The most dangerous movie in Hollywood history
(Credits: Far Out/RKO Radio Pictures)
No one ever thinks that they will risk their lives while acting on screen. The whole point for an actor is to simulate events that appear larger than life, but there is usually little chance of anyone being in any actual danger. When working on John Wayne classics conqueror, Everyone in the cast and crew was flirting with death a little more than they originally bargained for.
Then again, it’s not uncommon for some people to take some risks when getting behind the camera. Sometimes, it’s easier to shoot in certain locations that aren’t the safest place in the world, and even actors like Leonardo DiCaprio have been known to indulge in the role even though they might end up walking away in rough shape after receiving the award. shot.
I look at her today, Conqueror It feels like a traditional action/adventure movie from yesteryear. Wayne may look a little suspicious with his Fu Manchu beard and lines of dialogue that highlight his best attempts at sounding like a native Asian, but the locations feel perfect for the kind of barren landscape that Howard Hughes needed to tell his story.
When selecting locations, the entire cast and crew ventured to Utah, where they could get images of the vast desert landscape stretching for miles on end. Then again, this landscape was supposed to be isolated for a very specific reason.
Just a few miles from their location, a nuclear weapons test site was brewing, which meant that much of the aftereffects of their experiments were making their way through the air to the filming location. While the team may not have felt the effects on them in the moment, it turned tragic years later when most of them ended up dying of cancer due to their exposure to nuclear chemicals.
Aside from Wayne dying of cancer in the coming years, several of his co-stars, along with director Dick Powell, would be diagnosed with the disease. That’s not even counting the number of people behind the cameras, which included 91 of the 220 cast members who walked away affected by the set.
Since so many people were diagnosed after filming the movie, how come no one was charged with manslaughter? Well, as far as the court is concerned, the cancer may have arisen as a result of several different reasons beyond simply deciding to go to work in one specific place for a few weeks.
Although he died of cancer, Wayne was known for his cigarette smoking habit, which may have influenced the spread of cancer throughout his body. There were also a few deceased cast members who could not be diagnosed, such as Pedro Armendariz, who committed suicide before he could be diagnosed with anything.
Then again, there’s more than just bad habits at play here. Since the Mormon Church has already seen a spike in diseases such as leukemia due to its proximity to the nuclear site, there is justification for this Conqueror He was perhaps more dangerous to the production team than the grizzled film might suggest.
