while using safeguards to protect the law or other miners from finding their camp. Pragmatic despite his upbeat and peaceful nature, Howard is ruthless in his agreement with Dobbs and Curtin to kill an innocent man who finds their operation and wants in on it, yet Howard consistently shows himself to have a softer side as he respects nature and saves the life of a young Indian boy out of nothing but good will. Though the fortune in gold the trio obtained is lost thanks to Dobbs's greed, Howard gleefully accepts the loss of the gold while proclaiming that he's set himself up at a local village as a medicine man to live in comfort for the rest of his life.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Howard's Happy Dance.
  • "Badges? We ain't got no badges! We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinking badges!" Often misquoted as "We don't need no stinking badges."
• Older Than They Think: The film is pretty clearly the main ancestor of the Spaghetti Western genre, with its gritty feel, Grey-and-Gray Morality and Deconstruction of the myths of the frontier.
• Slow-Paced Beginning: Some people may agree that the film really begins around the 20-minute mark after the main trio unite and gather their equipment.
• Uncertain Audience: The Warner Bros. marketing department wasn't sure how to market the film. It had no love interest, its main character was unlikable and had a Bittersweet Ending, and an audience still weary from World War II didn't care for the dark tone of the film.

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