NR | 1h 56m | Documentary, Film History | 2024
“The Conquerer,” the final feature produced by Howard Hughes, initially achieved infamy for being one of the most poorly cast films in history. It will now forever be remembered for what went so very wrong behind the scenes.
Whitewashing
Despite the talent assembled, everyone with a major speaking part portraying fictional and nonfictional Asians was either Caucasian or Mexican American. For the bulk of the first half of the 20th century, this practice of casting came to be referred to as “whitewashing” or “yellow face,” the Asian equivalent of “blackface.”If this tacky method of racial appropriation was the biggest sin committed by Hughes and Powell, “The Conqueror” would have remained in embarrassing obscurity. But it wasn’t—not by a long shot.
The Downwinders
The “ground zero” event behind the catastrophic repercussions came with the decision of Hughes and Powell to shoot all of the exterior scenes in St. George, Utah. Located just north of Las Vegas, St. George was a budding suburban enclave 137 miles east (or downwind) of the Nevada National Security site.
It was the principal concern of Hughes and Powell to find a location that best replicated the Gobi Desert located in Southern Mongolia—Khan’s principal stomping grounds. Snow Canyon Park located near St. George proved to be most fitting, and production soon commenced. So taken was he with the light umber tone of the soil, Hughes ordered 60 tons of it to be forwarded to RKO studios in Los Angeles (which he had just purchased) in order to enhance interior shots.
Multiple Mediums
Narrated by British actress Sophie Okonedo, Mr. Nunez’s film employs a myriad of visual mediums to paint a vivid picture of what happened to the cast and crew, and the residents after shooting stopped. “Fallout” seems to cover every possible opinion, circumstance, and angle. The documentary mixes excerpts and outtakes from the movie with a stash of other material—period civilian snapshots and home movies, publicity stills, modern-day interviews of the survivors and their descendants, and storyboard animation of Hughes.Of the 220 movie personnel present, 91 (about 41 percent) developed cancer in their lifetime, and 46 of them died from it. This included Powell, Wayne, Hayward, and Moorehead. The number of cancer-related deaths of extras from a group from the Paiute Tribe and St. George residents is either unknown or was not included here. It was estimated that preadolescent children in the area died of cancer at a rate 2 1/2 times the national average.
According to the film, 100 nuclear bombs were exploded in the region between 1951 and 1962, which begs the question: Why? How many times does a weapon need to be tested before its efficiency (and potential side effects) can be determined? It took only one for J. Robert Oppenheimer to figure out that mystery.
After Powell died in 1963, Hughes spent upwards of $12 million to acquire all known prints of the film. He was able to keep it out of circulation until Universal bought the rights back in 1979 after his death.
RECA
The sole positive thing to come from this avoidable catastrophe was the creation of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) in 1990. In 2000, the bill was extended to radiation exposure in 10 states beyond Nevada and Utah and proposed individual one-time settlements between $50,000 and $100,000 per individual.It was too little too late, but just the fact that the bill came about at all is still a minor victory of sorts.
Although “The Conqueror” made a small profit ($9 million box office versus a $6 million budget), the film is considered by many fans and critics to be among the worst movies ever made. On the aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes, it has an embarrassing 0 percent critics rating and 10 percent approval among viewers.
