Boom!

PG

Released May 26, 1968

1h 53m

Drama

List

20%

Tomatometer

15 Reviews

48%

Audience Score

250+ Ratings

Secluding herself in an island mansion in the Mediterranean with her servants and nurses, the wealthy Flora "Sissy" Goforth (Elizabeth Taylor) prepares for her impending death -- and she isn't the only one who's waiting. Known for his attraction to the dying rich, poet Chris Flanders (Richard Burton) ingratiates himself with the wilting Sissy. Although her friend the Witch of Capri (Noel Coward) explains Flanders' "Angel of Death" nature to her, Sissy embraces the vulture-like Flanders.

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TIME Magazine

This film makes it official: Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor have given up acting for entertaining. Or rather, trying to.

Mar 23, 2011

Full Review

Variety Staff

Variety

Taylor's delineation of the lead role is off the mark.

Mar 26, 2009

Full Review

Tom Milne

Time Out

It gets Burton and Taylor, comfortably matched, making nonsense of theme and relationships, and giving monotonously unsubtle performances (she screeches, he glooms).

Feb 9, 2006

Full Review

Sean Mulvihill

FanboyNation.com

It's a bad movie, yes, but rarely has bad been so damned captivating.

Rated: 5/5

Jun 19, 2019

Full Review

David Bax

Battleship Pretension

Boom! comes by its reputation as camp and as a flop honestly. But it's also remarkably self-assured, marching confidently down whatever weird paths it brings itself to.

Jun 12, 2019

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

A pretentious and self-indulgent mess.

Rated: 1/4

Jun 8, 2019

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Alec B

A near total disaster made by very talented artists. One can laugh at its excesses and its bizzare attempts at serious observations about death but I honestly don't understand why people hate something so strange and almost compulsively watchable (you can't take your eyes off of it). It's a true camp classic.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

04/07/24

Full Review

David F

I found this almost unwatchable. I love almost everyone involved: Tennessee Williams, Noel Coward, Elizabeth Taylor, and Richard Burton, plus it's got a great setting in a remote island villa. It was just too outré I guess.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

08/23/23

Full Review

Red T

0 out of 5. One of the most boring, incoherent, bizarre things I've ever seen. What a waste of a beautiful location. Nothing ever happens except Taylor's ego which is having a field day being over the top dramatic for no reason in every single scene. Burton doesn't even interact with her for half the runtime. I don't really know anything about their characters after watching this because the story is so nonsensical. Is he a poet, senator, Samurai? I checked out of this about 55% of the way through because it was soooo boring. Literally NOTHING happens. It just scenes of them doing stuff that makes no sense and contributes nothing to a coherent story. The music is the one slight highlight. It's not that good but its something. It's still boring and barely used but it's still alright sometimes. Everything else in this is fundamentally broken. Die before watching this.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

07/19/23

Full Review

Justine Isaac R

this is one of the worst Burton and Taylor i have ever seen. First there are many routine exercises and cliches in scenes and second these make me cringe when i was watching

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

11/30/22

Full Review

Audience Member

Yes, it's bad. The great Joseph Losey has helmed a big beautiful turkey and stuffed it with Burton, Taylor and Coward. Tennessee Williams rescued this from some bottom bottom drawer. The one good element is Douglas Slocombe's crystalline cinematography of the beautiful Italian island where it's set. Did nobody think to question this lumpen dodo before the cameras turned? Or even during? Or was everyone besotted with the location and the cast?

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Directed by Joseph Losey (The Boy with Green Hair (1948), The Servant (1963) and The Go-Between (1971), and adapted by Tennessee Williams from William's own 1962 play The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore. The play was a massive flop, but that didn't stop it from being adapted as a film, starring the most bankable acting couple working at the time, it should have been a success, but that didn't happen. Set on a remote island somewhere in the Mediterranean, it has aging millionaire Flora 'Sissy' Goforth (Elizabeth Taylor) slowly dying from a terminal illness, but she lives a life of luxury in her cliff side mansion, which is ran by her eccentric band of servants. She lives a quiet life until one day, English poet Christopher Flanders (Richard Burton) seemingly arrives by scaling the cliff and walking into the grounds of her mansion. Goforth and Flanders fire off one another, with Goforth believing he's The Angel of Death, and that he's come to take her away, something Flanders denies but Goforth feels death come nearer, especially with The Witch of Capri (Noël Coward) arrives. It's a camp film, and it's near impossible to take seriously, and despite some nice touches, score by John Barry and cinematography by Douglas Slocombe, the film is just an excuse for Burton and Taylor to shout at each other, the film took away their commercial tag for good. You can see why John Waters loves it.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

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Joseph Losey

Director

Elizabeth Taylor

Flora `'Sissy'` Goforth

Richard Burton

Chris Flanders

Noël Coward

The Witch of Capri

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Synopsis

Secluding herself in an island mansion in the Mediterranean with her servants and nurses, the wealthy Flora "Sissy" Goforth (Elizabeth Taylor) prepares for her impending death -- and she isn't the only one who's waiting. Known for his attraction to the dying rich, poet Chris Flanders (Richard Burton) ingratiates himself with the wilting Sissy. Although her friend the Witch of Capri (Noel Coward) explains Flanders' "Angel of Death" nature to her, Sissy embraces the vulture-like Flanders.

Director: Joseph Losey
Rating: PG
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 26, 1968, Original
Runtime: 1h 53m