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Downloaded from
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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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[♪♪♪]

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[♪♪♪]

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[♪♪♪]

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NARRATOR:Interior inn on the park,
London, night.

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Howard Hughes.

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The billionaire tycoon,
aviator, and film producer

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has become a recluse.

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Locked in his penthouse suite,
he refuses to bathe.

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Sports a long white beard.

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Fingernails that protrude
like snakes,

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where he sits for hours,
naked,

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except for a pink hotel napkin.

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Another ritual would dominate
his final years.

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A motion picture that he would
play continually

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against a homemade
projector screen.

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The movie looks part western,
part musical.

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A would-be epic, a total farce.

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To Howard Hughes,

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this film called
“The Conqueror”

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was his final masterpiece.

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I feel this tired woman
is for me.

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My blood says take her.

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The Conqueror in many ways
would be a--

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a entirely forgettable picture
today.

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Howard Hughes had this idea.

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He wanted to make
the Genghis Khan story.

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American
and international audiences

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loved these big
wide-screen epics.

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MAN 1:
Howard Hughes was a megalomaniac.

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He-- he certainly saw himself
as a conqueror

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of the movie business.

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The aircraft business.

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A conqueror of politics.

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A conqueror of the whole world.

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MAN 2:
John Wayne,

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and William Conrad,

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and Ted de Corsia.

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Uh, even Agnes Moorehead.

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Playing Asiatics.

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WOMAN 1:
Just because it was accepted,

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it doesn't necessarily mean
that it was correct.

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It was his creations.

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It was the Howard Hughes
presents this,

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you know, iconic motion picture

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that he believed was
his masterpiece.

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NARRATOR:For authenticity,

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Hughes chose
the perfect location

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to recreate the world
of Genghis Khan.

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The Gobi Desert looks like
the area around St. George.

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Living in St. George
in the ‘50s and ‘60s

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was magical.

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We heard all aboutThe Conqueror being here

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and how the stars were here.

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NARRATOR:
The Conquerorwas a $6 million disaster

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that starred John Wayne
as Genghis Khan,

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the great Mongolian warrior,

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who conquered most of Asia
during the 12th century.

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I wouldn't say it's one of
the-- the best films I've seen

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or one of my father's
best films.

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Of-- of all
the Howard Hughes movies,

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this is probably
the toughest movie

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to find anything
admirable about.

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NARRATOR:
The Conqueror has been called “one of the worst films

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of the 1950s”,
if not of all time.

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JOHN:
If I could describeThe Conqueror in one word,

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I would probably just call it
“tragic”.

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Ah, unfortunate.

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Ridiculous.

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Miscast.

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I've heard that
it's a terrible movie.

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[chuckles]

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I don't know if I've seen it
all the way through.

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You know,
I wouldn't watch it twice.

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NARRATOR:
The Conqueror was to be Hughes' cinematic masterpiece.

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Shot in breathtaking
CinemaScope

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and glorious Technicolor.

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Why Mr. Hughes,

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did you watch this film
over and over,

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as if searching for an answer?

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Are you thinking
about the people of St. George

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as well as your cast and crew?

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How they would be linked
in a dark chapter

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in American history?

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[♪♪♪]

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[♪♪♪]

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THE TEN COMMANDMENTS NARRATOR:There was a time,

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when the cinema was a place
of spectacle and wonder.

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When unforgettable films
played on gigantic screens,

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that overwhelmed
the imagination.

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Now, that time has come again.

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Behold His mighty hands.

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MAN 3:
In the early ‘50s, studios were trying to create

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these larger-than-life epics.

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THE ROBE NARRATOR:Here is all the sweep
and spectacle.

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BEN HUR NARRATOR:The spectacle, the color,
the excitement.

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The human drama.

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THE CRIMSON PIRATE NARRATOR:Yes, and a whole new world
of entertainment wonders.

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Well, in the ‘50s, television
made the film industry

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very nervous.

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They were very, very conscious
of having to counteract that--

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that idea
that they were competing

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with little images
in a little box

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in black and white at home.

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So, you had to have
splashy color

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and you had to have things
that were big

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and felt important.

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SHANE NARRATOR:The motion picture unforgettable
for its spectacle and scope.

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And the other big factor
at the time was this thing

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called the “Cold War”.

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And there was this communist
agenda that was happening

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that Americans
were fighting against.

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And there was this
whole nuclear program

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that was happening,
and it was something that--

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that became a very big topic
in Hollywood as well.

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THEM! NARRATOR:But born in that swirling
inferno of radioactive dust

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were things so horrible,
so hideous,

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there is no word
to describe "Them!"

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We may be witnesses

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to a biblical prophecy
come true.

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[♪♪♪]

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MAN 4:
5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

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MAN 5:
It may be said that the Atomic Age is here to stay.

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The question is, “Are we?”

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The atomic bomb creates
a temperature

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at the center of the explosion

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of a 100 million degrees
Fahrenheit,

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which is three
and a half times

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the temperature in the interior
of the sun.

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This heat creates great fires.

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Secondly,
it creates tremendous pressures

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which push the air
in front of them,

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creating winds of 500
to a 1000 miles per hour,

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10 times the velocity
of a hurricane.

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These winds knock everything
down in their path.

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Thirdly,
it produces super radiations

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equivalent to tons
and tons of radium,

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which would kill all life
within an area

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of 10 square miles.

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These radioactive poisons
would be carried

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and dispersed through the winds.

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The dust will settle
gradually everywhere.

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MAN 6:
The Atomic Energy Commission emerged as a way

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to create
a separate government unit

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to manage atomic energy outside
of the military.

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MAN 7:
I graduated University of Utah in 1954

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with a degree in ROTC
for the air force

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and business management.

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I was to learn how
to handle radiological projects

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to protect uh, people.

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The idea was that if we were
to bomb targets in Russia,

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the airplanes would be covered
with radiological contamination.

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General Curtis LeMay was head
of the United States Air Force

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at that time.

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And we were

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under the Strategic Air
Command Commission.

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ANDREW:
The Soviet success with the atomic bomb in 1949

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really created a sense
of urgency

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for locating a more practical
continental test site.

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Because the Pacific
was expensive.

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It was logistically complicated
and they needed something

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that could be used
more efficiently

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than the Pacific.

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New Mexico where
the Trinity bomb had been tested

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was considered,

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but ultimately they identified
two vast areas of Nevada,

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one to the north,
Tonopah, Nevada,

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and one about 70 miles north
of Las Vegas.

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NARRATOR:The US government chose
the Nevada desert

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north of Las Vegas

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as the site
for their atomic test program.

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300 miles away,

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another blast was being felt
in Hollywood, California.

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RKO, the king of B pictures,

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but also prestigious films
such as Scarface, King Kong,

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and perhaps the greatest film
of them all, Citizen Kane,

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would be purchased
by an aviation pioneer,

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millionaire, and dreamer,

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determined to shake up
the film industry.

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[♪♪♪]

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BRITISH MOVIETONE NARRATOR:The goal of aviators is now
the nonstop flight

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around the world.

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And Howard Hughes has taken
a big step towards attaining it.

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Leaving Burbank, California,

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the millionaire sportsman
and film producer,

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calls at New York
on his way to Europe.

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MAN 8:
Even in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s,

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Howard Hughes was a name
surrounded by exoticism.

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A mystery figure in one way,

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a very famous
highly public figure in another.

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JOHN:
Howard Hughes was interested in really three things.

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He was interested in aviation.

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He was interested in women,

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and he was interested
in making movies.

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Those three things do not
necessarily make

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a good head of a studio.

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NARRATOR:Howard fired most
of the RKO staff,

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made fewer movies,

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and upset the balance
of Hollywood in the early 1950s.

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But there was one subject matter

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he was determined to bring
to the big screen.

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MICHAEL:
Howard Hughes had this idea.

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He wanted to make
the Genghis Khan story.

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MAN 9:
The-- the story of Genghis Khan--

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[chuckles]

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Is a story of like a Caesar
or you know, a Cleopatra.

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This kind of blockbuster
kind of idea.

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The agent who was with him
at the time said,

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“I've got the perfect guy
for you.

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This Oscar Millard,
he's an expert on Genghis Khan.”

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OSCAR:I was in fact such an authority
on Genghis Khan,

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when I prudently looked him up
in the Britannica

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in the half hour I had
before the meeting,

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I had trouble finding him,

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because I couldn't spell
his name.

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00:12:04,682 --> 00:12:06,058
[indiscernible speech]

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JOHN:
Dick Powell was a figure in Hollywood for a long time.

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He was a guy who was
very likeable.

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Everyone liked him.

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♪ Boy meets girl ♪

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JOHN:
He'd come to Hollywood, uh, singer, dancer.

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But um,

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he started to see himself
beyond being

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in front of the screen

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and started to think of himself
behind the screen.

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Hughes, he ended up getting
to know Dick Powell

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and somehow he managed
to convince him

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to let him direct
this epic picture

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called “The Conqueror”.

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MICHAEL:
It's a huge project,

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and I think he had the most uh,

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important qualification
for him getting that role,

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was his ability to say yes
a lot to Howard Hughes.

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NARRATOR:Interior, bedroom.

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Middle of the night,
the phone rings.

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A half waken man answers.

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Interior, parking garage.

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00:13:00,446 --> 00:13:01,947
One hour later.

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00:13:02,031 --> 00:13:05,618
Powell is meeting with Hughes
in the back of his limousine

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00:13:05,701 --> 00:13:07,745
to go over mundane
production matters

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00:13:07,828 --> 00:13:09,205
regarding The Conqueror.

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To Hughes,

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everything must be discussed
in utmost secrecy.

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Over the shoulder medium shot,

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00:13:16,086 --> 00:13:19,173
as Powell watches
the millionaire drive away

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into the Los Angeles night.

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00:13:21,634 --> 00:13:27,306
The 3:00 a.m. meetings in
secret back alley garages

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and all of this was being run
like a CIA operation.

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MAN 10:
Nothing was simple with this guy.

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He was concerned that
his conversations

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would be overheard.

255
00:13:37,691 --> 00:13:40,236
WOMAN 2:
I know a lot of the backstory from my husband

256
00:13:40,319 --> 00:13:42,488
having been a teenager
working there

257
00:13:42,571 --> 00:13:44,240
and the things he's told me.

258
00:13:44,323 --> 00:13:45,866
He thinks his dad did it,

259
00:13:45,950 --> 00:13:47,201
because it bought him
a nice house

260
00:13:47,284 --> 00:13:48,327
in Mandeville Canyon.

261
00:13:49,954 --> 00:13:51,664
OSCAR:Powell said he would get
Marlon Brando

262
00:13:51,747 --> 00:13:54,667
on loan out from Fox
to play the lead.

263
00:13:54,750 --> 00:13:56,418
Brando was the new magic name

264
00:13:56,502 --> 00:13:58,087
and I had just
heard him deliver,

265
00:13:58,170 --> 00:14:01,715
“Friends, Romans, countrymen”,
as if newly minted.

266
00:14:03,467 --> 00:14:04,093
Carried away,

267
00:14:04,176 --> 00:14:05,928
I decided to write
the screenplay

268
00:14:06,011 --> 00:14:09,890
in stylized,
slightly Archaic English.

269
00:14:09,974 --> 00:14:10,766
Mindful of the fact

270
00:14:10,849 --> 00:14:14,144
that my story was nothing more
than a tarted up western,

271
00:14:14,228 --> 00:14:16,480
I thought this would give it
a certain cache.,

272
00:14:16,564 --> 00:14:19,191
and I left no lily unpainted.

273
00:14:19,275 --> 00:14:21,527
It was said that
when Marlon Brando

274
00:14:21,610 --> 00:14:25,364
was offered the-- the role
as Temujin,

275
00:14:25,447 --> 00:14:29,201
his biggest objection
was the dialogue.

276
00:14:29,285 --> 00:14:30,744
He couldn't handle it.

277
00:14:30,828 --> 00:14:33,664
And so they started looking
at who else they could get.

278
00:14:33,747 --> 00:14:34,540
And um,

279
00:14:34,623 --> 00:14:36,417
the one of the other names
that they were looking at

280
00:14:36,500 --> 00:14:37,376
was Yul Brynner.

281
00:14:37,459 --> 00:14:39,295
Yul Brynner
would've also been a--

282
00:14:39,378 --> 00:14:42,006
quite an interesting character
to kind of had done this movie.

283
00:14:42,089 --> 00:14:43,257
This is business.

284
00:14:43,340 --> 00:14:46,176
They're trying thinking of--
of the box office.

285
00:14:46,260 --> 00:14:49,346
Howard Hughes thought
they're doing a story

286
00:14:49,430 --> 00:14:53,183
about one of the great uh,
figures in the world history.

287
00:14:53,267 --> 00:14:55,728
This would be great to be sold
around the world.

288
00:14:57,229 --> 00:14:58,439
CAMEL CIGARETTES AD NARRATOR:Here's John Wayne.

289
00:14:58,522 --> 00:15:02,151
America's number one dramatic
movie star on location.

290
00:15:02,234 --> 00:15:03,110
As you can see,

291
00:15:03,193 --> 00:15:05,946
making a movie can be pretty
tough going,

292
00:15:06,030 --> 00:15:07,781
but free swinging He-Man parts

293
00:15:07,865 --> 00:15:09,700
are what John Wayne loves
to play

294
00:15:09,783 --> 00:15:11,577
and what the audience loves
to see him in.

295
00:15:11,660 --> 00:15:13,370
Okay, cut.

296
00:15:15,497 --> 00:15:19,126
You got The Beatles and-- and--
and Marilyn Monroe and Elvis.

297
00:15:19,209 --> 00:15:21,295
And John Wayne.

298
00:15:21,378 --> 00:15:25,507
JOHN:
He epitomized the masculine American male for,

299
00:15:25,591 --> 00:15:27,635
largely for 50 years.

300
00:15:27,718 --> 00:15:31,472
He was the iconic representation
of the American West.

301
00:15:31,555 --> 00:15:33,849
That characteristic walk.

302
00:15:33,932 --> 00:15:35,267
The slow draw.

303
00:15:35,351 --> 00:15:37,811
Looks like you've got
yourself around it.

304
00:15:37,895 --> 00:15:41,732
JAMES:
The massive brow and physical stature,

305
00:15:41,815 --> 00:15:45,361
embodied everything they thought
the American West should be.

306
00:15:45,444 --> 00:15:46,320
MAN 11:
He's known,

307
00:15:46,403 --> 00:15:51,950
and continues to be known
as the big cowboy action star,

308
00:15:52,034 --> 00:15:54,328
who at one time
for a very long time

309
00:15:54,411 --> 00:15:57,373
was probably
the most famous person

310
00:15:57,456 --> 00:15:58,874
in the world.

311
00:16:01,543 --> 00:16:03,754
My father came from Iowa.

312
00:16:03,837 --> 00:16:08,467
He came from the core values
of middle America.

313
00:16:08,550 --> 00:16:10,886
Uh he, appreciated this country
for what it was.

314
00:16:10,969 --> 00:16:13,347
If you were willing
to work hard,

315
00:16:13,430 --> 00:16:15,683
the opportunity was there
to be a success.

316
00:16:15,766 --> 00:16:18,394
When Oscar Millard found out
John Wayne

317
00:16:18,477 --> 00:16:19,937
was going to be starring
in The Conqueror,

318
00:16:20,020 --> 00:16:24,066
he realized that it was going
to be a terrible mistake.

319
00:16:24,149 --> 00:16:26,402
Because John Wayne was gonna
butcher the dialogue.

320
00:16:27,236 --> 00:16:28,487
OSCAR:I called Dick Powell.

321
00:16:28,570 --> 00:16:31,407
He said, “Are you sitting down?

322
00:16:31,490 --> 00:16:33,242
Fox suspended Brando.

323
00:16:33,325 --> 00:16:35,119
So, we've got John Wayne.”

324
00:16:37,246 --> 00:16:38,747
“When he starts mangling
those lines,

325
00:16:38,831 --> 00:16:40,666
he's going to be a big joke”,
I said.

326
00:16:40,749 --> 00:16:42,292
“He's promised to work
on him with a coach

327
00:16:42,376 --> 00:16:44,753
and tape recorder”, Powell said.

328
00:16:44,837 --> 00:16:45,838
“He's very enthusiastic.

329
00:16:45,921 --> 00:16:48,048
Swears he'll work
his fanny off.”

330
00:16:49,425 --> 00:16:51,135
At our first meeting
for a run through,

331
00:16:51,218 --> 00:16:55,055
Wayne was genial,
complimentary, and drunk.

332
00:16:55,139 --> 00:17:00,310
JOHN WAYNE: [on recording]In the United States of
America, that this can happen,

333
00:17:00,394 --> 00:17:03,439
it's getting to be
ri-goddamn-diculous.

334
00:17:04,398 --> 00:17:06,775
OSCAR:He dozed off
after the first few pages

335
00:17:06,859 --> 00:17:10,112
and there was no more talk
of his working on the dialogue.

336
00:17:13,115 --> 00:17:14,366
JOHN:
The challenge with The Conqueror

337
00:17:14,450 --> 00:17:16,744
was that
it was a historical film

338
00:17:16,827 --> 00:17:19,079
taking place
in the 13th century,

339
00:17:19,163 --> 00:17:22,541
and they needed to have
these vast, wide open spaces.

340
00:17:22,624 --> 00:17:26,587
Dick Powell had actually found
this area of St. George, Utah,

341
00:17:26,670 --> 00:17:27,504
um, and they felt

342
00:17:27,588 --> 00:17:29,882
this would look
fantastic on camera.

343
00:17:29,965 --> 00:17:34,052
When the location scout said,
“We need something, uh,

344
00:17:34,136 --> 00:17:38,307
similar to the Gobi Desert,
maybe about the 12th century.”

345
00:17:38,390 --> 00:17:40,601
A man
on the Chamber of Commerce,

346
00:17:40,684 --> 00:17:42,060
he said, “Ah.

347
00:17:42,144 --> 00:17:44,897
Uh, I was a pilot
in World War II.

348
00:17:44,980 --> 00:17:47,566
And I used to fly over the hump,

349
00:17:47,649 --> 00:17:50,611
flying gasoline
and supplies to China.

350
00:17:50,694 --> 00:17:52,112
And you know the deserts
that I--

351
00:17:52,196 --> 00:17:54,448
I flew over there,

352
00:17:54,531 --> 00:17:57,826
looked very much
like the deserts we have here,

353
00:17:57,910 --> 00:18:00,746
in a place called,
‘Snow Canyon’.”

354
00:18:00,829 --> 00:18:02,289
Immediately, the knew,

355
00:18:02,372 --> 00:18:04,792
Snow Canyon
in the St. George area

356
00:18:04,875 --> 00:18:07,044
was going to be the location
for this film.

357
00:18:12,883 --> 00:18:17,179
Living in St. George in
the ‘50s and ‘60s was magical.

358
00:18:17,262 --> 00:18:19,389
WOMAN 3:
We grew up out on the little farm

359
00:18:19,473 --> 00:18:21,433
south of Cedar City.

360
00:18:21,517 --> 00:18:24,895
Small farm,
enough to have a big garden.

361
00:18:24,978 --> 00:18:30,234
Um, we had our chickens
and a cow once in a while,

362
00:18:30,317 --> 00:18:33,570
and a few pigs
when we did our forage group.

363
00:18:33,654 --> 00:18:36,490
Neighbors had sheep
and it was a great place,

364
00:18:36,573 --> 00:18:40,494
we played outside all day,
and I had a great childhood.

365
00:18:40,577 --> 00:18:42,621
My parents had a-- had a--

366
00:18:42,704 --> 00:18:45,791
about a 250-acre farm right
in the center of the valley,

367
00:18:45,874 --> 00:18:47,417
at Beryl Junction.

368
00:18:47,501 --> 00:18:48,627
And loved it.

369
00:18:48,710 --> 00:18:49,628
Every second of it.

370
00:18:49,711 --> 00:18:51,296
I learned how to work there.

371
00:18:51,380 --> 00:18:54,591
I knew every adult in town,
and every child,

372
00:18:54,675 --> 00:18:56,927
and their dogs,
and their horses.

373
00:18:57,010 --> 00:18:58,679
WOMAN 4:
Everybody knew where everybody lived,

374
00:18:58,762 --> 00:19:01,306
and everybody knew
where everybody worked.

375
00:19:01,390 --> 00:19:03,100
And if we got into any kind
of trouble,

376
00:19:03,183 --> 00:19:04,351
everybody knew everybody,

377
00:19:04,434 --> 00:19:06,436
and told their parents
before we got home.

378
00:19:07,229 --> 00:19:10,357
We went, um, fishing
on the weekends.

379
00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:13,986
Swam in ponds with our dog.

380
00:19:14,069 --> 00:19:17,114
Uh, rode bikes,
climbed trees.

381
00:19:17,197 --> 00:19:18,991
WOMAN 5:
When it snowed, we would gather up snow.

382
00:19:19,074 --> 00:19:22,703
We'd put vanilla and sugar in
it and pretend it was ice cream.

383
00:19:22,786 --> 00:19:25,581
The place to go to
when I was young,

384
00:19:25,664 --> 00:19:28,959
and today is
Judd's general store.

385
00:19:29,042 --> 00:19:32,170
Everybody went there,
everybody still goes there.

386
00:19:32,254 --> 00:19:33,547
It's the place to hang out.

387
00:19:33,630 --> 00:19:42,639
[♪♪♪]

388
00:19:54,234 --> 00:19:56,570
RUSSELL:
We were all called to get up about

389
00:19:56,653 --> 00:19:57,988
2:00 in the morning.

390
00:20:00,157 --> 00:20:03,619
We went to a bunker in Nevada.

391
00:20:07,331 --> 00:20:09,708
We were put in trenches.

392
00:20:13,503 --> 00:20:17,716
We were told to uh,
close our eyes.

393
00:20:17,799 --> 00:20:18,550
MAN 12:
Three.

394
00:20:18,634 --> 00:20:22,679
And then put our hands
over our eyes.

395
00:20:22,763 --> 00:20:24,056
MAN 12:
Zero.

396
00:20:27,225 --> 00:20:31,063
RUSSELL:
The light was so bright, I could see through

397
00:20:31,146 --> 00:20:33,941
on the other side
of my hands.

398
00:20:36,485 --> 00:20:41,907
And I could see the guy's feet
through the leather

399
00:20:41,990 --> 00:20:43,951
standing next to me.

400
00:20:55,420 --> 00:20:58,507
And we were told that
this would be uh,

401
00:20:58,590 --> 00:21:01,927
non-effective
to our personal bodies

402
00:21:02,010 --> 00:21:03,762
by the military.

403
00:21:03,845 --> 00:21:05,263
That you don’t--
you don't have anything

404
00:21:05,347 --> 00:21:06,306
to worry about.

405
00:21:17,526 --> 00:21:18,902
[children chatter in background]

406
00:21:18,986 --> 00:21:20,362
[siren wails]

407
00:21:20,445 --> 00:21:23,031
ILENE:
We had drills all the time,

408
00:21:23,115 --> 00:21:25,534
because we were told
the Russians are coming.

409
00:21:25,617 --> 00:21:28,829
MARY:
I have just vivid memories of being in grade school

410
00:21:28,912 --> 00:21:30,247
and having the drills,

411
00:21:30,330 --> 00:21:31,957
where we had to jump
under our desk

412
00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:33,291
and cover our head.

413
00:21:33,375 --> 00:21:36,837
♪ There was a turtle
by the name of Bert ♪

414
00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:40,007
♪ And Bert the turtle
was very alert ♪

415
00:21:40,090 --> 00:21:43,301
♪ When danger threatened him,
he never got hurt ♪

416
00:21:43,385 --> 00:21:46,138
♪ He knew just what to do ♪

417
00:21:46,221 --> 00:21:49,766
♪ Please duck
and cover ♪

418
00:21:49,850 --> 00:21:52,894
♪ Duck and cover ♪

419
00:21:52,978 --> 00:21:55,814
♪ He did what
we all must learn to do ♪

420
00:21:55,897 --> 00:21:56,523
♪ You ♪

421
00:21:56,606 --> 00:21:57,232
♪ And you ♪

422
00:21:57,315 --> 00:21:57,983
♪ And you ♪

423
00:21:58,066 --> 00:21:59,651
♪ And you ♪

424
00:21:59,735 --> 00:22:00,944
♪ Duck ♪

425
00:22:01,028 --> 00:22:02,487
♪ And cover ♪

426
00:22:04,406 --> 00:22:06,658
ANDREW:
The spring and summer of 1953

427
00:22:06,742 --> 00:22:09,911
were a critical turning point
for atomic testing.

428
00:22:09,995 --> 00:22:13,123
You have hundreds
different experiments happening,

429
00:22:13,206 --> 00:22:15,042
and there's a--

430
00:22:15,125 --> 00:22:18,503
a real sense
of Cold War urgency.

431
00:22:18,587 --> 00:22:23,800
And that is not necessarily
the best way to do science.

432
00:22:23,884 --> 00:22:28,805
Uh, under these hasty
emergency conditions,

433
00:22:28,889 --> 00:22:33,477
and there are some consequences
in 1953.

434
00:22:33,560 --> 00:22:37,022
And most infamously, the--
the Harry shot

435
00:22:37,105 --> 00:22:38,857
that is-- is bigger,

436
00:22:38,940 --> 00:22:41,568
and raises a much bigger cloud
of debris

437
00:22:41,651 --> 00:22:43,361
than was anticipated.

438
00:22:43,445 --> 00:22:44,571
And it also happens at a time

439
00:22:44,654 --> 00:22:48,033
when the prevailing wind
is heading directly

440
00:22:48,116 --> 00:22:50,285
toward Bunkerville
and St. George,

441
00:22:50,368 --> 00:22:52,662
and Cedar City in Southern Utah.

442
00:22:54,039 --> 00:22:56,833
These are the people
who are on the front lines

443
00:22:56,917 --> 00:22:59,377
of atomic warfare.

444
00:22:59,461 --> 00:23:04,091
And the AEC wants
to reassure them

445
00:23:04,174 --> 00:23:06,760
and in the process
reassure the American public

446
00:23:06,843 --> 00:23:10,222
that this continental testing
is so appropriate

447
00:23:10,305 --> 00:23:11,973
and still safe.

448
00:23:15,977 --> 00:23:19,022
When they were doing
the above ground testing

449
00:23:19,106 --> 00:23:21,149
at the Nevada test site.

450
00:23:21,233 --> 00:23:24,152
When they would have
an announced test,

451
00:23:24,236 --> 00:23:27,781
families in the St. George area
would come up here

452
00:23:27,864 --> 00:23:32,035
to the highest bluff
and bring their families

453
00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:34,454
for the evening tests
or the early morning.

454
00:23:34,538 --> 00:23:39,751
And watch the tests that would
be coming up over this bluff.

455
00:23:39,835 --> 00:23:42,212
And bring food, a picnic,

456
00:23:42,295 --> 00:23:45,507
whatever, they would
spend hours.

457
00:23:45,590 --> 00:23:46,550
The kids would play,

458
00:23:46,633 --> 00:23:49,761
they'd communicate
with their neighbors, have fun.

459
00:23:51,555 --> 00:23:55,142
The test had come up
as a big ball of flame

460
00:23:55,225 --> 00:23:56,685
go up into the sky

461
00:23:56,768 --> 00:23:59,855
and then it’d dissipate
into a mushroom cloud,

462
00:23:59,938 --> 00:24:03,150
depending on how the wind
was blowing.

463
00:24:03,233 --> 00:24:07,529
It would either go north, south
or drift this way.

464
00:24:07,612 --> 00:24:09,781
And typically, it would come
this way,

465
00:24:09,865 --> 00:24:10,615
because they'd wait

466
00:24:10,699 --> 00:24:13,201
till the wind was blowing
our direction.

467
00:24:13,827 --> 00:24:15,078
AEC REPRESENTATIVE 1:Ladies and gentlemen,

468
00:24:15,162 --> 00:24:18,915
we interrupt this program
to bring you important news.

469
00:24:18,999 --> 00:24:21,293
Due to a change
in wind direction,

470
00:24:21,376 --> 00:24:24,296
the residue from this morning's
atomic detonation

471
00:24:24,379 --> 00:24:27,507
is drifting
in the direction of St. George.

472
00:24:27,591 --> 00:24:30,677
To prevent unnecessary exposure
to radiation,

473
00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:33,680
it is better to take cover
during this period.

474
00:24:33,763 --> 00:24:37,475
Parents need not be alarmed
about children at school.

475
00:24:37,559 --> 00:24:40,228
No recesses outdoors
will be permitted.

476
00:24:40,312 --> 00:24:42,272
There is no danger.

477
00:24:42,355 --> 00:24:44,816
This is simply routine
safety procedure.

478
00:24:44,900 --> 00:24:53,909
[♪♪♪]

479
00:24:59,623 --> 00:25:02,167
NEVADA ATOMIC TESTS NARRATOR:Yes, the very nature
of testing weapons

480
00:25:02,250 --> 00:25:03,627
for national defense

481
00:25:03,710 --> 00:25:05,754
requires we accept
the possibility

482
00:25:05,837 --> 00:25:08,632
of some exposure
to additional radiation.

483
00:25:09,466 --> 00:25:11,635
There is some potential risk.

484
00:25:13,136 --> 00:25:18,975
So a fallout quite simply is
any particulate matter

485
00:25:19,059 --> 00:25:23,355
that is generated
by a nuclear explosion,

486
00:25:23,438 --> 00:25:27,692
thrown into the atmosphere
that then later falls down.

487
00:25:27,776 --> 00:25:29,110
Some of it could fall
straight down.

488
00:25:29,194 --> 00:25:33,698
Some of it could go
extremely high, 30-40,000 feet.

489
00:25:33,782 --> 00:25:36,451
And get pulled
into the atmosphere.

490
00:25:36,534 --> 00:25:38,495
And circle the globe.

491
00:25:38,578 --> 00:25:42,749
Uh, so, these could be
particles of dirt.

492
00:25:42,832 --> 00:25:45,585
They could be vaporized rock.

493
00:25:45,669 --> 00:25:49,589
They could be the particles
of the tower

494
00:25:49,673 --> 00:25:54,886
and other parts of the military
testing equipment.

495
00:25:54,970 --> 00:25:57,013
And they could also be
particles of radiation.

496
00:25:58,014 --> 00:26:00,850
DEFENSE BRIEFING NARRATOR:Radioactive atoms produced
in the explosion

497
00:26:00,934 --> 00:26:04,187
join with the particles
of earth and debris.

498
00:26:04,271 --> 00:26:08,358
The mushroom shaped cloud forms
and climbs higher.

499
00:26:08,441 --> 00:26:12,362
It now contains billions
of highly radioactive particles.

500
00:26:12,445 --> 00:26:14,948
We call them, “fallout”.

501
00:26:15,031 --> 00:26:17,993
The winds of the upper
altitudes blow on the cloud,

502
00:26:18,076 --> 00:26:20,745
sending it in one
or more directions.

503
00:26:20,829 --> 00:26:23,707
Some of the very light particles
may remain suspended

504
00:26:23,790 --> 00:26:25,709
in the atmosphere for years

505
00:26:25,792 --> 00:26:29,045
and travel thousands of miles
before landing.

506
00:26:29,129 --> 00:26:31,548
But the heavy particles
drop to the ground

507
00:26:31,631 --> 00:26:33,633
within 24 hours.

508
00:26:33,717 --> 00:26:35,385
These are the most hazardous,

509
00:26:35,468 --> 00:26:37,262
because they emit
the largest amount

510
00:26:37,345 --> 00:26:39,431
of nuclear radiation.

511
00:26:39,514 --> 00:26:41,474
A 100 miles from the explosion,

512
00:26:41,558 --> 00:26:43,685
they are about the size
of table salt

513
00:26:43,768 --> 00:26:45,353
or fine sand.

514
00:26:53,653 --> 00:26:57,949
CLAUDIA:
When we would go to school, uh, in elementary,

515
00:26:58,033 --> 00:27:00,035
men would come
in big black suits

516
00:27:00,118 --> 00:27:04,372
and check our thyroids,
with Geiger counters.

517
00:27:04,456 --> 00:27:08,168
And when we'd light it up,
I remember lighting it up once

518
00:27:08,251 --> 00:27:10,003
and asking what it meant,

519
00:27:10,086 --> 00:27:13,465
and being told it meant
that I'd had a dental X-ray.

520
00:27:13,548 --> 00:27:17,802
Well, my mother was an RN
and I knew what an X-ray was.

521
00:27:17,886 --> 00:27:19,346
And I--

522
00:27:19,429 --> 00:27:22,015
back then you didn't go
to the dentist for everything.

523
00:27:22,098 --> 00:27:25,435
And I knew I hadn't had
a dental X-ray.

524
00:27:25,518 --> 00:27:28,229
I remember it in fourth grade,
fifth grade,

525
00:27:28,313 --> 00:27:30,607
all the way through high school.

526
00:27:30,690 --> 00:27:32,942
They would come,
check our thyroids

527
00:27:33,026 --> 00:27:36,196
with their fingers and say,
“Take a sip.

528
00:27:36,279 --> 00:27:37,447
Swallow.”

529
00:27:37,530 --> 00:27:39,449
Give us a little sip of water

530
00:27:39,532 --> 00:27:42,035
and we did that,
we went back to class.

531
00:27:42,118 --> 00:27:46,081
This is Atomic Test In Nevada.

532
00:27:46,164 --> 00:27:48,083
It's a booklet the government
put out,

533
00:27:48,166 --> 00:27:52,045
one of their propaganda pieces
in '57.

534
00:27:52,128 --> 00:27:54,756
Uh, to kind of assuage
peoples' fears.

535
00:27:54,839 --> 00:27:57,509
So, it tells them
they don't really have much

536
00:27:57,592 --> 00:27:58,802
to worry about.

537
00:27:58,885 --> 00:28:00,387
It's got pictures in it,

538
00:28:00,470 --> 00:28:03,223
like you can see
the little cowboys,

539
00:28:03,306 --> 00:28:07,060
and it just makes it look
like people here,

540
00:28:07,143 --> 00:28:08,770
a bunch of Western yahoos.

541
00:28:09,604 --> 00:28:12,482
“You people who live
near Nevada test site

542
00:28:12,565 --> 00:28:15,360
are in a very real sense
active participants

543
00:28:15,443 --> 00:28:18,113
in the nation's atomic
test program.

544
00:28:18,196 --> 00:28:20,281
You have been close observers
of tests

545
00:28:20,365 --> 00:28:23,368
which have contributed greatly
in building the defenses

546
00:28:23,451 --> 00:28:26,121
of our country
and of the free world.

547
00:28:26,204 --> 00:28:29,249
Nevada tests have helped us
make general progress

548
00:28:29,332 --> 00:28:32,085
in a few years
and have been a vital factor

549
00:28:32,168 --> 00:28:34,587
in maintaining the peace
of the world.

550
00:28:34,671 --> 00:28:37,966
Some of you may have been
inconvenienced

551
00:28:38,049 --> 00:28:40,260
by our test operations.”

552
00:28:41,761 --> 00:28:43,638
That one always kills me.

553
00:28:43,721 --> 00:28:47,934
[♪♪♪]

554
00:28:48,017 --> 00:28:49,936
♪ I am not scared ♪

555
00:28:51,980 --> 00:28:53,857
♪ I am pretty prepared ♪

556
00:28:55,942 --> 00:28:58,069
♪ I'll be spared ♪

557
00:29:03,700 --> 00:29:05,994
♪ I've got a fallout shelter ♪

558
00:29:06,077 --> 00:29:08,037
♪ It's nine by nine ♪

559
00:29:08,121 --> 00:29:12,167
♪ A hi-fi set
and a jug of wine ♪

560
00:29:12,250 --> 00:29:14,586
♪ Let the missiles fly ♪

561
00:29:14,669 --> 00:29:16,337
♪ From nation to nation ♪

562
00:29:16,421 --> 00:29:21,342
♪ It's party time
in all my radiation station ♪

563
00:29:25,638 --> 00:29:27,140
♪ I'm not spared ♪

564
00:29:29,726 --> 00:29:33,104
I, Temujin,
chief of all Mongols...

565
00:29:33,188 --> 00:29:34,606
PATRICK:
And my dad playing Genghis Khan?

566
00:29:34,689 --> 00:29:35,690
Are you serious?

567
00:29:35,773 --> 00:29:36,441
Come on.

568
00:29:36,524 --> 00:29:39,527
I wish you well, Temujin Khan.

569
00:29:39,611 --> 00:29:41,654
PATRICK:
Yes, it is odd.

570
00:29:41,738 --> 00:29:43,781
Was it unusual for the time?

571
00:29:43,865 --> 00:29:44,616
No.

572
00:29:44,699 --> 00:29:47,577
Who got the job was
who was the big box office guy?

573
00:29:47,660 --> 00:29:51,122
MICHAEL:
There's no question that John Wayne had his fans

574
00:29:51,206 --> 00:29:54,459
and followers, who would come
to a movie

575
00:29:54,542 --> 00:29:57,045
even where he's wearing
a ridiculous painted on,

576
00:29:57,128 --> 00:29:59,214
Fu Manchu moustache.

577
00:29:59,923 --> 00:30:01,633
I do think
the general assumption

578
00:30:01,716 --> 00:30:07,388
is that-- that Wayne may have
read the script,

579
00:30:07,472 --> 00:30:08,806
but not when he was sober.

580
00:30:09,349 --> 00:30:11,267
OSCAR:I doubt if he looked
at the script again

581
00:30:11,351 --> 00:30:13,686
until the day before
the cameras were to roll.

582
00:30:13,770 --> 00:30:17,815
When he called me at home,
“Oscar”, he said,

583
00:30:17,899 --> 00:30:20,777
“You got to do something
about these effing lines.

584
00:30:20,860 --> 00:30:22,487
I can't read 'em.”

585
00:30:22,570 --> 00:30:24,447
“Duke”, I replied,

586
00:30:24,531 --> 00:30:26,366
“I'd have to rewrite
the entire script for you.

587
00:30:26,449 --> 00:30:28,201
Why didn't you speak up sooner?”

588
00:30:28,284 --> 00:30:31,037
He muttered an expletive
and hung up.

589
00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:34,123
She's a woman, Jamuga.

590
00:30:34,207 --> 00:30:35,500
Much woman.

591
00:30:36,584 --> 00:30:39,629
Should her perfidy be less
than that of other women?

592
00:30:40,463 --> 00:30:41,923
MICHAEL:
It's the dialogue.

593
00:30:43,424 --> 00:30:44,717
I take her with me.

594
00:30:44,801 --> 00:30:48,388
MICHAEL:
That people loved repeating.

595
00:30:48,471 --> 00:30:50,848
On those rare occasions,
thank God they're rare,

596
00:30:50,932 --> 00:30:55,562
when my wife will be annoyed
with me about something.

597
00:30:55,645 --> 00:30:57,188
I like to say...

598
00:30:57,272 --> 00:30:59,983
You're beautiful in your wrath.

599
00:31:00,066 --> 00:31:02,944
MICHAEL:
And then again, the line delivery.

600
00:31:03,027 --> 00:31:04,654
Eternal skies,

601
00:31:04,737 --> 00:31:07,699
Yessugai, my father, hear me.

602
00:31:07,782 --> 00:31:10,034
John Wayne's performance
did not draw--

603
00:31:10,118 --> 00:31:10,868
[chuckles]

604
00:31:10,952 --> 00:31:12,912
A great deal of critical praise.

605
00:31:17,625 --> 00:31:19,794
JAMES:
At the time, St. George, I believe had

606
00:31:19,877 --> 00:31:22,463
under 30 motels.

607
00:31:22,547 --> 00:31:26,092
So, they not only had
to rent all of the hotels,

608
00:31:26,175 --> 00:31:29,470
but a lot of locals rented out
their homes.

609
00:31:29,554 --> 00:31:33,224
Susan Hayward rented a home
from a local

610
00:31:33,308 --> 00:31:37,228
and the enthusiasm,
especially the young people

611
00:31:37,312 --> 00:31:41,065
was such that they had
to limit autographing sessions

612
00:31:41,149 --> 00:31:42,775
to two and a half hours.

613
00:31:42,859 --> 00:31:44,527
My mother was my mother.

614
00:31:44,611 --> 00:31:47,989
Uh, and that other person,

615
00:31:48,072 --> 00:31:50,199
she had a job
and that job was acting.

616
00:31:52,243 --> 00:31:54,287
JOHN:
Susan Hayward was uh, in many ways

617
00:31:54,370 --> 00:31:57,081
one of the quintessential stars
of the 1950s.

618
00:31:57,165 --> 00:31:59,667
She was beautiful,
she was talented.

619
00:31:59,751 --> 00:32:01,002
She was smart.

620
00:32:01,085 --> 00:32:03,421
She would come
to Hollywood around 1937.

621
00:32:03,504 --> 00:32:06,382
Um, along with a whole lot
of other Hollywood starlets

622
00:32:06,466 --> 00:32:07,383
who were being uh,

623
00:32:07,467 --> 00:32:09,510
tested for the role
of Scarlett O'Hara

624
00:32:09,594 --> 00:32:10,803
in Gone with the Wind.

625
00:32:11,596 --> 00:32:13,097
Scarlett.

626
00:32:14,766 --> 00:32:15,975
What is it?

627
00:32:18,645 --> 00:32:20,521
I love you.

628
00:32:21,147 --> 00:32:25,234
JOHN:
Um, she didn't get the part, but she did stay around.

629
00:32:25,318 --> 00:32:28,363
She was always fighting for--
for the good movies.

630
00:32:28,446 --> 00:32:29,739
Um, but um,

631
00:32:29,822 --> 00:32:33,201
RKO had-- had contracted
with Fox to get her on loan

632
00:32:33,284 --> 00:32:34,952
to do The Conqueror.

633
00:32:35,453 --> 00:32:36,954
TIM:
It was an absurdity.

634
00:32:37,038 --> 00:32:38,289
Really off the wall.

635
00:32:38,373 --> 00:32:40,458
That-- I think that was--
that was evident to everybody

636
00:32:40,541 --> 00:32:41,834
who was connected with it.

637
00:32:42,418 --> 00:32:45,588
JOHN:
She knew with this was not gonna be great casting.

638
00:32:45,672 --> 00:32:46,756
It would be an odd choice,

639
00:32:46,839 --> 00:32:50,218
but Howard Hughes
didn't really care.

640
00:32:50,301 --> 00:32:52,345
Hughes had personally wanted
to work with her,

641
00:32:52,428 --> 00:32:53,805
because he wanted to--

642
00:32:53,888 --> 00:32:55,598
he wanted to get
Susan Hayward into bed

643
00:32:55,682 --> 00:32:57,225
is what it was.

644
00:32:57,308 --> 00:32:59,060
Susan Hayward decided,

645
00:32:59,143 --> 00:33:03,189
made a conscious decision
not to change her appearance

646
00:33:03,272 --> 00:33:04,899
for The Conqueror.

647
00:33:04,982 --> 00:33:08,861
And that says a lot about her.

648
00:33:08,945 --> 00:33:11,572
She's not gonna changer
her look at all,

649
00:33:11,656 --> 00:33:12,657
to be a Mongolian!

650
00:33:12,740 --> 00:33:13,408
Come on now!

651
00:33:13,491 --> 00:33:13,950
[chuckles]

652
00:33:14,033 --> 00:33:15,076
She's not gonna do this.

653
00:33:15,159 --> 00:33:17,370
She's gonna be
the Hollywood actress,

654
00:33:17,453 --> 00:33:18,413
Susan Hayward.

655
00:33:18,496 --> 00:33:20,289
KIYRA:
You could tell that this was a smart woman.

656
00:33:20,373 --> 00:33:21,916
She wasn't afraid.

657
00:33:21,999 --> 00:33:23,668
Whether it be for vanity.

658
00:33:23,751 --> 00:33:25,712
Maybe she didn't
wanna see herself--

659
00:33:25,795 --> 00:33:26,337
[Kiyra chuckles]

660
00:33:26,421 --> 00:33:27,755
In that sort of makeup.

661
00:33:27,839 --> 00:33:29,215
But she-- she took a stance.

662
00:33:29,298 --> 00:33:31,217
I know she said at the time,
she said,

663
00:33:31,300 --> 00:33:36,097
“I play a red-haired
Tartar princess,

664
00:33:36,180 --> 00:33:40,059
as if some wild Irishman
got lost

665
00:33:40,143 --> 00:33:43,229
on the way to the road
to old Cathay,

666
00:33:43,312 --> 00:33:44,981
which is pretty clever comment.

667
00:33:45,690 --> 00:33:47,775
JOHN:
The one thing that Howard Hughes and Dick Powell did

668
00:33:47,859 --> 00:33:49,694
when they castThe Conqueror was,

669
00:33:49,777 --> 00:33:51,279
they did have a really re--

670
00:33:51,362 --> 00:33:53,948
resounding supporting cast
of people.

671
00:33:54,031 --> 00:33:57,660
Pedro Armendariz was a very
successful actor in Hollywood,

672
00:33:57,744 --> 00:33:59,454
but also he had done
a lot of uh,

673
00:33:59,537 --> 00:34:00,788
Mexico's version of Hollywood

674
00:34:00,872 --> 00:34:03,541
in Mexico's golden age
of films.

675
00:34:03,624 --> 00:34:06,294
He was uh,
a very ethnic-looking actor.

676
00:34:06,377 --> 00:34:08,713
He could fit in to a lot
of really interesting roles.

677
00:34:08,796 --> 00:34:11,799
Whether he was playing a--
a Mexican or an Asian,

678
00:34:11,883 --> 00:34:14,135
or a Turk
or whatever the role was.

679
00:34:14,218 --> 00:34:19,223
I know that John Wayne fought
for Pedro getting roles

680
00:34:19,307 --> 00:34:22,727
and getting the credit uh,
that he deserved.

681
00:34:22,810 --> 00:34:25,938
And there are a lot of scenes
that are Jamuga,

682
00:34:26,022 --> 00:34:29,776
Pedro Armendariz interacting
with Temujin, John Wayne.

683
00:34:29,859 --> 00:34:30,651
Tempting.

684
00:34:30,735 --> 00:34:32,153
Tempting,
but unwise, my brother.

685
00:34:32,236 --> 00:34:32,904
Listen to me.

686
00:34:32,987 --> 00:34:34,739
There are moments for wisdom,
Jamuga.

687
00:34:34,822 --> 00:34:36,532
Then I listen to you.

688
00:34:36,616 --> 00:34:39,410
There are moments for action,
then I listen to my blood.

689
00:34:39,494 --> 00:34:43,706
And Pedro Armendariz actually--

690
00:34:43,790 --> 00:34:46,918
and it is a sign
of a very good actor,

691
00:34:47,001 --> 00:34:51,839
he seems, uh,
a little bit more comfortable

692
00:34:51,923 --> 00:34:55,718
with this
ridiculously stilted script.

693
00:34:55,802 --> 00:34:57,845
Speak then.

694
00:34:57,929 --> 00:34:59,972
- Deny it!
- I will not.

695
00:35:00,056 --> 00:35:02,350
To deny it would give substance to your thought.

696
00:35:02,433 --> 00:35:03,684
This shame might spare you.

697
00:35:03,768 --> 00:35:05,103
Curb that silver tongue.

698
00:35:05,186 --> 00:35:06,437
Speak straight!

699
00:35:06,521 --> 00:35:08,481
MICHAEL:
But there's Spanish accent there.

700
00:35:08,564 --> 00:35:09,440
[chuckles]

701
00:35:09,524 --> 00:35:12,318
And that's a--
a little bit in--

702
00:35:12,401 --> 00:35:13,361
incongruous.

703
00:35:16,614 --> 00:35:20,535
A fair prize, my son,
if my eyes see well.

704
00:35:20,618 --> 00:35:22,245
Fairer than you, my mother.

705
00:35:22,328 --> 00:35:25,498
Agnes Moorehead was cast
as John Wayne's mother.

706
00:35:25,581 --> 00:35:27,500
Even though she was
only seven years older

707
00:35:27,583 --> 00:35:28,960
than he was.

708
00:35:29,043 --> 00:35:32,505
And then Agnes Moorehead,
how did she get there?

709
00:35:32,588 --> 00:35:35,132
HUNLUN:
Spawn of evil.

710
00:35:35,216 --> 00:35:38,803
Let your slaves have
their sport with her.

711
00:35:38,886 --> 00:35:40,513
I will not have her
within our tents.

712
00:35:40,596 --> 00:35:42,598
We have Agnes Moorehead in this.

713
00:35:42,682 --> 00:35:44,350
Lee Van Cleef is in it.

714
00:35:44,433 --> 00:35:47,144
And uh-- and Conrad
and-- and--

715
00:35:47,228 --> 00:35:51,440
and all these white actors
are in this film,

716
00:35:51,524 --> 00:35:52,692
which was common.

717
00:35:52,775 --> 00:35:55,403
Unfortunately,
it was deemed acceptable

718
00:35:55,486 --> 00:35:59,657
to have yellowface played
in Hollywood at the time.

719
00:35:59,740 --> 00:36:02,785
White men ran studios,

720
00:36:02,869 --> 00:36:09,792
and the culture at the time was
anything other than Anglo

721
00:36:09,876 --> 00:36:12,128
is less than white.

722
00:36:12,211 --> 00:36:18,134
Racism was horribly prevalent
at that time.

723
00:36:18,217 --> 00:36:22,638
John Wayne felt that he could
play Genghis Khan, an Asian.

724
00:36:22,722 --> 00:36:29,812
It shows a lot of ego,
and lack of self awareness,

725
00:36:29,896 --> 00:36:33,107
and lack of empathy towards
the Asian race.

726
00:36:33,190 --> 00:36:34,901
The thing
about the cultural appropriation

727
00:36:34,984 --> 00:36:41,490
in this movie, is there were
Asian American actors

728
00:36:41,574 --> 00:36:44,410
who actually worked
in Hollywood.

729
00:36:44,493 --> 00:36:46,245
I mean, why not?

730
00:36:46,329 --> 00:36:48,831
At least-- at least for some
of the minor roles.

731
00:36:49,749 --> 00:36:51,751
What think of you that, Shaman?

732
00:36:51,834 --> 00:36:54,337
So grave a question demands
a shorter answer.

733
00:36:54,420 --> 00:36:56,088
Let a sheep be slaughtered,

734
00:36:56,172 --> 00:36:57,840
and the shoulder blade
brought hither.

735
00:36:57,924 --> 00:37:00,051
There's not a chance
in the world

736
00:37:00,134 --> 00:37:02,929
they could make a film anything
like this today.

737
00:37:03,012 --> 00:37:04,221
Can you imagine?

738
00:37:04,305 --> 00:37:08,476
The only director who could
have handled this uh, film,

739
00:37:08,559 --> 00:37:11,103
I think successfully
making it delightful

740
00:37:11,187 --> 00:37:12,605
would have been Mel Brooks.

741
00:37:15,358 --> 00:37:24,367
[♪♪♪]

742
00:37:25,618 --> 00:37:29,956
TIM:
That summer, we would go to the local swimming hall,

743
00:37:30,039 --> 00:37:31,540
where all the other kids went.

744
00:37:31,624 --> 00:37:33,334
And we went to uh,

745
00:37:33,417 --> 00:37:36,087
we went to the morning church
on uh, on Sundays.

746
00:37:37,254 --> 00:37:38,756
JOHN:
The casting crew of The Conqueror

747
00:37:38,839 --> 00:37:41,384
largely had set up houses in--
in St. George's.

748
00:37:41,467 --> 00:37:43,302
They'd rented homes in a--
on a block,

749
00:37:43,386 --> 00:37:44,971
and they all lived
next to each other,

750
00:37:45,054 --> 00:37:45,930
across the street
from each other.

751
00:37:46,013 --> 00:37:47,473
So, they all were sort
of surrounding each other.

752
00:37:47,556 --> 00:37:49,850
And it was a--
a bit of a family atmosphere.

753
00:37:50,810 --> 00:37:52,812
TIM:
My father never came up to St. George.

754
00:37:52,895 --> 00:37:56,023
And I don't recall us going
back to Los Angeles

755
00:37:56,107 --> 00:37:57,274
to spend time with him.

756
00:37:57,358 --> 00:37:58,818
Yeah, they were going
through a divorce.

757
00:37:58,901 --> 00:38:03,197
And it-- it was uh,
it wasn't a real pleasant time.

758
00:38:03,280 --> 00:38:04,949
It wasn't a pleasant for I--

759
00:38:05,032 --> 00:38:06,617
I think for anybody
in the family.

760
00:38:07,243 --> 00:38:08,995
But I remember John Wayne,

761
00:38:09,078 --> 00:38:11,580
because he lived across
the street.

762
00:38:11,664 --> 00:38:13,749
He was a very personal guy.

763
00:38:13,833 --> 00:38:16,877
I had a-- a scar under this eye.

764
00:38:16,961 --> 00:38:18,796
So, John Wayne saw it
and he asked me what it was.

765
00:38:18,879 --> 00:38:20,464
And I told him I got hit
with a rock

766
00:38:20,548 --> 00:38:21,924
underneath my eye.

767
00:38:22,008 --> 00:38:23,342
And I remember him--

768
00:38:23,426 --> 00:38:24,552
him laughing
and him saying,

769
00:38:24,635 --> 00:38:25,970
“Put beef steak on it.”

770
00:38:26,762 --> 00:38:28,097
JOHN:
Susan Hayward um,

771
00:38:28,180 --> 00:38:30,349
always had this affection
for John Wayne.

772
00:38:30,433 --> 00:38:32,685
She always thought he was one
of her favorite leading men

773
00:38:32,768 --> 00:38:34,729
and she was attracted to him.

774
00:38:34,812 --> 00:38:37,898
And so, she--
she did make moves on Wayne.

775
00:38:37,982 --> 00:38:40,067
They said at one time
she had a love scene on the set

776
00:38:40,151 --> 00:38:43,029
and she kissed him,
and he said,

777
00:38:43,112 --> 00:38:46,073
she stuck her tongue
in his mouth.

778
00:38:46,157 --> 00:38:47,158
One of the things that
my brother

779
00:38:47,241 --> 00:38:48,492
and I liked to do

780
00:38:48,576 --> 00:38:52,038
was we liked to camp out
on the front yard.

781
00:38:52,121 --> 00:38:54,582
And all I'm gonna say is this,
that uh,

782
00:38:54,665 --> 00:38:56,709
one morning
about 3:00 in the morning,

783
00:38:56,792 --> 00:38:58,252
we saw this figure.

784
00:38:58,335 --> 00:39:02,840
We were both up come running
across the lawn uh,

785
00:39:02,923 --> 00:39:08,179
to the house across the street
where John Wayne was living.

786
00:39:08,262 --> 00:39:09,764
And it was my mother.

787
00:39:09,847 --> 00:39:10,806
And I don't think uh,

788
00:39:10,890 --> 00:39:12,183
she was running over there,
you know,

789
00:39:12,266 --> 00:39:14,852
to get a-- to get a bagel.

790
00:39:17,980 --> 00:39:19,523
CLAUDIA:
When we moved to St. George,

791
00:39:19,607 --> 00:39:23,819
we heard all about The Conqueror
being here,

792
00:39:23,903 --> 00:39:25,654
and how the stars were here.

793
00:39:25,738 --> 00:39:29,283
They were hanging out
at the Big Hand Cafe.

794
00:39:29,366 --> 00:39:31,243
And there were a lot
of pictures at the time

795
00:39:31,327 --> 00:39:34,538
before the Big Hand Cafe
was torn down.

796
00:39:34,622 --> 00:39:39,460
A lot of pictures of John Wayne
and Dick Powell.

797
00:39:39,543 --> 00:39:40,586
And those guys,

798
00:39:40,669 --> 00:39:42,922
and their pictures were
plastered all over the walls.

799
00:39:43,005 --> 00:39:45,007
They were pretty proud of that.

800
00:39:45,091 --> 00:39:46,300
JAMES:
Dick's Cafe,

801
00:39:46,384 --> 00:39:49,428
a renowned restaurant
in St. George,

802
00:39:49,512 --> 00:39:52,598
was not only the chief uh,
dining spot,

803
00:39:52,681 --> 00:39:57,144
but Dick Hammer catered
on location.

804
00:39:57,228 --> 00:40:01,398
A lot of the locals were used
as security guards,

805
00:40:01,482 --> 00:40:02,900
As greensmen.

806
00:40:02,983 --> 00:40:04,318
As extras.

807
00:40:04,402 --> 00:40:07,696
Just about everyone was needed
to be in the film.

808
00:40:07,780 --> 00:40:11,033
We were a movie set town
and we got to be extras.

809
00:40:11,117 --> 00:40:12,535
It was a big deal.

810
00:40:12,618 --> 00:40:16,038
NARRATOR:The cast and crew took part
in a charity softball game

811
00:40:16,122 --> 00:40:18,833
against the local Elks Club
of St. George.

812
00:40:18,916 --> 00:40:20,668
Wayne signed autographs.

813
00:40:20,751 --> 00:40:22,795
Dick Powell entertained
the crowd,

814
00:40:22,878 --> 00:40:24,922
and Susan Hayward kicked off
her high heels

815
00:40:25,005 --> 00:40:26,632
to run around the bases.

816
00:40:26,715 --> 00:40:28,467
A local family, the Smoots,

817
00:40:28,551 --> 00:40:30,594
presented Susan Hayward
with a giant cake

818
00:40:30,678 --> 00:40:31,637
for her birthday.

819
00:40:31,720 --> 00:40:32,721
The whole town

820
00:40:32,805 --> 00:40:34,390
as well as Powell
and Wayne were there,

821
00:40:34,473 --> 00:40:36,100
as Tim Barker recalls.

822
00:40:36,183 --> 00:40:37,393
TIM:
It was on the set,

823
00:40:37,476 --> 00:40:39,937
and there were pictures of that
with Dick Powell

824
00:40:40,020 --> 00:40:43,190
and John Wayne, and uh,
some of the other principals.

825
00:40:43,274 --> 00:40:47,444
Uh, John Wayne cut the cake
with his Mongol sword.

826
00:40:52,449 --> 00:41:01,458
[♪♪♪]

827
00:41:02,376 --> 00:41:05,379
[horses neighing]

828
00:41:09,258 --> 00:41:11,469
MARC:
They had 20 stuntmen.

829
00:41:16,223 --> 00:41:20,644
These stunts were
very seriously dangerous.

830
00:41:20,728 --> 00:41:21,854
We're talking horse stunts,

831
00:41:21,937 --> 00:41:24,148
which the horses are tripping,
falling.

832
00:41:24,231 --> 00:41:27,151
The men are falling
into the sands.

833
00:41:27,234 --> 00:41:28,903
And there were
lots of accidents.

834
00:41:31,822 --> 00:41:33,782
What I found fascinating
about this

835
00:41:33,866 --> 00:41:35,159
and I don't know how they did it

836
00:41:35,242 --> 00:41:36,619
or whether they did it
deliberately,

837
00:41:36,702 --> 00:41:38,412
is all the horses falling down.

838
00:41:39,163 --> 00:41:41,624
And maybe once they--
they had trip wires.

839
00:41:43,584 --> 00:41:45,502
But where was the SPCA?

840
00:41:48,088 --> 00:41:50,299
There was actually a--
a joke on the set at one point

841
00:41:50,382 --> 00:41:52,843
where there was gonna be
a big action sequence

842
00:41:52,927 --> 00:41:53,802
and Dick Powell said,

843
00:41:53,886 --> 00:41:56,222
“This is where we separate
the men from the boys,

844
00:41:56,305 --> 00:41:56,805
in this scene.”

845
00:41:56,889 --> 00:41:57,848
And John Wayne,

846
00:41:57,932 --> 00:41:59,308
you know, joked back to him
and said,

847
00:41:59,391 --> 00:42:01,477
“Well, let's just hope
we don't separate the men

848
00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:02,478
from the horses.”

849
00:42:02,561 --> 00:42:04,480
[neighs]

850
00:42:08,442 --> 00:42:11,445
Sadly, a short time later,
there was a-- a big action scene

851
00:42:11,528 --> 00:42:13,822
and Pedro Armendariz had been
thrown from his horse,

852
00:42:13,906 --> 00:42:16,200
and his horse at the time,
um, fell,

853
00:42:16,283 --> 00:42:17,785
and actually landed on top
of him.

854
00:42:17,868 --> 00:42:19,078
So, he was injured
and they--

855
00:42:19,161 --> 00:42:20,454
at the time, they feared
that he may have

856
00:42:20,538 --> 00:42:21,413
even broken his back

857
00:42:21,497 --> 00:42:24,708
and they actually had to, um,
take him to the hospital.

858
00:42:24,792 --> 00:42:27,336
He was ended up not being hurt
as badly as they'd feared,

859
00:42:27,419 --> 00:42:30,172
but it was one of those kind
of serious mishaps.

860
00:42:37,513 --> 00:42:39,390
NARRATOR:After finishing shooting
an action scene,

861
00:42:39,473 --> 00:42:41,392
Powell turned to Wayne
and said,

862
00:42:41,475 --> 00:42:42,643
“There were no injuries.

863
00:42:42,726 --> 00:42:44,645
Do you think the stuntmen
are getting better?”

864
00:42:44,728 --> 00:42:45,646
Wayne replied,

865
00:42:45,729 --> 00:42:48,399
“No, the horses
are getting smarter.”

866
00:42:52,653 --> 00:42:56,115
JAMES:
The nature of The Conqueror taking place

867
00:42:56,198 --> 00:42:58,784
in 12th century, Mongolia,

868
00:42:58,867 --> 00:43:01,495
you have to hire hundreds
of extras,

869
00:43:01,578 --> 00:43:04,748
who can be made up
to look as close as possible

870
00:43:04,832 --> 00:43:09,336
to those who would be living
in that area of Asia.

871
00:43:09,420 --> 00:43:12,381
The nearest
and most practical people

872
00:43:12,464 --> 00:43:14,883
to hire were 300 members

873
00:43:14,967 --> 00:43:18,012
of the Shivwits Indian
reservation,

874
00:43:18,095 --> 00:43:21,015
not far distant from St. George.

875
00:43:21,098 --> 00:43:22,391
MARC:
Yes, a 130 degrees.

876
00:43:22,474 --> 00:43:24,977
They're wearing these
Mongolian costumes.

877
00:43:25,060 --> 00:43:26,228
JOHN:
These kind of armor

878
00:43:26,312 --> 00:43:28,814
and these heavy winter
animal skin,

879
00:43:28,897 --> 00:43:30,941
thick, kind of heavy costumes.

880
00:43:31,025 --> 00:43:33,027
These people were very hot.

881
00:43:33,110 --> 00:43:36,488
And hundreds of extras
on horses and things,

882
00:43:36,572 --> 00:43:38,949
they would be out there
for hours in this--

883
00:43:39,033 --> 00:43:40,367
this grueling heat.

884
00:43:40,451 --> 00:43:43,787
ANDREW:
Environment of the American West is harsh.

885
00:43:43,871 --> 00:43:45,789
Aridity and weather conditions

886
00:43:45,873 --> 00:43:49,460
that can be extreme ranging
from heat to cold.

887
00:43:51,003 --> 00:43:53,797
And the desert is windy.

888
00:43:53,881 --> 00:43:57,176
It's one of the windiest parts
of the United States.

889
00:43:57,259 --> 00:44:00,512
And the winds can be ferocious
and unpredictable.

890
00:44:00,596 --> 00:44:04,266
JOHN:
So, there would be these vast scenes of blowing,

891
00:44:04,350 --> 00:44:06,769
you know, dirt
and dust swirling around.

892
00:44:06,852 --> 00:44:09,980
And not only was it--
was it bad enough with the--

893
00:44:10,064 --> 00:44:11,857
the natural winds
that were happening.

894
00:44:11,940 --> 00:44:13,317
It was the fact that they were--

895
00:44:13,400 --> 00:44:15,277
they were creating
their own dust

896
00:44:15,361 --> 00:44:17,488
by having these massive
fight scenes

897
00:44:17,571 --> 00:44:19,323
and these horses were
running around

898
00:44:19,406 --> 00:44:20,491
and they were having this--

899
00:44:20,574 --> 00:44:22,534
kicking up all this
dust and debris,

900
00:44:22,618 --> 00:44:24,828
that was literally covering
the actors.

901
00:44:24,912 --> 00:44:27,373
And so they-- they ended up
coi-- calling it

902
00:44:27,456 --> 00:44:31,043
like “Utah chili powder”,
because it was on everything.

903
00:44:31,126 --> 00:44:32,378
So, they would sit down to eat

904
00:44:32,461 --> 00:44:34,838
and it would be covering
the food they were eating.

905
00:44:40,386 --> 00:44:42,012
NARRATOR:After two months in Utah,

906
00:44:42,096 --> 00:44:43,555
the cast
and crew of The Conqueror,

907
00:44:43,639 --> 00:44:45,224
returned to Los Angeles,

908
00:44:45,307 --> 00:44:48,102
for interior shooting
on the RKO sound stages.

909
00:44:48,185 --> 00:44:51,230
Let there be music and a feast
befitting Temujin,

910
00:44:51,313 --> 00:44:52,439
chief of the Mongols.

911
00:44:54,817 --> 00:44:58,529
WOMAN 6:
I was a harem girl lounging somewhere.

912
00:44:58,612 --> 00:44:59,655
You know, there's a lot
of lounging

913
00:44:59,738 --> 00:45:01,323
when you're in a harem thing.

914
00:45:02,950 --> 00:45:03,951
And I--

915
00:45:04,034 --> 00:45:05,953
I was looking around
and I looked at Wayne, too,

916
00:45:06,036 --> 00:45:08,622
you know, and I thought,
“This is really bad.”

917
00:45:10,040 --> 00:45:11,750
SYLVIA:
Genghis Khan, he's not.

918
00:45:11,834 --> 00:45:12,793
[Sylvia chuckling]

919
00:45:14,711 --> 00:45:17,506
SYLVIA:
Between takes, I'd be there and he'd be there.

920
00:45:17,589 --> 00:45:21,468
He is sitting up on his throne
and just hanging out.

921
00:45:21,552 --> 00:45:24,263
We knew he'd been drinking
in the daytime.

922
00:45:24,346 --> 00:45:29,351
We all felt that he was drinking
his way through that picture.

923
00:45:33,105 --> 00:45:38,152
The costume designer,
Michael Woulfe,

924
00:45:38,235 --> 00:45:41,905
he wanted it to look
as if I were naked.

925
00:45:43,907 --> 00:45:44,700
The censor,

926
00:45:44,783 --> 00:45:48,162
the haze office would decide
that well,

927
00:45:48,245 --> 00:45:51,707
this scene is too racy,
and they'd edit a film

928
00:45:51,790 --> 00:45:54,376
before they would open it
in the city.

929
00:45:54,460 --> 00:45:58,046
My dance number was cut out
of the film,

930
00:45:58,130 --> 00:46:01,216
in Baltimore, in Boston.

931
00:46:01,300 --> 00:46:03,135
I don't know where else.

932
00:46:03,218 --> 00:46:07,264
Woman of Samarkand,
I recognize her by the uh...

933
00:46:07,347 --> 00:46:09,766
There are no finer dancers
under the heavens.

934
00:46:09,850 --> 00:46:12,561
And without compare
in the arts of love.

935
00:46:12,644 --> 00:46:14,146
After them all other women
are like

936
00:46:14,229 --> 00:46:15,689
the second pressing
of the grape.

937
00:46:15,772 --> 00:46:17,399
[Wang chuckling]

938
00:46:17,483 --> 00:46:17,941
I didn't--

939
00:46:18,025 --> 00:46:21,236
I thought it was, um,
not good.

940
00:46:25,616 --> 00:46:27,159
[people gasp]

941
00:46:27,701 --> 00:46:28,368
[sighs]

942
00:46:28,452 --> 00:46:32,456
There's so many strange things
about this movie.

943
00:46:32,539 --> 00:46:36,001
And about Howard Hughes'
participation.

944
00:46:36,084 --> 00:46:39,338
But one of the things that
apparently he insisted upon,

945
00:46:39,421 --> 00:46:41,215
was they moved tons,

946
00:46:41,298 --> 00:46:45,886
literally tons of desert sand
and-- and brought it

947
00:46:45,969 --> 00:46:47,679
onto a sound stage.

948
00:46:47,763 --> 00:46:51,308
JAMES:
In fact, Howard Hughes and the crew

949
00:46:51,391 --> 00:46:54,895
carried 60 tonnes of this stuff
back to the studio,

950
00:46:54,978 --> 00:46:57,356
so that this deep,
rich red sand

951
00:46:57,439 --> 00:47:00,400
could be spread on the floors
of the sound stage.

952
00:47:00,484 --> 00:47:03,445
When they rebuilt parts
of the village

953
00:47:03,529 --> 00:47:05,948
in Culver City at RKO.

954
00:47:06,031 --> 00:47:08,283
MARC:
They have a campfire scene.

955
00:47:08,367 --> 00:47:10,077
They would actually shoot that
in the stage.

956
00:47:10,160 --> 00:47:12,871
They'd bring all the sage brush,
the sand, the rocks.

957
00:47:14,122 --> 00:47:16,959
JOHN:
So, when they shot these scenes with these close-ups

958
00:47:17,042 --> 00:47:18,335
of John Wayne,
and Susan Hayward,

959
00:47:18,418 --> 00:47:20,587
and Agnes Moorehead,
and Pedro Armendariz,

960
00:47:20,671 --> 00:47:22,214
it would fit with the film,

961
00:47:22,297 --> 00:47:24,675
so there wouldn't be
a jarring difference.

962
00:47:24,758 --> 00:47:26,385
So, they ended up bringing back

963
00:47:26,468 --> 00:47:29,888
all this radioactive soil back
for a sound stage filming.

964
00:47:29,972 --> 00:47:32,099
JAMES:
They would leave it there for all of the weeks

965
00:47:32,182 --> 00:47:35,269
that were necessary
to film the interiors.

966
00:47:35,352 --> 00:47:36,895
They were exposed to it

967
00:47:36,979 --> 00:47:40,524
in these hermetically-sealed
sound stages

968
00:47:40,607 --> 00:47:42,693
day after day, after day.

969
00:47:44,736 --> 00:47:53,745
[♪♪♪]

970
00:47:54,871 --> 00:47:58,500
JOHN:The Conqueror
was released in 1956.

971
00:47:58,584 --> 00:48:00,502
And there was a big push
for it.

972
00:48:00,586 --> 00:48:04,506
It-- it got a lot of promotion,
a lot of publicity.

973
00:48:04,590 --> 00:48:06,133
Hughes had invested $2 million
or something

974
00:48:06,216 --> 00:48:07,801
in promoting this film.

975
00:48:09,636 --> 00:48:12,639
[soldiers clamoring]

976
00:48:12,973 --> 00:48:14,182
The critics were not kind.

977
00:48:17,644 --> 00:48:20,731
KEVIN:
A John Wayne fan all the way through childhood

978
00:48:20,814 --> 00:48:22,941
and adult life.

979
00:48:23,025 --> 00:48:26,236
The Conqueror,
I cannot say that I ever saw it.

980
00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:28,655
And from what I've heard,
we didn't miss anything.

981
00:48:28,739 --> 00:48:36,163
It was not quite my John Wayne
uh, movie.

982
00:48:36,246 --> 00:48:36,997
It--

983
00:48:37,080 --> 00:48:39,416
It was an incredibly cheesy
movie that you know,

984
00:48:39,499 --> 00:48:42,711
even being young,
we laughed at it.

985
00:48:42,794 --> 00:48:43,920
THE CONQUEROR NARRATOR:For a hundred years,

986
00:48:44,004 --> 00:48:46,256
the children of their loins
ruled half the world.

987
00:48:49,593 --> 00:48:51,261
MICHAEL:
That's one of the things that's remarkable

988
00:48:51,345 --> 00:48:56,475
about the film is,
it does feel like an epic.

989
00:48:56,558 --> 00:49:00,187
But it's only a--
a 111 minutes long.

990
00:49:00,270 --> 00:49:01,063
[Michael chuckles]

991
00:49:01,146 --> 00:49:02,773
MICHAEL:
And it's has that-- a great virtue

992
00:49:02,856 --> 00:49:05,192
of feeling much longer
than it is.

993
00:49:09,112 --> 00:49:12,949
As bad as they sayThe Conqueror was,

994
00:49:13,033 --> 00:49:14,826
it was not unsuccessful.

995
00:49:14,910 --> 00:49:18,080
The movie cost $6 million
to make,

996
00:49:18,163 --> 00:49:21,166
but the movie made $12 million.

997
00:49:21,249 --> 00:49:22,668
$12 million in 1956

998
00:49:22,751 --> 00:49:26,963
would equate to about
$130 to $135 million today.

999
00:49:27,047 --> 00:49:29,549
So, it--
it was a successful movie.

1000
00:49:30,217 --> 00:49:32,302
NARRATOR:The cost to promote
and market the film

1001
00:49:32,386 --> 00:49:34,638
erased any profit for Hughes.

1002
00:49:39,643 --> 00:49:48,652
[♪♪♪]

1003
00:49:50,028 --> 00:49:53,073
NEVADA ATOMIC TESTS NARRATOR:That great flash
in the western sky.

1004
00:49:53,156 --> 00:49:55,367
An atomic bomb
at the Nevada test site,

1005
00:49:55,450 --> 00:49:58,745
140 miles to the west.

1006
00:49:58,829 --> 00:50:01,248
But it's old stuff
to St. George.

1007
00:50:01,331 --> 00:50:02,457
Routine.

1008
00:50:02,541 --> 00:50:06,294
They've seen a lot of them,
ever since 1951.

1009
00:50:06,378 --> 00:50:08,505
Nothing to get
excited about anymore.

1010
00:50:08,588 --> 00:50:12,342
MARY:
I mean, they did 928 tests in that desert.

1011
00:50:12,426 --> 00:50:14,469
That's 928 bombs.

1012
00:50:14,553 --> 00:50:17,806
More powerful than Hiroshima
and Nagasaki,

1013
00:50:17,889 --> 00:50:20,225
that were dropped
on our own country

1014
00:50:20,308 --> 00:50:21,685
by our government.

1015
00:50:22,853 --> 00:50:24,688
KEVIN:
It was a common experience.

1016
00:50:24,771 --> 00:50:28,984
When I'd feel that concussion,
I knew exactly where to look.

1017
00:50:29,067 --> 00:50:30,444
We'd be working out there
in the field,

1018
00:50:30,527 --> 00:50:31,153
and you know,

1019
00:50:31,236 --> 00:50:33,739
you could see the mushroom
cloud come up.

1020
00:50:33,822 --> 00:50:37,659
My mom would come out to um,
the field,

1021
00:50:37,743 --> 00:50:39,995
and she would take us back home.

1022
00:50:40,078 --> 00:50:41,329
And make us stay in the house

1023
00:50:41,413 --> 00:50:44,332
when that cloud floated
over the valley.

1024
00:50:44,416 --> 00:50:46,793
This one time,

1025
00:50:46,877 --> 00:50:50,172
I went
and opened up the door.

1026
00:50:50,255 --> 00:50:51,173
And looked at that cloud

1027
00:50:51,256 --> 00:50:53,884
as it was drifting over
the valley.

1028
00:50:53,967 --> 00:50:58,638
And it had an eerie orangish
red tint to it.

1029
00:50:58,722 --> 00:51:01,391
You know, so you knew,
that the cloud was hot.

1030
00:51:04,102 --> 00:51:05,771
ANDREW:
Starting in '53,

1031
00:51:05,854 --> 00:51:10,150
there were sheep ranchers
who were noticing

1032
00:51:10,233 --> 00:51:13,111
disease effect on sheep.

1033
00:51:13,195 --> 00:51:16,865
Sheep that were dead,
sheep that had lesions.

1034
00:51:16,948 --> 00:51:19,659
Things that they claimed
they'd never seen before,

1035
00:51:19,743 --> 00:51:22,245
and that were happening
in numbers

1036
00:51:22,329 --> 00:51:24,664
that were unprecedented.

1037
00:51:25,248 --> 00:51:26,708
CLAUDIA:
During lambing season,

1038
00:51:26,792 --> 00:51:29,795
our neighbors had piles
of dead lambs.

1039
00:51:29,878 --> 00:51:32,798
They were deformed lambs.

1040
00:51:32,881 --> 00:51:36,051
And I always thought that
that was normal

1041
00:51:36,134 --> 00:51:39,930
to have piles
of dead deformed lambs

1042
00:51:40,013 --> 00:51:41,890
during lambing season.

1043
00:51:41,973 --> 00:51:45,560
ILENE:
I remember the Bulloch family losing a lot of sheep

1044
00:51:45,644 --> 00:51:47,229
and not--
they weren't just dead,

1045
00:51:47,312 --> 00:51:48,855
they lost their livelihood.

1046
00:51:48,939 --> 00:51:50,774
They lost their way
to make a living.

1047
00:51:51,900 --> 00:51:56,404
CLAUDIA:
It was determined that the sheep had died from starvation

1048
00:51:56,488 --> 00:51:57,989
and being cold.

1049
00:51:58,073 --> 00:52:00,951
Well,
we knew those sheepherders.

1050
00:52:01,034 --> 00:52:03,078
We knew them personally.

1051
00:52:03,161 --> 00:52:05,872
They weren't starving
their sheep.

1052
00:52:05,956 --> 00:52:07,833
Their sheep weren't freezing.

1053
00:52:10,502 --> 00:52:12,462
So, it was a low blow.

1054
00:52:12,546 --> 00:52:15,465
Those people lost
their livelihoods

1055
00:52:15,549 --> 00:52:21,179
and that’d been generation
after generation of farmers.

1056
00:52:33,525 --> 00:52:36,403
NARRATOR:
The Conqueror was the last film Howard Hughes produced.

1057
00:52:36,486 --> 00:52:37,779
Before the film's release,

1058
00:52:37,863 --> 00:52:40,615
Hughes sold RKO
to General Teleradio

1059
00:52:40,699 --> 00:52:42,659
for $25 million.

1060
00:52:42,742 --> 00:52:46,621
By 1967, he was the richest man
in America

1061
00:52:46,705 --> 00:52:51,084
valued at $1.37 billion.

1062
00:52:51,167 --> 00:52:52,377
The fact he bought back
the rights

1063
00:52:52,460 --> 00:52:54,045
to his last two pictures,

1064
00:52:54,129 --> 00:52:57,340
Jet Pilot and The Conquerorfor $12 million,

1065
00:52:57,424 --> 00:52:59,175
led one observer to comment,

1066
00:52:59,259 --> 00:53:04,514
“It was the show business coup
of the century for Teleradio.

1067
00:53:04,598 --> 00:53:07,392
What were you thinking Howard?”

1068
00:53:07,475 --> 00:53:08,810
Hughes got his wish

1069
00:53:08,894 --> 00:53:11,730
when he began an affair
with Susan Hayward.

1070
00:53:13,440 --> 00:53:16,902
My mother dated Howard Hughes
for a short period of time.

1071
00:53:16,985 --> 00:53:20,363
And Howard Hughes
was a very weird man.

1072
00:53:20,447 --> 00:53:22,032
He was really trying
to make an impression

1073
00:53:22,115 --> 00:53:22,949
on my mother,

1074
00:53:23,033 --> 00:53:25,160
and he came to the house
one time,

1075
00:53:25,243 --> 00:53:26,661
and he met my brother and I.

1076
00:53:26,745 --> 00:53:28,997
He gave each of us
a silver dollar.

1077
00:53:29,080 --> 00:53:33,418
And you know, my mother said,
“Give me the silver dollars.”

1078
00:53:33,501 --> 00:53:35,420
She gave them back to him.

1079
00:53:35,503 --> 00:53:38,381
She didn't approve of the fact
of-- of him,

1080
00:53:38,465 --> 00:53:42,969
giving stuff to children
that he really didn't know.

1081
00:53:43,929 --> 00:53:45,347
NARRATOR:When Hayward discovered that

1082
00:53:45,430 --> 00:53:48,266
the wandering eyes of Hughes
hadn't abated,

1083
00:53:48,350 --> 00:53:50,852
she terminated
the short-lived romance.

1084
00:53:51,937 --> 00:53:54,105
TIM:
My mother had this uncanny knack.

1085
00:53:54,189 --> 00:53:55,732
I understand it now,

1086
00:53:55,815 --> 00:54:00,195
but the men she had in her life
were just totally inappropriate.

1087
00:54:00,278 --> 00:54:03,615
My mother repetitiously got
involved with men

1088
00:54:03,698 --> 00:54:06,076
who you know,
same guy, different face,

1089
00:54:06,159 --> 00:54:07,535
that kind of thing.

1090
00:54:07,619 --> 00:54:08,578
And uh,

1091
00:54:08,662 --> 00:54:11,414
a lot of her relationships
didn't really last that long.

1092
00:54:13,667 --> 00:54:22,676
[♪♪♪]

1093
00:54:23,218 --> 00:54:25,011
MAN 13:
My father had a dairy.

1094
00:54:25,095 --> 00:54:27,514
Uh, it was called
the “St. George Ice Company”.

1095
00:54:27,597 --> 00:54:30,266
They were the only ones
that pasteurized milk,

1096
00:54:30,350 --> 00:54:33,478
uh, probably south of Provo.

1097
00:54:33,561 --> 00:54:37,065
ILENE:
My uncle, Grant Whitehead was a milkman,

1098
00:54:37,148 --> 00:54:39,526
that everybody knew
and he was recruited to be

1099
00:54:39,609 --> 00:54:42,904
in the Atomic Energy Commission
movie,

1100
00:54:42,988 --> 00:54:46,700
that told everybody
this sleepy town.

1101
00:54:46,783 --> 00:54:48,535
NEVADA ATOMIC TESTS NARRATOR:Pretty deserted at this hour.

1102
00:54:48,618 --> 00:54:50,704
Everything is closed down.

1103
00:54:50,787 --> 00:54:52,706
Everyone's asleep.

1104
00:54:52,789 --> 00:54:55,834
Everyone that is,
except a milkman.

1105
00:54:55,917 --> 00:54:58,962
Been delivering over
the same route for 12 years.

1106
00:54:59,045 --> 00:55:00,171
Never missed a day.

1107
00:55:01,131 --> 00:55:05,343
RICHARD:
They filmed The Conqueror here when I was a teenager.

1108
00:55:05,427 --> 00:55:06,344
So, I was often,

1109
00:55:06,428 --> 00:55:09,681
I uh, asked to go out
and deliver milk to uh--

1110
00:55:09,764 --> 00:55:13,184
to the onsite filming,
but mostly up in Snow's Canyon,

1111
00:55:13,268 --> 00:55:14,477
not-- not far from here.

1112
00:55:14,561 --> 00:55:17,022
The cows ate the crops.

1113
00:55:17,105 --> 00:55:20,233
The kids drank the milk
from the cow,

1114
00:55:20,316 --> 00:55:21,651
and adults did.

1115
00:55:21,735 --> 00:55:24,696
ANDREW:
If radiation gets into the ground,

1116
00:55:24,779 --> 00:55:27,323
and then grass grows
on that ground,

1117
00:55:27,407 --> 00:55:28,992
and cows eats that grass,

1118
00:55:29,075 --> 00:55:32,328
then the milk can have
strontium, uh,

1119
00:55:32,412 --> 00:55:35,582
or other radioactive elements
in it.

1120
00:55:35,665 --> 00:55:38,209
And that was a fact
that was well known.

1121
00:55:40,754 --> 00:55:41,588
MARY:
Growing up

1122
00:55:41,671 --> 00:55:44,549
many of my childhood friends
were getting sick.

1123
00:55:44,632 --> 00:55:46,676
I had little Tammy Packer
down the street,

1124
00:55:46,760 --> 00:55:50,430
who was probably 8
when I was 7.

1125
00:55:50,513 --> 00:55:55,185
And she came to school one day
with her head shaved.

1126
00:55:55,268 --> 00:55:56,895
Because she had had
a brain tumor

1127
00:55:56,978 --> 00:55:58,438
and had surgery.

1128
00:55:58,521 --> 00:56:00,607
Um, she ended up dying,

1129
00:56:00,690 --> 00:56:03,401
and you're not used
to your little friends dying.

1130
00:56:03,485 --> 00:56:04,527
Four weeks later,

1131
00:56:04,611 --> 00:56:07,572
her 4-year-old brother died
of testicular cancer.

1132
00:56:07,947 --> 00:56:10,867
CLAUDIA:
Darwin Hoyt was in fifth grade.

1133
00:56:13,161 --> 00:56:15,622
And Bruce Stone was
in sixth grade,

1134
00:56:15,705 --> 00:56:16,581
when he got sick.

1135
00:56:16,664 --> 00:56:18,958
And he died when we were
in eighth grade.

1136
00:56:19,042 --> 00:56:20,418
He had his leg amputated,

1137
00:56:20,502 --> 00:56:24,089
and he actually lived
till he was in eighth grade.

1138
00:56:24,172 --> 00:56:28,551
Darwin died, I believe,
when he was in sixth grade.

1139
00:56:29,052 --> 00:56:31,888
ILENE:
I knew that Coleen may had cancer.

1140
00:56:31,971 --> 00:56:34,474
I knew that
Mark Bradshaw's mother,

1141
00:56:34,557 --> 00:56:37,268
Welwyn, was going to died
because she had cancer.

1142
00:56:37,352 --> 00:56:41,189
At my age,
it wasn't until later on

1143
00:56:41,272 --> 00:56:43,942
that I started to really
get a grasp

1144
00:56:44,025 --> 00:56:45,568
of what had happened.

1145
00:56:45,652 --> 00:56:47,862
Because so many of them
were happening around me,

1146
00:56:47,946 --> 00:56:51,491
I grew up thinking it was
just normal for people

1147
00:56:51,574 --> 00:56:52,408
to get cancer,

1148
00:56:52,492 --> 00:56:54,452
and for people
to lose their dads,

1149
00:56:54,536 --> 00:56:56,454
and for the little kids to die.

1150
00:56:57,247 --> 00:57:00,583
ILENE:
Irma Thomas' daughter, Michelle, was a good friend of mine

1151
00:57:00,667 --> 00:57:02,961
and I spent a lot of time
at their house.

1152
00:57:03,044 --> 00:57:08,341
And Irma had a hand-drawn map
of St. George.

1153
00:57:08,424 --> 00:57:12,053
And she started marking X's
on the houses of people

1154
00:57:12,137 --> 00:57:13,847
that had cancer.

1155
00:57:13,930 --> 00:57:17,142
And it became very apparent
that like,

1156
00:57:17,225 --> 00:57:21,479
wait, there's a lot of people
dying of cancer.

1157
00:57:21,563 --> 00:57:25,108
And it was because
of Irma Thomas

1158
00:57:25,191 --> 00:57:26,609
that we really started to think,

1159
00:57:26,693 --> 00:57:29,571
“Wow,
something's going on here.”

1160
00:57:29,654 --> 00:57:31,865
When Michelle Thomas
contracted cancer,

1161
00:57:31,948 --> 00:57:32,657
I thought,

1162
00:57:32,740 --> 00:57:35,785
“And here's her mom trying
to prove

1163
00:57:35,869 --> 00:57:38,413
that that government
gave us all cancer

1164
00:57:38,496 --> 00:57:40,832
and then her own daughter
gets cancer.”

1165
00:57:42,125 --> 00:57:46,921
When the exposure is
to a young person,

1166
00:57:47,005 --> 00:57:49,799
the cancer may come then
at any point in their life

1167
00:57:49,883 --> 00:57:50,550
in the future,

1168
00:57:50,633 --> 00:57:53,636
and many times
the latency period for cancer

1169
00:57:53,720 --> 00:57:56,848
is on the order
of 10, 20, 30, 40,

1170
00:57:56,931 --> 00:57:58,600
even 50 years later.

1171
00:57:58,683 --> 00:58:01,227
There were the questions.

1172
00:58:01,311 --> 00:58:04,189
But there was
so much propaganda

1173
00:58:04,272 --> 00:58:05,607
that we were safe.

1174
00:58:05,690 --> 00:58:06,774
GREGORY:There has been
some exaggeration

1175
00:58:06,858 --> 00:58:08,735
says the Atomic Energy
Commission.

1176
00:58:08,818 --> 00:58:11,571
The tests do not produce
dangerous fallout.

1177
00:58:15,783 --> 00:58:18,203
CLAUDIA:
They said we were fine.

1178
00:58:18,286 --> 00:58:20,788
And they wouldn't do anything
to harm us.

1179
00:58:25,919 --> 00:58:34,928
[♪♪♪]

1180
00:58:36,971 --> 00:58:40,099
NARRATOR:Dick Powell would direct
three more films,

1181
00:58:40,183 --> 00:58:41,559
and executive produced,

1182
00:58:41,643 --> 00:58:44,020
as well as hosted popular
television shows.

1183
00:58:44,103 --> 00:58:46,064
ZANE GREY THEATER NARRATOR:Tonight's star, Dick Powell.

1184
00:58:47,232 --> 00:58:48,983
Most important of all
the professional men

1185
00:58:49,067 --> 00:58:50,860
who moved to the frontier
was the doctor.

1186
00:58:51,778 --> 00:58:54,822
NARRATOR:While directing
a television program in 1962,

1187
00:58:54,906 --> 00:58:57,325
Powell's neck
and face began to swell.

1188
00:58:57,408 --> 00:59:00,870
And he was diagnosed
with cancer of the lymph glands.

1189
00:59:00,954 --> 00:59:02,705
Doctors told Powell's wife,

1190
00:59:02,789 --> 00:59:06,542
movie star June Allyson
to prepare for the worst.

1191
00:59:06,626 --> 00:59:09,879
JOHN:
Dick Powell was one of the first to kind of succumb to cancer.

1192
00:59:09,963 --> 00:59:12,548
Dick Powell was the guy
who was--

1193
00:59:12,632 --> 00:59:14,717
he was there
through the entire thing.

1194
00:59:14,801 --> 00:59:17,553
He was there probably longer
and in more,

1195
00:59:17,637 --> 00:59:19,138
um, danger than anybody.

1196
00:59:19,222 --> 00:59:21,266
Because he was sitting
in the director's chair

1197
00:59:21,349 --> 00:59:23,810
in this huge boom,
sitting there,

1198
00:59:23,893 --> 00:59:27,146
just being hit with this dust
in his face for hours.

1199
00:59:28,106 --> 00:59:32,235
MAN 14:
My dad uh, frequently wore a-- a mask.

1200
00:59:32,318 --> 00:59:33,987
Then when he was talking
to the actors, he--

1201
00:59:34,070 --> 00:59:36,281
he-- he took it off.

1202
00:59:36,364 --> 00:59:38,908
JOHN:
Some of the actors were only in portions of the film

1203
00:59:38,992 --> 00:59:40,952
who could kind of come and go.

1204
00:59:41,035 --> 00:59:42,745
Dick Powell was there
all the time.

1205
00:59:46,541 --> 00:59:48,459
NARRATOR:Allyson learned that
the nuclear tests

1206
00:59:48,543 --> 00:59:50,295
done near the set
of The Conqueror,

1207
00:59:50,378 --> 00:59:52,422
after Powell's death.

1208
00:59:52,505 --> 00:59:54,382
She was later heard to remark,

1209
00:59:54,465 --> 00:59:56,718
“Had I stayed longer on
location with Richard,

1210
00:59:56,801 --> 01:00:00,346
I might not be alive today
nor the children.”

1211
01:00:07,854 --> 01:00:10,440
On the set of the second
James Bond feature,

1212
01:00:10,523 --> 01:00:11,607
From Russia with Love,

1213
01:00:11,691 --> 01:00:14,902
Armendariz was fighting
a losing battle.

1214
01:00:14,986 --> 01:00:17,864
He took the part of Kerim Bey,
the Bond ally,

1215
01:00:17,947 --> 01:00:20,074
in order to provide
for his family.

1216
01:00:20,616 --> 01:00:23,494
Take a look,
you should remember him.

1217
01:00:23,578 --> 01:00:25,788
This man kills for pleasure.

1218
01:00:26,706 --> 01:00:29,334
Pedro kept the fact
he was dying from lymph cancer

1219
01:00:29,417 --> 01:00:32,879
that had spread to his hips
making walking difficult.

1220
01:00:32,962 --> 01:00:36,507
He kept working
with regular doses of morphine.

1221
01:00:40,720 --> 01:00:43,639
When From Russia with Love
went into the editing phase,

1222
01:00:43,723 --> 01:00:47,018
Armendariz was admitted
to the UCLA Medical Center.

1223
01:00:47,101 --> 01:00:48,353
He asked his wife, Carmen,

1224
01:00:48,436 --> 01:00:50,897
to get a ham sandwich for him
to eat.

1225
01:00:50,980 --> 01:00:52,065
She leaves.

1226
01:00:52,148 --> 01:00:54,901
Pedro goes into the drawer
in the stand next to him

1227
01:00:54,984 --> 01:00:56,736
and pulls out a gun.

1228
01:00:56,819 --> 01:00:58,112
When Carmen returns,

1229
01:00:58,196 --> 01:01:00,448
she finds him dead
from a gunshot wound

1230
01:01:00,531 --> 01:01:01,657
through the heart.

1231
01:01:01,741 --> 01:01:03,284
He was 51.

1232
01:01:06,746 --> 01:01:10,583
Someone had gotten him a gun
and he-- he took his own life.

1233
01:01:10,666 --> 01:01:12,335
I mean, it was terrible.

1234
01:01:12,418 --> 01:01:14,879
Everybody was in a state
of shock.

1235
01:01:14,962 --> 01:01:17,423
I mean, he had--
obviously had terminal cancer,

1236
01:01:17,507 --> 01:01:18,758
and he didn't wanna
deal with it.

1237
01:01:18,841 --> 01:01:21,386
I can understand that
completely.

1238
01:01:21,469 --> 01:01:22,512
He didn't want to--

1239
01:01:22,595 --> 01:01:25,181
He didn't want to exist,
you know,

1240
01:01:25,264 --> 01:01:27,475
unless the quality of life
is good.

1241
01:01:27,558 --> 01:01:28,476
You know, what is the point?

1242
01:01:29,727 --> 01:01:31,646
NARRATOR:When learning
of his friend's death,

1243
01:01:31,729 --> 01:01:34,649
Wayne stated,
“I don't blame Pete.

1244
01:01:34,732 --> 01:01:36,359
I'd do the same thing.”

1245
01:01:44,659 --> 01:01:47,370
♪ My friends all tell me,
go to him, run to him ♪

1246
01:01:47,453 --> 01:01:48,913
♪ Say sweet, lovely things
to him ♪

1247
01:01:48,996 --> 01:01:55,420
♪ Tell him, he's the one ♪

1248
01:01:55,503 --> 01:01:56,754
♪ Deep in my heart ♪

1249
01:01:56,838 --> 01:01:59,173
♪ I know it, but it’s so hard
to show it ♪

1250
01:01:59,257 --> 01:02:02,260
♪ ‘Cause it's easier ♪

1251
01:02:02,343 --> 01:02:05,596
♪ Easier said than done ♪

1252
01:02:05,680 --> 01:02:06,556
♪ My buddies tell me ♪

1253
01:02:06,639 --> 01:02:08,349
♪ Fly to him, sigh to him ♪

1254
01:02:08,433 --> 01:02:10,101
♪ Tell him I would die for him ♪

1255
01:02:10,184 --> 01:02:16,607
♪ Tell him he's the one ♪

1256
01:02:16,691 --> 01:02:18,401
♪ Although, he gives me
a feeling ♪

1257
01:02:18,484 --> 01:02:20,278
♪ That sets my heart a-reeling ♪

1258
01:02:20,361 --> 01:02:23,156
♪ Yeah, it's easier ♪

1259
01:02:23,239 --> 01:02:25,450
♪ Easier said than done ♪

1260
01:02:25,533 --> 01:02:27,118
[applauding]

1261
01:02:27,201 --> 01:02:27,952
♪ Well, I know ♪

1262
01:02:28,035 --> 01:02:28,953
♪ I know ♪

1263
01:02:29,036 --> 01:02:30,580
♪ That I love him so ♪

1264
01:02:30,663 --> 01:02:34,083
♪ But I'm afraid
that he'll never know ♪

1265
01:02:34,167 --> 01:02:39,422
JOHN F. KENNEDY:Continued unrestricted testing
by the nuclear powers

1266
01:02:39,505 --> 01:02:42,425
will increasingly contaminate
the air

1267
01:02:42,508 --> 01:02:46,179
that all of us must breathe.

1268
01:02:46,262 --> 01:02:49,223
The loss of even one human life

1269
01:02:49,307 --> 01:02:52,643
or the malformation
of even one baby,

1270
01:02:52,727 --> 01:02:56,939
who may be born long
after all of us have gone,

1271
01:02:57,023 --> 01:02:58,524
should be of concern to us all.

1272
01:03:01,861 --> 01:03:08,743
♪ Easier said than done ♪

1273
01:03:10,828 --> 01:03:15,291
MICHAEL:
They banned atmospheric testing and uh,

1274
01:03:15,374 --> 01:03:16,834
the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

1275
01:03:16,918 --> 01:03:21,297
was one of the big achievements
of the Kennedy administration.

1276
01:03:21,380 --> 01:03:26,177
Tragically, it came too late
for Pedro Armendariz,

1277
01:03:26,260 --> 01:03:27,678
and John Wayne,
and Susan Hayward,

1278
01:03:27,762 --> 01:03:31,057
and Dick Powell,
and um, so many other people.

1279
01:03:32,099 --> 01:03:35,269
A fast ship going in harm's way.

1280
01:03:37,313 --> 01:03:41,984
Lousy situation,
Commander Eddington

1281
01:03:42,068 --> 01:03:45,988
John Wayne's first
direct encounter

1282
01:03:46,072 --> 01:03:49,951
with the scourge of cancer
occurred in 1964.

1283
01:03:50,034 --> 01:03:53,287
Uh, he had just completed
filming In Harm's Way

1284
01:03:53,371 --> 01:03:54,330
in Hawaii.

1285
01:03:54,413 --> 01:03:56,582
He was coughing like crazy.

1286
01:03:56,666 --> 01:04:01,462
His wife, uh, Pilar asked him
to go get checked out.

1287
01:04:01,546 --> 01:04:04,674
They discovered
a rather large-sized tumor

1288
01:04:04,757 --> 01:04:06,008
on one of his lungs,

1289
01:04:06,092 --> 01:04:08,553
and diagnosed him
with lung cancer,

1290
01:04:08,636 --> 01:04:11,138
and in very short order,

1291
01:04:11,222 --> 01:04:13,015
the lung was removed
in its entirety,

1292
01:04:13,099 --> 01:04:15,059
along with two ribs.

1293
01:04:15,142 --> 01:04:17,895
He had a procedure where
they broke his sternum open

1294
01:04:17,979 --> 01:04:18,854
like this.

1295
01:04:18,938 --> 01:04:22,984
They took out a lobe of his
lung and sewed him back up.

1296
01:04:23,067 --> 01:04:26,195
He was-- he was in the hospital
for six weeks

1297
01:04:26,279 --> 01:04:29,073
after the procedure
in convalescence.

1298
01:04:29,156 --> 01:04:31,367
He was so swollen up,
he looked like Jabba the Hutt.

1299
01:04:31,450 --> 01:04:34,120
I was absolutely just
scared to death.

1300
01:04:34,203 --> 01:04:36,122
I just thought that was gonna
be the end of it.

1301
01:04:36,205 --> 01:04:39,250
Somehow, he made it
through this experience.

1302
01:04:41,627 --> 01:04:42,753
[grunting]

1303
01:04:42,837 --> 01:04:46,591
JOHN WAYNE:
I was just finishing my 199th picture.

1304
01:04:46,674 --> 01:04:48,551
Never felt better in my life

1305
01:04:48,634 --> 01:04:49,760
And I said to myself,

1306
01:04:49,844 --> 01:04:54,265
“When this is finished,
I'm going out on my boat.”

1307
01:04:54,348 --> 01:04:57,893
And then I got nagged into
going for a medical checkup.

1308
01:04:57,977 --> 01:04:59,854
They found a spot on the X-rays.

1309
01:04:59,937 --> 01:05:01,063
It was lung cancer.

1310
01:05:01,147 --> 01:05:03,566
If I'd waited a few more weeks,
I wouldn't be here now.

1311
01:05:05,109 --> 01:05:07,528
MICHAEL GOLDMAN:
The whole anti smoking movement was kind of,

1312
01:05:07,612 --> 01:05:09,822
just being born in that era.

1313
01:05:09,905 --> 01:05:11,991
Smoke now, pay later.

1314
01:05:13,242 --> 01:05:17,455
He would get uh, requests
to be a spokesperson.

1315
01:05:17,538 --> 01:05:19,415
And ironically,
and interestingly,

1316
01:05:19,498 --> 01:05:21,167
he always said no.

1317
01:05:21,250 --> 01:05:24,420
And the reason he gave
for saying no,

1318
01:05:24,503 --> 01:05:27,673
was that no one had proven
to his satisfaction,

1319
01:05:27,757 --> 01:05:30,968
that his cancer was caused
by cigarette smoking.

1320
01:05:31,052 --> 01:05:33,262
So, why don't all of you
do yourselves a favor?

1321
01:05:33,346 --> 01:05:34,555
Get a checkup.

1322
01:05:41,562 --> 01:05:44,231
NARRATOR:It was also during the summer
of 1963,

1323
01:05:44,315 --> 01:05:47,193
that Agnes Moorehead's career
began to rise.

1324
01:05:48,235 --> 01:05:49,654
Though not
in the recognition factor,

1325
01:05:49,737 --> 01:05:51,322
as Wayne or Hayward.

1326
01:05:51,405 --> 01:05:53,032
She worked constantly,

1327
01:05:53,115 --> 01:05:55,993
and won acclaim
in the comedy television series,

1328
01:05:56,077 --> 01:05:57,703
Bewitched.

1329
01:05:57,787 --> 01:06:01,082
The Conquerorwas the last thing on her mind.

1330
01:06:01,165 --> 01:06:04,293
During a routine checkup
at the Mayo Clinic,

1331
01:06:04,377 --> 01:06:07,046
Moorehead was diagnosed
with uterine cancer,

1332
01:06:07,129 --> 01:06:09,298
that was spreading.

1333
01:06:09,382 --> 01:06:13,427
Alas, there is no peace
even for him

1334
01:06:13,511 --> 01:06:15,846
who seeks only
to enjoy his hard-won riches.

1335
01:06:16,389 --> 01:06:18,182
JOHN:
And then there were a bunch of other people

1336
01:06:18,265 --> 01:06:20,685
that were on the cast
and crew that were not known,

1337
01:06:20,768 --> 01:06:22,853
not named actors who would
have cancer

1338
01:06:22,937 --> 01:06:24,397
that were-- would die.

1339
01:06:24,480 --> 01:06:25,606
This was just happened

1340
01:06:25,690 --> 01:06:27,858
to be one of the movies
they made.

1341
01:06:27,942 --> 01:06:30,945
SYLVIA:
Of course, it was the multiple sicknesses

1342
01:06:31,028 --> 01:06:37,243
and the ultimate multiple
deaths of similar cause.

1343
01:06:37,326 --> 01:06:41,163
That's when people started
to talk about

1344
01:06:41,247 --> 01:06:47,128
the likelihood of them being
exposed up on location.

1345
01:06:47,211 --> 01:06:49,797
Those of us who had worked
on the picture, the dancers,

1346
01:06:49,880 --> 01:06:53,509
started realizing something
really horrible

1347
01:06:53,592 --> 01:06:55,511
had likely taken place.

1348
01:06:55,594 --> 01:06:58,556
And were we the luckiest people
in the world

1349
01:06:58,639 --> 01:07:00,307
not to have been there?

1350
01:07:00,391 --> 01:07:02,810
BARRIE:
Lucky you didn't go on location,

1351
01:07:02,893 --> 01:07:05,771
because these people are dying
that did.

1352
01:07:05,855 --> 01:07:07,523
That was the word around town.

1353
01:07:08,441 --> 01:07:11,402
NORMAN:
My sister and I, uh, were there the whole time.

1354
01:07:11,485 --> 01:07:13,154
You know, I was digging
in that dirt.

1355
01:07:13,237 --> 01:07:15,114
She was riding horses.

1356
01:07:15,197 --> 01:07:19,994
Uh, and uh,
my sister and I had been uh,

1357
01:07:20,077 --> 01:07:22,621
cancer-free all--
all of these years.

1358
01:07:22,705 --> 01:07:23,330
WOMAN 7:
Yes.

1359
01:07:23,414 --> 01:07:26,959
And I consider us both very,
very lucky.

1360
01:07:27,042 --> 01:07:31,672
Of the 220 people who were
constantly on location

1361
01:07:31,756 --> 01:07:37,887
shooting in Utah,
90 or 91 came down with cancer.

1362
01:07:38,929 --> 01:07:40,806
NARRATOR:Agnes Moorehead confided
to close friend

1363
01:07:40,890 --> 01:07:43,267
and confidante,
Debbie Reynolds,

1364
01:07:43,350 --> 01:07:45,978
“I should never have taken
that part.”

1365
01:07:46,061 --> 01:07:47,229
I think she told
Debbie Reynolds,

1366
01:07:47,313 --> 01:07:48,647
who was a friend of hers,

1367
01:07:48,731 --> 01:07:50,483
that she had never should have
gone there,

1368
01:07:50,566 --> 01:07:51,984
and made The Conqueror.

1369
01:07:52,067 --> 01:08:01,076
[♪♪♪]

1370
01:08:07,958 --> 01:08:10,252
ILENE:
My father was a delightful person.

1371
01:08:10,336 --> 01:08:13,088
His name was Orville Wardle,

1372
01:08:13,172 --> 01:08:16,717
and he worked
on road construction.

1373
01:08:16,801 --> 01:08:20,054
He had been healthy
his whole life.

1374
01:08:20,137 --> 01:08:24,058
Suddenly,
he got very sore muscles.

1375
01:08:24,934 --> 01:08:27,186
He went to the doctor.

1376
01:08:27,269 --> 01:08:31,816
He was sent up to LDS Hospital
in Salt Lake City.

1377
01:08:31,899 --> 01:08:35,653
And the doctor said,
“We opened up your dad

1378
01:08:35,736 --> 01:08:38,572
and he's completely full
of cancer.

1379
01:08:38,656 --> 01:08:40,950
All over lungs,
all over his pancreas,

1380
01:08:41,033 --> 01:08:41,909
everything.

1381
01:08:41,992 --> 01:08:43,911
There's absolutely nothing
we can do.

1382
01:08:43,994 --> 01:08:46,747
We are sewing him back together
right now.”

1383
01:08:47,373 --> 01:08:53,170
KEVIN:
In 1997, dad was diagnosed with leukemia.

1384
01:08:53,254 --> 01:08:57,633
They basically gave dad
two weeks to live.

1385
01:08:57,716 --> 01:09:00,010
Uh, which was a little bit
of a shock.

1386
01:09:00,094 --> 01:09:04,557
Uncle Stan was asking dad
what his uh, symptoms were.

1387
01:09:04,640 --> 01:09:08,269
And dad started telling
his symptoms to him.

1388
01:09:08,352 --> 01:09:10,104
And Uncle Stan looked at him,
and said,

1389
01:09:10,187 --> 01:09:12,273
“Those are exactly
the same symptoms

1390
01:09:12,356 --> 01:09:14,859
as Grandma Holt.”

1391
01:09:14,942 --> 01:09:19,363
And Grandma passed away
in about 1967.

1392
01:09:19,446 --> 01:09:22,867
At the time, they had no idea
what caused the--

1393
01:09:22,950 --> 01:09:24,660
my grandma's death.

1394
01:09:24,743 --> 01:09:29,707
But uh, dad and Uncle Stan
felt very, very positive

1395
01:09:29,790 --> 01:09:32,042
that it was uh, leukemia.

1396
01:09:32,126 --> 01:09:33,752
Very similar to what dad had.

1397
01:09:35,004 --> 01:09:37,882
MARY:
In the summer before my 29th birthday,

1398
01:09:37,965 --> 01:09:42,845
I found a lump on my neck,

1399
01:09:42,928 --> 01:09:44,597
and it was like the size
of a piece of corn.

1400
01:09:44,680 --> 01:09:45,890
And I kept moving it
up and down.

1401
01:09:45,973 --> 01:09:47,850
It didn't hurt.
I didn't think anything of it.

1402
01:09:47,933 --> 01:09:50,394
Then I got bronchitis
and I got pretty sick.

1403
01:09:50,477 --> 01:09:52,730
I went to the doctor
for the bronchitis

1404
01:09:52,813 --> 01:09:53,772
and she's feeling my throat.

1405
01:09:53,856 --> 01:09:56,108
And she says,
“Oh, you have a lump here.

1406
01:09:56,192 --> 01:09:57,359
Hmm.

1407
01:09:57,443 --> 01:09:59,111
Well,
we should probably check it.”

1408
01:09:59,194 --> 01:10:01,155
I thought, “Hm, okay.”

1409
01:10:01,238 --> 01:10:05,326
So, she sent me
to an endocrinologist

1410
01:10:05,409 --> 01:10:08,704
and he took a biopsy
and I was getting ready to go

1411
01:10:08,787 --> 01:10:11,206
with my then-husband
to a concert he was playing

1412
01:10:11,290 --> 01:10:12,166
when the phone rang.

1413
01:10:12,249 --> 01:10:17,087
It was the doctor and he said,
“Um, you've got cancer.”

1414
01:10:17,671 --> 01:10:22,551
My doctor said I had uh,
the beginning of uh,

1415
01:10:22,635 --> 01:10:24,178
prostrate cancer.

1416
01:10:24,261 --> 01:10:32,895
In 1955,
they excised the prostrate.

1417
01:10:33,479 --> 01:10:37,650
It was just the most painful
time of our lives.

1418
01:10:37,733 --> 01:10:42,404
We took my dad home
and laid him on the couch,

1419
01:10:42,488 --> 01:10:44,573
and we watched him die
little by little.

1420
01:10:44,657 --> 01:10:46,408
And he was in terrible pain.

1421
01:10:47,826 --> 01:10:50,371
KEVIN:
After he was diagnosed with cancer,

1422
01:10:50,454 --> 01:10:54,124
dad lived two and a half years.

1423
01:10:54,208 --> 01:10:56,418
About 2006, 2005,

1424
01:10:56,502 --> 01:11:00,130
my mom was diagnosed
with lymphoma.

1425
01:11:00,214 --> 01:11:05,052
Mom lived for about six
to eight months after that.

1426
01:11:05,135 --> 01:11:07,262
My sister, three years ago,

1427
01:11:07,346 --> 01:11:10,808
passed away
with pancreatic cancer.

1428
01:11:10,891 --> 01:11:12,643
So, my sister and my parents

1429
01:11:12,726 --> 01:11:15,312
have all passed away
with cancer.

1430
01:11:15,396 --> 01:11:17,481
But life is life.

1431
01:11:17,564 --> 01:11:20,985
You take the challenges
and go with it.

1432
01:11:21,068 --> 01:11:23,487
And I do have to say that

1433
01:11:23,570 --> 01:11:29,076
I wouldn't want to wish cancer
on anyone.

1434
01:11:30,744 --> 01:11:32,705
MARY:
I had surgery right away.

1435
01:11:32,788 --> 01:11:37,084
They removed my thyroid
and then they had

1436
01:11:37,167 --> 01:11:39,837
to remover lymph nodes
around it.

1437
01:11:39,920 --> 01:11:44,091
And when my mother
started crying

1438
01:11:44,174 --> 01:11:46,093
as they wheeled me
into the operating room,

1439
01:11:46,176 --> 01:11:49,304
I thought maybe this is worse
than I think.

1440
01:11:49,388 --> 01:11:51,432
Maybe this isn't so good.

1441
01:11:53,434 --> 01:11:55,060
So, because they removed
my thyroid,

1442
01:11:55,144 --> 01:11:57,062
I had no thyroid hormone,

1443
01:11:57,146 --> 01:12:00,441
which meant that I had
to be on thyroid medicine

1444
01:12:00,524 --> 01:12:02,276
for the rest of my life.

1445
01:12:02,359 --> 01:12:03,652
And I-- I did ask ‘em,

1446
01:12:03,736 --> 01:12:05,696
I said, “What would have happen
if I just never

1447
01:12:05,779 --> 01:12:06,322
took this again?”

1448
01:12:06,405 --> 01:12:08,240
They go, “Well, you-- you die.”

1449
01:12:09,491 --> 01:12:10,868
And it did make me think,

1450
01:12:10,951 --> 01:12:13,620
“I've just gotta always be sure
to have extra.”

1451
01:12:13,704 --> 01:12:22,713
[♪♪♪]

1452
01:12:27,009 --> 01:12:31,096
NARRATOR:Interior, Desert Princess Hotel,
Las Vegas, day.

1453
01:12:31,180 --> 01:12:32,848
Medium shot.

1454
01:12:32,931 --> 01:12:36,435
Howard Hughes is now a recluse
in his Las Vegas hotel,

1455
01:12:36,518 --> 01:12:39,021
rarely venturing
from his top floor suite.

1456
01:12:39,104 --> 01:12:41,273
He has become consumed
by irrational fears

1457
01:12:41,356 --> 01:12:42,858
of germs and diseases.

1458
01:12:42,941 --> 01:12:45,360
He would only communicate
through edicts and memos

1459
01:12:45,444 --> 01:12:46,987
to select employees.

1460
01:12:47,071 --> 01:12:50,699
Hughes by the 1970s
had become an enigma,

1461
01:12:50,783 --> 01:12:52,826
surrounded in mystery.

1462
01:12:52,910 --> 01:12:53,786
Hughes read with horror

1463
01:12:53,869 --> 01:12:55,746
about the continued
atomic testing

1464
01:12:55,829 --> 01:12:57,539
near his desert paradise,

1465
01:12:57,623 --> 01:12:59,208
and decided to do
whatever it took

1466
01:12:59,291 --> 01:13:00,876
to stop the testing.

1467
01:13:00,959 --> 01:13:03,587
He sent his top aide,
Robert Maheu,

1468
01:13:03,670 --> 01:13:05,714
to meet President Lyndon Johnson

1469
01:13:05,798 --> 01:13:08,801
and offer him $1 million
after he left office

1470
01:13:08,884 --> 01:13:11,303
if he would stop the testing.

1471
01:13:13,222 --> 01:13:15,557
[explosion]

1472
01:13:15,641 --> 01:13:18,310
NARRATOR:The tests went off as planned.

1473
01:13:20,145 --> 01:13:22,856
Why was Hughes concerned
about atomic testing

1474
01:13:22,940 --> 01:13:25,067
in the area 135 miles

1475
01:13:25,150 --> 01:13:27,486
from where he produced
The Conqueror?

1476
01:13:31,448 --> 01:13:33,867
JOHN:
Before production began on The Conqueror,

1477
01:13:33,951 --> 01:13:35,953
RKO would have made some effort

1478
01:13:36,036 --> 01:13:38,330
to make sure that the area
was safe.

1479
01:13:38,413 --> 01:13:39,706
So, RKO, Dick Powell,

1480
01:13:39,790 --> 01:13:42,292
would have had conversations
with the government

1481
01:13:42,376 --> 01:13:44,545
about the nuclear testing
program.

1482
01:13:44,628 --> 01:13:48,298
MARC:
They knew of all this, because the location departments,

1483
01:13:48,382 --> 01:13:50,300
but they also had
a weather department.

1484
01:13:50,384 --> 01:13:52,427
They had other departments
relating to--

1485
01:13:52,511 --> 01:13:54,763
to permitting from
the United States government

1486
01:13:54,847 --> 01:13:56,557
for shooting on national parks.

1487
01:13:56,640 --> 01:13:59,768
So, when they were thinking
of shooting in these areas

1488
01:13:59,852 --> 01:14:01,895
near where the Yucca Flats is.

1489
01:14:01,979 --> 01:14:03,772
Of course, they were told.

1490
01:14:03,856 --> 01:14:06,567
They all knew
that the 1953 tests,

1491
01:14:06,650 --> 01:14:09,778
11 tests were done
in Yucca Flats there.

1492
01:14:10,612 --> 01:14:17,202
ANDREW:
The AEC consistently indicated that the conditions were safe.

1493
01:14:17,286 --> 01:14:22,708
They talked less about the fact
that they had done studies

1494
01:14:22,791 --> 01:14:26,253
that indicated that the series
in the spring

1495
01:14:26,336 --> 01:14:30,841
and summer of '53 had generated
downwind levels of radiation

1496
01:14:30,924 --> 01:14:34,636
that exceeded
their own existing standards

1497
01:14:34,720 --> 01:14:37,389
for what would be
an appropriate level, uh,

1498
01:14:37,472 --> 01:14:39,558
of radiation exposure.

1499
01:14:40,475 --> 01:14:43,729
JOHN:
The government told people what they knew

1500
01:14:43,812 --> 01:14:45,606
they wanted to hear,

1501
01:14:45,689 --> 01:14:47,274
and what they wanted
to tell them,

1502
01:14:47,357 --> 01:14:49,234
but they really didn't know
for sure

1503
01:14:49,318 --> 01:14:52,112
what the long-term impacts were
of these things.

1504
01:14:52,196 --> 01:14:54,239
NEVADA ATOMIC TESTS NARRATOR:There is no danger.

1505
01:14:54,907 --> 01:14:59,077
JAMES:The Conqueror was the last movie
that Hughes produced.

1506
01:14:59,161 --> 01:15:03,665
And he ended up buying up
all the prints

1507
01:15:03,749 --> 01:15:05,667
that were in circulation
at the time

1508
01:15:05,751 --> 01:15:08,754
to the biggest movie
he had ever made.

1509
01:15:08,837 --> 01:15:10,255
Why?

1510
01:15:10,881 --> 01:15:13,133
JOHN:
Some people question as to whether Howard Hughes

1511
01:15:13,217 --> 01:15:16,011
did that out of some feeling
of guilt.

1512
01:15:17,179 --> 01:15:20,182
That he had somehow brought
these people together in--

1513
01:15:20,265 --> 01:15:21,767
in Utah to film The Conqueror,

1514
01:15:21,850 --> 01:15:24,853
and that he was somehow
responsible for their deaths.

1515
01:15:26,688 --> 01:15:29,149
No one saw the movie for--
for 25 years.

1516
01:15:31,235 --> 01:15:33,862
MICHAEL:
He removed it from distribution.

1517
01:15:33,946 --> 01:15:37,366
And the fact that
he was addicted

1518
01:15:37,449 --> 01:15:39,910
to watching The Conqueror
again and again,

1519
01:15:39,993 --> 01:15:45,958
it was as if only he himself
had the right to feast his eyes

1520
01:15:46,041 --> 01:15:50,420
on the splendor
of its wild magnificence.

1521
01:15:52,631 --> 01:16:01,640
[♪♪♪]

1522
01:16:03,892 --> 01:16:09,523
♪ Well, you say
you got the blues ♪

1523
01:16:09,606 --> 01:16:12,943
♪ You got holes in both holes
of your shoes ♪

1524
01:16:13,026 --> 01:16:14,236
♪ Yeah ♪

1525
01:16:14,319 --> 01:16:17,531
♪ You’re feelin' alone
and confused ♪

1526
01:16:17,614 --> 01:16:19,992
♪ You got to keep on smilin' ♪

1527
01:16:20,075 --> 01:16:22,452
♪ Just keep on smilin' ♪

1528
01:16:22,536 --> 01:16:24,037
♪ Yeah, you're... ♪

1529
01:16:24,121 --> 01:16:28,292
♪ You're about to go insane ♪

1530
01:16:28,375 --> 01:16:32,963
♪ ‘Cause your woman’s
playing games, ♪

1531
01:16:33,046 --> 01:16:36,258
♪ And she says that
you're to blame ♪

1532
01:16:36,341 --> 01:16:38,677
♪ You got to keep on smilin' ♪

1533
01:16:38,760 --> 01:16:40,804
♪ Just keep on smilin' ♪

1534
01:16:40,887 --> 01:16:47,686
♪ Keep on smilin'
through the rain ♪

1535
01:16:47,769 --> 01:16:52,065
♪ Laughin' at the pain ♪

1536
01:16:52,149 --> 01:16:56,320
♪ Just rolling
with the changes ♪

1537
01:16:56,403 --> 01:16:59,531
♪ Till the sun comes out again ♪

1538
01:16:59,614 --> 01:17:06,705
♪ Keep on smiling
through the rain ♪

1539
01:17:06,788 --> 01:17:10,709
♪ Laughin' at the pain ♪

1540
01:17:10,792 --> 01:17:15,422
♪ Just rolling
with the changes ♪

1541
01:17:15,505 --> 01:17:18,008
♪ And we’re singin'
this refrain ♪

1542
01:17:21,219 --> 01:17:24,139
NARRATOR:On the night of January,
the 22nd, 1971,

1543
01:17:24,222 --> 01:17:27,893
Susan Hayward awoke to a fire
and a smoke-filled apartment.

1544
01:17:27,976 --> 01:17:30,354
She had fallen asleep
with a cigarette in her hand

1545
01:17:30,437 --> 01:17:32,522
and a vodka bottle nearby.

1546
01:17:32,606 --> 01:17:35,192
She barely escaped
with her life.

1547
01:17:35,275 --> 01:17:36,943
Now absent from the big
and small screen

1548
01:17:37,027 --> 01:17:38,403
for several years,

1549
01:17:38,487 --> 01:17:41,198
she underwent a hysterectomy
to remove tumors

1550
01:17:41,281 --> 01:17:42,741
from her uterus.

1551
01:17:42,824 --> 01:17:44,826
And then more tumors
were discovered

1552
01:17:44,910 --> 01:17:47,329
in her vocal cords and brain.

1553
01:17:47,412 --> 01:17:49,122
Too frail and ill to work,

1554
01:17:49,206 --> 01:17:52,292
Susan Hayward bravely made
her last public appearance

1555
01:17:52,376 --> 01:17:54,920
at the 1974 Academy Awards.

1556
01:17:55,462 --> 01:17:56,922
[applauds]

1557
01:17:57,005 --> 01:18:01,176
Those nominated for the
best performance by an actress.

1558
01:18:02,219 --> 01:18:04,930
TIM:
I watched it and I found out later

1559
01:18:05,013 --> 01:18:08,892
that after she had made
the presentation, uh,

1560
01:18:08,975 --> 01:18:12,646
she had a seizure backstage
and had immediately had--

1561
01:18:12,729 --> 01:18:14,648
had to go to the hospital.

1562
01:18:15,982 --> 01:18:17,984
I got a call from her accountant

1563
01:18:18,068 --> 01:18:19,277
and he had talked
to my brother,

1564
01:18:19,361 --> 01:18:20,487
and then he called me
and he said,

1565
01:18:20,570 --> 01:18:23,407
“Tim, uh, your mom's
got a problem.

1566
01:18:23,490 --> 01:18:29,037
She's got about $60,000
worth of unpaid bills

1567
01:18:29,121 --> 01:18:31,456
sitting on her desk
and she can't--

1568
01:18:31,540 --> 01:18:34,876
She's no longer capable of--
of opening up her checkbook

1569
01:18:34,960 --> 01:18:36,294
and-- and writing checks.”

1570
01:18:36,378 --> 01:18:37,712
I said, “What is going on?”

1571
01:18:37,796 --> 01:18:38,505
And he said,

1572
01:18:38,588 --> 01:18:41,425
“Your mother's in Cedars
of Lebanon Hospital,

1573
01:18:41,508 --> 01:18:44,261
and they're giving her
two weeks to live.”

1574
01:18:44,344 --> 01:18:47,013
She had, uh, adenocarcinoma,

1575
01:18:47,097 --> 01:18:50,225
uh, metastatic brain cancer
with multiple tumors.

1576
01:18:50,308 --> 01:18:53,395
They were all over the place
in-- in her brain.

1577
01:18:53,478 --> 01:18:57,149
I mean, that-- that just got
dropped on me like a bombshell.

1578
01:18:57,232 --> 01:18:59,985
And uh,
you know the next thing I know,

1579
01:19:00,068 --> 01:19:03,864
I'm-- I’m with my brother, uh,
walking in--

1580
01:19:03,947 --> 01:19:08,243
into this hospital room
and my mother's in this bed

1581
01:19:08,326 --> 01:19:10,704
and she doesn't recognize
either one of us.

1582
01:19:12,789 --> 01:19:16,960
She had an aneurysm of the aorta
and it just blew up.

1583
01:19:17,043 --> 01:19:19,296
And her death was
almost instantaneous.

1584
01:19:28,388 --> 01:19:29,764
I think this is probably
the first time

1585
01:19:29,848 --> 01:19:32,559
I've ever really discussed
at any--

1586
01:19:32,642 --> 01:19:34,644
at any length and depth

1587
01:19:34,728 --> 01:19:36,980
about what
my mother experienced.

1588
01:19:37,063 --> 01:19:41,109
I mean, her brain cancer
was horrific.

1589
01:19:41,193 --> 01:19:43,236
It was absolutely horrific.

1590
01:19:53,455 --> 01:19:54,706
Mr. Shatner--

1591
01:19:54,789 --> 01:19:57,083
NBC NEWS ANCHOR:
Ranchers testified they have lost thousands of sheep in Utah

1592
01:19:57,167 --> 01:19:58,627
to radioactive fallout.

1593
01:19:58,710 --> 01:20:00,670
But they charged
the Atomic Energy Commission

1594
01:20:00,754 --> 01:20:02,672
refused to admit it.

1595
01:20:02,756 --> 01:20:03,340
He said,

1596
01:20:03,423 --> 01:20:05,467
“Jack, the easiest thing
we could do

1597
01:20:05,550 --> 01:20:07,844
would be to pay for these sheep.

1598
01:20:07,928 --> 01:20:11,848
But if we paid for 'em,
every woman that got pregnant

1599
01:20:11,932 --> 01:20:14,184
and every woman that didn't
would sue us.”

1600
01:20:15,060 --> 01:20:16,937
NARRATOR:Newly declassified documents
and minutes

1601
01:20:17,020 --> 01:20:18,647
from the Atomic Energy
Commission meetings

1602
01:20:18,730 --> 01:20:20,065
during the 1950s

1603
01:20:20,148 --> 01:20:22,817
warranted congressional
hearings in 1979,

1604
01:20:22,901 --> 01:20:24,319
due to pressures
from the citizens

1605
01:20:24,402 --> 01:20:25,779
of Southern Utah.

1606
01:20:26,738 --> 01:20:28,698
Chaired by
Senator Edward Kennedy,

1607
01:20:28,782 --> 01:20:30,450
the hearing exposed a government

1608
01:20:30,534 --> 01:20:31,952
that was indifferent
and callous

1609
01:20:32,035 --> 01:20:34,538
towards its own citizens.

1610
01:20:34,621 --> 01:20:36,373
Documents show that
the US government

1611
01:20:36,456 --> 01:20:39,751
covered up the known dangers
of fallout path of atomic bombs.

1612
01:20:41,461 --> 01:20:45,840
MARY:
If you read the minutes of The Atomic Energy Commission,

1613
01:20:45,924 --> 01:20:50,095
from the very beginning,
they knew it wasn't safe.

1614
01:20:50,178 --> 01:20:51,429
And they would have arguments.

1615
01:20:51,513 --> 01:20:54,432
I mean those minutes
read like high drama.

1616
01:20:54,516 --> 01:20:57,102
There would be a commissioner
who said, “Sheep are dying,

1617
01:20:57,185 --> 01:20:58,603
people are starting
to get sick”,

1618
01:20:58,687 --> 01:21:02,983
and there was one commissioner,
who just shouted at him.

1619
01:21:03,066 --> 01:21:05,986
“People have got
to live with the facts of life.”

1620
01:21:06,069 --> 01:21:09,906
And parts of the facts of life
are fallout.

1621
01:21:09,990 --> 01:21:10,991
Commissioner Murray,

1622
01:21:11,074 --> 01:21:13,743
we must not let anything
interfere

1623
01:21:13,827 --> 01:21:16,037
with this series of tests.

1624
01:21:16,121 --> 01:21:17,581
- Nothing.
- “Nothing.”

1625
01:21:29,467 --> 01:21:31,052
I thought she was dead.

1626
01:21:32,971 --> 01:21:34,139
Not hardly.

1627
01:21:34,681 --> 01:21:36,808
NARRATOR:For his final film The Shootist,

1628
01:21:36,891 --> 01:21:39,269
Wayne portrayed a man
dying of cancer.

1629
01:21:39,352 --> 01:21:41,146
He comes home
to settle scores.

1630
01:21:42,939 --> 01:21:45,650
Shooting took place
in Carson City, Nevada,

1631
01:21:45,734 --> 01:21:48,153
which was at the opposite end
of the testing site

1632
01:21:48,236 --> 01:21:50,697
where the wind blew
towards St. George, Utah.

1633
01:21:50,780 --> 01:21:52,032
And where he filmed
The Conqueror

1634
01:21:52,115 --> 01:21:53,867
20 years earlier.

1635
01:21:54,200 --> 01:21:56,536
MICHAEL GOLDMAN:
The story is about an aging gunman

1636
01:21:56,620 --> 01:21:58,913
who's trying to hole up

1637
01:21:58,997 --> 01:22:02,292
and die quietly from
a particularly vicious cancer.

1638
01:22:02,375 --> 01:22:04,210
You have a cancer.

1639
01:22:04,294 --> 01:22:05,503
Advanced.

1640
01:22:05,587 --> 01:22:06,838
How much time do I have?

1641
01:22:06,921 --> 01:22:07,922
Two months.

1642
01:22:08,006 --> 01:22:09,132
Six weeks.

1643
01:22:09,215 --> 01:22:10,467
There's no way to tell.

1644
01:22:10,550 --> 01:22:13,511
MICHAEL GOLDMAN:
The character, in trying to do the right thing,

1645
01:22:13,595 --> 01:22:16,681
decided if he gets killed,
it's not such a bad thing.

1646
01:22:16,765 --> 01:22:18,683
Going out in a blaze of glory

1647
01:22:18,767 --> 01:22:20,727
is better than going out
with cancer.

1648
01:22:20,810 --> 01:22:24,773
And I'm-- I’m pretty darn sure
that that's correct.

1649
01:22:24,856 --> 01:22:25,649
That that is the way

1650
01:22:25,732 --> 01:22:29,069
John Wayne would have enjoyed
going out.

1651
01:22:29,152 --> 01:22:33,948
I would not die at death
like I just described.

1652
01:22:34,032 --> 01:22:35,617
Not if I had your courage.

1653
01:22:36,785 --> 01:22:39,162
PATRICK:
It's the finest performance he ever gave as an actor.

1654
01:22:39,245 --> 01:22:40,538
He's a human being.

1655
01:22:40,622 --> 01:22:42,248
He's not a cardboard cutout.

1656
01:22:42,332 --> 01:22:44,709
Uh, it was a hard film for me
to look at for a long time,

1657
01:22:44,793 --> 01:22:46,836
because it was so close
to reality,

1658
01:22:46,920 --> 01:22:49,214
but um, he does a great job.

1659
01:22:50,131 --> 01:22:53,218
Ladies and gentlemen,
Mr. John Wayne.

1660
01:22:55,595 --> 01:22:56,721
PATRICK:
That was rough, yeah.

1661
01:22:56,805 --> 01:22:58,431
He had um,
lost a lot of weight

1662
01:22:58,515 --> 01:22:59,849
and was in pretty bad shape.

1663
01:22:59,933 --> 01:23:03,478
He had a tuxedo,
but he had another suit,

1664
01:23:03,561 --> 01:23:05,814
one of his other suits
underneath the tuxedo,

1665
01:23:05,897 --> 01:23:07,982
so that--
so it wouldn't hang on him.

1666
01:23:08,066 --> 01:23:09,943
He actually wore a complete
other suit of clothes

1667
01:23:10,026 --> 01:23:11,861
underneath it.

1668
01:23:11,945 --> 01:23:13,697
Pretty-- pretty remarkable.

1669
01:23:15,824 --> 01:23:17,951
TIM:
I was in uh, Westwood.

1670
01:23:18,034 --> 01:23:19,077
It was the same day

1671
01:23:19,160 --> 01:23:21,079
that he had to go
into the hospital,

1672
01:23:21,162 --> 01:23:23,164
UCLA Medical Center.

1673
01:23:23,248 --> 01:23:24,249
I saw him on the street.

1674
01:23:24,332 --> 01:23:27,043
And I walked up to him
and I introduced myself.

1675
01:23:27,127 --> 01:23:27,877
And I said,

1676
01:23:27,961 --> 01:23:29,212
“That you won't-- probably
won't remember this,

1677
01:23:29,295 --> 01:23:31,923
but you gave me a picture
of yourself

1678
01:23:32,006 --> 01:23:34,384
and signed it, you know,
‘Put beef steak on your eye.’”

1679
01:23:34,467 --> 01:23:35,343
And he goes,

1680
01:23:35,427 --> 01:23:37,345
“You're-- you’re one of
Susan's boys, aren't you?”

1681
01:23:37,429 --> 01:23:38,638
I said, “Yeah.”

1682
01:23:38,722 --> 01:23:39,973
And so we-- we chatted,

1683
01:23:40,056 --> 01:23:41,599
you know,
for a while on the street.

1684
01:23:41,683 --> 01:23:42,350
And he said,

1685
01:23:42,434 --> 01:23:44,144
“I've gotta go
into the hospital today.”

1686
01:23:44,227 --> 01:23:46,354
This was after my mother
had passed away.

1687
01:23:46,438 --> 01:23:47,772
And uh, I said,

1688
01:23:47,856 --> 01:23:50,066
“You know, best of luck
to you, Mr. Wayne.”

1689
01:23:50,150 --> 01:23:52,235
And then that was it.

1690
01:23:52,318 --> 01:23:58,283
Cancer returned unfortunately
to John Wayne's life in 1979

1691
01:23:58,366 --> 01:24:01,494
and he was diagnosed
with stomach cancer.

1692
01:24:01,578 --> 01:24:03,496
PATRICK:
By the time they figured out what he had,

1693
01:24:03,580 --> 01:24:06,416
it was really pretty far gone.

1694
01:24:06,499 --> 01:24:09,961
And he was in the hospital
for six weeks.

1695
01:24:10,045 --> 01:24:12,797
And he was slowly dying.

1696
01:24:12,881 --> 01:24:13,923
He was dying,

1697
01:24:14,007 --> 01:24:16,342
but you would never know
that from this man.

1698
01:24:16,426 --> 01:24:17,886
He had bedsores the size
of my palm

1699
01:24:17,969 --> 01:24:19,095
that just ate right
through his skin,

1700
01:24:19,179 --> 01:24:20,221
separating flesh.

1701
01:24:20,305 --> 01:24:21,681
You couldn't-- couldn't heal it.

1702
01:24:21,765 --> 01:24:22,974
He was just in total pain.

1703
01:24:23,057 --> 01:24:25,977
And never complained about
any of this stuff.

1704
01:24:26,060 --> 01:24:28,188
But he keep--
keep going on, you know.

1705
01:24:28,271 --> 01:24:29,397
And my brothers and sisters
and I thought,

1706
01:24:29,481 --> 01:24:32,025
“You know, this guy is uh,
bulletproof.”

1707
01:24:32,108 --> 01:24:34,110
He just willed himself
to wake up

1708
01:24:34,194 --> 01:24:35,904
and say goodbye to his kids.

1709
01:24:35,987 --> 01:24:39,491
And then-- and then he um,
he left.

1710
01:24:39,574 --> 01:24:40,617
He went.

1711
01:24:40,700 --> 01:24:46,247
♪ Flied away ♪

1712
01:24:47,665 --> 01:24:59,761
♪ Flied away ♪

1713
01:25:14,776 --> 01:25:16,569
MAN 15:
I was assigned by People Magazine

1714
01:25:16,653 --> 01:25:19,197
to photograph Irma Thomas,

1715
01:25:19,280 --> 01:25:22,826
because of the leukemia rate
in St. George, Utah.

1716
01:25:22,909 --> 01:25:26,204
Irma was extremely committed
to her vision

1717
01:25:26,287 --> 01:25:29,707
and to explain to the world
what this--

1718
01:25:29,791 --> 01:25:31,292
what had happened
in St. George.

1719
01:25:31,376 --> 01:25:33,127
Because no one was listening
to her,

1720
01:25:33,211 --> 01:25:34,504
and then in the middle of that,

1721
01:25:34,587 --> 01:25:38,800
she told me this great story
about how John Wayne had--

1722
01:25:38,883 --> 01:25:40,760
had made this movie
called “The Conqueror”

1723
01:25:40,844 --> 01:25:42,637
in St. George.

1724
01:25:42,720 --> 01:25:45,139
I had a very good friend,
Michael Wayne,

1725
01:25:45,223 --> 01:25:46,933
John Wayne's oldest son.

1726
01:25:47,016 --> 01:25:47,851
And I thought,

1727
01:25:47,934 --> 01:25:51,020
“This is something
I should talk to Michael about.”

1728
01:25:51,104 --> 01:25:52,856
And so I called Michael,
and I said,

1729
01:25:52,939 --> 01:25:54,732
“Did you make a movie called‘The Conqueror’,

1730
01:25:54,816 --> 01:25:55,733
Howard Hughes' movie?”

1731
01:25:55,817 --> 01:25:56,734
He said, “Yeah.

1732
01:25:56,818 --> 01:26:00,363
In fact, I got sick on the set
and Patrick was there.”

1733
01:26:00,446 --> 01:26:03,783
And I went,
“This is an amazing story.”

1734
01:26:03,867 --> 01:26:06,494
He really at that point
was very excited about it.

1735
01:26:06,578 --> 01:26:08,538
Didn't think much of the movie.

1736
01:26:08,621 --> 01:26:09,414
He couldn't quite figure out

1737
01:26:09,497 --> 01:26:11,583
why did dad was playing
a Mongolian.

1738
01:26:11,666 --> 01:26:14,043
Michael gave me all
the daily notes

1739
01:26:14,127 --> 01:26:18,006
that you have on the show
and the crew list.

1740
01:26:18,089 --> 01:26:20,967
And so we started investigating
that crew list.

1741
01:26:21,050 --> 01:26:25,263
We systematically went down
from the director of photography

1742
01:26:25,346 --> 01:26:27,098
to the different departments

1743
01:26:27,181 --> 01:26:29,517
and we went one by one,
you know,

1744
01:26:29,601 --> 01:26:32,770
to see who had contracted
cancer at this point.

1745
01:26:32,854 --> 01:26:34,647
And it basically hit me
like a ton of bricks.

1746
01:26:35,815 --> 01:26:38,109
We had to really get
more information

1747
01:26:38,192 --> 01:26:39,819
and that's why we went
to Washington,

1748
01:26:39,903 --> 01:26:41,613
you know,
to see what we could get.

1749
01:26:41,696 --> 01:26:45,033
And the Atomic Energy Commission
didn't wanna talk to us.

1750
01:26:45,116 --> 01:26:47,076
They just slammed the door
in our face.

1751
01:26:47,160 --> 01:26:51,205
It was a cover-up
and we had hit a brick wall.

1752
01:26:51,289 --> 01:26:54,876
My partner on-- on the story
was Karen Jackovich

1753
01:26:54,959 --> 01:26:56,628
and we decided that,

1754
01:26:56,711 --> 01:26:59,172
we should go to
the Freedom of Information Act

1755
01:26:59,255 --> 01:27:01,007
and they cooperated
a little bit,

1756
01:27:01,090 --> 01:27:03,593
so we figured
we had enough information

1757
01:27:03,676 --> 01:27:05,136
to go to bed with it.

1758
01:27:06,220 --> 01:27:08,514
NARRATOR:A few months
after Wayne's death,

1759
01:27:08,598 --> 01:27:11,184
a People Magazine article linked
the deaths of the cast

1760
01:27:11,267 --> 01:27:12,477
and crew of The Conqueror

1761
01:27:12,560 --> 01:27:14,771
to the atomic tests
and the radiation

1762
01:27:14,854 --> 01:27:16,981
that envelops St. George.

1763
01:27:18,441 --> 01:27:21,194
TIM:
There was a general awareness by everyone,

1764
01:27:21,277 --> 01:27:24,155
that it may have been more
than just, you know uh,

1765
01:27:24,238 --> 01:27:26,366
coincidence that uh,

1766
01:27:26,449 --> 01:27:29,202
all of our uh, parents,
our relatives,

1767
01:27:29,285 --> 01:27:32,413
uh, had come down with cancer.

1768
01:27:32,497 --> 01:27:34,540
I mean the numbers are--
are pretty high.

1769
01:27:34,624 --> 01:27:37,126
PATRICK:
What were the implications of this fallout?

1770
01:27:37,210 --> 01:27:39,629
A reasonable-thinking person
would have

1771
01:27:39,712 --> 01:27:43,174
to assume that it had some
effect on what happens

1772
01:27:43,257 --> 01:27:45,635
to these people's lives.

1773
01:27:45,718 --> 01:27:47,512
INTERVIEWER:
Including your father?

1774
01:27:47,595 --> 01:27:50,014
Well, yeah, my father
was there, sure.

1775
01:27:50,098 --> 01:27:53,810
The People Magazine article
that came out was huge.

1776
01:27:53,893 --> 01:27:55,353
And I always loved the line
in there,

1777
01:27:55,436 --> 01:27:56,312
the official who said,

1778
01:27:56,396 --> 01:27:59,232
“Oh my God,
I hope we didn't John Wayne.”

1779
01:27:59,315 --> 01:28:01,526
You know, they didn't care
about all the other people

1780
01:28:01,609 --> 01:28:03,403
who had been killed
all those years before,

1781
01:28:03,486 --> 01:28:06,864
but they didn't want it
to have been John Wayne.

1782
01:28:06,948 --> 01:28:12,120
It was the first time
I'd ever heard that our cancer

1783
01:28:12,203 --> 01:28:16,040
and John Wayne's cancer
might be tied together.

1784
01:28:16,124 --> 01:28:19,335
I remember we were
in this pitch Cold War,

1785
01:28:19,419 --> 01:28:22,380
so uranium was at a--
a premium, you know,

1786
01:28:22,463 --> 01:28:24,632
and everybody was you know,
“We're gonna get rich.”

1787
01:28:24,716 --> 01:28:26,509
And we had Geiger counters
on the set

1788
01:28:26,592 --> 01:28:29,262
and we turned
these Geiger counters on,

1789
01:28:29,345 --> 01:28:30,680
and they would rattle like,

1790
01:28:30,763 --> 01:28:33,016
we're standing
on a uranium deposit.

1791
01:28:33,099 --> 01:28:34,017
And we were so excited.

1792
01:28:34,100 --> 01:28:36,394
We thought we're gonna find
the richest uranium

1793
01:28:36,477 --> 01:28:37,812
or whatever it be.

1794
01:28:37,895 --> 01:28:38,771
We come to find out later

1795
01:28:38,855 --> 01:28:42,233
that that was fallout from tests
that were going on up north.

1796
01:28:42,317 --> 01:28:44,068
And the wind would blow
all of this, uh,

1797
01:28:44,152 --> 01:28:45,987
radioactive fallout down here.

1798
01:28:46,070 --> 01:28:48,531
I was glad that they--

1799
01:28:48,614 --> 01:28:51,492
and grateful that they had tied
that together.

1800
01:28:51,576 --> 01:28:53,494
Because that catapulted us

1801
01:28:53,578 --> 01:28:56,456
into more
of a national spotlight.

1802
01:28:56,539 --> 01:28:58,416
MARK:
The story seemed to hit a nerve

1803
01:28:58,499 --> 01:29:00,752
within the media that,
you know,

1804
01:29:00,835 --> 01:29:02,754
“Did America kill John Wayne?”

1805
01:29:02,837 --> 01:29:06,883
CLAUDIA:
If it took John Wayne to get things rolling

1806
01:29:06,966 --> 01:29:10,303
and noticed, then I'll be it.

1807
01:29:10,386 --> 01:29:14,974
We'd all flown up to um, Utah
to uh,

1808
01:29:15,058 --> 01:29:17,060
scout a location for the film.

1809
01:29:17,143 --> 01:29:20,146
And nobody ever told
anybody that,

1810
01:29:20,229 --> 01:29:22,023
there was any radiation
up there.

1811
01:29:22,106 --> 01:29:24,776
Or that anything
had been tested.

1812
01:29:24,859 --> 01:29:30,281
And so, um, they--
we spent months in that area,

1813
01:29:30,364 --> 01:29:33,117
and there were dust storms.

1814
01:29:33,201 --> 01:29:35,995
Horrible dust storms
and we had to wear masks

1815
01:29:36,079 --> 01:29:37,830
a good lot of the time.

1816
01:29:37,914 --> 01:29:38,831
INTERVIEWER 2:
Yeah.

1817
01:29:38,915 --> 01:29:41,667
JUNE:
And a lot of the crew, as you said,

1818
01:29:41,751 --> 01:29:43,252
- have died of cancer.
- INTERVIEWER 2: Mm-hmm.

1819
01:29:43,336 --> 01:29:44,670
And a lot of the stars
in the film.

1820
01:29:44,754 --> 01:29:45,755
INTERVIEWER 2:
You’re expectation’s a lot people?

1821
01:29:45,838 --> 01:29:46,297
Yes.

1822
01:29:46,380 --> 01:29:49,384
Now, this is just horrifying.

1823
01:29:49,467 --> 01:29:51,427
JAMES:
Well, did John Wayne really die,

1824
01:29:51,511 --> 01:29:53,721
because of
the excessive exposure

1825
01:29:53,805 --> 01:29:57,391
to radioactive fallout
while on location?

1826
01:29:57,475 --> 01:30:00,019
When he was uh,
very well known

1827
01:30:00,103 --> 01:30:04,941
even at that time
to be a very heavy smoker,

1828
01:30:05,024 --> 01:30:09,195
as were some of the other cast
and crew members.

1829
01:30:09,278 --> 01:30:11,114
How does one determine that?

1830
01:30:11,948 --> 01:30:14,659
NARRATOR:Five years before he died,
John Wayne gave an interview

1831
01:30:14,742 --> 01:30:16,828
to biographer, Michael Munn,

1832
01:30:16,911 --> 01:30:18,037
where he discussed
the connection

1833
01:30:18,121 --> 01:30:20,498
between The Conquerorand cancer.

1834
01:30:20,581 --> 01:30:24,252
True to his patriotic roots,
he denied a connection.

1835
01:30:24,335 --> 01:30:26,921
“All I can tell you
is that I smoked,

1836
01:30:27,004 --> 01:30:28,339
so did Dick Powell,

1837
01:30:28,422 --> 01:30:29,966
so did Susan Hayward,

1838
01:30:30,049 --> 01:30:31,467
so did Pedro.

1839
01:30:31,551 --> 01:30:33,427
And I guess you can say that
in those days,

1840
01:30:33,511 --> 01:30:36,180
at least 50%
of the population smoked.

1841
01:30:38,099 --> 01:30:39,809
As for developing
nuclear weapons,

1842
01:30:39,892 --> 01:30:41,102
we had to.

1843
01:30:41,185 --> 01:30:43,729
Russia had developed
its own atom bomb

1844
01:30:43,813 --> 01:30:45,231
and when Stalin was alive,

1845
01:30:45,314 --> 01:30:47,608
he was mad enough
to threaten the world.

1846
01:30:49,068 --> 01:30:50,653
As for The Conqueror,

1847
01:30:50,736 --> 01:30:53,781
the lesson of that film is
don't make an ass of yourself

1848
01:30:53,865 --> 01:30:56,451
trying to play a part that
you aren't suited for.”

1849
01:31:01,289 --> 01:31:02,248
In recent years,

1850
01:31:02,331 --> 01:31:05,460
there has been growing concern
that cases of cancer occurring

1851
01:31:05,543 --> 01:31:07,128
in the state of Utah,

1852
01:31:07,211 --> 01:31:08,963
may be related
to the nuclear tests

1853
01:31:09,046 --> 01:31:12,592
in the neighboring state
of Nevada in the ‘50s and ‘60s.

1854
01:31:12,675 --> 01:31:14,552
Today,
a major scientific attempt

1855
01:31:14,635 --> 01:31:17,513
to study the possible cause
and effect relationship

1856
01:31:17,597 --> 01:31:20,057
is published in the New England
Journal of Medicine.

1857
01:31:20,141 --> 01:31:22,685
The study finds that
the leukemia rate for children

1858
01:31:22,768 --> 01:31:25,438
living in areas which received
heavy fallout

1859
01:31:25,521 --> 01:31:26,814
was two in one half times

1860
01:31:26,898 --> 01:31:29,192
the rate for children
not exposed.

1861
01:31:29,275 --> 01:31:32,945
HOST 2:
Dr. Lyon, you are 80% convinced based on your study,

1862
01:31:33,029 --> 01:31:34,488
that there is a link
between leukemia

1863
01:31:34,572 --> 01:31:36,115
and the children,
and the atomic test.

1864
01:31:36,199 --> 01:31:38,201
Is that correct, sir?

1865
01:31:38,284 --> 01:31:40,912
I'd say
that's a correct statement.

1866
01:31:40,995 --> 01:31:43,873
What keeps you from being
100% sure?

1867
01:31:43,956 --> 01:31:46,292
The nature of epidemiologic
research

1868
01:31:46,375 --> 01:31:48,377
which makes it hard for us,

1869
01:31:48,461 --> 01:31:49,587
particularly
in a case like this,

1870
01:31:49,670 --> 01:31:50,463
where we would--

1871
01:31:50,546 --> 01:31:53,507
did not have precise follow-up
of all the individuals

1872
01:31:53,591 --> 01:31:56,260
in the study, uh,
to know whether this--

1873
01:31:56,344 --> 01:31:57,553
this occurred,

1874
01:31:57,637 --> 01:32:00,765
because of the radiation
or was some other chance factor.

1875
01:32:00,848 --> 01:32:04,518
Did not study any possible link
involving adults?

1876
01:32:04,602 --> 01:32:05,603
Is that correct?

1877
01:32:05,686 --> 01:32:06,270
DR. LYON:
That's correct.

1878
01:32:06,354 --> 01:32:07,104
And we didn't do that,

1879
01:32:07,188 --> 01:32:09,649
because we simply
don't have a group of people,

1880
01:32:09,732 --> 01:32:12,443
uh, of adults in the state
of Utah, who are not exposed.

1881
01:32:13,402 --> 01:32:15,321
A lot of times we forget

1882
01:32:15,404 --> 01:32:18,908
that every girl is born
with every egg

1883
01:32:18,991 --> 01:32:21,285
she's ever gonna have.

1884
01:32:21,369 --> 01:32:24,288
A radiation exposure
to a woman who is pregnant

1885
01:32:24,372 --> 01:32:27,833
has the potential
to impact the woman

1886
01:32:27,917 --> 01:32:29,794
who is pregnant,

1887
01:32:29,877 --> 01:32:33,005
her fetus or embryo,

1888
01:32:33,089 --> 01:32:37,176
and if it's a fetus
with fully-formed ovaries

1889
01:32:37,260 --> 01:32:42,098
then the ova that will become
that woman's grandchildren.

1890
01:32:45,142 --> 01:32:48,437
CLAUDIA:
Our youngest child, Bethany, was just

1891
01:32:48,521 --> 01:32:51,148
a beautiful, delightful child.

1892
01:32:51,232 --> 01:32:53,567
The minute she was born,

1893
01:32:53,651 --> 01:32:57,196
I just couldn't get enough
of this child.

1894
01:32:57,280 --> 01:33:02,785
I loved everything about her.

1895
01:33:02,868 --> 01:33:10,376
Bethany started to complain
that her legs hurt

1896
01:33:10,459 --> 01:33:13,754
and she didn't wanna play.

1897
01:33:13,838 --> 01:33:17,758
She was lethargic
and the doctor said to me,

1898
01:33:17,842 --> 01:33:21,762
“I can promise you nothing's
wrong with this child.

1899
01:33:21,846 --> 01:33:23,889
She's just constipated.”

1900
01:33:23,973 --> 01:33:25,224
And so, I just--

1901
01:33:25,308 --> 01:33:28,769
My mom and I just packed her up
in the middle of the night,

1902
01:33:28,853 --> 01:33:31,230
and took her to the ER,

1903
01:33:31,314 --> 01:33:33,274
and they started
to do some tests.

1904
01:33:33,357 --> 01:33:37,069
And I was down in the library

1905
01:33:37,153 --> 01:33:39,864
and they called me back
to her room.

1906
01:33:41,032 --> 01:33:44,785
And when I hit the end
of the floor,

1907
01:33:44,869 --> 01:33:49,874
I could see these doctors
lined up outside of her room

1908
01:33:49,957 --> 01:33:54,920
and it was just like I was being
sucked down a hollow.

1909
01:33:55,004 --> 01:33:58,799
There were just lined up
to talk to me.

1910
01:33:58,883 --> 01:34:02,261
And I just up curled up on--
on her bed,

1911
01:34:02,345 --> 01:34:06,015
‘cause she wasn't back yet,
and put a pillow over my head,

1912
01:34:06,098 --> 01:34:08,017
and I just said, “I don't--
I-- I can't.

1913
01:34:08,100 --> 01:34:10,186
I don't wanna hear it,
I don't wanna hear it.”

1914
01:34:11,979 --> 01:34:16,400
She had neuroblastoma
stage four.

1915
01:34:16,484 --> 01:34:19,487
I was devastated,

1916
01:34:19,570 --> 01:34:22,573
‘cause I knew it meant
that she would die.

1917
01:34:26,535 --> 01:34:30,164
She had a tumor the size
of an orange

1918
01:34:30,247 --> 01:34:35,419
in her little tiny tummy
and a nine-hour surgery,

1919
01:34:35,503 --> 01:34:40,257
and seven hours of radiation,
and was off-treatment

1920
01:34:40,341 --> 01:34:43,427
making medical history.

1921
01:34:43,511 --> 01:34:46,263
And she was gonna get to go
back to school.

1922
01:34:48,432 --> 01:34:53,687
And then she got sick again.

1923
01:34:55,439 --> 01:34:57,525
We went to Salt Lake

1924
01:34:57,608 --> 01:35:03,406
and found out she had
acute monoblastic leukemia.

1925
01:35:03,489 --> 01:35:06,033
But at the same time,
my sister was really sick.

1926
01:35:06,117 --> 01:35:09,662
She had melanoma that had
spread everywhere.

1927
01:35:09,745 --> 01:35:11,789
And so Bethany
and I went to the hospital

1928
01:35:11,872 --> 01:35:15,501
and said goodbye to Cathy,
and we went to Salt Lake

1929
01:35:15,584 --> 01:35:17,962
and they wanted to start chemo.

1930
01:35:18,045 --> 01:35:19,046
And I said,

1931
01:35:19,130 --> 01:35:23,926
“Well, we need to go home first
and then we'll come back.”

1932
01:35:24,009 --> 01:35:25,719
Got home about 2:00
in the morning,

1933
01:35:25,803 --> 01:35:28,180
and the hospital called
about five minutes

1934
01:35:28,264 --> 01:35:31,767
after I got home and said,
Cathy was in a coma.

1935
01:35:34,937 --> 01:35:38,649
So, I went to the hospital

1936
01:35:38,732 --> 01:35:40,609
and I just crawled on the bed
with Cathy,

1937
01:35:40,693 --> 01:35:41,318
and I just said,

1938
01:35:41,402 --> 01:35:44,780
“Right, you're just gonna have
to come

1939
01:35:44,864 --> 01:35:46,699
and take Bethany with you,

1940
01:35:46,782 --> 01:35:50,703
because I just can't let her go
by herself.

1941
01:35:51,620 --> 01:35:54,081
You're gonna have to be there
with her.”

1942
01:35:56,709 --> 01:35:58,794
Cathy died.

1943
01:35:58,878 --> 01:36:01,046
[Claudia sniffles]

1944
01:36:01,130 --> 01:36:03,757
CLAUDIA:
Without ever even making a move.

1945
01:36:05,718 --> 01:36:11,765
Bethany spent a month
on chemotherapy

1946
01:36:11,849 --> 01:36:15,519
and she died a month later.

1947
01:36:15,603 --> 01:36:18,522
She was 6.

1948
01:36:18,606 --> 01:36:21,859
The night before she died,
she said to me,

1949
01:36:21,942 --> 01:36:28,908
“Oh mom, there's Aunt Cathy
dancing on the table.”

1950
01:36:28,991 --> 01:36:32,286
So, I knew Cathy had come
to take her.

1951
01:36:41,504 --> 01:36:46,217
I was secretary
to Mayor James G. Larkin.

1952
01:36:46,300 --> 01:36:47,968
In 1978,

1953
01:36:48,052 --> 01:36:53,807
the Atomic Energy Commission
invited the mayor of St. George

1954
01:36:53,891 --> 01:36:58,395
to bring a bus full of people
to the Nevada test site.

1955
01:36:58,479 --> 01:37:01,815
I had the opportunity
to go out there.

1956
01:37:01,899 --> 01:37:04,860
MARY:
An arts magazine I was freelancing for

1957
01:37:04,944 --> 01:37:05,736
called me and said,

1958
01:37:05,819 --> 01:37:08,322
“There's a photojournalist
coming to town

1959
01:37:08,405 --> 01:37:09,907
who's been photographing

1960
01:37:09,990 --> 01:37:12,326
and taking histories
of downwinders.

1961
01:37:12,409 --> 01:37:14,119
And we want you
to do a piece.”

1962
01:37:14,203 --> 01:37:18,707
So, I spent time with her
and she would tell--

1963
01:37:18,791 --> 01:37:21,168
She started telling me
about all the diseases

1964
01:37:21,252 --> 01:37:23,546
that were caused
by fallout exposure.

1965
01:37:23,629 --> 01:37:27,675
And she ticked them off
and she got to thyroid cancer.

1966
01:37:27,758 --> 01:37:31,637
And I just stopped and said,
“Oh, I had thyroid cancer.”

1967
01:37:31,720 --> 01:37:35,015
Redbook Magazine had-- had done
an article

1968
01:37:35,099 --> 01:37:39,937
while Bethany was um,
on treatment.

1969
01:37:40,020 --> 01:37:42,606
And I was invited

1970
01:37:42,690 --> 01:37:46,527
to the first radiation victims
conference in New York.

1971
01:37:46,610 --> 01:37:51,323
I had no clue that these things
were going on.

1972
01:37:51,407 --> 01:37:52,908
ILENE:
We stayed one night.

1973
01:37:52,992 --> 01:37:56,537
They put us up
at a very nice hotel

1974
01:37:56,620 --> 01:38:01,166
and that night they fed us steak
and lobster.

1975
01:38:01,250 --> 01:38:01,834
Then I thought,

1976
01:38:01,917 --> 01:38:03,252
“Well, why would
they feed us that?

1977
01:38:03,335 --> 01:38:05,254
They could have given us
hot dogs and hamburgers

1978
01:38:05,337 --> 01:38:06,839
and we would've been fine.”

1979
01:38:06,922 --> 01:38:08,215
That's when she started
questioning me.

1980
01:38:08,299 --> 01:38:09,466
She's like, “Well, when?”

1981
01:38:09,550 --> 01:38:11,677
And I told her.
“Well, where'd you grow up?”

1982
01:38:11,760 --> 01:38:12,595
I said, “Salt Lake.”

1983
01:38:12,678 --> 01:38:13,596
“Did you drink milk?”

1984
01:38:13,679 --> 01:38:14,346
I said, “Oh yeah,

1985
01:38:14,430 --> 01:38:17,099
and sometimes we'd go
to my grandfather's

1986
01:38:17,182 --> 01:38:18,601
and we'd drink it straight
from the cow.”

1987
01:38:18,684 --> 01:38:19,727
And she just kind of stopped.

1988
01:38:19,810 --> 01:38:23,230
And she said,
“I wanna interview you.

1989
01:38:23,314 --> 01:38:25,482
You got thyroid cancer
from testing.”

1990
01:38:25,899 --> 01:38:28,319
ILENE:
When we got out to the test site,

1991
01:38:28,402 --> 01:38:30,154
it was barren desert.

1992
01:38:30,237 --> 01:38:33,574
But there were many, many
huge craters.

1993
01:38:33,657 --> 01:38:37,870
Way bigger
than I had ever imagined.

1994
01:38:37,953 --> 01:38:40,623
But the whole time,
they were convincing us

1995
01:38:40,706 --> 01:38:42,875
about how important the work
was out there,

1996
01:38:42,958 --> 01:38:45,711
how safe it was,
how good it was.

1997
01:38:45,794 --> 01:38:48,631
And I look back at it now
and it was just a PR program,

1998
01:38:48,714 --> 01:38:50,299
where just they tried
to shut us up.

1999
01:38:50,382 --> 01:38:51,300
“No, no, no, no.

2000
01:38:51,383 --> 01:38:54,428
I grew up in Salt Lake,
not Southern Utah.”

2001
01:38:54,511 --> 01:38:56,680
And she said,
“You people are so naive.

2002
01:38:56,764 --> 01:38:59,433
You think it stopped
at borders of counties

2003
01:38:59,516 --> 01:39:00,768
and states.”

2004
01:39:00,851 --> 01:39:04,313
And that's when she showed me
the map by Richard Miller

2005
01:39:04,396 --> 01:39:06,940
of everywhere that fallout
had gone.

2006
01:39:07,024 --> 01:39:10,110
And it was like being punched
in the gut.

2007
01:39:10,194 --> 01:39:12,738
And I thought, “Oh my God.

2008
01:39:12,821 --> 01:39:15,115
I'm-- I'm one of them.

2009
01:39:15,199 --> 01:39:16,492
I'm a downwinder.”

2010
01:39:16,575 --> 01:39:20,788
One of our congressman,
Jim Hansen,

2011
01:39:20,871 --> 01:39:23,624
when I sat down
and talked to him,

2012
01:39:23,707 --> 01:39:27,378
he had the audacity
to say to me,

2013
01:39:27,461 --> 01:39:32,383
“Sometimes small sacrifices
have to be made.”

2014
01:39:32,466 --> 01:39:36,845
And he knew the minute
he'd said it what he'd said.

2015
01:39:36,929 --> 01:39:38,555
And I'm going, “The sac--

2016
01:39:38,639 --> 01:39:42,267
the small sacrifice you're
asking is my daughter.

2017
01:39:42,351 --> 01:39:45,646
And it wasn't your sacrifice
to make.”

2018
01:39:46,063 --> 01:39:49,358
ILENE:
All of the people in St. George that were leaders,

2019
01:39:49,441 --> 01:39:52,069
they all knew that we were
gonna go out there

2020
01:39:52,152 --> 01:39:53,987
and be wined and dined,

2021
01:39:54,071 --> 01:40:00,369
and fed a bunch of garbage
to try to get us to be quiet.

2022
01:40:00,452 --> 01:40:01,704
And it did the opposite.

2023
01:40:01,787 --> 01:40:05,082
I am going to shout it
from the rooftops.

2024
01:40:05,165 --> 01:40:09,378
I'm not going
to be silent anymore.

2025
01:40:10,337 --> 01:40:14,717
ILENE:
Then we got organized.

2026
01:40:14,800 --> 01:40:16,802
MAN 16:
You and your family must take cover.

2027
01:40:25,394 --> 01:40:27,438
Mr. Udall,
what is the basis of the claims

2028
01:40:27,521 --> 01:40:28,856
your clients are making?

2029
01:40:28,939 --> 01:40:31,650
Uh, their claims are based
on the fact that they were

2030
01:40:31,734 --> 01:40:32,735
US citizens.

2031
01:40:35,404 --> 01:40:37,114
Who were not warned

2032
01:40:37,197 --> 01:40:38,949
about what the government
was doing.

2033
01:40:39,032 --> 01:40:40,659
And that it was dangerous
to them

2034
01:40:40,743 --> 01:40:42,870
and this was inflicted
upon them.

2035
01:40:43,787 --> 01:40:44,788
MAN 17:
The sub committee says

2036
01:40:44,872 --> 01:40:46,749
Congress should pass
a special law.

2037
01:40:48,417 --> 01:40:50,669
CLAUDIA:
Warren Hatch finally came to me and said,

2038
01:40:50,753 --> 01:40:53,046
“So what's your wishlist?”

2039
01:40:53,130 --> 01:40:55,048
I said, “Very good.

2040
01:40:55,132 --> 01:40:56,300
It's about time.”

2041
01:40:57,217 --> 01:41:01,096
NARRATOR:In 1991,
the US Congress finally passed

2042
01:41:01,180 --> 01:41:04,975
the Radiation Exposure
Compensation Act,

2043
01:41:05,058 --> 01:41:07,186
also known as RECA.

2044
01:41:07,269 --> 01:41:08,979
Today, the House
of Representatives

2045
01:41:09,062 --> 01:41:11,273
restores our nation's honor

2046
01:41:11,356 --> 01:41:12,983
by holding
the American government

2047
01:41:13,067 --> 01:41:16,028
responsible
for Cold War abuses,

2048
01:41:16,111 --> 01:41:18,614
which stained
our collective consciences

2049
01:41:18,697 --> 01:41:21,116
by causing death
and injury to its own people.

2050
01:41:25,120 --> 01:41:28,457
♪ Looking for the black gas ♪

2051
01:41:28,540 --> 01:41:31,043
♪ Switch up your seal ♪

2052
01:41:31,126 --> 01:41:33,295
NARRATOR:The bill would provide
tiered compensation

2053
01:41:33,378 --> 01:41:35,923
for individuals affected
by nuclear testing

2054
01:41:36,006 --> 01:41:37,466
from onsite workers

2055
01:41:37,549 --> 01:41:40,177
to those living
in downwind communities.

2056
01:41:40,260 --> 01:41:41,929
The areas covered by the bill
are limited

2057
01:41:42,012 --> 01:41:43,972
to just 22 counties.

2058
01:41:45,182 --> 01:41:47,059
Also listed are the diseases

2059
01:41:47,142 --> 01:41:50,646
that would qualify a candidate
for payment.

2060
01:41:50,729 --> 01:41:54,441
The compensation is capped
at $50,000.

2061
01:41:54,525 --> 01:41:57,110
No children
or grandchildren are eligible.

2062
01:41:59,071 --> 01:42:01,824
The downwinder community
are lobbying Congress

2063
01:42:01,907 --> 01:42:03,200
to expand the bill,

2064
01:42:03,283 --> 01:42:06,537
both geographically
and generationally.

2065
01:42:06,620 --> 01:42:11,583
And they don't recognize
any second generation cancers.

2066
01:42:11,667 --> 01:42:14,920
I would like to amend the bill.

2067
01:42:15,003 --> 01:42:17,798
People got $50,000.

2068
01:42:17,881 --> 01:42:19,925
So, is that
what a human life's worth?

2069
01:42:20,008 --> 01:42:22,427
$50,000.

2070
01:42:22,511 --> 01:42:24,388
It doesn't cover your chemo.

2071
01:42:24,471 --> 01:42:27,558
I filed seven times
for my dad's compensation

2072
01:42:27,641 --> 01:42:29,560
for my mother to get that.

2073
01:42:29,643 --> 01:42:33,522
They said you can't prove
that your dad lived

2074
01:42:33,605 --> 01:42:35,774
in Southern Utah.

2075
01:42:35,858 --> 01:42:38,443
I went through the downwinder
questioning period

2076
01:42:38,527 --> 01:42:42,406
and so forth,
and ended up collecting $50,000.

2077
01:42:43,365 --> 01:42:48,412
Yes, it was a good amount,
but I would much rather have--

2078
01:42:48,495 --> 01:42:51,582
have my parents, you know,
still have them.

2079
01:42:51,665 --> 01:42:55,294
I am personally flabbergasted
at the fact

2080
01:42:55,377 --> 01:42:57,254
that anybody would think

2081
01:42:57,337 --> 01:43:00,924
that handing my mother a check
for $50,000

2082
01:43:01,008 --> 01:43:02,968
replaces my dad.

2083
01:43:03,051 --> 01:43:05,888
But what it does do
is it admits guilt.

2084
01:43:05,971 --> 01:43:08,473
MARY:
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act

2085
01:43:08,557 --> 01:43:10,142
was a-- a step.

2086
01:43:10,225 --> 01:43:12,436
It was an important step.

2087
01:43:12,519 --> 01:43:14,938
It never went far enough.

2088
01:43:15,314 --> 01:43:17,858
NARRATOR:A group that did not
initially benefit from RECA

2089
01:43:17,941 --> 01:43:19,318
was the Shivwit tribe.

2090
01:43:19,401 --> 01:43:22,362
ILENE:
We had a lot of native Americans

2091
01:43:22,446 --> 01:43:26,909
but a lot of the people
that lived here

2092
01:43:26,992 --> 01:43:28,744
didn't have any records.

2093
01:43:28,827 --> 01:43:30,579
Didn't keep records.

2094
01:43:30,662 --> 01:43:33,999
Couldn't really prove
where they were.

2095
01:43:34,082 --> 01:43:36,919
And so the compensation
was difficult to get.

2096
01:43:37,002 --> 01:43:39,671
I believe that a lot of them
got sick, uh,

2097
01:43:39,755 --> 01:43:41,214
after the movie.

2098
01:43:41,298 --> 01:43:43,759
It was difficult to find out
what happened to them.

2099
01:43:43,842 --> 01:43:46,511
We weren't able, I don't think,
to go to their tribe

2100
01:43:46,595 --> 01:43:48,347
and get the information
that we needed.

2101
01:43:49,681 --> 01:43:53,435
NARRATOR:The Harry test deposited
more radioactive fallout

2102
01:43:53,518 --> 01:43:57,689
over areas of the United States
than any other test.

2103
01:43:57,773 --> 01:43:59,608
With the largest accumulation

2104
01:43:59,691 --> 01:44:03,153
having fallen in the vicinity
of St. George, Utah.

2105
01:44:03,570 --> 01:44:05,447
ANDREW:
The issue of fallout is--

2106
01:44:05,530 --> 01:44:09,409
is relevant today, uh,
as it's ever been.

2107
01:44:09,493 --> 01:44:12,329
Radiation can last
for tens of thousands of years.

2108
01:44:13,622 --> 01:44:17,668
The Trinity test,
the world's first atomic test

2109
01:44:17,751 --> 01:44:22,089
generated radiation
that circled the globe.

2110
01:44:22,172 --> 01:44:26,510
There was radiation detected
in milk in Chicago.

2111
01:44:26,593 --> 01:44:30,472
So, from the very beginning
of the nuclear age,

2112
01:44:30,555 --> 01:44:33,392
everyone involved was aware
that radiation moves.

2113
01:44:33,475 --> 01:44:36,186
NARRATOR:The National Cancer Institution
has determined

2114
01:44:36,269 --> 01:44:40,273
that the entire population
of the US in the 1950s

2115
01:44:40,357 --> 01:44:43,986
received on average
a dose of thyroid radiation

2116
01:44:44,069 --> 01:44:48,323
around 20 times greater than
normal background radiation.

2117
01:44:48,407 --> 01:44:50,075
Their report also states

2118
01:44:50,158 --> 01:44:53,245
that this radiation could
result in an added 10,000

2119
01:44:53,328 --> 01:44:56,665
to 75,000 cases
of thyroid cancer.

2120
01:44:56,748 --> 01:45:05,757
[♪♪♪]

2121
01:45:08,885 --> 01:45:12,931
The vast majority of downwinders
will never know they were.

2122
01:45:13,015 --> 01:45:14,850
They'll never know.

2123
01:45:14,933 --> 01:45:18,020
Um, but there were a lot more
of ‘em

2124
01:45:18,103 --> 01:45:19,771
than anybody ever thought.

2125
01:45:21,106 --> 01:45:22,441
NARRATOR:In 1992,

2126
01:45:22,524 --> 01:45:26,486
the United States ended
a nuclear test moratorium.

2127
01:45:26,570 --> 01:45:29,531
The US Congress apologized
to the downwinders

2128
01:45:29,614 --> 01:45:31,366
on behalf of the nation.

2129
01:45:39,207 --> 01:45:42,210
[birds chirping in background]

2130
01:45:56,308 --> 01:45:59,770
CLAUDIA:
Beth, your tree needs some water.

2131
01:46:02,314 --> 01:46:07,652
Bethany, I miss you everyday.

2132
01:46:09,738 --> 01:46:11,782
Every single day.

2133
01:46:21,458 --> 01:46:24,836
The whole cemetery is full
of people

2134
01:46:24,920 --> 01:46:31,051
that have lost their lives
from what our own government

2135
01:46:31,134 --> 01:46:32,302
did to us.

2136
01:46:32,385 --> 01:46:35,889
There's a lot of sorrow
and suffering that were--

2137
01:46:35,972 --> 01:46:42,395
was unnecessary right here
that didn't need to happen.

2138
01:46:42,479 --> 01:46:46,733
And we're not so naïve as
to think people don't get sick,

2139
01:46:46,817 --> 01:46:48,610
but not in the numbers.

2140
01:46:48,693 --> 01:46:52,322
And now the second generations
and the third generations

2141
01:46:52,405 --> 01:46:54,741
is not normal.

2142
01:46:54,825 --> 01:46:56,034
If something's wrong,

2143
01:46:56,118 --> 01:46:59,412
you don't just walk by
and let it happen.

2144
01:46:59,496 --> 01:47:00,413
You fix it.

2145
01:47:03,792 --> 01:47:06,253
We're losing the history
of what happened

2146
01:47:06,336 --> 01:47:07,796
at the test site.

2147
01:47:09,422 --> 01:47:12,884
We're losing the stories,
because people are dying.

2148
01:47:14,719 --> 01:47:16,847
MARY:
We have to tell our stories.

2149
01:47:16,930 --> 01:47:20,058
If we don't tell our stories,
nobody's gonna care.

2150
01:47:20,142 --> 01:47:23,061
We have to talk about
what happened to us,

2151
01:47:23,145 --> 01:47:24,479
because to me,

2152
01:47:24,563 --> 01:47:27,440
story is like
the most powerful tool we have.

2153
01:47:27,524 --> 01:47:29,192
You can have all the facts
you want

2154
01:47:29,276 --> 01:47:30,318
and give them facts,

2155
01:47:30,402 --> 01:47:33,363
but it's the story that's gonna
get to them.

2156
01:47:37,117 --> 01:47:40,078
NARRATOR:Howard Hughes did not live
to see the downwinders’ fight

2157
01:47:40,162 --> 01:47:42,330
for justice prevail.

2158
01:47:42,414 --> 01:47:43,999
The great aviator died
in a flight back

2159
01:47:44,082 --> 01:47:47,169
to the United States
for medical treatment.

2160
01:47:47,252 --> 01:47:49,337
That he died while
on an airplane,

2161
01:47:49,421 --> 01:47:51,381
where he was perhaps
the happiest,

2162
01:47:51,464 --> 01:47:53,258
seems like a fitting end

2163
01:47:53,341 --> 01:47:56,595
to one of America's most
enigmatic figures.

2164
01:48:01,183 --> 01:48:03,393
HUNLUN:My son,
a miracle has been wrought!

2165
01:48:03,476 --> 01:48:04,895
You live!

2166
01:48:05,604 --> 01:48:07,939
BORTAI:I know the nature of this man.

2167
01:48:08,023 --> 01:48:10,942
No torture will persuade him
like a woman's gentleness.

2168
01:48:13,195 --> 01:48:14,946
JAMUGA:Will bring sorrow between me
and him,

2169
01:48:15,030 --> 01:48:17,115
and disaster upon his people.

2170
01:48:18,533 --> 01:48:21,870
TEMUJIN:There are moments for action
then I listen to my blood.

2171
01:48:24,664 --> 01:48:27,667
NARRATOR:Several years
after Howard Hughes' death

2172
01:48:27,751 --> 01:48:31,004
and over 25 years
after it was filmed,

2173
01:48:31,087 --> 01:48:34,966
The Conqueror would finally
be re released.

2174
01:48:35,467 --> 01:48:40,180
Most would agree it was not
worth the wait.

2175
01:48:41,097 --> 01:48:43,225
I take you for a wife.

2176
01:48:43,308 --> 01:48:44,893
JOHN:
I think the legacy of The Conqueror,

2177
01:48:44,976 --> 01:48:48,480
if anything is,
as bad as a movie it was,

2178
01:48:48,563 --> 01:48:52,651
if it did anything,
it helped create a movement.

2179
01:48:52,734 --> 01:48:54,736
It certainly did raise
the profile

2180
01:48:54,819 --> 01:48:57,822
that something was going
on in St. George

2181
01:48:57,906 --> 01:48:59,783
and in
the surrounding community.

2182
01:48:59,866 --> 01:49:03,119
JOHN:
The fact that it was filmed in Utah,

2183
01:49:03,203 --> 01:49:05,538
downwind of where
this nuclear fallout came

2184
01:49:05,622 --> 01:49:07,082
from this nuclear testing,

2185
01:49:07,165 --> 01:49:09,334
that makes the movie relevant
and interesting,

2186
01:49:09,417 --> 01:49:12,128
and that backstory to that
is probably more fascinating

2187
01:49:12,212 --> 01:49:13,713
than the movie itself.

2188
01:49:13,797 --> 01:49:15,465
MICHAEL:
Coming to terms with The Conqueror

2189
01:49:15,548 --> 01:49:17,926
and the nuclear tests,

2190
01:49:18,009 --> 01:49:22,597
might remind us that some
of the nuclear dangers

2191
01:49:22,681 --> 01:49:27,644
that we were being terrified
about as little kids

2192
01:49:27,727 --> 01:49:29,312
have not entirely disappeared.

2193
01:49:33,483 --> 01:49:36,152
NARRATOR:Whatever happened
to the 60 tonnes of sand,

2194
01:49:36,236 --> 01:49:37,904
that were shipped
from Snow Canyon

2195
01:49:37,988 --> 01:49:41,157
to Studio 15 on the RKO lot?

2196
01:49:41,241 --> 01:49:42,617
Opinions differ.

2197
01:49:43,243 --> 01:49:47,163
PATRICK:
I remember a few years back, we went over to RKO Studios

2198
01:49:47,247 --> 01:49:50,709
and there was still a big pile
of this dirt on the backlot

2199
01:49:50,792 --> 01:49:52,127
at RKO, and we went there

2200
01:49:52,210 --> 01:49:56,214
and it was still radioactive
from, you know,

2201
01:49:56,298 --> 01:49:57,507
two decades before.

2202
01:49:57,590 --> 01:49:59,718
So, it was kind of spooky
and scary.

2203
01:49:59,801 --> 01:50:01,803
MARK:
Michael Wayne went with me.

2204
01:50:01,886 --> 01:50:05,974
It was the middle of the night
when we went to the back lot

2205
01:50:06,057 --> 01:50:08,059
and it was still hot.

2206
01:50:08,143 --> 01:50:09,185
I believe,

2207
01:50:09,269 --> 01:50:12,105
as the guy that went in there
with a Geiger counter,

2208
01:50:12,188 --> 01:50:12,689
that--

2209
01:50:12,772 --> 01:50:13,982
[chuckles]

2210
01:50:14,065 --> 01:50:15,775
That um, it's still there.

2211
01:50:15,859 --> 01:50:17,694
Later I was told
and read that,

2212
01:50:17,777 --> 01:50:21,031
all this was removed
and brought to the Baldwin Hills

2213
01:50:21,114 --> 01:50:23,408
right over the La Ballona Creek
in Culver City

2214
01:50:23,491 --> 01:50:24,576
where it is now.

2215
01:50:24,659 --> 01:50:25,410
Where is it there?

2216
01:50:25,493 --> 01:50:25,952
We--

2217
01:50:26,036 --> 01:50:27,203
Nobody knows what the sand
is there.

2218
01:50:27,287 --> 01:50:27,871
[chuckles]

2219
01:50:27,954 --> 01:50:30,040
Not only was it taken
to Culver City,

2220
01:50:30,123 --> 01:50:32,459
it was dumped out
in Simi Valley, where my uh--

2221
01:50:32,542 --> 01:50:34,377
my youngest daughter lives.

2222
01:50:34,461 --> 01:50:35,503
Where do you get rid of it?

2223
01:50:35,587 --> 01:50:37,839
I mean,
where are you gonna put it?

2224
01:50:37,922 --> 01:50:40,508
My dad's idea was how
about when those big caves

2225
01:50:40,592 --> 01:50:41,843
where you dug out the arraign?

2226
01:50:41,926 --> 01:50:44,637
How about putting the stuff
back in there?

2227
01:50:44,721 --> 01:50:45,930
Makes sense to me.

2228
01:50:47,474 --> 01:50:56,483
[♪♪♪]

2229
01:51:02,489 --> 01:51:11,498
[♪♪♪]

2230
01:51:17,504 --> 01:51:26,513
[♪♪♪]

2231
01:51:32,519 --> 01:51:41,528
[♪♪♪]

2232
01:51:50,829 --> 01:51:56,709
♪ Well, you say you got
the blues ♪

2233
01:51:56,793 --> 01:51:59,712
♪ You got holes in both
of your shoes ♪

2234
01:51:59,796 --> 01:52:00,964
♪ Yeah ♪

2235
01:52:01,047 --> 01:52:04,426
♪ You're feelin' alone
and confused ♪

2236
01:52:04,509 --> 01:52:09,347
♪ You got to keep on smilin',
just keep on smilin' ♪

2237
01:52:09,431 --> 01:52:15,145
♪ Yeah,
you're about to go insane ♪

2238
01:52:15,228 --> 01:52:20,024
♪ ‘Cause your woman's
playing games ♪

2239
01:52:20,108 --> 01:52:23,027
♪ And she said that
you're to blame, ♪

2240
01:52:23,111 --> 01:52:27,824
♪ You got to keep smilin',
just keep on smilin' ♪

2241
01:52:27,907 --> 01:52:34,664
♪ Keep on smiling
through the rain ♪

2242
01:52:34,747 --> 01:52:39,169
Laughin' at the pain ♪

2243
01:52:39,252 --> 01:52:46,634
♪ Just rollin' with the changes
till the sun comes out again ♪

2244
01:52:46,718 --> 01:52:53,433
♪ Keep on smilin'
through the rain ♪

2245
01:52:53,516 --> 01:52:57,854
♪ Laughin' at the pain ♪

2246
01:52:57,937 --> 01:53:04,944
♪ Just rollin' with the changes
and singin' this refrain ♪

2247
01:53:07,113 --> 01:53:11,534
♪ Singin' in a honky tonk cafe ♪

2248
01:53:11,618 --> 01:53:14,537
♪ Nobody's hearin'
what you play ♪

2249
01:53:14,621 --> 01:53:15,705
♪ Yeah ♪

2250
01:53:15,788 --> 01:53:19,042
♪ They're too busy drinkin'
anyway ♪

2251
01:53:19,125 --> 01:53:21,544
♪ You got to keep on smilin' ♪

2252
01:53:21,628 --> 01:53:24,047
♪ Brother, keep on smilin' ♪

2253
01:53:24,130 --> 01:53:29,594
♪ You say you found a piece
of land ♪

2254
01:53:29,677 --> 01:53:32,972
♪ Gonna change from city boy
to country man ♪

2255
01:53:33,056 --> 01:53:34,349
♪ Yeah ♪

2256
01:53:34,432 --> 01:53:37,769
♪ Try to build your life
with your hands ♪

2257
01:53:37,852 --> 01:53:40,480
♪ And just keep on smilin' ♪

2258
01:53:40,563 --> 01:53:41,397
♪ Keep on smilin' ♪

2259
01:53:41,481 --> 01:53:50,490
[♪♪♪]

2260
01:53:56,496 --> 01:54:05,505
[♪♪♪]

2261
01:54:11,511 --> 01:54:20,520
[♪♪♪]

2262
01:54:26,526 --> 01:54:35,535
[♪♪♪]

2263
01:54:41,541 --> 01:54:50,550
[♪♪♪]

2264
01:54:56,556 --> 01:55:05,565
[♪♪♪]

2265
01:55:11,571 --> 01:55:20,580
[♪♪♪]

2266
01:55:26,586 --> 01:55:35,595
[♪♪♪]

2267
01:55:41,601 --> 01:55:50,610
[♪♪♪]

2268
01:55:56,616 --> 01:56:05,625
[♪♪♪]