MovieChat Forums > Boom Town (1940) Discussion > Gable/Tracy: Best Buddy Combo Ever?

Gable/Tracy: Best Buddy Combo Ever?

posted 16 years ago by ProfessorFate
9 replies | jump to latest

Has there ever been a better on screen buddy combo than Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy? They compliment each other so well, yet they're so different. Watching "Boom Town" and having seen "San Francisco" and "Test Pilot", you really get the feeling they have a history together. I imagine they were good friends off screen, but haven't read anything to that effect. Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, Paul Newman and Robert Redford, George Clooney and Brad Pitt, they were each great duos and had the chemistry in more than one film, but Gable and Tracy are right there with them. Any others that belong in that grouping?

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[–] bruno-32 15 years ago

Word was getting around that Tracy resented playing second fiddle to Gable in all of their movies. Gable always acknowledged that Tracy was the better actor, and Tracy thought so to. After "Boom Town", he told MGM that he would never appear in a movie again with Gable...and they didn't. Gable was more of an outdoor man..his friend at the time was Gary Cooper, where they would go hunting together. Tracy was more of an introvert. I would say the best buddy combo of latter days was Newman and Redford.

[–] Xcalat3 15 years ago

they had great chemistry in this

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[–] jorgen_eg 13 years ago

Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra? Other than that, I'd say Newman and Redford as well... Simon Pegg and Nick Frost also have very good chemistry.

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[–] SarLei94 13 years ago

I love the chemistry between Gable & Tracy. Not only in "Boom Town", but also especially in "Test Pilot" with Myrna Loy as the female lead.

[–] aboutagir11 11 years ago

No not at all... best buddy would be Carey Grant and Douglas Fairbanks Jr in Gunga Din.

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[–] SeanJoyce 11 years ago

Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. Bam.

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[–] toshguy 11 years ago

How has no one mentioned Kirk Douglas & Burt Lancaster yet?! I especially enjoy their interaction in "I Walk Alone" - their first collaboration in which they already have the chemistry of longtime buddies.

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[–] bnwfilmbuff 9 years ago

Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre - The Mask of Demetrious, Three Strangers, The Maltese Falcon, and The Verdict. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce in their Sherlock Holmes movies.

[–] fanaticita 9 years ago

I really liked this duo! I'm on a quest to see as many Gable films as possible, and this one really was very interesting. The Tracy/Tracy combo was great and really was an excellent story. True friendship!