Boom Town (1940)

Fresh and Exciting

Better Late Then Never

Absolutely Fantastic

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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.

This is one of my favorite films with either Spencer Tracy or Clark Gable...and here you have both! And one of my favorite scenes -- Gable and Tracy meeting for the first time on plank across a muddy street and then both getting soaked in mud -- is a classic. And, the film has another very necessary ingredient -- Frank Morgan, whose role sort of holds the whole thing together.Gable and Tracy play two oil wildcatters who steal drilling equipment from Morgan. After a few false starts they strike it rich and than cut Morgan in for a percentage of their business. The fun is in following their cyclical ups and downs along the way in both oil and a woman -- Claudette Colbert who intended to marry Tracy, but then falls in love with Gable.This is a pretty interesting film where you can learn a bit about the climate of the wildcat oil business of the day. And, the plot here is pretty good, as well. The only place in the story where things fall down a bit is late in the picture with the courtroom scenes. The director hurried through this portion of the film so much that some of the actors talk so fast it's almost hard to understand them...although Tracy gives one heck of a soliloquy here.It's hard to say whether this is Gable's or Tracy's picture. Perhaps it is one of those rare cases where they really do share the load equally, and they have a great chemistry on screen (this is one of three they made together...but the last because the top billing contracts of both actors later made their appearing together a problem the studio couldn't solve). Gable is Gable. But it's interesting to note a very different Tracy here than the one you might have seen in "Boys Town" just two years earlier. Perhaps a bit more like the Tracy of "Northwest Passage", also in 1940.Claudette Colbert is wonderful here as Gable's wife. The odd star out is Hedy Lamarr, who by rights shouldn't have gotten equal billing with Gable, Tracy, and Colbert. She doesn't appear until after the halfway point in the picture, and in screen time comes in a weak fourth...frankly, Frank Morgan gets more screen time and is the far more interesting character. But, that's not the way Hollywood works. And I must say, at least in this picture, Lamarr stinks. She was a very attractive woman. Period.Excellent motion picture, and one that should find a place on your DVD shelf...it's certainly on mine.

This is a mildly entertaining tale though more comedy than anything else. Pure Hollywood slush. Set in the era of boom/bust oil wells we are treated to the saga of various characters who swindle their way to the top. When they lose it all they are more than happy to start all over again.The film preaches that lying, cheating and stealing is just fine as is exploiting others and ruining their businesses by fair means or foul.Mind you that ain't far from the truth as that is how the likes of crooks such as Bernard Madoff and his ilk got rich. And this picture seems to glorify behaving dishonestly to get ahead.In its' favor the movie does have some genuine superstars and I agree that Hedy Lamarr is the most beautiful woman on screen ever; then and now. Clarke Gable looks like the washed out selfish drunk that I am sure he always was. So if you like a half decent older movie with a certain political agenda and some big names in it then this is for you.4/10

"Boom Town" is a very entertaining soap-opera which solely depends on the charm of it's two stars.I'm happy to say that both Gable and Tracy are great in this movie.The action sequences are amazingly done considering the vintage of this movie. Gable has some socko female performers to woe in Colbert and Lamarr. The storyline plays like a cross between a buddy-movie and soap-opera,most likely to appeal to both men and women. The business practices depicted in the movie surely favors aggressive capitalism as the American way. But if you can swallow some of those scenes the movie is very entertaining. Lending able comic support are two scene-stealers from many a film: Frank Morgan and Chill Wills. "Boom Town " is definitely worth a look.