Bruce Palmer

It really is an in-your-face portrayal of "greed, betrayal and conscience"....and justice. As one fluent in Spanish I was amazed by the realistic Spanish dialogue and balanced portrayals of the Mexican people, from superstitious but good-hearted peasants to the ruthless bandits and everyone in between. I disagree that Dobbs was craven and irredeemable. Yes, he was paranoid and his obsession with self-preservation ultimately overcame his conscience. But he followed a path many of us also might have followed if we'd been betrayed as much in our lives as he apparently had been. The determination to take care of the widow at the end reminds us that most people truly are decent people and will typically come through for their neighbor when the chips are down. We see this in every natural disaster today. Yes, the film can be a bit depressing but so is any portrayal of real life. Huston and Bogart and the while cast and crew indeed did a magnificent job.