Humphrey Bogart’s greatest role, according to Leonardo DiCaprio: “I love that movie”
Hollywood has always been fertile ground for icons to emerge, the kinds of actors with incredible charisma and charm who could win any viewer over and effortlessly entice us into their world. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, Humphrey Bogart was one of the ultimate screen legends, appearing in countless classic titles, from Casablanca and Sabrina to The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon.
The actor delivered iconic lines like “Here’s lookin’ at you, kid” and worked alongside some of the greatest stars in the industry, like Katharine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall (his future wife) and Ava Gardner, consistently picking movies that would become enduring classics of Hollywood cinema. It was like Bogart had a secret sense. He knew when a film would become iconic, leading him to appear in more cinematic gems like The Caine Mutiny, In A Lonely Place, High Sierra, and The Barefoot Contessa.
Known for doing tough guy roles as well as more versatile and softer parts, Bogart won an Oscar for his appearance in The African Queen, while he is widely known as one of the greatest stars of all time. It’s no surprise, then, that many actors look up to him, taking inspiration from his diverse range of roles, like Leonardo DiCaprio.
The Titanic star dominated the 1990s as a teen heartthrob, appearing in everything from What’s Eating Gilbert Grape to Romeo + Juliet. He was everywhere, and his career has only continued on an upward incline, with roles in movies like Inception, The Revenant, The Wolf of Wall Street, Django Unchained, and J Edgar making him one of the most successful modern actors.
He is a big fan of Bogart and even owns the model falcon used in John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon, which saw the actor play a private investigator named Sam Spade. You’d then think that the classic film noir was DiCaprio’s favourite Bogart movie, but it seems like it’s actually The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Talking to Time, he explained, “I think it’s Bogart’s best role,” revealing that the movie was a huge influence over his approach to his performance in the 2006 thriller Blood Diamond. “I love that movie, wow. It really is a masterpiece,” he added.
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre also features Tim Holt, Walter Huston, and Bruce Bennett, and is known as a quintessential adventure movie, with Bogart’s performance receiving widespread praise, as usual. Celebrated as a great piece of American cinema, it saw Huston win ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ at the Academy Awards, and it has even been referenced in many subsequent films, like Blazing Saddles.
The movie is a tale of conflict and greed as two men team up with a prospector in the hopes of finding gold in the Sierra Madre. The neo-western is a fantastically made film that has gone on to inspire many others, like Blood Diamond, with DiCaprio studying Bogart’s performance in the hopes of transferring some of that skill into his own. Of course, DiCaprio doesn’t exactly need help in honing his acting skills, but few actors can surely watch a Bogart performance without wishing they were more like him.
