The Conqueror

Rating:
Summary: As bad as people say!
Review: "The Conqueror most certainly lives up to its billing as one of the most ridiculously awful films ever made. It's absurd casting and over-the-top, faux, Shakespearean dialogue has to be seen to be believed

There is a story about members of the cast and crew later succumbing to cancer because this movie was filmed near a former atomic bomb testing area. It's an interesting story, but there really is no evidence that radiation exposure caused any of the deaths. There is a far more mundane explaination- the victims were all chain smokers. In fact, when the Duke was making "The Alamo" he was allegedly smoking six packs a day! Smoking like that will kill you as sure as working on an atomic test site.

Rating:
Summary: The infamous bad film that killed John Wayen and many others
Review: "The Conqueror" is a movie that is infamous in Hollywood history for two reasons, neither of which is a good. First, it is a movie that has John Wayne playing Genghis Khan with Susan Hayward, Pedro Armendáriz, Agnes Morehead, and William Conrad also playing Orientals. Wayne spouts lines of dialogue like "I feel this Tartar woman is for me, and my blood says, take her," "We'll chase them like rats across the tundra," and "I am bereft of spit," in what must count as the most surreal performance of his career (the role was originally written by Marlon Brando). The decision to cast the Duke as Genghis Khan is, to say, the least, bizarre, and it is hard to take your eyes away from what he is doing on screen (there is a legendary Hollywood joke that the only thing worse would have been casting Mickey Rooney as Jesus in "King of Kings").

Second, 13 weeks of this 1956 movie were spent filming in Utah a bit more than 100 miles from the site of a nuclear testing ground in Nevada and the set was contaminated by nuclear fallout from 11 blasts in 1953. After location shooting was concluded, producer Howard Hughes paid to have 60 tons of dirt shipped back to Hollywood so it could be used to match interior shootings. Of the 220 persons who worked on "The Conqueror" at least 91 had contracted cancer by the early 1980s and over half that number died of it, including stars Wayne, Hayward, and Morehead, and director Dick Powell (Armendáriz committed suicide when learning he was terminally ill). Statistically speaking out of a group that size only 30 people should end up with cancer. The thought that Wayne and the others would lose their lives because of a movie this bad is just a sickening thought, but the evidence seems incontrovertible and there is even a chilling photograph of Wayne on the set with a Geiger counter.

"The Conqueror" is essentially a love story between Wayne's Genghis Khan, originally named Temujin before he becomes emperor of the known world, and the beautiful Tartar princess, Bortai (Hayward). The movie has actually pays some attention to the actual history of the character and the times, at least more than the Omar Sheriff film about Genghis Khan, but clearly the idea here was that it was easier to conqueror the world than it was to tame the red headed woman in his tent. It would have helped if there was some chemistry between the two stars, but there really is not that much difference between Hayward's Bortai when she is demeaning Temujin as a Mongol or when she they ride off into the sunset at the end to live happily ever after out there on that there tundra. Then there is the idea that little Agnes Moorhead is the mother of Wayne and William Conrad, each of whom is twice her size. This film is true Hollywood turkey.

Wayne had pursued the role, seeing it as just a different type of Western, and on some level you have to respect the idea of trying to stretch as an actor. But the results are just so laughable and only the sobering through that Wayne and so many of the cast would pay for this fiasco with their lives keeps this from being a real hooter deserving of "MST3K" treatment. For years you could not see "The Conqueror" because a guilty Howard Hughes pulled it from circulation (or maybe he was not being eccentric; we are talking Howard Hughes here). In fact, "The Conqueror" was his final film. As the most curious film in John Wayne's career it deserves to be seen at least once by both his fans and those who are just curious about one of the oddest bits of Hollywood history.

Rating:
Summary: The infamous bad film that killed John Wayen and many others
Review: "The Conqueror" is a movie that is infamous in Hollywood history for two reasons, neither of which is a good. First, it is a movie that has John Wayne playing Genghis Khan with Susan Hayward, Pedro Armend?riz, Agnes Morehead, and William Conrad also playing Orientals. Wayne spouts lines of dialogue like "I feel this Tartar woman is for me, and my blood says, take her," "We'll chase them like rats across the tundra," and "I am bereft of spit," in what must count as the most surreal performance of his career (the role was originally written by Marlon Brando). The decision to cast the Duke as Genghis Khan is, to say, the least, bizarre, and it is hard to take your eyes away from what he is doing on screen (there is a legendary Hollywood joke that the only thing worse would have been casting Mickey Rooney as Jesus in "King of Kings").

Second, 13 weeks of this 1956 movie were spent filming in Utah a bit more than 100 miles from the site of a nuclear testing ground in Nevada and the set was contaminated by nuclear fallout from 11 blasts in 1953. After location shooting was concluded, producer Howard Hughes paid to have 60 tons of dirt shipped back to Hollywood so it could be used to match interior shootings. Of the 220 persons who worked on "The Conqueror" at least 91 had contracted cancer by the early 1980s and over half that number died of it, including stars Wayne, Hayward, and Morehead, and director Dick Powell (Armend?riz committed suicide when learning he was terminally ill). Statistically speaking out of a group that size only 30 people should end up with cancer. The thought that Wayne and the others would lose their lives because of a movie this bad is just a sickening thought, but the evidence seems incontrovertible and there is even a chilling photograph of Wayne on the set with a Geiger counter.

"The Conqueror" is essentially a love story between Wayne's Genghis Khan, originally named Temujin before he becomes emperor of the known world, and the beautiful Tartar princess, Bortai (Hayward). The movie has actually pays some attention to the actual history of the character and the times, at least more than the Omar Sheriff film about Genghis Khan, but clearly the idea here was that it was easier to conqueror the world than it was to tame the red headed woman in his tent. It would have helped if there was some chemistry between the two stars, but there really is not that much difference between Hayward's Bortai when she is demeaning Temujin as a Mongol or when she they ride off into the sunset at the end to live happily ever after out there on that there tundra. Then there is the idea that little Agnes Moorhead is the mother of Wayne and William Conrad, each of whom is twice her size. This film is true Hollywood turkey.

Wayne had pursued the role, seeing it as just a different type of Western, and on some level you have to respect the idea of trying to stretch as an actor. But the results are just so laughable and only the sobering through that Wayne and so many of the cast would pay for this fiasco with their lives keeps this from being a real hooter deserving of "MST3K" treatment. For years you could not see "The Conqueror" because a guilty Howard Hughes pulled it from circulation (or maybe he was not being eccentric; we are talking Howard Hughes here). In fact, "The Conqueror" was his final film. As the most curious film in John Wayne's career it deserves to be seen at least once by both his fans and those who are just curious about one of the oddest bits of Hollywood history.

Rating:
Summary: I love ya, Duke; but what were you thinking?
Review: "The Conqueror" is a must for all fans of bad movies! It is quite simply the pot of gold at the end of a bad movie lover's rainbow. This is one extremely, unintentionally funny movie. What is there not to like here? There's red haired Susan Hayward as a Tartar princess, "authentic" Mongolian dance numbers, silly battle scenes with lots and lots of horses falling down, Agnes Moorhead's impression of a talking prune, and, of couse, John Wayne, THE DUKE, as Genghis Khan! The dialogue is a scream, "Yor beeeautiful in yer wrath!" Now imagine the Duke saying that with a fu manchu moustache and a me-Tarzan-you-Jane accent and you get an inkling of the awfulness of "The Conqueror."

John Wayne is my all-time favorite actor, yet even I burst out laughing at his ridiculous performance in this movie. Even funnier is the knowledge that this was one of the movies eccentric millionare Howard Hughes watched compulsively over and over again during his self-imposed hermitage. "The Conqueror" is one of the weirdest, funniest movies ever to come out of Hollywood!

Rating:
Summary: The Duke in the Gobi!
Review: Contrary to the critics in general and the reviewers here in
particular, The Conqueror is actually a pretty good film, if you're
a John Wayne fan, or just enjoy Hollywood spectaculars as they
were made back in the '50s. Wayne was not as miscast as one
might think. He certainly had the strength of character and screen
presence to play Temujin/Genghis Khan and he looked good in the
oriental mustache and the Mongol warrior garb. The dialog here is
no dumber than in any other Hollywood historical saga of that
time (or of this time, either, for that matter. Remember Russell
Crowe in Gladiator: "At my signal, unleash Hell!"?)

Movie lore has it that The Conqueror was filmed on location in
Utah either on or near an atomic test site, and that many of the cast
and crew later died from radiation-induced cancers. It may be
true, or it may be just mythology. There were no nuclear test sites
in Utah, but the shooting location could have been near the
Nevada test site. Director Powell and cast members Wayne,
Hayward, Moorehead, and John Hoyt did die from cancer, but of
different types and years apart. Many others died from other
causes. Pedro Armendariz committed suicide. Thomas Gomez
died from an auto accident. Lee Van Cleef died of a heart attack.
And some lived to a ripe old age. Leo Gordon, for instance,
passed away just last year, at the age of78, after a brief illness.
Gordon was a scriptwriter as well as an actor, and wrote two
classic Roger Corman movies: The Terror, and The Wasp
Woman.

The Conqueror also had the distinction of having a Playboy
Playmate, Pat Lawler (Miss August 1955) in a bit part. Ms.
Lawler appeared in the sci-fi comedy Invasion of the Saucer Men
in 1957, and that seems to be the extent of her film career..

To sum up: The Conqueror is not as bad as reported. It's not
nearly as bad as, say, Big Jim McLain, The Fighting
Kentuckian, or Jet Pilot. And it's not nearly as good as, say, The
Quiet Man, Sands of lwo Jima, or True Grit. It's in the middle.
like, say, Hatari, Circus World, or The Shootist.

This DVD edition offers just the movie, a scene index, and
subtitles. The image quality is good, but the sound varies a
bit--some of the dialog seems rather distant and tinny. But at this
price it's a bargain, so don't miss out!

Rating:
Summary: Not Great, But Not Nearly as Bad As Its Reputation
Review: First, the good news:

1. It stars the Duke.

2. The (relatively) good guys win.

3. Katharine Hepburn, Alan Alda, Sigourney Weaver, Susan Sarandon, Meryl Streep, and Barbra Streisand do not appear.

Now for the bad news:

1. Tiny Agnes Morehead (before her "Bewitched" days) is 6'4" John Wayne's supposed mother.

2. Tubby (not as fat as he was when he played Cannon on television, but still pretty porky) William Conrad is John Wayne's brother.

3. Pedro Armendariz, a native of Mexico, plays John Wayne's brother. I can understand that, in the 1950s, there weren't a lot of "name" actors and actresses who looked like Mongols, but at least the producers could have come up with a cast that could pass for a family.

4. The plot is really pretty thin.

It's worth a rental, though, to see The Duke and to see Agnes Morehead and William Conrad in their pre-television days.

Rating:
Summary: Fair to good.
Review: I had problems with some of this movie, but being a JW and SH fan made it watchable.

Rating:
Summary: A bizarre casting of John Wayne
Review: I have always been a John Wayne fan, but I had never even heard of this movie till I saw it on the shelf at Blockbuster early in 1999. I couldn't believe my eyes. Since Genghis Khan is my favorite historical personage, I couldn't resist the combination. I have to agree, however, that it was a fairly silly role for Wayne. On the plus side, he actually looked somewhat Mongol. What really didn't fit was Susan Hayward as Bortai, the most obviously white person there. She absolutely did not fit and, I believe, did not even come close to a proper portrayal of Bortai. She was clearly the worst item. It was also bad when the Khan's horsemen attacked the Tartars near the end. There was none of the disciplined army in evidence. They looked like an unruly mob. Very disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: I loved it.
Review: I know alot of people will disagree with the idea of John Wayne as a the great Mongolian conqueror, but if one remembers this film was in the 1950's America, it fits. It is the ultimate idea of placing America's great hero in a the role of any hero for any culture. If you want to see a realistic rendition of history pass this title over. However,if you want to see a great action hero play one the greatest action heros of all time this is for you.

Rating:
Summary: Inadvertently hilarious
Review: I laughed so hard I got a side ache.

A 12 million dollar production by the goofy Howard Hughes, directed by Dick Powell in the Utah desert and starring John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Agnes Morehead, Lee Van Cleef among others.

Wayne as the six foot four inch Mongol Prince "Temujin" soon to be crowned King of the Mongols - Genghis Kahn and Susan Hayward as the Red Haired Tarter Temptress, "Bortai," I kid you not, Bortai.

Advertised by the studio as...

"Spectacular as its barbaric passions and savage conquests"
"Mighty in scope"
"Mighty in spectacle"
"Genghis Khan! The world trembled at his name"

And finally...

"They conquered each other and then the world"

Consider some of the dialog...

Wayne: "I feel this Tarter women is for me, and my blood says, take her! There are moments for wisdom and moments when I listen to my blood; my blood says take this Tarter woman!"

Hayward: "For me there is no peace while you live Mongol."

Wayne: "You are beautiful in your wrath!"

Hayward: "The Conqueror? Mighty armies cannot stop him! But one touch of my lips...Yes, he captured me - but he cannot tame me!"

To round out your collection of wonderful Hollywood mistakes you have to have this movie.