Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "boom-town"

1. How the West Was Won (1962)

G | 164 min | Adventure, War, Western

A family saga covering several decades of Westward expansion in the 19th century, including the Gold Rush, the Civil War, and the building of the railroads.

Directors: John Ford, Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, Richard Thorpe | Stars: James Stewart, John Wayne, Gregory Peck, Henry Fonda

Votes: 23,309 | Gross: $46.50M

2. Red Dead Redemption (2010 Video Game)

M | Action, Adventure, Crime

A former outlaw is forced by the federal government to hunt down the members of his old gang.

Stars: Rob Wiethoff, Josh Blaylock, Sophia Marzocchi, Spider Madison

Votes: 30,471

3. Paint Your Wagon (1969)

PG-13 | 164 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical

Two unlikely prospector partners share the same wife in a California gold rush mining town.

Director: Joshua Logan | Stars: Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, Jean Seberg, Harve Presnell

Votes: 14,860 | Gross: $31.68M

4. McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)

R | 120 min | Drama, Western

A gambler and a prostitute become business partners in a remote Old West mining town, and their enterprise thrives until a large corporation arrives on the scene.

Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Rene Auberjonois, William Devane

Votes: 27,628 | Gross: $8.20M

5. The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972)

PG | 120 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

In Vinegaroon, Texas, former outlaw Roy Bean appoints himself the judge for the region and dispenses his brand of justice as he sees fit.

Director: John Huston | Stars: Paul Newman, Ava Gardner, Roy Jenson, Gary Combs

Votes: 9,331 | Gross: $16.53M

6. River of No Return (1954)

Approved | 91 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

The titular river unites a farmer recently released from prison, his young son, and an ambitious saloon singer. In order to survive, each must be purged of anger, and each must learn to understand and care for the others.

Directors: Otto Preminger, Jean Negulesco | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Marilyn Monroe, Rory Calhoun, Tommy Rettig

Votes: 12,992

7. The Hanging Tree (1959)

Approved | 107 min | Western

Unusual western about a doctor with a dark past, whose life is complicated and ultimately redeemed by a young thief, and a pretty Swiss immigrant whom he nurses back to health.

Directors: Delmer Daves, Karl Malden, Vincent Sherman | Stars: Gary Cooper, Maria Schell, Karl Malden, George C. Scott

Votes: 4,751

8. The Claim (2000)

R | 120 min | Drama, Romance, Western

A prospector who sold his wife and infant daughter in exchange for a mining claim, tries desperately to win them back as he helps to build the Pacific Railroad with a group of pioneer friends.

Director: Michael Winterbottom | Stars: Wes Bentley, Peter Mullan, Ron Anderson, Marty Antonini

Votes: 6,614 | Gross: $0.67M

9. Uranium Boom (1956)

Approved | 67 min | Adventure, Drama

A love triangle tears apart two partners prospecting for uranium in Colorado.

Director: William Castle | Stars: Dennis Morgan, Patricia Medina, William Talman, Tina Carver

Votes: 151

10. Fury at Furnace Creek (1948)

Passed | 88 min | Western

Two sons of a general try to prove that he did not give an order that resulted in the Indian massacre of a wagon train and army fort.

Director: H. Bruce Humberstone | Stars: Victor Mature, Coleen Gray, Glenn Langan, Reginald Gardiner

Votes: 539

11. Lucy Gallant (1955)

Approved | 104 min | Drama

The success story of a dressmaker who comes to run a group of fashion shops at the expense of her love life.

Director: Robert Parrish | Stars: Jane Wyman, Charlton Heston, Claire Trevor, Thelma Ritter

Votes: 674

12. The Alaskans (1959–1960)

60 min | Adventure

When gold was discovered in the Yukon in the 1890s, thousands of hopeful prospectors headed north for a chance at becoming rich. The easiest passage to the Yukon was through the small ... See full summary »

Stars: Roger Moore, Dorothy Provine, Jeff York, Ray Danton

Votes: 92

13. Dawson City: Frozen Time (2016)

120 min | Documentary, History

The history of Dawson City, the gold rush town that had a historical treasure of forgotten silent films buried in permafrost for decades until 1978.

Director: Bill Morrison | Stars: Michael Gates, Kathy Jones-Gates, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Frank Barrett

Votes: 2,148 | Gross: $0.13M

14. Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea (2004)

Not Rated | 74 min | Documentary

Renowned cult film director John Waters narrates this quirky exploration of the Salton Sea, the massive Southern California lake that was created by accident a century ago, became a popular... See full summary »

Directors: Chris Metzler, Jeff Springer | Stars: Sonny Bono, John Waters, Norm Niver, Petre Melvin

Votes: 695 | Gross: $0.05M

15. Gran Casino (1947)

92 min | Drama, Musical

A prison escapee becomes involved with an independent oil well owner threatened by corporate thugs, who do their dodgy business in the glamorous Grand Casino.

Director: Luis Buñuel | Stars: Libertad Lamarque, Jorge Negrete, Meche Barba, Agustín Isunza

Votes: 882

16. Sin Town (1942)

Approved | 73 min | Drama, Romance

Two con artists arrive in a western boom town that they think is ripe for the pickings, only to get swindled themselves.

Director: Ray Enright | Stars: Constance Bennett, Broderick Crawford, Patric Knowles, Anne Gwynne

Votes: 67

17. Strike It Rich (1948)

Passed | 81 min | Comedy

In 1930, in the heart of East Texas oil country, unemployed wildcat oil well drillers Delbert Lane, Tex Warren and Duke Massey roam the state looking for work. Soon after arriving in Kilmer... See full synopsis »

Director: Lesley Selander | Stars: Rod Cameron, Bonita Granville, Don Castle, Stuart Erwin

Votes: 38

18. The Parson of Panamint (1941)

Approved | 84 min | Adventure, Romance, Western

The mayor of wild and woolly mining town Panamint, is in San Francisco to fetch a preacher for the new church, and happens upon young Philip Pharo, as handy with his fists as with a sermon.... See full summary »

Director: William C. McGann | Stars: Charles Ruggles, Ellen Drew, Phillip Terry, Joseph Schildkraut

Votes: 48

19. Powder Town (1942)

Approved | 79 min | Comedy, Drama

An absent minded research scientist takes a job at a munitions factory

Director: Rowland V. Lee | Stars: Victor McLaglen, Edmond O'Brien, June Havoc, Dorothy Lovett

Votes: 215

20. Bonanza Bunny (1959)

7 min | Family, Animation, Short

Bugs fights with Blacque Jacque Shellacque over Klondike gold.

Director: Robert McKimson | Stars: Mel Blanc, Robert C. Bruce

Votes: 496

21. Aberdeen '83: Once in a Lifetime (2023 TV Special)

Documentary, History, Sport

The definitive story of how Aberdeen FC defied expectations and ruled European football,

Director: James Craggs | Stars: Alex Ferguson, Willie Miller, Dave Cormack, Alex McLeish

Votes: 20

22. '49-'17 (1917)

Unrated | 61 min | Drama, Western

A retired judge comes West to restore a ghost town.

Director: Ruth Ann Baldwin | Stars: Joseph W. Girard, Leo Pierson, William Dyer, Mattie Witting

Votes: 363

23. The Gold Ghost (1934)

Not Rated | 20 min | Short, Comedy, Western

Dumped by his girlfriend, Buster drives west and winds up in a ghost town called Vulture City, where he appoints himself sheriff.

Director: Charles Lamont | Stars: Buster Keaton, Warren Hymer, Dorothy Dix, Roger Moore

Votes: 280

24. Diamond Jim: Skulduggery in Samantha (1965 TV Movie)

33 min | Western

Adventurer Diamond Jim Brady is hired by Enwright, a railroad company president, to ramrod his track through to a silver boomtown in Colorado by the required date. If Brady succeeds the ... See full summary »

Director: John Peyser | Stars: Dale Robertson, Walter Burke, Jeff York, Robert Emhardt

Votes: 13

25. Twilight on the Prairie (1944)

Approved | 62 min | Drama, Music, Western

The Buckaroos, cowboy musicians, are forced down at Little Lip, Texas, while flying to Hollywood to make their first movie. Band members Bucky, Phil, Jack, Chuck and Ginger find a "no ... See full summary »

Director: Jean Yarbrough | Stars: Johnny Downs, Vivian Austin, Leon Errol, Connie Haines

26. Lure of the Yukon (1924)

Passed | 65 min | Action, Romance, Western

A story of the Alaskan gold-rush days, filmed in Alaska, finds Bob Force (Buddy Roosevelt, as Kent Sanderson) saving the heroine, Sue McCraig (Eva Novak), and her holdings from the clutches of evil Dan Baird (Howard Webster.

Director: Norman Dawn | Stars: Eva Novak, Spottiswoode Aitken, Buddy Roosevelt, Arthur Jasmine

27. Alias the Deacon (1940)

Approved | 74 min | Adventure, Comedy

A hillbilly deacon, who is actually a cardsharp in disguise, becomes involved in a small-town fight game.

Director: Christy Cabanne | Stars: Bob Burns, Mischa Auer, Peggy Moran, Dennis O'Keefe

Votes: 32

28. Black Gold (1936)

Approved | 57 min | Action, Drama, Romance

Dan O'Reilly, who has spent forty years working in oil fields, is about to strike oil when his land lease nears its end. J. C. Anderson of the Anderson Producing and Refining Corp. ... See full synopsis »

Director: Russell Hopton | Stars: Frankie Darro, LeRoy Mason, Gloria Shea, Berton Churchill

Votes: 97

29. The Golden Trail (1940)

Approved | 52 min | Drama, Music, Western

The dangerous Ceegareet gang has control of Boom Town. No miner with rich diggings is safe from this murderous gang. Tex Roberts (Tex Ritter) and his pal Slim Hunkafeller (Slim Andrews) ... See full summary »

Director: Albert Herman | Stars: Tex Ritter, White Flash, Slim Andrews, Inna Gest

Votes: 14

30. The Face on the Barroom Floor: The Poem, the Place, the Opera (2013)

90 min | Documentary

The story of a strange ballad poem written in 1887 which became a unusual portrait on the barroom floor in a quaint former boomtown in Colorado and became the inspiration for one of the most performed modern American operas in history

Director: Lawrence Kraman | Stars: Henry Mollicone, Catherine O'Rourke, Patrick Hearn, Nathan Milholin

31. The Valley That Changed the World (2009 TV Movie)

58 min | Documentary, History

The birth of the oil industry, 150 years ago in northwestern Pennsylvania.

Star: Michael Bartley

32. Tales of the Texas Rangers (1955–1959)
Episode: Uranium Pete (1955)

30 min | Family, Western

The rangers pursue gunmen who have stolen $30,000 from a uranium boomtown's bank. They are aided in their pursuit by a down-on-his-luck prospector.

Director: Lew Landers | Stars: Willard Parker, Harry Lauter, Dick Elliott, Chris Alcaide

33. The Tall Man (1960–1962)
Episode: Garrett and the Kid (1960)

30 min | Western

Pat Garrett, Lincoln County's newest deputy sheriff, rides into a gold mining boomtown and discovers the town, including its marshal, are owned by a crooked saloon owner who can literally ... See full summary »

Director: Herschel Daugherty | Stars: Barry Sullivan, Clu Gulager, Robert Middleton, King Donovan

Votes: 22

34. Wild West Tech (2003–2005)
Episode: Western Towns (2004)

TV-G | Documentary, History, Western

Although their remoteness limited the resources available in western towns, the resources they did have tended to be as modern as cities in the east. This program reviews the most critical technologies to western towns economic survival.

Director: Laura Verklan | Stars: Keith Carradine, James A.E. Fuentez, Drew Gomber, Dave Hubert

Votes: 5

35. Narco Wars (2020–2022)
Episode: Escobar's Empire (2020)

Documentary, Crime, History

Pablo Escobar goes from cocaine tycoon in the late 70's to narcoterrorism by 1985.

Stars: María Isabel Santos, Sebastian Marroquín, Edgar Jiménez, Jeremy McDermott

Votes: 28

36. Great Canadian Rivers (2001– )
Episode: Yukon River (2001)

Documentary

Although it's headwaters are close to the Pacific, they are cut off from the ocean by mountains causing the Yukon river to meander north through the Yukon then west across Alaska to the ... See full summary »

Stars: Jeninne Cathers, Ned Cathers, Charles Eshwlman, Michael Gates

37. The Titans That Built America (2021)
Episode: A New Generation Rises (2021)

88 min | Documentary

Out of the ashes of World War 1, a new generation of Titan emerges. During the Roaring Twenties, they fight to outsmart, outmaneuver and outshine each other.

Directors: Patrick Reams, Phillip Montgomery | Stars: Campbell Scott, Yohuru Williams, Jeremi Suri, Mellody Hobson

Votes: 43

38. Very Scary People (2019– )
Episode: The Butcher Baker: Terror in the Wilderness Pt. 1 (2021)

TV-14 | 42 min | Documentary, Crime, History

The Butcher Baker was one of the most prolific rapists and serial killers in Alaska's history.

Director: Brett Kelly | Stars: Donnie Wahlberg, John Daily, Leland Hale, Amy Beeman

Votes: 23

39. Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields (2022)
Episode: Nobody Sees Anything (2022)

TV-MA | 51 min | Documentary, Crime, History

Skeletons are found in a field - an area where women have disappeared since the 1970s - and a Texas community fears there's a serial killer at work.

Director: Jessica Dimmock | Stars: Skip Hollandsworth, Lise Olsen, Richard Rennison, Kathryn Casey

Votes: 249

40. American Experience (1987– )
Episode: Silicon Valley (2013)

TV-PG | 82 min | Documentary, Biography, History

SILICON VALLEY tells the story of the pioneering scientists who transformed rural Santa Clara County into the hub of technological ingenuity we now know as Silicon Valley.

Stars: Leslie Berlin, Roger Borovoy, Kathleen Cohen, Andrew Grove

Votes: 198

41. It's History (2015– )
Episode: Why Florida's Overseas Highway Turned From Dream to Disaster (2022)

12 min | History

The Seven Mile Bridge connecting the Florida keys is actually two bridges over the longest expanse of ocean between the islands. Considering their length, that they are built on an ancient ... See full summary »

Star: Ryan Socash

42. Vegas: The City the Mob Made (2009)
Episode: Las Vegas Before the Mob (2009)

Documentary, Crime, History

Before the Mob made their mark in Las Vegas, the town was a barren one.

Director: Ron Meyer | Stars: Eugene Moehring, Anthony Curtis, Michael Green, Dennis McLatchey