BOGIES

It’s impossible to rank any one Bogart movie as "Best," but for me, it's a three-tie among THE MALTESE FALCON (1941), CASABLANCA (1942), and THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE (1948). In TREASURE, Bogie plays Fred C. Dobbs - mean, greedy, paranoid, deceitful - but then gold can do that to a fella. The movie is filled with memorable characters, including the old-timer who leads the ill-fated gold hunt. He's played by Walter Huston, father of TREASURE director John Huston (who himself, briefly appears early in the film). Previously, Walter had a long career playing dashing leading men. Father and son cleaned up at that year's Oscars, Walter winning Best Actor and John, Best Director. Another Bogie that may not be his greatest but great fun is THE LEFT HAND OF GOD (1955). Bogart steals the identity of a dead priest and the unmistakably Jewish actor Lee J. Cobb has a high old time stomping around as an American-educated Chinese warlord. (Trivia note: In FALCON, a ship's captain, his face obscured by a slouch hat, staggers into Sam Spade's office carrying a package. With a grunt and nary a word, he collapses on a sofa, stabbed dead. That's Walter, uncredited, playing a very brief die-on in his son's very first directorial effort.)