Page One: “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” (1948)

Screenplay by John Huston, based on the novel by B. Traven

A trailer for the movie:

The first page introduces the story’s Protagonist (Dobbs as played by Humphrey Bogart). Down on his luck and reduced to begging for a dime. And so in one page, the story’s central theme gets introduced — The love of money is the root of all evil as it says in the Bible.

Befitting the era in which all screenplays were either development drafts or shooting scripts, screenwriters included camera shots to facilitate production. This is uncommon in today’s screenplays with the exception of those penned by writer-directors. There’s no rule against using camera shots, but by simply describing what the shot is, we don’t need to using directing jargon.

You may download the screenplay here. You will note: Screenplay by: Robert Rossen. He is uncredited when the movie was released with John Huston taking the writing credit.

FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY!

Page One is a daily Go Into The Story series featuring the first page of notable movie scripts from the classic era to contemporary times. Comparing them is an excellent way to study a variety of writing styles and see how professional writers start a story.

For more Page One posts, go here.