Straight from one Huston to the next - actually two for the price of one as John himself appears as a tourist in the opening scenes. Famously he remains the only person to have directed both his father (here) and daughter (for Prizzi's Honor) to Oscars.
This is a beautifully ironic story (originally written by the mysterious B Traven) which foreshadows the Coen Brothers, with an on-the-edge Bogie quite unlike his cool, sardonic usual persona.
For an outdoor adventure it's quite studio-bound, Ted McCord lighting background detail precisely and catching the protagonists in useful deep focus, cut artfully by Owen Marks to Max Steiner's rambunctious score.
Walter is wonderful; Tim Holt is the nice guy of the trio (though even he agrees to murder the newcomer who a minute later - in another satisfying change of fortune - becomes invaluable); Alfonso Bedoya is the bandit 'Gold Hat'. Barton MacLane is the cheating contractor (not a young Clifton James as I thought).
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