Screening:
Friday, April 28, 8:30 PM, Charles 5

Director: John Huston
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt, Bruce Bennett, Barton MacLane, Alfonso Bedoya.
Country, Year, Length, Format: U.S., 1948, 124 mins, 35mm
Presented by: William Miller

The quintessential tale of lust for easy wealth, this highly acclaimed 1948 film eloquently expresses Bob Dylan's dictum that "money doesn't talk, it swears." James Agee observed that it was a movie of such great visual power that it would "stand alongside the best of the silent movies."

Written and directed by the young John Huston, the film was nominated for four Oscars, won the Golden Globe and New York Film Critics' Best Picture, and was added to the Library of Congress' National Film Registry in 1990. The movie won writing and directing Oscars for John Huston, and Best Supporting Actor for John's father, Walter Huston. Unaccountably, Humphrey Bogart was not nominated for a role many believe was the greatest of his distinguished career. The film was also over-looked in the Best Picture category.

Two quotes from Howard (Walter Huston's aging Prospector) from different points in the story:

"Gold in Mexico? Why sure there is. Not ten days from here by rail and pack train, there's a mountain waiting for the right guy to come along, discover her treasure, and then tickle her until she lets him have it. The question is, are you the right guy?...Aw, real bonanzas are few and far between and they take a lot of finding."

"Aw, gold's a devilish sort of a thing anyway. You start out to tell yourself you'll be satisfied with 25 thousand handsome smackers worth of it, 'so help me Lord and cross my heart.' Fine resolution. After months of sweatin' yourself dizzy and growing short on provisions and findin' nothin', you finally come down to 15 thousand and then 10, finally you say, 'Lord, let me just find 5 thousand dollars worth and never ask for anything more the rest of my life.'...Here in this joint, it seems like a lot, but I tell you, if you were to make a real strike, you couldn't be dragged away. Not even the threat of miserable death would keep you from trying to add 10 thousand more…10 you want to get 25… 25 you want to get 50… 50, a hundred. Like roulette. One more turn, you know, always one more."

Tidbit:
When Walter Huston won for Best Supporting Actor, it was the only time a son directed his father in an Academy Award-winning performance. When he accepted the Oscar, Walter Huston said, "Many years ago…many, many years ago, I raised a son and I said to him, 'If you ever become a writer or a director, please find a good part for your old man.'"

Bio:
Bill Miller as manager of the Legg Mason Value Trust, Bill has the enviable distinction of having beaten the important S&P 500 Index in each of the past nine years, a feat not accomplished by any other general equity fund manager in the history of the S&P. More remarkably, Value Trust beat the S&P by an average of 11 percentage points in the past four years. To put that in perspective, less than 1% of funds have beat the index by any margin in all of the past four years. A graduate of Washington and Lee University where he studied European history and economics, Bill also studied legal and political ethics at Johns Hopkins University-at one point, he even entertained the thought of teaching philosophy. There was a brief moment when Bill thought he had a shot at making it as a Major League pitcher. On occasion, he can still be found giving pitching pointers to Little Leaguers around Baltimore.