Wow! Such a good movie.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

. . . are descended from a single Mongol male who lived 900 years ago, Genghis Khan. John Wayne sports a Fu Manchu and goes all Charles Bronson playing Genghis in THE CONQUEROR. (And, given Today's ratings for Fox News and Trump, it's clear that AT LEAST 1 in 12 Americans are biological descendants of John Wayne, so Wilt-the-Stilt and his picayune 20,000 lovers can eat their hearts out!) A few years back I remember going to the movies to see a couple of tediously long remakes of THE CONQUEROR, mounted by state-subsidized Russian and Chinese outfits, if I'm not mistaken. Neither of these added much to the story. Lacking an iconic international thespian such as Mr. Wayne in the lead role, these more recent flicks necessarily were pale imitations of Genghis 101, that is, THE CONQUEROR. I do not recall that either of them featured a dance-off scene, in which Susan Hayward gets to strut her stuff in the John Wayne film. Of course, the Russians and the Chinese did not have anyone available to not only produce their flicks, but also to custom-design cantilevered brassieres suitable for harem dance-offs, such as RKO genius Howard Hughes.

Yeah, it's that bad. Oh, Duke, what were you thinking? Look, I'm a big John Wayne fan. He was one of the all-time greats and made many wonderful classic films. But this is a complete misfire from start to finish. The script is terrible with lots of corny lines delivered in a stilted manner by actors who I know are capable of better. John Wayne gets a lot of flak from certain circles about his acting ability, but anyone who's seen him in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon or The Searchers knows how good he could be. Here he's just awful. This is easily the worst performance I've ever seen from him. Granted the script is bad but his delivery is so wooden and lacking in range I doubt even better dialogue would have sounded good coming from him here. He's not the only one stinking up the joint, either. Agnes Moorehead, Susan Hayward, and Pedro Armendariz have all shown in other movies that they are capable of good performances. Here they couldn't be any worse if they were intentionally trying to be. Of course, the yellowface makeup everyone is sporting doesn't help matters.Directed by Dick Powell (yes, that Dick Powell) and produced by Howard Hughes, the movie is more remembered today for its controversial backstory than simply being the forgettable historical "epic" that it is. As likely everyone reading this knows, the movie is notorious for possibly contributing to the cancer-related deaths of many of the cast and crew. It was filmed downwind of a nuclear testing site, as well as filming scenes in Hollywood on the irradiated soil that Hughes had shipped back for the sake of making studio re-shoots match the original film site's terrain. If not for this tragic bit of history, this movie would probably be far less known today. Yes, it's a dud starring one of the biggest movie stars ever, but every star has at least one movie that's embarrassing to look back on. It is probably the worst movie of John Wayne's career. I can't really think of another one that's worse but I haven't seen many of his early cheapies yet. Something every Wayne completist needs to see but be prepared -- it really deserves its bad reputation.

I almost always sit through a movie immediately before making any comments on it because I think the impressions ought to be fresh in one's memory.But it's really necessary -- if I'm ever to follow a categorical imperative -- to leave a few notes here to prevent others from enduring the agony I went through years ago. I don't even enjoy THINKING about the movie but I'm compelled by a sense of public duty.To be perfectly honest, I really believe there are two groups of people who would enjoy seeing this abortion. One group consists of people who have never seen a movie before. The second group consists of people who are stoned out of their gourds on weed.There are those who claim that the movie, like some others, is so bad that it's funny, but I wonder if they have actually sat through one of these monstrosities from beginning to end and were still able to laugh as the end credits rolled. More likely they'd be in a state of shock.There's no need to go through it. John Wayne is Temujin, later to become Genghis Kahn. Pedro Armendáriz is his sidekick, Jamuga. John Wayne looks like a rich American. Armendáriz looks like a Mexican cowboy star. Susan Hayward, as Bortai, looks like a glamorous Hollywood red-head. Oscar Millard is guilty of the script."Truly, she is much woman.""Yew're beauty-full in yew're wrath." (Ie., you're cute when you're mad.)It's impossible to go on. This is beginning to set off a long-forgotten merry-go-round inside my head, to the tune of "Ah, Mustafa" played on a calliope. I seem to be sitting astride a hippocampus. Wait. It's speeding up. Now, it's really fast and I'm afraid that something will --

I give this movie ten zs. I couldn't get through it before falling asleep.The other comments mentioned the groaner lines (i.e. "Farewell, Tarter Woman") but what they didn't mention is that the whole script is a groaner. Seems that Susan Hayward's wardrobe was recycled from a biblical flick. All the roles are over the top, from Wayne looking like a cross between a carpetbagger and the cat Gideon from Pinocchio, to Hayward doing a true biblical vamp. Wayne, not a versatile actor, sounds whiny in this role. Even the action shots of the battles and horses were boring. If a movie is based on a place in a certain time, it should have some relation to that place and period, or at least depart in a witty or funny way. This depiction of Mongolia around 1200 did neither. This movie deserves the "slow death".If you want to see a good Genghis Khan movie that was actually shot in Mongolia and has some realism, see the recent Genghis Khan, by Aoki Okami. If you want to see other movies shot in Mongolia, see Genghis Blues or the movies of Byambasurem Davaa: The Weeping Camel and The Cave of the Yellow Dog.If you want to see some good battle scenes with horses, see Seven Samurai.This movie maybe good for a laugh, but I couldn't stay awake long enough.