Boom Town (1940)

Regisseur:

Jack Conway

Drehbuchautoren:

James Edward Grant (story)
John Lee Mahin (writer)

Premierendatum:

30. August 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Abenteuer | Drama | Romanze

Werbezeile:

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

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Dice | Tailor | Firefighter | Stock Ticker | African American

Filmpreise:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Nutzerkommentare:

Would Have Preferrred Grubby Over Soapy

Besetzung

Clark Gable	...	Big John McMasters
Spencer Tracy	...	Jonathan Sand
Claudette Colbert	...	Elizabeth Bartlett McMasters
Hedy Lamarr	...	Karen Vanmeer
Frank Morgan	...	Luther Aldrich
Lionel Atwill	...	Mr. Harry Compton
Chill Wills	...	Deputy Harmony Jones
Marion Martin	...	Whitey
Minna Gombell	...	Spanish Eva 'Evie'
Joe Yule	...	Ed Murphy
Horace Murphy	...	Tom Murphy
Roy Gordon	...	Mr. 'Mac' McCreery
Richard Lane	...	Assistant District Attorney
Casey Johnson	...	Little Jack McMasters
Baby Quintanilla	...	Baby Jack McMasters

Alternativ:

Boom Town! (USA) (alternative spelling)
Draufgänger (Deutschland) [de]
Draufgänger, Der (Deutschland) [de]
Stadt der Glücksjäger, Die (Österreich) [de]

Länge:

119 Min

Produktionsland:

USA

Sprache:

Englisch

Farbe:

Schwarzweiss

Seitenverhältnis:

1.37 : 1

Tonverfahren:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Altersfreigabe:

Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #6351)

Drehorte:

Bakersfield, California, USA

Firma:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Dies und das:

Rita Hayworth did a screen test for the role of Karen Vanmeer.

Dialogzitate:

Jonathan Sand: Now, how can a guy be breaking the law when he's trying to save the resources of this country? He didn't know that he was doin' anything that you might call conservation, but bein' one of the best oilmen there is, he's got the right hunch about oil. He knows it took billions of years to put it there, and takin' it out at the rate we're goin', there won't be any oil left in the good U.S.A.

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Verweis/Anspielung/Erwähnung in "Remington Steele: Steele Sweet on You (#2.15)" (1984)

Soundtrack:

After You've Gone

Would Have Preferrred Grubby Over Soapy

There was something lacking in this film, not that I didn't like it: it just wasn't as good as it should have been. There was an intensity missing. I found it tough to get involved with the story and the characters.

The cast was terrific: Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert, Hedy Lamarr, Frank Morgan, Lionel Atwill, Chill Wills - are you kidding me? That's an incredible cast.

Gable had the lead as the cocky oil wildcatter "John McMasters" and Tracy has his more controlled friend "John Sand." The latter is more than leery of his buddy which turns out to be prophetic as McMasters marries the woman Sands had his eyes on: "Elizabeth Bartlett," called "Besty" in the film and played by Colbert. However, he accepts it in a mature manner.

This romance angle comes and goes just like the oil fortunes of these two men. One day they're up; the next day, they're broke. Lamar enters the picture to give it another melodrama twist. That's probably why I was bit letdown in the end. The romances took over from the rousing man's adventure story I thought it was going to be, and looked like it was going to be in the first part of the story. However, I guess they figured women might not come to the theater if there were no complicated romance issues among the tales of two man grubby oilmen. I would have preferred the grubbiness, as this turned out to be a little too long and boring, despite those dynamic lead actors.