What can you say about a movie where people die on and off the set?
"The Conqueror" was filmed in Utah, not far from the atomic test sites in Nevada. The prevailing wind must have been coming from the west, blowing in contaminated air while RKO was filming a movie that was itself contaminated by a bad script. Several otherwise healthy members of the cast and crew died of cancer over the next couple decades, including Dick Powell and Susan Hayward.
Another note, I think from the Medveds in their Golden Turkey Awards Book: When Howard Hughes sold RKO Studios, he kept two movies, this one and "Jet Pilot." He played them over and over again. It was about this time that he put himself into seclusion, while all his old flying injuries turned him into a fruitcake. And, if you saw the movie on Hughes's life, you know he wasn't all that stable to begin with.
Favorite non-Temujin quote: "Joint by joint from the toe and fingertip upward shall you be cut to pieces..."
Nothing to it, except the speaker, New York gangster-type Ted De Corsia, says "Jernt by jernt." There's too many more in this film to mention, though you can checkout the quotes from this epic on the main page.
This is, indeed, Bad Cinema of the highest order, filmed on a true Hollywood budget, unlike those low-rent sci-fi stinkers that keep cluttering up bad movie lists. This one has to be seen to be believed.
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18 years ago
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Kennyjbaran
16 years ago
I have personally avoided watching this movie simply because everything I have heard about it has been so bad. I too wonder what the Duke was thinking when he read this and thought "now that is a movie I can really sink my teeth into" seems eating the script would have been a better idea indeed. The Duke should simply have located another western, we would have lined up to watch it and today it would be called a classic like most of his other films. Oh well, guess every actor has his "Heavens Gate" and this is clearly the Duke's. I will keep up my record of not watching this film as long as I can hold out. Where are you John Wayne when we need you the most?
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hanlonodavid
15 years ago
there would of been a million roles more suited to him,besides westerns than this.in all seriousness how did he think he could of pulled that role off at all in any way.methinks he believed his own hype about himself
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hsanchez-5
12 years ago
I think what you're all forgetting is that John Wayne wasn't that good an actor. The only film of his I can stand to watch is his last, "The Shootist." And it's interesting to note that this big war hawk stayed out of WWII, unlike many of his fellow actors at the time.
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Errington_92
11 years ago
If it really was John Wanye's intention to range himself more as an actor in The Conqueror then he failed miserably. No matter what emotion he was meant to convey, his vocal tone stayed the same. Wanye's acting was no different here than in any of his other films.
"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not".
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tramky
15 years ago
The comments are quite right about the location in regards to the consequences of nuclear fallout. Of the approximately 200 members of cast & crew of "The Conqueror" who worked at the primary shooting location near St. George, Utah, over 90 eventually died of various forms of cancer, including the director and stars, including John Wayne himself (stomach cancer). St. George, Utah, and vicinity did receive numerous doses of radioactive fallout from nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site, both before and after the 1954 production of this movie.
It was, of course, never proven that what happened to the film company was directly caused by nuclear testing, but the sheer numbers of people involved strongly suggest that such was the case.
Keep in mind that this was over 50 years ago, and radiation is not an issue any longer.
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