Review – The Conqueror

This would be a hysterical piece of dreadful film-making if it hadn’t been a contributing factor in the deaths of so many of its stars. While shooting on location in the desert Southwest, cast and crew were bathed in radioactive fallout from a nuclear weapon test. Many of the victims (most notably John Wayne) later died from illnesses that may have been linked to the exposure. That might have been an easier pill to swallow if the movie had been worth dying for or even worth seeing at all. But the astounding thing is that anyone ever thought it would be a good idea to make this at all, let alone get nuked over it. “John Wayne plays Genghis Khan” is really all you need to know in order to make an accurate guess about just how terrible it is. Though another actor – Yul Brynner, perhaps – might have made this a mediocre historical drama, Wayne’s iconic cowboy drawl is ludicrously out of place. If not for its lethal consequences, this picture would have sunk into well-deserved obscurity almost immediately after its initial release. See if desperate