User reviews

This film has four big stars perfectly cast and appearing at their very best in a very entertaining film about "wild catting" in the American oil industry.I rated it 7/10.First up is Clark Gable playing the "mans man" role he made so famous in "Gone with the Wind".Next up is Spencer Tracy giving one of his speeches in court where he seems so comfortable, ("Judgment at Nuremburg", Cass Timberlayne" etc).Next up we have Claudette Colbert giving one of her best sympathetic "tea and sympathy" performances e.g. "Since You Went Away" and finally there is the gorgeous Hedy Lamarr playing to her strength of a sophisticated, intelligent and beautiful business associate who knows how the oil industry business is is transacted in the New York corridors of power.The film was made one year before the U.S. entered WWII so the budget could afford to be generous.Fot its day, the scenes and special effects of the oil well fire were very realistic.One reviewer remarked that Clark Gable in his youth worked on a "wild cat" oil site, if so this gave his performance added realism.What about those muddy roads.I felt like asking the town corporation to pave them over with some of that oil money flooding into the oil barons' coffers which presumably would attract some local taxation!

Portraying a friendship similar to the one they shared in the earlier "San Francisco," Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy play two oilmen or wildcatters in "Boom Town," an entertaining saga directed by Jack Conway. Gable is the colorful Big John McMasters, a Rhett Butler from Texas, who lives large and romances big. Tracy is the more solid, down-to-earth Jonathan Sand, who is Gable's moral conscience, much like he was in "San Francisco." The pair meet cute while heading in opposite directions on a narrow board walkway across a muddy street. Despite a damp start, the two men bond, and their friendship endures for years through fights, jealousy, and competition over business and women, particularly Claudette Colbert. The mud is barely washed off their clothing when Gable unwittingly steals Colbert from Tracy, and the jilted platonic lover carries a torch for his lost love throughout the film. When not womanizing or swindling, Gable and Tracy make and lose several fortunes separately and together without breaking a sweat. Oil gushers, well fires, and fistfights, the action wanders all over the MGM back lot from Texas to South America to New York.

Gable anchors the film with his larger-than-life personality, while Tracy underplays in deference to his more charismatic co-star. Although re-teaming the Oscar-winning leads of "It Happened One Night" must have seemed like a brilliant idea at the time, Colbert, unfortunately, often seems out of place in "Boom Town." Her manners, poise, and dress do not mesh with the Texas oil fields or the South American hovels. She is on firmer ground as the well-dressed lady of the manor. The sight of perfectly made-up Colbert scrubbing clothes on a washboard with a big grin on her face strains the story's credibility. Although the enigmatic Hedy Lamarr has a flawless face and incomparable beauty, she rarely wrinkles her professionally applied cosmetics to show any trace of an emotion. However, she is certainly believable as the object of any man's lust and physically perfect as an "other woman." Fortunately, a fine cast of supporting players, such as Frank Morgan, Chill Wills, and Lionel Atwill, surround the leading stars and further enhance the lively proceedings.

First class production values, a fast-moving story, and appealing stars make "Boom Town" a solid entertainment, if not a masterpiece.

Boom Town (1940)

An expansive, fun-loving, rags to riches to rags to riches story of early oil prospectors. Wildcatters. Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy make the unlikely pair of men who join forces to strike it rich, and they're both lively and sharp on their game. The main women in both their lives is Claudette Colbert, and of course circumstances make both men fall in love with her. Guess who wins?

As the men find oil, then disaster, then more oil and more disaster, Colbert hangs on. Later in the movie, Gable in New York (during a successful few years) and he is caught up with an urban siren played by Hedy Lamar. To an audience used to film noir, we know she's a classic femme fatale, wanting something she shouldn't have and using what she does have to try and get it.

But this is pre-noir, and of course a Western in many ways. In fact, it's before the U.S. entered WWII, and it's slightly odd to see a sprawling tale of such important seeming events when the big events are happening in Europe. But it's sweeping and convincing in that 1940s Hollywood style that is kicking in, technically flawless, beautiful made in every way.

Throw in four great actors (as well as Frank Morgan, the man who the year before played the Wizard in that Oz movie) and you have a really excellent production. Gable as a youth even worked in the oil industry with his father, so he knew his stuff. Tracy, mad about details in his contact, was unhappy on the set and didn't get along with either woman, and it shows, once you know it.

Why isn't this a great classic, with everything going for it? I think the story. It is filled with so many clichés even these actors, under director Jack Conway, couldn't make it fresh. The clichés are great of course—the rivalry over the same woman, the improbably rise to wealth (and fall), but you see them with familiarity. And the suddenness of huge turns of fate as it propels forward are a bit grand to the point of grandiose. Even the end you can see coming, in the big view.

Still, I'd recommend this for the sheer joy of it all. Of course, Colbert and Gable were famous in the 1934 "It Happened One Night," and it's fun to see them six years later here. But even all the oil industry scenes, including a couple great disasters, are very well done and exciting stuff.

My mother grew up in the East Texas oil boom in 1935. This film closely resembles Kilgore Texas. My whole family has been in the business since the early 40's. My father was burned in an oil field explosion and recovered. The film was done well, showing all of the hard work men endured in the fields. This movie is true and correct showing the hardships of the life in the business, from being dirt poor to having the finer things in life. All of the actor's in this movie closely resemble people we have dealt with over the years. I also enjoyed seeing this move in black and white as it focused on the story line rather than a big color feature. I will definitely watch this move again as it brings home the people that risked there lives to bring a product to the people at the beginning of the industrial age with romance and a little humor. I would recommend it to anyone.

This was the biggest film of the year for MGM in 1940. They used four of their biggest stars, any one of whom could have starred in their own films.

Clark Gable already had an Oscar for It Happened One Night, another nomination for Mutiny on the Bounty, and was nominated in the 1940 Academy Awards for Gone with the Wind.

Spencer Tracy, a nine-time Oscar nominee, already had a nomination for San Francisco, a win for Captains Courageous, and a win the previous year for Boy's Town.

Three-time Oscar nominee Claudette Colbert already had a win for It happened One Night, which she did with Gable, and a nomination for Private Worlds.

Frank Morgan had gotten one of his two nominations for The Affairs of Cellini.

And, our Star of the Month, Hedy Lamarr, was just beginning her career.

This was a raucous film with all the excitement that you would expect in one about wildcatters in the oil business and featured barroom fights, streets of mud, and stories ripped from the headlines. It was an amazing love story about two men in love with the same woman. It was pure entertainment.

Tracy and Gable play two "wildcatters" -- oil hunters -- who are always at loggerheads and both manage to gain and lose several fortunes before the film's end. Colbert is the woman they both love; Lamarr is of course the "other" woman in husband Gable's life. A lot of fun scenes (especially when the 2 bullheaded oil barons finally duke it out), good characterizations (Morgan, as always, deserves a mention, this time as the slightly petty equipment broker they both rely on), but a somewhat predictable story, though well scripted. Ultra-conservative Mahin has spiced Tracy's rousing final speech (yes, he ALWAYS gets one) with the pro-business slant so favored by himself and exec-producer Mayer, managing to make this into sort of an anti-Capra comedy.

As one who has worked in the "oil patch" for 25 years, I feel that 'Boom Town' is the most realistic portrait of the industry (during that period) that has ever been put on film. The formation of the cartel mimics the origins of Standard Oil. Also, the 'feel' of the picture is right and the industry is not romanticized as in other films. Perhaps, as was noted in other comments, this is because of Gable's experience as a wildcatter.

Several others have noted, or objected to, Gable's speech about the nature of the industry. Yes, it is decidedly pro-business and anti-government, but it is not really laissez faire. The film argues for controlled production of oil fields to maximize their long-term benefit. This speech is amazingly prescient of our current crisis.

I watch this one every time it airs.

Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert and Hedy Lamarr star in "Boom Town," a 1940 film directed by Jack Conway. It's about wildcatters and friends, played by Gable and Tracy, who make money as partners, love the same woman, go their separate ways, reunite, all under the specter of oil rigs.

Gable has a role he owned, that of Big John, a tough guy, a man's man, kind of Rhett Butler goes wildcatting. Tracy is Jonathan Sand, his buddy, with a girl back home.

Big John meets a lady and falls for her - except it's Sand's girlfriend Elizabeth (Colbert) who's just arrived in town. Well, she had to choose between Clark Gable, matinée idol, and Spencer Tracy, a character actor whose talent gave him leading man status. She chooses Big John. Sand accepts it as best he can.

By now the two have struck oil and are in the big money. Eventually, Big John loses his part of the business to Sand, and he and Elizabeth leave the area in order to rebuild - and they do, big time. The couple end up in New York, where Big John meets a Big Beauty named Karen (Lamarr) and goes for her, threatening his marriage.

Everyone is very good in this absorbing movie, with Lamarr's knockout beauty a real asset. This is nothing against Colbert, who is stunning as well and excellent as Elizabeth. Gable and Tracy have good chemistry - in the end, this is really a buddy movie, and they're a good match. Gable is very sexy and at his peak here.

Very enjoyable, with great special effects - no expense spared for the four huge stars.

When one thinks of roles identified with Clark Gable, Boom Town does not immediately come to mind. Yet this film, done at what most would consider the high water mark of Gable's career (after Gone With the Wind and before Carole Lombard's death) was possibly his most personal role. Before he was actor Gable worked in the oil fields with his widowed father. After that he decided acting was a far easier way to make a living. But he actually lived the life that he and Spencer Tracy portrayed in Boom Town. He brings more to the part of Big John McMasters than any other part he ever did. I'm sure he was an unofficial technical consultant on the film.

The film is also an ode to laissez faire capitalism, maybe one of the most right wing films ever done in Hollywood. You will never hear Herbert Hoover's rugged individualism better justified than in Spencer Tracy's speech to the jury in Gable's anti-trust trial. One half of the script writing team was James Edward Grant who later did many of the more propagandistic films that John Wayne did.

Frank Morgan is his usual befuddled self, he had a patent on those parts. Claudette Colbert is fine as the woman both men love and Hedy Lamarr was her usual alluring self.

Great entertainment all around.

What jumps out for me after my first viewing is the extraordinary confidence on display in the two male stars. The women are also strong, but the story belongs to Tracy/Gable and their identical code of honor. Few US films achieve this level of natural aristocracy. If they do, it's often one character who possesses the requisite courage and honor, and it brings out the Iago-esquire in others. This is an unusual document in which love and honor rule, and the matter of winning/losing in terms of material goods is viewed with the hauteur of a view of life that has pretty much been eclipsed. As for the writing, it's not bad - the characters could have been more fully rounded, but there's enough substance to make for a credible world in which these guys make their way. Tracy and Gable brought this quality of strength to a lot of their films, but having both present, without sacrificing part of either, is quite special.

A couple of oil-drilling buddies (Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy) strike it rich together. Then a woman (Claudette Colbert) comes between them. Tracy plays O'Brien to Gable's Cagney in this predictable but fun MGM production. All three stars are in good form. Gable gets most of the memorable lines. Hedy Lamarr does well in her villainess role. Nice support from Frank Morgan, Chill Wills, and Lionel Atwill. In addition to Lamarr, Marion Martin provides some eye candy. Action scenes are great but can't mask what is basically a simple soap opera doused in testosterone. Not to mention a love triangle that's pretty weak. It goes on a bit longer than it should but it's still enjoyable. Fans of the stars will like it.

There was something lacking in this film, not that I didn't like it: it just wasn't as good as it should have been. There was an intensity missing. I found it tough to get involved with the story and the characters.

The cast was terrific: Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert, Hedy Lamarr, Frank Morgan, Lionel Atwill, Chill Wills - are you kidding me? That's an incredible cast.

Gable had the lead as the cocky oil wildcatter "John McMasters" and Tracy has his more controlled friend "John Sand." The latter is more than leery of his buddy which turns out to be prophetic as McMasters marries the woman Sands had his eyes on: "Elizabeth Bartlett," called "Besty" in the film and played by Colbert. However, he accepts it in a mature manner.

This romance angle comes and goes just like the oil fortunes of these two men. One day they're up; the next day, they're broke. Lamar enters the picture to give it another melodrama twist. That's probably why I was bit letdown in the end. The romances took over from the rousing man's adventure story I thought it was going to be, and looked like it was going to be in the first part of the story. However, I guess they figured women might not come to the theater if there were no complicated romance issues among the tales of two man grubby oilmen. I would have preferred the grubbiness, as this turned out to be a little too long and boring, despite those dynamic lead actors.

BOOM TOWN can't decide whether it wants to be a buddy flick (CLARK GABLE and SPENCER TRACY) about wildcatters, a domestic romance with an "other woman" angle (CLAUDETTE COLBERT, HEDY LAMARR), or just a big brawling adventure epic about losers and winners amid gushing oil.

Somehow, it manages to be all three--which makes for a rather uneven story that serves as a star-gazer for fans who like to watch the foursome go through their paces even though the script isn't strong enough to support them and their misadventures.

Claudette is lovely in the chief romantic role as Gable's love interest, but it's HEDY LAMARR (who strolls into the story pretty late in the film) who dazzles with her close-ups and that amazing beauty.

Gable is right at home in this get-rich-quick-scheme drilling for oil, since he was an oil rigger at one time before his movie days. He and Tracy are both in love with Claudette--but after she falls for Gable she regrets his close working relationship with Lamarr--and that's where the plot starts to thicken but loses credibility at the same time.

Lamarr's role is so underwritten that she hardly has time to register strongly as a sophisticated woman attracted to Gable. The focus is hardly on the women involved, but instead the main thrust of the plot is carried by Gable and Tracy and their relationship.

It's the sort of macho buddy film you'd think Gable's friend Victor Fleming would direct, but instead it's Jack Conway behind the reigns. He keeps the action flowing, but somehow none of the characters manage to be really involving and it runs a little too long, just short of tedium, since no new ground is explored.

Summing up: Mainly of interest for Gable fans--he plays his blustery devil may care self in great style, fresh from his triumph as Rhett Butler.

Okay, it's true that if you have a movie starring Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy it can't be bad. That's just a fact (trust me). However, despite their star power, this movie could have been so much better. The plot after a while becomes VERY tiresome and the relationship between the guys makes no sense (unless you read and agree with my final comment below).

Gable and Tracy love each other and yet spend the entire fighting and making up again and again. The initial excuse is over a woman, but it soon is apparent that this isn't the real reason, as Gable not only takes Tracy's girl but then takes a hot tamale as his mistress.

However, despite the silliness of this plot, the absolute WORST moment of the film is the courtroom scene near the very end. No court in the world would allow the hysterics of either the prosecuting lawyer (straight from the Spanish Inquisition, but perhaps a little MORE vociferous in his prosecution) or Tracy to stand up and make a long schmaltzy speech despite neither lawyer asking him to say anything of the sort or make a speech.

So, why still a 6? Well, the movie is generally fun (except towards the end when it just seems to go on too long) and the charismatic actors are fun to watch.

A final note. My wife STRONGLY disagrees, but I thought there was perhaps an unintended or intended homo-erotic quality to the relationship between Gable and Tracy's characters in the film. Their love-hate relationship was odd and Gable's inability to maintain any intimacy with his wife or mistress combined with Tracy's apparent asexuality is very peculiar indeed. The ONLY sparks of love or passion occur between Gable and Tracy!

I love this movie! It's such a touching movie about romance, friendship, and oil...is that touching? Anyway, if I were Claudette Colbert, I would have a hard time deciding between Clark Gable (handsome and rugged) and Spencer Tracy (sweet, caring, and devoted). If you've never seen "Boom Town", you really have to! It's great.

This is the story of a hard-driving breed of Americans - Wisecracking Oil Prosprectors-¨Wildcatters¨. Made of the bone and blood of pioneers , Men born of the lasting miracle that is America . They proved the Earth from early Pennsylvania to California's Kettleman Hills to bring forth America's greatest treasure , the life blood of today's world . These wildcatters protagonists : Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy arrange to con enough equipment and capital to develop their own oil fields. Concerning their especial relationship over a twenty year period . But then things go wrong , as both love the same woman. Gable and Tracy..buddies in battle! Colbert and Lamarr..rivals in love! .Devil may-care men fought for girls and gold . Drama at its mightiest! Strong men-and the beauties who loved them! Crackling, Surging Action...With The Biggest Cast Ever Assembled In One Picture!

Stars a stunning couple , Glark Cable and Spencer Tracy , both of whom pal up and break up and get rich and go broke so many times in this oil-drilling saga that it's hard to keep track . But while these the greatest stars got dirty making it , the movie itself cleaned up at the box-office . Both of them starred together three films : ¨San Francisco¨ , ¨Test Pilot¨ , and the last being this ¨Boom Town¨. The two biggest stars , Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy got along very well , but Tracy reckoned enough and he , subsequently , never conceded top billing another actor for a major character again. The film relies heavily on the the sympathetic friendship between Gable and Tracy is put to the test when Big John/Gable inadvertently falls in love with Elizabeth/Claudette Colbert who unfortunately results to be John's longtime fianceé. They're well accompanied by two attractive actresses at the time : Hedy Lamarr and Claudette Colbert . In addition , a large number of secondaries giving decent acting , such as : Frank Morgan , Lionel Atwill , Marion Martin, Horace Murphy and Chill Wills.

Based on a story by James Edward Grant , developing efficiently the entertaining adventures and distresses of the two offbeat protagonists . It displays an atmospheric and evocative cinematography by cameraman Harold Rosson. As well as adequate and romantic musical score by Franz Waxman. The motion picture was professionally directed by Jack Conway. This prestigious Hollywood filmmaker Conway had started out in the industry as an actor, joining a repertory theatre group straight out of high school. He segued into film acting in 1909. Two years later he became a member of D. W. Griffith's stock company, appearing primarily as a leading man in westerns . In 1913 he made his mark as a director and gained valuable experience at Universal before moving on to MGM in 1925 where he made a notorious career with all solid box-office gold. He directed the studio's first sound picture, Alias Jimmy Valentine (1928). Directing Arsène Lupin (1932) with John Barrymore , the successful Viva Villa! (1934) with Wallace Beery , A Yankee at Oxford (1938) with Robert Taylor , Too Hot to Handle (1940) played by Clark Gable with whom Conway worked several times . He remained under contract until 1948, often in charge of prestige assignments featuring the studio's top male star, Clark Gable: Boom Town (1940), Honky Tonk (1941), The Hucksters (1947). And his big hit : A tale of two cities (1935) , a lavish rendition based on Charles Dickens novel . Rating Boom Town (1940) 6.5/10 . Better than average . The pic will appeal to Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy fans .

This movie doesn't let up, as it journeys from Texas oil fields to Latin America to New York City to Oklahoma. Its characters go from rich to poor in what seems like a blink of the eye. As the main characters, Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy are in top form, and still young enough looking in 1940 to play oil wildcatters. The ladies, Claudette Colbert and Hedy Lamarr, play more complex than usual women for this kind of film, as their motivations at all times make sense even if one doesn't care for them.

Boom Town isn't an easy movie to categorize. I guess you'd call it an adventure, though it has a good deal of drama, some of it serious, and the actors bring a rare sincerity to their roles. Gable is livelier and seems happier here than I've ever seen him. Tracy, never a cheerful sort, is as near to a happy camper as he can be.

Jack Conway wasn't usually regarded as a director of the first rank even by his studio, does a fine job of keeping things moving at a swift pace. Yet he knows how to slow things down, too, so that one can catch a real glimpse of a small western city or an oil field. The script, by John Lee Mahin and James Edward Grant, does not for a minute seriously question the motivations or morals of the main characters, and this could be classified as a conservative adventure film or a Republican epic. Whatever. It's well enough done to satisfy even the most persnickety liberal.

Thus is well worth watching. I liked the interaction between Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy. I am not especially fond of either of them, but they were both very good here, and believable.

It is indeed a rousing "buddy" movie. It goes at a fast pace, and that's great. The scene at the burning oil well is very well done.

Ultimately, I rate it no higher than 7 because I find it a bit dated. What exactly "dated" means may be worth a whole essay. It's not the obvious things, like hair styles, manner of speech, and so forth. What I mean here is that it has been written to appeal to the norms and standards of a certain time and culture. You might say every movie is like that; nonetheless I think too much realism has been lost. Without giving away any spoilers, I don't think the way the situation with Hedy Lamarr turned out was realistic. I also do not like the last speech by Tracy. I am sure it was a winner at the time, but it's not realistic - then or now. It was designed to appeal to most viewers then.

Maybe I'm just sulking because I didn't see enough of Hedy Lamarr. ;-)

-henry

If you liked seeing offscreen buddies Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy in San Francisco, you'll be anxious to rent Boom Town, a quasi-drama about two pals in love with the same woman. Claudette Colbert has a far less important role than the two men's friendship, but since their friendship isn't that great to begin with, that should tell you a little about the movie. Clark is a smooth talker who often gets into jams Spence has to clean up. For example, he has the idea of stealing oil drilling equipment from Frank Morgan so he and Spence can get rich quick. Then, after they do strike oil, Clark continues his wild ways while Spence looks towards settling down. He sends for his girl. Claudette, but before he has time to meet her at the station, Clark has literally talked her into marrying him instead! How can they still be friends after that?

Throughout the rest of the movie, the audience gets to know Clark as more and more of an irresponsible jerk. He treats Claudette badly, and Spence resents him. Hedy Lamarr costars as the other woman, and it's just as easy to dislike her as it is to dislike Clark. I'm just too much of a Claudette fan for my own good, and if she gets treated badly in a movie, I'm probably not going to like it.