The Treasure of the Sierra Madre recap

Penniless Americans Fred C. Dobbs and Curtin join the seasoned prospector Howard in searching for gold in Mexico's Sierra Madre. Howard finds a rich deposit and teaches them to work it, but the growing hoard feeds Dobbs's suspicion of his partners. A fourth prospector, James Cody, discovers their camp and dies helping defend it from bandits. On the journey out, Howard is detained by grateful villagers, leaving Dobbs and Curtin alone. Dobbs shoots Curtin and takes all the gold, only to be murdered by the same bandits. They keep the burros but throw away the gold dust as sand, and the wind scatters it. Curtin survives and rejoins Howard; faced with the treasure's disappearance, they laugh at the futility of their pursuit. Howard remains with the villagers, while Curtin decides to seek Cody's widow in Texas.

Fred C. Dobbs is an American stranded in Tampico with no work or money, repeatedly asking strangers for coins to buy food and a bed. He meets Curtin, another laborer in similar circumstances, when contractor Pat McCormick hires both men for a construction job outside the city. They complete the difficult work, but McCormick vanishes without paying the promised wages. Back in Tampico, Dobbs and Curtin eventually confront him and recover most of what they are owed. Their experience reinforces Dobbs's determination to stop depending on employers and chance favors. In a cheap lodging house they meet Howard, an old prospector whose stories of gold offer a possible route to independence while warning that a valuable strike can make partners distrust one another.

Dobbs obtains extra money from a winning lottery ticket, allowing him and Curtin to combine their funds with Howard's experience and equipment. The three travel inland toward the Sierra Madre. Their train is attacked by bandits posing as soldiers, but the attackers are driven away after a gunfight. Beyond the railway the partners acquire burros and supplies, then push into increasingly remote country. Howard's age does not prevent him from outlasting the younger men, and his knowledge keeps the expedition moving through terrain where Dobbs and Curtin see no sign of mineral wealth. Their search ends when Howard identifies an unremarkable mountainside as promising ground and demonstrates that it contains gold.

The prospectors establish a hidden camp and labor for months to crush ore, wash it, and collect gold dust. They divide each day's yield into equal shares, with every man hiding his own cache. Howard's predictions about the psychological effects of gold begin to come true: Dobbs becomes watchful, interprets ordinary actions as possible theft, and resents any dependence on the others. The work also strips and scars the mountain, leading Howard to insist that they restore the site before leaving. As supplies run low, Curtin travels to a settlement to trade and buy provisions. An American named James Cody notices his purchases, follows him into the mountains, and concludes that the partners must be working a valuable claim.

Cody reaches the camp and proposes joining the partnership. Dobbs, Curtin, and Howard refuse, then debate how they can prevent him from revealing the claim. Before they act, Gold Hat's bandits arrive and again claim to be military officers. Cody fights beside the prospectors during the attack and is killed. Genuine troops approach and drive the bandits away. In Cody's belongings the three find a letter from his wife describing the family and orchard awaiting him in Texas. His death makes their earlier discussion of killing him shameful, and they agree that his family should receive a share. With the vein declining and the danger of discovery increasing, they decide to end the operation, conceal their gold for transport, and repair the damage to the mountainside.

The partners load their gold dust onto burros and begin the difficult return journey. In an Indigenous village, Howard saves a sick child using basic measures and is later summoned back by grateful villagers who insist on honoring and protecting him. He entrusts his goods to Dobbs and Curtin, planning to rejoin them. Without Howard's stabilizing presence, Dobbs's suspicion becomes open hostility. He proposes taking Howard's share and accuses Curtin of plotting against him. Curtin refuses to steal from their partner. The dispute escalates until Dobbs ambushes Curtin, shoots him, and leaves believing he has killed him. Dobbs then departs alone with the burros and all the gold, while Curtin survives long enough to seek help.

Traveling alone, Dobbs encounters Gold Hat and the remaining bandits. They murder him and take his clothing, equipment, and burros. Finding sacks filled with heavy gray dust, they assume the contents are merely sand used as ballast and scatter it outside town. The bandits are caught with Dobbs's property and are executed. Curtin recovers from his wounds and reunites with Howard, but neither can retrieve the treasure: wind has dispersed the gold dust across the countryside. Recognizing the final irony of the mountain reclaiming what they extracted, Howard and Curtin laugh. Howard accepts a permanent place among the villagers who honor him. Curtin abandons the idea of beginning another search and decides to go to Texas, where he hopes to find Cody's widow and make some amends for the man who died beside them.

Dobbs ambushes Curtin during the return journey, shoots him, and leaves him for dead, but Curtin survives. Traveling alone with all three shares of gold, Dobbs is murdered by Gold Hat's bandits. They take his burros and possessions but mistake the sacks of gold dust for worthless sand and empty them onto the ground. The bandits are later caught and executed. Curtin recovers and reunites with Howard, only to learn that a great wind has scattered the gold through the mountains. The two men respond by laughing at the complete loss of the treasure that consumed so much labor and cost Cody and Dobbs their lives. Howard chooses the secure and honored place offered to him by the Indigenous villagers. Curtin plans to return to the United States and seek out Cody's widow in Texas, turning away from another prospecting venture.