The Conqueror
The film is sometimes called "An RKO Radioactive Picture". It was filmed near an active nuclear test site in Utah, where 11 tests had reportedly been carried out in the year before the production landed there. The set was contaminated by nuclear fallout, but the Atomic Energy Commission assured Howard Hughes and the local population that the area was completely safe. Photographs exist of John Wayne holding a Geiger counter that reportedly made so much noise that he thought it was broken. After location shooting, Hughes had tons of contaminated soil transported back to Hollywood in order to match interior shooting done there. Over the next 30 years, 91 of the 220 cast and crew members developed cancer. Forty-six died, including , , (who shot himself soon after learning he had terminal cancer), , , and director . had throat cancer, but died of a heart attack. The count did not include several hundred local Native Americans who played extras, or relatives of the cast and crew who visited the set, including John Wayne's son . A "People" article quoted the reaction of a scientist from the Pentagon's Defense Nuclear Agency to the news, "Please, God, don't let us have killed John Wayne". As of June 2011, the article is available in its archive online. It has however been suggested that many of the cast and crew died of cancer as a result of smoking. John Wayne had smoked 3-5 packs of cigarettes a day since the early 1930s, and many of the other actors and crew members were also heavy smokers.,When Temujin throws a spear at a man in a stream, the wire guiding it is visible. The spear's trajectory is also wobbly.,Temujin: I feel this Tartar woman 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 Tartar woman.,Featured in The World According to Smith & Jones: The Middle Ages (1987),I saw this film at age 9 when it was newly released, back in the sunset years of the Technicolor historical spectacular. I knew immediately that it was bad, GLORIOUSLY in-your-face bad! I eagerly taped it about fifteen years ago off a television broadcast and have gleefully lent the tape to friends and acquaintances many times since to spread the word.

The incomprehensible miscasting of John Wayne aside, THE CONQUEROR is bad in so many ways that's it's difficult to focus on the best (or worst) elements. Perhaps most delightfully awful is the dialogue:

"She is woman, Jamuga...much woman. Should her perfidy be less than that of other women?" (John Wayne to Pedro Armendariz)

"Kumlik's daughter! Spawn of the devil! Let your men make sport with her!" "No, mo-ther, I will keep this wo-man for my own plea-sure!" (Exchange between mom Agnes Moorehead and son John Wayne)

"You will love me, Bortai...you will love me of your own will before the sun rises!" "Before that day dawns, Mongol, the vultures will feast upon your heart!" (Love chat between Wayne and Hayward)

These are three of literally dozens of examples of prime dialogue kitsch with which THE CONQUEROR abounds. It is priceless...see it!,