in a lonely place, Bogart's acting tour de force.

Sean,

I agree with you 100% that Bogie's 'Sierra Madre' acting perfomamce was the highlight of his career. No question about it! He steals the picture with his brilliant performance.

In my post regarding 'In a Lonely Place', I was commenting on his tour-de-force in that movie alone, not his entire career.

While his performance in 'Lonely Place' was quite different, he still manages to burn up the screen by virtue of his intense personal magnetism.

Both parts start off casually and then, as the plot developes, the intensity gets going and we are back again into that broad sweep of his acting talent.

Cheers.

There's many a slip, twix cup and lip.

It's hard to imagine anybody else but Bogart playing this role, from the Golden Age or today. He was one of the only actors (save maybe Jimmy Stewart--see Vertigo or It's a Wonderful Life) who could go from charming to terrifying in mere seconds.

While I don't deny that Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a terrific Bogart performance, the role of Dix is smaller in scale but just as intense, if not more so, and his character is much more terrifying because he's so much closer to home than Dobbs is; we've probably known a real-life Dix in our lifetime. And because the role is closer reality, Bogart makes it more personal; you feel as though Bogart were somehow channeling his own anger into the role.

Many have commented that it's his transformation from a decent guy to a gold-thirsty monster that's brilliant about his performance in Treasure of the Sierra Madre--I think that Dix is so much harder to pull off because he had to convey both at the same time, at once a man who is violent (one bonus here is that he proves he could be tough and terrifying without ever holding a gun) and troubled but also kind and loving. Bogie had to make us sympathize with Dix throughout, also allowing us to see this inner vulnerability and need to be saved. He did it beautifully, and to me this is his greatest achievement as an actor.

Comparing this two movies like that is like a parent trying to compare children ... I was happy to find another brilliant Bogart movie, and would not care to compare it or argue it with anyone. They are different, and both wonderful. I have to say I feel for Gloria Grahame, she was great, and as I was looking for her in IMDB I found her in one of my all time favorites, "Chilly Scenes Of Winter" ... she was fantastic, what an actress!

I will have to agree on Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It has to be his greatest performance. But boy, does he have a gallery of roles that vie for second place. He is consistently excellent and once in a while he is brilliant.

"It's hard to imagine anybody else but Bogart playing this role, from the Golden Age or today."

Bogart played the role well, considering he was too old & weak looking. Lets face it, Bogie at 50 was not like Burt Lancaster or Charles Bronson were at 50. Also is it beleivable that the young, sexy Gloria Grahame would be drawn to a 50+ year old man who looked even older?

I could imagine Robert Ryan, Robert Mitchum or Kirk Douglas doing this part well and being more beleivable.

Here's a thought, no one ever mentions the haunting score of this classic, and I wonder why not. It certainly would take away enormously from the overall effect, were it not there. Even more, for the final rapturous scene on the moonlit balcony with Laurel voicing the epilogue (I was born when...) while Dix walks away, probably forever, through the darkened courtyard; that, with the music, was the ultimate poignancy.
I'm always reminded by such scenes, of an interview with Miklos Rosza, the classic movie music composer. He said that where the actor or actress is, for whatever reason, unable to say what they are thinking, then the music must say it for them. Gloria may have had her epilogue; but the music said it for Bogie.

I have collected quite a few books of film reviews and it seems to be a common belief amongst critics that this was Bogart's best performance. I don't buy into that. I personally think his performance here does not stand up to what he achieved in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.