Review of Boom Town (1940) by James H — 10 Jun 2009

Boom Town (1940).

This is a movie about the boom and bust fortunes of oil wildcatters, and their women. Big John McMasters (Clark Gable) meets up with Square John Sand (Spencer Tracy) in their famous wooden plank over the muddy street scene. They partner up on a good potential oil rig, and then Big John steals Square John's girl, Betsy Bartlett (Claudette Colbert).

The first half of this movie is the grubby, hard work part, where the second half comes off as a soap opera. Big John strikes it rich and becomes a big oil tycoon while Square John comes back in like his conscience trying to fix things for Betsy. There's a dalliance with a socialite/company spy, Karen Vanmeer (Hedy Lamarr), but you know that Big John really only loves Betsy. There's also a courtroom finale where Square John explains why we need crazy wildcatters like big John.

I loved Frank Morgan's work as Luther Aldrich, the supply and rigging guy that these two men always went back to when they were flat broke. There was also Chill Wills as Deputy "Hominy" Jones, the talented cook that could make rabbit taste like fillet minion.