The Conqueror (1956)

THE CONQUEROR  (1956)  ¢ 1/2
    D: Dick Powell
    John Wayne, Susan Hayward, Pedro Armendariz,
    Agnes Moorehead, Thomas Gomez, John Hoyt,
    William Conrad, Leslie Bradley, Lee Van Cleef
The Mongols take on the Tartars, with John Wayne as Genghis Khan. The production values aren't bad, but the script's a legendary clunker, and there's nothing the miscast Duke or anybody else can do about that. The results are laughable, and Wayne mostly avoided discussing the film for the rest of his life. Agnes Moorehead plays the great warrior's mother, and if you look closely, you might spot Lee Van Cleef. Unfortunate side note: the movie was shot in the Utah desert, close by (and downwind from) a nuclear test site. A scary percentage of those who worked on it, including Wayne, Hayward and Powell, would die of cancer.