The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

I watched this the other day, funnily enough after playing the Scarface video game minutes before in which Tony tells a drive-in manager to play some Bogart pictures, starting with this one.

I generally enjoy westerns, and this one impressed me. Black and white is nice, and the screenplay I felt was full of "I see what you did there!" moments, with Dobbs forgetting that his gun was empty due to his paranoia and greed dominating his thoughts, how fate gets the last laugh from the wind blowing the gold back to the mountain, and how two of the three weren't really seeking gold at all, but rather a nice way to retire and the life of a fruit grower. I think this intelligent writing shows Huston's appreciation for how important a good screenplay is for a film.

I also fell in love with the realistic dialogue, especially the fast-talking Old Timer played by John's father, Walter, who won an OSCAR for the role and joked about telling John once to cast him in a good role and that he did all right with that one.

Is it a good picture, or just a good western? (As Bogart and Huston disagreed about.)