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Humphrey Bogart's journey as a leading man started with The Maltese Falcon and reached its pinnacle in The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre. That's not just because his performance was so terrific. What's impressive is that Bogie goes from an ultra-cool detective in Falcon and a noble Nazi-killer in Casablanca to a crazy loser in Sierra Madre. He didn't coast by playing lovable heroes. He was willing to look terrible and to play a despicable human being in a character-actor kind of way.

Fred C. Dobbs (Bogart) is a jobless American in Tampico, Mexico, begging for food money. He pools what money he has with that of a friend (Tim Holt as Bob Curtin) and they head out with Howard (Walter Huston) for the titular mountain to find gold. Howard has been on many such journeys and knows this isn't going to turn out well. It doesn't take more than few months for Dobbs' paranoia to cloud his vision. Before long, he's hiding his gold and proving he'll do anything to protect his burgeoning fortune.

Don't worry, "Badges? I don't have to show you any steenking badges", I haven't forgotten about you! Yup, this is the movie with that quote. People love (mis)quoting the line, but they shouldn't overlook the subtext: there's no law up in the wild Mexican mountains. Then again, the real villain is not a gang of baddies. It's Bogie. Dobbs' alienation of his friends not only proves how paranoid he is, but in doing so, he puts his gold and his life in serious danger from steenking bandits.

The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre was highly ranked on both the 1998 and 2007 Top 100 lists released by the American Film Institute...and rightly so. It's nearly 66 years old and it holds up remarkably well. Writer/director John Huston made several fine films, but this was his peak. It's one of the best pictures of the 1940s and its dirty influence continues to this day, with Paul Thomas Anderson and Breaking Bad's exec producer Vince Gilligan citing it as highly influential of their recent projects. This one is rough, but for all the right reasons. Great, great movie.

If you found some gold in this quick take of the flick, check out the website I share with my wife (www.top100project.com) and go to the "Podcasts" section for our 38-minute Treasure Of The Sierra Madre 'cast...and many others. Or find us on Itunes under "The Top 100 Project".

From the tattered pages of the monster's diary:

First of all, I didn't ask to be reborn, especially as some stitched-up freak who can't speak. That wimpy doctor just assumed I'd get right back in the swing of living and attending posh parties, perhaps puttin' on a little ritz. Bah! Little did he know, he hired a remarkably incompetent assistant who found a lame brain for my noggin. I'm so glad I killed that twerp.

As for that little girl, I swear I didn't drown her! That was an accident. I mean, geez, who would have thought she couldn't get out of water that was only a foot deep? Where were her survival instincts? Maybe this is what they call "thinning the herd". Somebody should bring HER back to life and make her throw plants in a pond all day long...although that would be torture. That flower game looks like it would get old awfully fast.

Okay, it's time to confess something, Dearest Diary. I'd really like to throw my maker off something high, maybe a castle or a mountain. I'd even settle for a windmill. What's he ever done for me? He did this for his own glory. I heard him bragging that night while I was lying flat on my back with a rag on my face. "Now I know what it's like to be God." Puny god. He's gonna get...

Hold on a minute. I see a big mob with lit torches coming this way. If there's any justice, they're going to help me find that villainous doctor and string him up. I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm cautiously optimistic...

If you like what you read here, check out the website I share with my wife (www.top100project.com) and go to the "Podcasts" section for our 28-minute Frankenstein 'cast...and many others. Or find us on Itunes under "The Top 100 Project".