Boom Town (1940)

Two buddies who rise from fly-by-night wildcatters to oil tycoons over a twenty year period both love the same woman.

Director:

Jack Conway

Writers:

John Lee Mahin (screen play), James Edward Grant (based on a story by)

Stars:

Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Clark Gable	...	Big John McMasters
Spencer Tracy	...	Square John Sand
Claudette Colbert	...	Betsy Bartlett
Hedy Lamarr	...	Karen Vanmeer
Frank Morgan	...	Luther Aldrich
Lionel Atwill	...	Harry Compton
Chill Wills	...	Harmony Jones
Marion Martin	...	Whitey
Minna Gombell	...	Spanish Eva
Joe Yule	...	Ed Murphy
Horace Murphy	...	Tom Murphy
Roy Gordon	...	McCreery
Richard Lane	...	Ass't. District Attorney
Casey Johnson	...	Little Jack
Baby Quintanilla	...	Baby Jack

Storyline

Buddies Big John McMasters and Square John Sand are fast-talking, wisecracking wildcatters who manage to con enough equipment and capital to develop their own oil fields, but their friendship is put to the test when Big John inadvertently falls in love with Elizabeth, Square John's longtime girlfriend. Eventually their friendship and partnership comes to an end on the flip of a coin. Years later, when Big John's interest in the beautiful Karen Vanmeer threatens his marriage too, Square John intervenes in an effort to save the marriage of his former friend - even if it means ruining him financially.

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Plot Keywords:

nitroglycerin | oil | wildcatter | oil tycoon | oil field | 

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Taglines:

Where Men Are Rough And Tough . . . And Like Their Women The Same Way !

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Romance | Western

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 August 1940 (USA)

Also Known As:

Boom Town!

Filming Locations:

Bakersfield, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,614,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$9,172,000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$12,147,700

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

119 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The only re-teaming of Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert since their Oscar winning performances in It Happened One Night (1934).

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Goofs

When Clark Gable rides the donkey at the rodeo he is holding a balloon, in the first wide shot the balloon is gone, but reappears again in the next close up.

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Quotes

Big John McMasters: This is an old-time barroom fight. The man who hits first wins, and that's me.

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Crazy Credits

[Opening title] This is the story of a hard driving breed of Americans - oil prospectors - "wildcatters". Made of the bone and blood of pioneers - men born of the lasting miracle that is America - they probed the Earth from early Pennsylvania to California's Kettleman Hills to bring forth America's greatest treasure, the life blood of today's world - oil!

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Connections

Referenced in Remington Steele: Steele Sweet on You (1984)

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Soundtracks

Bridal Chorus (Here Comes the Bride)
(1850) (uncredited)
from "Lohengrin"
Written by Richard Wagner
Hummed by Frank Morgan

User Reviews

Moves Along At A Cracking Pace

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!