Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

utgard14 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.

John Douglas I caught this film entirely by accident as you do. i'm usually working so I tend to more listen than watch.At first I thought it was another John Wayne cowboy movie. It sounded John Wayne, it sounded sort of cowboy, but something was wrong.I started watching to see him in some kind of fake Mongol costume with other obviously fake mongol\Chinese actors (white Americans). This wasn't so bad except that John Wayne was totally unfit for the position.He does absolutely NOTHING at all to be or move or sound even a tiny bit like a vicious Mongol warrior. It's like watching a cowboy film without guns set in Mongolia. You just can't divorce Wayne from it and so the movie literally collapses the moment he opens his mouth. Seriously, it does. It's a facepalm moment.On top of that, the script is awful, something a small child would do for his first class story. Wayne delivers it like he's alseep, all the way through the movie.Like others have said, it's so bad you just have to laugh. People in the 1950s surely must have seen this as rubbish once out. Even they could not possibly have liked this.This probably helped future historical film makers know what NOT to do as well as make them laugh out loud. It's worth watching for that.2 stars for the unintentional humour.

cworth 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.

DKosty123 John Wayne is at his worst here but it is not as obvious why he made this movie as you think. This film was the brain child of Howard Hughes. This film is cinema "Spruce Goose" & it is possible it didn't even fly that far.A large part of the cast & crew of this film died from Cancer including Wayne. It was shot on the New Mexico desert near the a-bomb test areas which is speculated as the cause. This is an RKO production 1 year before the studio was sold to Desi & Lucy. Maybe this is why the studio was sold. I mean, the once proud studio of King Kong putting out a movie that could be named Ding Dong?Sadly, a talented cast goes down too. This film might be why Hughes was a recluse in his later years. The joke goes that this film set is where Howard Hughes hid his will. Maybe while someone was out in the desert looking for that document they found the first trace of the real genius who wanted this movie made - Irwin R Shyster?