Customer Reviews

Boom Town

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The movie has a great cast with some of the best actors that ever graced Hollywood. You have action from the very beginning that holds your attention throughout the whole movie. You can feel the excitment of every oil discovery and the disappointment of every dry-hole. Boom Town has a story which is simple and is brought together with non complicated characters. The people wre all individuals, with there own ideas and had the guts and determination to risk everything to make there dream come true. I like to think, that was the way people were like in those days. If you like great acting and a movie of old adventure with a story that cannot be repeated in these modern times, then Boom Town is for the old fashioned of heart with romance in the soul.

The new DVD sharpens the film up considerably. The Theatrical Trailer is included along with a cartoon and Hollywood short that don't have much of anything to do with this great film. As before, I mentioned that I had hoped that all the film would be put back together and although this is a little better there is still some cutting, including the Oklahoma Indian Land Deal Peace Pipe smoking scene which is still missing here. This film was the biggest money maker in 1940. It won an academy award for special effects and deserved it. Why can't we have the whole production on film? Anyway, I still recommend the film for entertainment value. They don't make films for pure fun anymore but this was one of them.

I loved it, but I have to agree with the other reviewer who said that something gets lost when Clark Gable decides to go to New York and moves Claudette Colbert and little Jack with him.

The fun of the first part of the picture is replaced by an agonizing melodrama, which I also like, but it could have been two different pictures. The first movie would tell all about Gable and Tracy's friendship and their rivalry over Colbert--a kind of Howard Hawks male bonding movie. The key scene in this one would be the hotel room in the "boom town" in which Tracy and Gable strip to their underwear and Gable starts calling Tracy "Shorty," a nickname he hates but he loves to have Gable call him. The second film is more of a George Cukor story, for once Hedy Lamarr enters the picture as a Dutch lobbyist, this gives Claudette Colbert a whole lot more to worry about than scrubbing oil stains off Gable's overalls. Watching this picture recently I found myself more involved with Hedy Lamarr's role than I had been previously. She's not "brash" and "American" like the others actors (yes, I know Colbert is French but she has that American buzz thing going on) and she's languorous and moody, speaking of herself modestly as a "high class eavesdropper." But she's far from a bad actress, she's a bit more subtle than the other three (not to mention such certified hams as Chill Wills and Frank Morgan). Lamarr's scenes convince you that she was actually a very smart girl, didn't she invent the submarine or something in real life? You can see her brain turning over every possibility in Gable's long, lanky frame, and the glint in his dark eyes.

This is without question the best Hollywood movie ever made about the oil industry. It truly captures the passion, excitement, adventure and pioneering spirit that has made wildcatting such a wonderful endeavor. It also portrays the extraordinary period in history that the early decades of the 20th century provided for the industry. A time when a man with a dream, desire, and some skill, combined with a bit of luck, could overnight become one of the richest and most successful people in America. Often after having persevered through a long period of bad luck and dry holes. The movie also appears to incorporate in fascinating pieces of the actual histories of a number of the great wildcatters of the era.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) presents "BOOM TOWN" (1940) - (119 min/B&W) -- Starring: Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert, Hedy Lamarr, Frank Morgan, Lionel Atwill & Chill Wills

Directed by Jack Conway

Clark Gable as "Big John" McMasters and Spencer Tracy is "Square John" Sand both seek their fortunes in the Texas oil fields. They simultaneously fall in love with Elizabeth, but it's "Big John" who wins out. When both Johns grow rich on oil, "Big John" lets money go to his head, and he begins neglecting his wife for the yummy Karen, the precocious companion of businessman Harry Compton. "Square John", who still carries a torch for Elizabeth but doesn't want to see her heart broken, tries to buy off Karen; when this fails, he decides to ruin "Big John" financially. But when "Big John" is charged with violating anti-trust rules by the crooked Compton, "Square John" rushes to the side of his old pal.

Oscar Nominated for Best Cinematography (black & white) & Best Special Effects.

Special footnote: -- Clark Gable was anxious to do the film because his father had been an oil rigger, and Gable himself had worked on oil rigs in Oklahoma before becoming an actor ~ Boom Town saw the re-teaming of Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable - back together on screen for the first time since the scintillating 'It Happened One Night' (1934) ~ This is the third (and last) pairing of those two "mega-stars": Clark Gable & Spencer Tracy. They were to appear together on two previous occasions - 'San Francisco' (1936) & 'Test Pilot' (1938).

BIOS:
1. Jack Conway (Director)
Date of Birth: 17 July 1887 - Graceville, Minnesota
Date of Death: 11 October 1952 - Pacific Palisades, California

2. Clark Gable
Date of birth: 1 February 1901 - Cadiz, Ohio,
Date of death: 16 November 1960 - Los Angeles, California

3. Spencer Tracy (aka: Spencer Bonaventure Tracy)
Date of birth: 5 April 1900 - Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
Date of death: 10 June 1967 - Beverly Hills, Los Angeles

4. Claudette Colbert [aka: Emilie Claudette Chauchoin]
Date of Birth: 13 September 1903 - Saint-Mandé, Seine [now Val-de-Marne], France
Date of Death: 30 July 1996 - Speightstown, Barbados

5. Hedy Lamarr [aka: Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler]
Date of Birth: 9 November 1914 - Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]
Date of Death: 19 January 2000 - Orlando, Florida

6. Frank Morgan [aka: Francis Philip Wuppermann]
Date of Birth: 1 June 1890 - New York City, New York
Date of Death: 18 September 1949 - Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California

7. Lionel Atwill
Date of Birth: 1 March 1885 - Croydon, London, England
Date of Death: 22 April 1946 - Pacific Palisades, California

8. Chill Wills
Date of Birth: 18 July 1902 - Seagoville, Texas
Date of Death: 15 December 1978 - Encino, California

Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 4 Stars
Performance: 4 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]

Total Time: 119 min on DVD ~ Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) ~ (June 20, 2006)

Boom Town is a darn good movie about those maverick 'wild/catters' turned loose upon the tundra of those windswept plains of Oklahoma...you can read from other reviewers just how good this MGM vehicle generated...perfect casting makes this film what it is: Clark Gable-Spencer Tracy-Claudette Colbert-Frank Morgan and Chill Wills...ohh, ohh, best eye candy of all....luscious Hedy Lamarr...WoW...is she a head/turner or what!!...every scene she was in, she had my rapt attention...she was a headliner from her European roots filming in the Czech/Republic before those Nazis marched into Prague in 1939, thank goodness she emigrated and MGM put her under contract, no one and I mean no other female actress, can come close to this exciting actress who had.."IT"...oops, watch this wonderful movie [DVD] and see for yourself....Hedy-Hedy-Hedy.... :-)...SSGT CHRIS SARNO-USMC FMF

The reason they cut these old movies is because if 3 people find something offensive, the studios do not want a frivilous law suit on their hands, so it's it's just easier to cut the film to appease the minority of people. Older movies were not politically correct, and as a result, out come the scissors and let's snip away! Yet today's movies try to offend everyone when it comes to sex and drugs, but that's o.k. because it appeals to the 15 year old movie goers. Something wrong with this picture?

When I was on my Clark Gable kick some years back, I was overjoyed to find a copy of "Boom Town" in the video rental place. I'd seen a clip or two from it, and the prospect of seeing Gable, Tracy, and Colbert all together in one film was delightful to me. I mean, this would be the intersection of two great chemistry sets, Tracy and Gable of "San Francisco" with Gable and Colbert of "It Happened One Night". How could it possibly miss? Well, it did.

The buddy relationship of Gable and Tracy was great. The love triangle between Gable, Tracy, and Colbert was good. But why oh why do we have to go on a bit to have now married Gable cheat on wife Colbert with Hedy Lamarr? First off, I thought that was a terrible plot development, period. Why would he do that? Why was this necessary? No. Bad idea. What really sealed the fate of this being a wrong-o is the fact that Hedy is an awful actress. Yes, she's a beauty all right, but especially in the company of real fine competent acting talent, she stuck out like a sore thumb.

So, "Boom Town" was quite a disappointment for me, after years of expectation. Sometimes two plus two does not equal four, if your script is not good. Catch Gable-Tracy and Gable-Colbert in their separate better films.

Along with "Call of the Wild", this is my favorite Gable film(not excluding "Gone with the Wind", made just a year before). They have the similarity that we are in a frontier wildcat situation, looking for some treasure: gold in one case, oil in another. There is an air of tremendous excitement and optimism, which Gable epitomizes. In one case, Gable has wisecracking Jack Oakie and later gorgeous Loretta Young as companions in the search for gold. In the other case, Gable teams up with an enthusiatic Spencer Tracy and later with gorgeous Claudette Colbert.
This is one of the last films Gable made before the tragic death of his wife, Carol Lombard, and his entry into WW II. After that, Gable seemed a changed man on screen. It is also his most autobiographical film, as before his film career, he joined his father as an oil man.
This film , an epic about wildcatting in the early oil industry, invites comparison to the later film "Tulsa", with the same theme. Native Oklahoman Chill Wills is the only actor I am aware of who was in both films. In both cases, the excitement begins with a gusher. Later, there is a spectacular oil field fire that threatens to wipe out fortunes. But the later film lacks anyone with the sizzling chemistry between Gable and Tracy, and also lacks the befuddled humor of Frank Morgan. However, If you enjoyed "Boomtown", you should check out "Tulsa". Susan Hayward is the tough-as-nails wildcat, with Chill Wills as the occasional narrator. But, it tends to drag in places.
The initial meeting between Gable and Tracy, going opposite ways on a one way plank that serves as the pedestrian bridge across a muddy water-soaked road in a wildcat town, reminds us of the initial meeting between Robin Hood(Errol Flynn) and Little John(Alan Hale) in "The Adventures of Robin Hood", in which they try to knock each other off a log crossing a stream. In the present case, the incident ends in a draw, when they both dive into the mud as bullets begin to fly around them. Tracy's initial offense at being dubbed "Shorty" by Gable is soon grudgingly withdrawn when they share a room together. However, woe be to anyone else who parrots Gable in calling him Shorty!
Comparison with the prior Gable film "Wife vs. Secretary" is also in order. In both films, Gable acquires a knockout single woman, who nearly costs him his marriage, as an indespensable assistant in his business. The difference is in the personalities of the women. Harlow's character respects his marriage enough not to encourage an affair, though appearances sometimes fuel rumors. In the present film, Heddy Lamarr's character is a snake who admits to Tracy that she is determined to seduce and marry Gable. Happily, Gable eventually dismisses Lamarr and wife Colbert forgives him.
The ups and downs of Gable's and Tracy's oil businesses, together or separately, and their flip-flopping relationship constitute much of the substance of the film. Tracy makes a memorable epic speech at Gable's anti-trust trial, which serves as the basis of a reconsiliation and a hopeful final scene. This speech should have been quoted in T.J. DiLorenzo's book:"How Capitalism Saved America", in which he argues that anti-trust legislation has done much more harm than good.
I wonder why the color DVD poster for the main feature shows Gable smooching Lamarr rather than Colbert? and why the color poster for the special features shows Tracy and Lamarr together(which occurred for only a few minutes in the film). Is Lamarr considered such a superior beauty that she totally outranks Colbert? Not to my mind.
The special features include a look at some Hollywood stars, including Gable, in their off hours. The quality of the main feature on this DVD is excellent.

Through fast paced montage sequences and the volatility of Clark Gable's and Spencer Tracy's relationship, this movie kept my interest very well. It's not the subject matter which makes it appealing, but the constant ups and downs of the characters. I wouldn't call it a classic, but I enjoyed it and would probably watch it again.