“A thousand men, say, go searchin' for gold. After six months, one of them's lucky: one out of a thousand. His find represents not only his own labor, but that of nine hundred and ninety-nine others to boot. That's six thousand months, five hundred years, scramblin' over a mountain, goin' hungry and thirsty. An ounce of gold, mister, is worth what it is because of the human labor that went into the findin' and the gettin' of it.”

– Howard

“Eight bones has the carpus, five the metacarpus, fourteen the phlanges, all in all, all in all, twenty-seven all in all. Abracadabra.”

– Donald Arlington

“What I'd give for a sink full of dirty dish.”

– Millie

“Say, mister. Will you stake a fellow American to a meal?”

– Dobbs

Cheated out of their wages, broke Americans #Bogart and Holt are approached by a former prospector. There's #gold in the #SierraMadre mountains, he tells them.

“I know what gold does to men's souls.”

– Howard

Seemingly character driven, Huston's The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is an adventure moved by a relentless #landscape, the urge to drift, and #greed.

“Welcome home, Ethan.”

One joyous day, Pvt. Wilhelm gave his dear life for movie geeks everywhere. The Gary Cooper (super duper!) western Distant Drums (1951) is the origin of what's known as the Wilhelm #scream. During a dramatic action scene, our dearly beloved private is hit in the thigh with an arrow.

– GATORS! GATORS!! – AAH! – AH!

That bloodcurdling scream was part of a sounds effect reel voiced by Sheb Wooley, known better for his 1958 rock 'n roll novelty song The Purple People Eater than fighting off hostile natives. Later, other screamers popped up in anything from A Star Is Born (1954) to Reservoir Dogs (1992).

 

And yes, even a long time ago. In that galaxy far far away.