User Reviews

No, "Uranium Boom" is no "Treasure of the Sierra Madre," but it shares several similarities with the John Huston classic. Dennis Morgan and William Talman are a pair of uranium prospectors in Glenn Cove, Colorado, who strike it rich after wandering around in the blast furnace of a landscape searching for yellow rocks. Ex-Navy boxer Brad Collins (Dennis Morgan of "God Is My Co-Pilot") and Grady Matthews (William Talman of "One Minute to Zero") meet each other by accident in a hotel. Each is trying to find a room. According to the innkeeper, rooms are as scare in town as uranium is in the desert. Brad and Grady decide to settle who will get the room by a bout of fisticuffs. By the time the dust has cleared, both men are laughing at each other. Much to their collective surprise, they learn that the man holding their jackets while they brawl was in the process of checking out. Moreover, he had a double room! He pays their bill for a week and breezes off. Once the guys have a jeep, with the appropriate Geiger counters, they careen off into the austere looking Colorado landscape. No sooner have Brad and Grady set off than they encounter a stereotypical roadside Native American, Navajo Charlie (Philip Van Zandt of "Citizen Kane"), who promises to make their rich. The road to wealth is not a cake walk as our heroes learn. Three tough guys armed with rifles, shotguns, and revolvers shadow them from afar. They suspect Brad and Grady know what they are doing, so they decide to hang back and let them find the uranium before they jump them. These dastards are the equivalent of Gold Hat and his minions. They will do whatever it takes to keep our heroes from filing their claim. At one point, they sabotage their jeep, leaving them high and dry, when the villains rush back to their truck to head back to town and file their claim. "Uranium Boom" musters a couple of neat surprises.

The most unusual asset of director William Castle's rags to riches saga is its use of authentic Colorado exteriors. Now, if this doesn't amaze you, it should. Penny-pinching movie producer Sam Katzman produced it, and he was notoriously tightfisted with his dime. Make no mistake, however, "Uranium Boom" qualifies as a B-picture, but it benefits from sympathetic cast and sturdy production values. Apart from the obvious studio-bound interiors, the exteriors were all genuine outdoors locations instead of obvious studio mock-ups of Colorado with mountains painted on canvas. Count the scenes where our heroes scale craggy looking heights. Mind you, we actually see Morgan and Talman clambering among those rocks. In the typical B-picture, the cast would be putting themselves in peril with phony back-projections films of real-life location. The two fistfights they stage are knockdown, drag-out affairs. William Talman was best known for his role as the prosecutor on "Perry Mason."

William Castle helmed this feature film before he found his niche in horror with classics like "House on Haunted Hill (1959), "The Tingler" (1959), "13 Ghosts" (1960), and "Zotz! (1962). The cinematography by Fred Jackman Jr., is exemplary, and the camera set-ups are interesting, too. As I said, our heroes trudge off into the desert looking for yellow rocks. We watch them as they climb mountains. Indeed, the actors must have sweated them dry in some of those shots. Like "Treasure of the Sierra Madre," Brad and Gary wind up splitting up. Gary is rather upset with Brad because he stole his girl, Jean Williams (Patricia Medina of "Captain Pirate"), who he wanted to wed. The best thing about "Uranium Boom" is it's easy to watch and moves along smoothly until our heroes turn on each other. Clocking in at 67 minutes, this nimble, often amusing melodrama takes a dark turn or two when dames enter the picture.

"Uranium Boom" came at the height of the Atomic Age in the 50s and is a story from the Sam Katzman/William Castle shop shot in Black and White on their usual modest budget.

Brad Collins (Dennis Morgan) and Grady Mathews (William Talman) form a partnership to search for the valuable uranium used in the manufacture of Atomic Bombs. Mathews is a mining engineer and Collins is knowledgeable about the land. Along the way they pick up Navajo Charlie (Philip Van Zandt) who promises to make them rich.

They find the "yellow rock" and despite interference from competitor Joe McGinnis (Bill Henry) and his crew, manage to keep their find. Brad goes to town to register their claim and while there meets the comely Jean Williams (Patricia Medina) who unbeknownst to Brad is the apple of Grady's eye. The two have a whirlwind courtship and wind up getting married.

On returning to the claim with new bride in tow, Grady is shocked at the marriage and storms off and goes back east. Brad meanwhile becomes very rich and somewhat greedy by squeezing out rival miners. Grady signs over his share of the mine to Jean and then hatches a scheme to ruin Brad.

Grady hires two confidence operators, Floyd Gorman (Frank Wilcox) and the sultry Gail Windsor (Tina Carver) to convince Brad that a railroad spur is being planned to run through the middle of the uranium mines. Brad exercises his options on the various claims by borrowing the necessary funds. Grady then returns and tells Brad that he is now broke and...............................................................

Castle by this time had become a capable action picture director. As such, he keeps the story moving, throwing in a couple of fights between Morgan and Talman as well as, a brawl at the mining site. He does unfortunately, tack on a wishy washy ending that spoils the whole intent of the story.

Dennis Morgan had been a popular song and dance man for Warner Bros. in the 1940s. This would be effectively his final feature film. William Talman would go on to lasting fame as District Attorney Hamilton Berger in the long running TV series "Perry Mason". And then there was Patricia Medina with those big brown eyes. She was married to Joseph Cotton for many years. I have to admit that I didn't recognize veteran actor Phil Van Zandt as the Navajo Charlie. He steals the picture.