Taglines: Together they devour life!
Boom! movie storyline. Flora ‘Sissy’ Goforth (Elizabeth Taylor, in a part written for an older woman) is a terminally ill woman living with a coterie of servants in a large mansion on a secluded island. Into her life comes a mysterious man, Christopher Flanders (Richard Burton), nicknamed “Angelo Del Morte” (played by then-husband Burton, in a part intended for a very young man). The mysterious man may or may not be “The Angel of Death”.
The interaction between Goforth and Flanders forms the backbone of the plot, with both of the major characters voicing lines of dialogue that carry allegorical and Symbolist significance. Secondary characters chime in, such as “the Witch of Capri” (Coward). The movie mingles respect and contempt for human beings who, like Goforth, continue to deny their own death even as it draws closer and closer. It examines how these characters can enlist and redirect their fading erotic drive into the reinforcement of this denial.
Boom! is a 1968 British drama film directed by Joseph Losey and starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Noël Coward. It was adapted from the play The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore by Tennessee Williams.
Filming took place on the island of Sardinia at the Porto Conte Natural Park near Alghero, and was the site of a close call for actress Taylor. A trailer that served as her dressing room came loose from its moorings only a few seconds after she stepped out of it, and “plunged over a 150-foot embankment into the sea”.
Boom! (1968)
Directed by: Joseph Losey
Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Noël Coward, Joanna Shimkus, Michael Dunn, Romolo Valli, Fernando Piazza, Veronica Wells, Howard Taylor
Screenplay by: Tennessee Williams
Production Design by: Richard Macdonald
Cinematography by: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editing by: Reginald Beck
Art Direction by: John Clark
Music by: John Barry
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: May 28, 1968
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