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IMDbPro

Boom Town

  • 19401940
  • PassedPassed
  • 1h 59m
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
3.5K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
38,166
6,632
Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert, and Hedy Lamarr in Boom Town (1940)
Trailer for this black and white classic
Play trailer2:31
1 Video
44 Photos
DramaWestern
Two buddies who rise from fly-by-night wildcatters to oil tycoons over a twenty year period both love the same woman.Two buddies who rise from fly-by-night wildcatters to oil tycoons over a twenty year period both love the same woman.Two buddies who rise from fly-by-night wildcatters to oil tycoons over a twenty year period both love the same woman.
IMDb RATING
7.1/10
3.5K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
38,166
6,632
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Jack Conway
    • Writers
      • John Lee Mahin(screen play)
      • James Edward Grant(based on a story by)
    • Stars
      • Clark Gable
      • Spencer Tracy
      • Claudette Colbert
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Jack Conway
    • Writers
      • John Lee Mahin(screen play)
      • James Edward Grant(based on a story by)
    • Stars
      • Clark Gable
      • Spencer Tracy
      • Claudette Colbert
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 45User reviews
    • 16Critic reviews
    • Nominated for 2 Oscars
      • 2 nominations total

    Videos1

    Boom Town
    Trailer 2:31
    Boom Town

    Photos44

    Clark Gable in Boom Town (1940)
    Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in Boom Town (1940)
    Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, and Casey Johnson in Boom Town (1940)
    "Boom Town" Spencer Tracy, Hedy Lamarr, Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable 1940 MGM
    "Boom Town" Frank Morgan, Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Hedy Lamarr, Spencer Tracy on the set 1940 MGM
    Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy at an event for Boom Town (1940)
    Lobby Card, 14" x 11"
    Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy in Boom Town (1940)
    Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert, and Hedy Lamarr in Boom Town (1940)
    Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, and Curt Bois in Boom Town (1940)
    Clark Gable and Chill Wills in Boom Town (1940)
    Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert, Hedy Lamarr, and Frank Morgan in Boom Town (1940)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Clark Gable
    Clark Gable
    • Big John McMasters
    Spencer Tracy
    Spencer Tracy
    • Square John Sand
    Claudette Colbert
    Claudette Colbert
    • Betsy Bartlett
    Hedy Lamarr
    Hedy Lamarr
    • Karen Vanmeer
    Frank Morgan
    Frank Morgan
    • Luther Aldrich
    Lionel Atwill
    Lionel Atwill
    • Harry Compton
    Chill Wills
    Chill Wills
    • Harmony Jones
    Marion Martin
    Marion Martin
    • Whitey
    Minna Gombell
    Minna Gombell
    • Spanish Eva
    Joe Yule
    Joe Yule
    • Ed Murphy
    Horace Murphy
    Horace Murphy
    • Tom Murphy
    Roy Gordon
    Roy Gordon
    • McCreery
    Richard Lane
    Richard Lane
    • Ass't. District Attorney
    Casey Johnson
    • Little Jack
    Baby Quintanilla
    • Baby Jack
    George Lessey
    George Lessey
    • Judge
    Sara Haden
    Sara Haden
    • Miss Barnes
    Frank Orth
    Frank Orth
    • Barber
    • Director
      • Jack Conway
    • Writers
      • John Lee Mahin(screen play)
      • James Edward Grant(based on a story by)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Clark Gable was anxious to do the film because his father had been an oil rigger, and Gable himself had worked on oil rigs in Oklahoma before becoming an actor.
    • 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 it reappears in the next close up.
    • Quotes

      Big John McMasters: I'm not blaming you, maybe. But you aren't walking out with him or anybody else, understand?

      Elizabeth Bartlett McMasters: Him? What are you...?

      Big John McMasters: Sand. He told me all about it. I had to give him a licking to show him that's out. You're my girl, see? And you always will be. Even if I have to lick you to prove it.

      Elizabeth Bartlett McMasters: I'm your girl. You can lick me if it'll help.

      Big John McMasters: Well, I'll save it for when you need it.

    • 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!
    • Alternate versions
      Also available in a computer colorized version.
    • Connections
      Featured in Hollywood: Style Center of the World (1940)
    • Soundtracks
      Polly Wolly Doodle
      (uncredited)

      Composer unknown

      Played over the opening credits and as background

      Sung and hummed at various times by Clark Gable, Chill Wills and Claudette Colbert

    User reviews45

    Review
    Top review
    8/10
    Great cast, oversized story, fast editing, rich photography...it's really good!
    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.
    helpful•7
    0
    • secondtake
    • May 3, 2014

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • August 30, 1940 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Petrolej
    • Filming locations
      • Bakersfield, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $1,614,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 59 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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