Tuesday, August 9, 2016

Debacle in the Desert

This is my entry in the "Movie Disasters" section of the Classic Movie History Blogathon being sponsored by Movies Silently, Once Upon a Screen, and Silver Screenings. 



John Wayne plays an Oriental cowboy!



The Conqueror (1956)  

Considered one of the worst movies of all time, and definitely the worst movie in which John Wayne was ever  involved, but John Wayne cannot carry the blame for this movie solely on his shoulders.  Sure, Wayne as a Mongol chieftain {surrounded by such luminous other "Oriental" stars of the day, like Pedro  Armendariz as Jumuga (a blood brother), William Conrad as Kasar (his real brother), Lee Van Cleef as Chepei (his aide-de-camp), and Agnes Moorehead as Hunlun (his mother)} was a horrible miscasting, but probably no more so than Susan Hayward as the Tartar woman for whom he lusts.

The most stupendously horrible mistake of the whole movie however, is the script.  Some guy named Oscar Millard must've channeled William Shakespeare while high on acid.  The language, as written, will make you think of the worst production you ever saw of a Shakespearean play.  Somewhat of a conundrum, if you ask me, since only 5 years earlier Millard had been nominated for an Oscar for his script for The Frogmen.  (Haven't seen that one, nor even heard of it until I was researching this movie.  But surely the Academy saw a different writer then...)  Even the eras most accomplished Shakespearean actors would have had trouble with this script, though.

The film has, to it's credit, some fairly decent music by Victor Young.  And Dick Powell as director pulled off some fairly decent horse battle scenes.  But hardly anyone in front of the camera, Wayne included, measured up to anything even remotely worthy of the spectacle that was attempted.  Rumor has it that Howard Hughes, the financial backer of the film, was so embarrassed by it that he bought up and tried to destroy every print of the film, yet, according to his biographers, during his last days he watched it over and over again.  Wayne was hoping to garner some backing from Hughes for his project to film The Alamo, but that didn't pan out.

It is well known that the movie was filmed in Utah, downwind as it were, from the nuclear testing site in the same state.  An inordinate number of people involved in this movie developed and died of cancer.  (Of course, a number of them, Wayne included, were heavy smokers, but that is sometimes overlooked in the zeal to lay blame on nuclear weapons...)

On a positive note, whether or not it was a result of this adventure, John Wayne teamed up with John Ford for his next project, which many deem the greatest Western of all time, The Searchers.

The movie begins with a caravan crossing the desert.  In the caravan are Targutai (Lesley Bradley) and Bortai (Susan Hayward).  Bortai is the daughter of Kumlek (Ted de Corsia), a rival clan leader and the wedding of Bortai and Targutai will serve as a unity point for the two tribes.  Temujin (John Wayne), clan leader of the Mongols,  and a cohort ride up to confront Targutai, who is crossing Mongol territory.  Temujin is smitten (thats S-M-I-T-T-E-N) by Bortai.

He goes back to his camp and rounds up a raiding party to go descend upon the infiltrating caravan.  He and his clansmen overrun the caravan and Temujin takes Bortai prisoner, intending to make her his wife.  When Hunlun (Agnes Moorehead) , Temujin's mother, hears that her son has taken the daughter of a hated rival clan leader, one who incidentally had killed Temujin's father, she expresses her outrage.



Temujin will not be swayed, even when Bortai, who is not exactly pleased with her new predicament tries to kill him.  She even tries to enlist the help of Temujin's blood brother, Jamuga (Pedro Armendariz).  Jamuga is tempted but he proclaims his undying love and respect for his blood brother.
Temujin makes plans to try to take over the clan of his rival, Kumlek, ad tries to enlist the help of a fellow rival Wang Khan (Thomas Gomez).  But Wang Khan does not entirely trust Temujin (as well he shouldn't) and sends his shaman (John Hoyt) to try to divulge the truth.  This being a movie about clan rivalry, in addition to the love story, there is much skullduggery involved and you may not know who is really on whose side.



Eventually Bortai is recaptured by her father, as is Temujin.  Conveniently for the movie, Bortai has fallen in love with Temujin and helps him escape.  The two clans end up in a epic battle, in which, finally, Temujin exacts his revenge upon Kumlek.

OK this is not entirely a horrible movie as I would have expected.  In fact, if you turn off the sound and just watch it as a silent movie, its not really that bad.  (You could make up your on dialogue if you want, and it might even be an improvement.)  The final battle of two horse armies is worth a watch at any rate.

Quiggy


13 comments:

  1. Haha! I love the idea of turning off the sound and making up your own dialogue. Awesome!

    Having said that, I've never seen this film, but only because I haven't made it a priority. It sounds like a film you'd watch just for bragging rights, but it's likely a must for John Wayne fans.

    Thanks for joining the blogathon – again – and for bringing John Wayne with you. :)

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    1. I've made it a point in my life to try to watch movies on their own merits. And I have always had a love for the crappy movies that most people wouldn't watch on a dare. Bad movies even have their good points, and nobody has the same tastes as someone else. (Personally, I find "Citizen Kane" to be a boring piece of tripe.) But I must admit it took this blogathon to finally get me to sit down and watch this one, though I've had it for years. Thanks.

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  2. Looks a bit campy, but then again, that's right up my alley. John Wayne as an Asian? I will at least have to record it when it comes on. And Susan Hayward? I'll watch her in anything, she is a favorite.
    -Chris

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    1. Check out William Conrad as a muscleman brother too. Hard to believe its the same guy who played Frank Cannon on TV... Hope you aren't too disappointed in it as I don't think it's all that campy either.

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  3. This movie is not worth to time and effort even to be able to say I have watched it.

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  4. Fond as I am of John Wayne (and I am more than fond), I've never felt the need to watch everything he appeared in and this picture in particular. However, Thomas Gomez!, William Conrad!. I just may be biting the bullet one of these days.

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    1. I avoided it only because I kept rewatching some of my favorites instead. Blogathons have had the effect of forcing me into some other movies and breaking up the habit. Surprisingly I still have a couple dozen more I need to be prodded to watch. (I have nearly every one available on DVD...)

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  5. John Wayne is my dearest, favoritest actor of all time, and has been for 20-some years, but I've never managed to make myself watch this. My excuse is that, as long as I don't, there'll always be at least one more John Wayne movie I've never seen :-)

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    1. You mean as opposed to the excuse that its touted as one of the 50 worst movies...? BTW, did you ever see the message I posted on your "10 favorite John Wayne Movies" post on your blog?

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    2. Oh, I merrily watch perfectly awful movies just because someone I love is in them.

      And no, I never did see that comment! I found it now and replied.

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  6. Hi Quiggy. Excellent title. People don't use the word "debacle" nearly enough. Really awful movie, and I love John Wayne movies. Most John Wayne movies. My late father-in-law was driving through the Nevada desert at night when one of those tests took place. He said it got bright as noon and it was the scariest thing he ever saw.

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    1. The scariest thing I ever saw was an article on n"near misses", in which nukes were dropped accidentally, but didn't go off. One happened in North Carolina in 1961 (where and when I was born). I might not even be here if that had happened. Thanks for the comments.

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