FILM 2098: THREE KINGS (1999)

In the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, four soldiers set out to steal gold that was stolen from Kuwait, but they discover people who desperately need their help.

TRIVIA: Sayed Moustafa Al-Qazwini, who plays an Iraqi defector, who sells Major Gates cars stolen from Kuwait, was in real-life, tortured and kicked in the eye by Saddam Hussein's security forces, blinding him in that eye. Like many advisors and extras in the film, he is an actual refugee from Iraq.

One scene tracks a hypothetical bullet entering Mark Wahlberg, which came about from David O. Russell asking a doctor friend about what a bullet does to the body. "I said, 'What's the weirdest wound?' and he described that particular wound (used in the movie). You can get a wound that doesn't kill you. A bullet goes through your lung and you can walk around, but the air is leaking out of your lung every time you breathe, so your own breathing can kill you, because your own breathing will crush your organs. It will turn into a balloon in there, and they have to puncture it to let the air out. So he told me those two things, and I said, 'God, that's never been in a movie. I'd like to do that.'"

In the celebratory scene in the tent back at base camp, several soldiers drink what appears to be mouthwash. During the Gulf War, soldiers followed General Order number 1, which prohibits consumption of alcohol (and currently affects soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan). In this case, they asked loved ones to send them vodka, with blue food coloring, in mouthwash bottles. The same trick was used by the students in Toy Soldiers (1991).

The propaganda leaflet with pictograms held by the officer with the megaphone, is a copy of an actual leaflet used during the Gulf War to encourage Iraqi soldiers to surrender.

Although Spike Jonze had never acted in a film before, David O. Russell wrote the part of Conrad Vig specifically for him, and the two practiced Conrad's Southern accent over the phone, while Jonze directed Being John Malkovich (1999). Although Russell had to convince a wary Warner Brothers to cast an inexperienced actor in such a large role, he eventually won out. Russell said Jonze's lack of previous acting work was beneficial to the film, citing the "chaos that a nonactor brings to the set...he really shakes things up."

Though it's a war film, David O. Russell purposefully didn't want a lot of bullets used in the action sequences. "The whole approach I took to the bullets in the movie, was that I tried to make each bullet alive," Russell told Contact Music. "The audience has been numbed to bullets. So, number one, that means fewer bullets. If you have hundreds of bullets, like in other movies, you're going to be numbed."

DIRECTOR CAMEO: David O. Russell: The "Hollywood actor" George Clooney strangles in the epilogue sequence. He also provides the singing voice of the helicopter pilot near the beginning.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

I’m working my way through the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die". This film is from this list. I have my own book – which you can see here…

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