Themes: Mysterious Strangers, All Washed Up, Age Disparity Romance
Main Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Noël Coward, Joanna Shimkus, Michael Dunn
Release Year: 1968
Country: UK
Run Time: 112 minutes
Plot
Boom is taken from the Tennessee Williams play The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore. Flora Goforth (Elizabeth Taylor) is a foul-mouthed, booze-swilling, pill-popping, middle-aged woman near death. She spends her time swearing at the servants and looks forward to the end of it all, until poet Chris Flanders (Richard Burton) comes to her island home. Known in literary circles as the "angel of death," the poet gives the dying woman some measure of comfort in his presence -- while he takes comfort in her liquor cabinet and her jewelry. Often she is visited by the Witch of Capri (Noel Coward), a gossip-minded homosexual who appears to be Flora's only friend. Williams wrote the screenplay, which unfortunately proved ineffectual, as Taylor and Burton were seemingly caught up in their own world of wallowing in self-importance. The feature did little to boost the sagging careers of Burton and Taylor or to alter the public's negative opinions of their personal lives. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Review
Boom! is a ridiculous exercise in excess, the kind of misfire that destroyed the careers of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton . Taken from a Tennessee Williams play this is definitely one of the playwright's lesser efforts, Boom! is an overblown wallow from start to finish. Mind you, there's definitely some entertainment value in it; if nothing else, the bizarre spikey headpiece that adorns Taylor's cranium at one point and becomes the distracting focal point of every shot in which it appears provides some laughs and inspires a sense of wonder at what costumer Tiziani of Rome could possible have been thinking. Not all of Taylor's get-ups inspire this reaction, but the sheer number of them does give one pause -- or it would, if one were not already pausing constantly to wonder what Williams was thinking as one florid monologue or symbol-drenched passage after another cascades from the mouths of his characters. Taylor and Burton appear as caricatures of themselves, in the kind of performance that makes one rush to re-view Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf just to be reassured that, yes, these two stars do indeed have real talent. Joseph Losey's direction is inconsistent; there are a few nice touches here and there, but they are more than compensated for by some truly dreadful touches and a general air of confusion in his work. The only truly successful part of Boom! is Noel Coward's delightfully bitchy turn as the Witch of Capri. It's not enough to save Boom!, but it's a welcome oasis in a desert of a movie. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
In the film, Flora 'Sissy' Goforth (Taylor, in a part written for an older woman) is supposedly dying, and living in a large mansion on a secluded island; into her life comes a mysterious man, Angelo Del Morte (then-husband Burton, in a part intended for a very young man) and "the Witch of Capri" (Coward). The mysterious man may or may not be "The Angel of Death".
Critical Response
Like most of the other Taylor-Burton films of the late 60's, this one was reviled by critics and audiences alike, with critics taking out most of their venom on the miscasting, the performances, and the general pretentiousness of the entire production. It was an immediate and costly bomb, garnering just $2 million in box office on a budget of $10 million (US dollars).
Since the film's release, it has become a frequent member of numerous "Worst Of Film" lists, and is, in fact, one of noted director John Waters' favorite 'bad' films.
The play from which it was adapted, considered one of Williams' lesser plays, was also a flop, closing on Broadway after just 69 performances. A later revival starred Tallulah Bankhead and Tab Hunter. This, too, flopped, closing after 5 performances.
In contrast, the soundtrack album by John Barry which featured a Johnny Dankworth/Don Black composition Hideaway sung by Georgie Fame, has been re-released several times and has remained popular with collectors.
John Waters' Advocacy of the Film
In recent years, the film director John Waters has presented the last remaining 35mm print of the film around at various screenings. Waters cites the film as a major influence on the development of his taste.[1] For the 2002 Sight and Sound poll, John Waters listed this as the third best movie of all time.[2]
