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Boom Town

Play trailer Poster for Boom Town Released Aug 30, 1940 1h 59m Adventure Play Trailer Watchlist
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Tomatometer 3 Reviews 67% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
Two rogue Texas oil men, Big John McMasters (Clark Gable) and Square John Sand (Spencer Tracy), drill oil wells in fields where there is no known oil. These wildcatters team up with a local drilling equipment owner, Luther Aldrich (Frank Morgan), and strike it rich -- but the ups and downs of the oil business, the whims of South American politics, and the love of Elizabeth Betsy Bartlett (Claudette Colbert) threaten to tear the two friends apart.
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Boom Town

Critics Reviews

View All (3) Critics Reviews
John Kinloch California Eagle Boom Town is a good motion picture that might have been a great one. Oct 29, 2019 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews It's fine in the oil fields, but is a mess when indoors. Rated: B Aug 12, 2015 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com A fun comedy-adventure, starring MGM's top talent, Clark Gable and Spence Tracy, not to mention Claudette Colbert Rated: B+ Apr 2, 2011 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (47) audience reviews
Allan C I have my DVR set to record anything with Hedy Lamarr, who I find fascinating. She was the highest-paid actress in Hollywood then and considered the most beautiful woman. Still, she is now largely forgotten because she never appeared in a single classic film, only in middling, blandly entertaining ones. But what makes her so fascinating is that she was also a brilliant thinker and amateur scientist who invented frequency-hopping, the basis for today's cell phones and wifi technology. However, her ideas were dismissed at the time because she was a woman and only thought of a pretty Hollywood actress. How could she help the war effort? The military did later use her ideas in the 1960s. Anyhow, BOOM TOWN is better than most of her films, but she's only a supporting player in this one, and it's more about Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy. Below is my review from the last time I watched the film. 3-22-15 Boom Town (1940) ***1/2 Okay story is elevated by a strong cast, although I'm still not a big Clark Gable fan. Gable and Spencer Tracy are a couple of cowboy/would be oilmen looking to strike it rich. There's also Claudette Colbert to add a love triangle to the plot and also Hedy Lamarr as a high powered big city businesswoman the two meet up with after they strike it rich and move to the big city. There's really nothing original about the ups and downs in the story, but the cast makes the film entertaining enough, although I wish there was more Lamar in the film. I still wish that Lamar had appeared in better films. Her filmography seems littered with films like this, which featured major stars and quality behind the scenes talent, but were often of lower quality and none of which are considered classics, just like this film. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 11/10/24 Full Review Genesis A Great cast, but rather dry acting, the screenplay and scenes look disconnected - trying hard and fast to get to the climax point right from the start - Rated 3 out of 5 stars 11/18/23 Full Review Steve D Not normally my taste but it kept me engaged the entire time with a great cast. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 05/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Boom Town 1934 film Clark Gabel, Spencer Tracy, Eddie Lamar I love the line. I was just trying to arrest him. Why can’t people be more law abiding? A film about oil. It’s a counterfeit dollar coin. It is the only dollar I can hold on to. Gamboling, strip clubs, oil wells, Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/10/21 Full Review Audience Member Clark Gable has outstanding rapport both with Claudette Colbert, whom he was with in It Happened One Night, and Spencer Tracy, whom he had acted with before in the disaster flick San Francisco, in this fine film which would make an excellent double-bill with There Will Be Blood, for the price of being a prospector of black gold in early 20th-century America. Very enjoyable and thoroughly recommended. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member Okay story is elevated by a strong cast, although I'm still not a big Clark Gable fan. Gable and Spencer Tracy are a couple of cowboy/would be oilmen looking to strike it rich. There's also Claudette Colbert to add a love triangle to the plot and also Hedy Lamarr as a high powered big city businesswoman the two meet up with after they strike it rich and move to the big city. There's really nothing original about the ups and downs in the story, but cat makes the film entertaining enough, although I wish there was more Lamar in the film. I still wish that Lamar had appeared in better films. Her filmography seems littered with films like this, which featured major stars and quality behind the scenes talent, but were often of lower quality and none of which are considered classics, just like this film. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Boom Town

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Movie Info

Synopsis Two rogue Texas oil men, Big John McMasters (Clark Gable) and Square John Sand (Spencer Tracy), drill oil wells in fields where there is no known oil. These wildcatters team up with a local drilling equipment owner, Luther Aldrich (Frank Morgan), and strike it rich -- but the ups and downs of the oil business, the whims of South American politics, and the love of Elizabeth Betsy Bartlett (Claudette Colbert) threaten to tear the two friends apart.
Director
Jack Conway
Producer
Sam Zimbalist
Screenwriter
John Lee Mahin
Distributor
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Genre
Adventure
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 30, 1940, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
May 23, 2016
Runtime
1h 59m
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