Boom!

John Waters cites Boom! as his favourite film of all time: it’s not surprising. Liz Taylor shrieks and prances in some of the most outrageous outfits you’ll ever see, barking at servants on her island paradise: how dare they interrupt her days of opulent self-pity? She needs a man, and she gets one in the form of butch Burton (after he’s gotten his paws on a comely young widow), his manly presence transcending an astonishing kimono (not to mention some serious pink robes). Throw into the mix Noel Coward playing… well, Noel Coward (he signals his arrival with bird cooing), the expressionist compositions of legendary DoP Douglas Slocombe, a sexy score from Bond man John Barry, and a script from Tennessee Williams that gives the cast enough to not so much chew as hungrily dine on, and you have a film which may not be great, but is definitely fabulous. [Lisa Bourke]