Killing John Wayne: The Making of The Conqueror
By Ryan Uytdewilligen
Lyons Press, 2021

The theatrical trailer for the Howard Hughes produced 1956 Ghengis Khan biopic The Conqueror starring John Wayne and Susan Hayward proclaimed the movie to be, “TITANIC in SCOPE! TITANIC in SPECTACLE!” and “TITANIC in ACTION!” Given author Ryan Uytdewilligen’s assessment of the movie in Killing John Wayne: The Making of The Conqueror the adjective “titanic” and its association with disaster seems appropriate. In this book Uytdewilligen, the author of two novels and a work of film history, claims that The Conqueror was so bad that it led to the collapse of the Hollywood’s Golden Age, ended the era of epic movies filmed on location, sank RKO Studios, and killed its stars Susan Hayward and John Wayne by exposing them to radiation from nuclear weapons testing while filming in Southern Utah. Uytdewilligen searches the history of RKO studios, the life of billionaire Howard Hughes, John Wayne’s career, and United States nuclear weapons testing in Nevada for facts, rumors, and anecdotes to support his claims.

The best parts of Killing John Wayne: The Making of The Conqueror are those dealing with Hollywood’s past. Uytdewilligen effectively details the history of RKO studios and Howard Hughes' takeover and mismanagement of the studio. He traces John Wayne’s rise to the status of a Hollywood icon while providing an honest assessment of Wayne’s ability as an actor and his failings as a person. The book includes an interesting history of Hollywood’s use of white actors in Asian roles and the use of “yellow face” make-up. A brief section describing the actual filming of The Conqueror includes the kinds of insider innuendos and stories from the set that should make cinephiles happy. Even the author’s summation of US nuclear testing and the effects of radioactive fallout on the citizens of Nevada and Utah is well handled.

Unfortunately the book’s good qualities are obscured by mistakes of fact, bad writing, and the author’s failure to prove any of the points he raises about the impact of The Conqueror.

There are several mistakes of fact in Killing John Wayne: The Making of The Conqueror that hurt the book's credibility. Uytdewilligen states that the House UnAmerican Activities Committee investigation of Hollywood was a part of McCarthyism though that investigation predated McCarthy’s rise to power. He implies that Ernest Hemingway killed himself to avoid a painful death from cancer. He did not. Most damagingly for a book about Hollywood history Uytdewilligen calls Boris Karloff “Dracula himself” confusing the star of Frankenstein with Bela Lugosi.

Uytdewilligen’s writing is frequently labored and awkward. Many of his sentences contain odd word choices, cliches, and tortured metaphors. Relating a rumor from Howard Hughes’ time as the owner of RKO studios Uytdewilligen writes, “A Hollywood urban legend grew into a well-spun ball of yarn that Hughes never stepped foot on the RKO studio lot on which he spent a fortune.” A description of the mood at RKO in 1954 reads, “Morale had hit an all time low at RKO, but the promise of such a large scale production actually going through glistened as a beacon of hope that the company certainly wasn’t licked yet.” A passage describing Howard Hughes involvement in casting decisions states, “Hughes had kept his nose relatively out of the casting process until the allure of festering over decisions regarding the female form was too strong to stay away.” Writing of this kind can be found throughout the book.

The biggest problem with Killing John Wayne: The Making of The Conqueror is that it fails to prove any of the claims Uytdewilligen makes about The Conqueror. In fact the book contains more evidence that disproves those claims than evidence to support them. The Conqueror did not trigger the end of Hollywood’s “Golden Age”. Distribution changes and Television did. The costs of making The Conqueror did not put an end to epic location shoots. Movies like Lawrence of Arabia were made after The Conqueror and The Lord of the Rings movies prove that such movies can still be made. The Conqueror was not a huge box office or critical failure that destroyed RKO. Hughes’ poor management did that. The cast and crew who worked on location downwind of a nuclear test site while making The Conqueror may have been exposed to some radioactive material, but there is no proof that any of them, including John Wayne, got cancer and died as a result.

Readers interested in The Conqueror, John Wayne, or the history of Hollywood might find reading Killing John Wayne: The Making of The Conqueror worthwhile, but those attracted to the book by the sensationalist title and jacket copy will be disappointed.

Brian Bruce is the author of Thomas Boyd: Lost Author of the Lost Generation and a retired teacher who talks about books at Bookish: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrrFo3tDRDVbX7PZjWx1qYA