New York Times praised the scenes involving the oil wells as exciting but found the human part of the story "peters out into repetitious wrangling along monotonous lines." Variety'''s review was positive, writing: "Unlike many large-budgeted productions carrying multistar setups that tend either to costume background or sophistication for limited appeal, this one breaks out with a dashing, rough-and-tumble yarn of modern adventure that carries all elements for widest audience appeal ... story is repetitious in its cutbacks to new oil fields and gushers, but this fact will be considered unimportant by the customers." Harrison's Reports accurately predicted that the film's star power would make it a big hit, but said the story was "only fairly good" and the plot "somewhat thin."Film Daily called the screenplay "excellent" and wrote that Conway "has furnished an outstanding job of directing, blending the action, love interest and comedy so that interest is held to the end." John Mosher wrote a mixed review for The New Yorker, stating that "when the plot leaves the West and comes East, it grows rather feeble. Western bars, these boom towns and their peculiar architecture and their customs, and the spectacle of the great oil gushers themselves form a substantial background of interest, I should say, which a commonplace plot merely frames." It ranked seventh on Film Daily's year-end nationwide poll of 546 critics of the 10 Best Films of 1940. Box officeBoom Town'' was a box office success upon its release, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1940. According to MGM records the film earned $3,664,000 in the US and Canada and $1,365,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $1,892,000. Awards and honors Harold Rosson was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Black-and-White), and A. Arnold Gillespie (photographic effects) and Douglas Shearer (sound effects) were nominated for Best Special Effects. References External links 1940 films 1940s adventure drama films 1940 Western (genre) films American adventure drama films American black-and-white films American buddy drama films American Western (genre) films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films directed by Jack Conway Films scored by Franz Waxman Films set in Texas Petroleum in Texas Works about petroleum 1940 drama films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films