As an epilogue, the film states that the three surviving soldiers (Archie, Troy, and Chief Elgin) are cleared of the charges and honorably discharged, thanks to Adriana's reporting. The epilogue goes on to show that Archie goes to work as a military adviser for Hollywood action films, Chief leaves his airport job to work with Archie, and Troy returns to his wife and baby to run his own carpet store. The stolen gold was returned to Kuwait, which claimed that some were missing, implying that the rebels managed to keep the gold they had been given.
All of the explosions in the movie were filmed in one shot, as opposed to a typical film where each would have been covered by multiple cameras. Russell explained, "to me that's more real. The car's blowing up on this guy, and we just park the camera. Of course the producer says, 'we gotta run three cameras!' But if I cut three ways, then it just looks like an action picture."[5] Russell also had the Foley department tone down the sounds of gunfire, saying he didn't want to "Bruce Willis-ize" the film."[5] One frequently noted shot in the film is an image of a bullet piercing a number of internal organs, releasing bile into the abdominal cavity, used when Gates is describing sepsis as the effect of a gunshot wound. This internal camera is again used when SFC Barlow is shot in the torso and his chest begins to fill with air, crushing his lung. Both of these scenes were inspired by Russell asking an emergency room doctor friend "What's the weirdest wound you've ever seen?"[5] It also erupted a minor controversy, when Russell began to joke around that the gunshots were fired into a real corpse; a statement everyone vehemently denied later.[11]
The shoot took place in Arizona during October. The crew were unused to the improvisational, on-the-fly directing style that Russell implemented. Rather than preparing organized shot lists, Russell preferred to use ideas as they came to him, often asking for longer hours. Early on, some of the crew began to feel a dislike for these methods and Russell along with them.[12] Clooney noted that "there's an element of David that was in way over his head... he was vulnerable and selfish, and it would manifest itself in a lot of yelling." When Russell's frustration led to outbursts, Clooney took it upon himself to defend crew members and extras, leading to increased tensions.[12] When an extra had an epileptic seizure on set, Clooney ran to his aid while Russell apparently remained indifferent. Afterward, Clooney criticized Russell for ignoring the incident, though Russell later stated that he was busy setting up a shot some yards away from the extra and was not aware that the extra had suffered a seizure.[12] Another on-set conflict between the two arose while shooting footage on a Humvee with a camera mounted to it. Clooney recalls Russell yelling at the driver to drive faster. Clooney then approached the director, telling him to "knock it off".[12] Russell remembers the incident differently: "The camera broke, we were losing the day and I was upset about that. So I jumped off the truck and I was like, 'Fuck!' I was just kicking the dirt and everything like that. And then George had this big thing about defending the driver, whom I hadn't really said anything to."[12] During the shoot, Clooney was exhausted as he was still shooting ER in Los Angeles three days a week, while working on Three Kings the other four.[12]
Clooney was determined to stay with the role and remained loyal to the script. He helped convince executives to support certain aspects of the film (such as the exploding cow scene) even after he was urged to drop out of production, as his contract called for his compensation with or without his decision to stay in the film. After a number of arguments, Clooney wrote Russell a letter that criticized Russell's behavior in a last attempt to make peace between the two, days before another fight broke out during the filming of the movie's finale. In it, the three lead characters attempt to escort Iraqi rebels across the border to Iran. There were a number of actors and extras in the scene, as well as other elements such as helicopters flying overhead and landing in the center of the location. The fight began after an extra was having difficulty throwing Ice Cube's character to the ground. After a number of takes, Russell came to the extra and put him through the motions of the action. Some individuals present on the set during the incident state that Russell was simply showing the extra how to convincingly act in the scene. However, Clooney and others thought that Russell had violently thrown the extra to the ground. Clooney recalls: "We were trying to get a shot and then he went berserk. He went nuts on an extra."[13] Clooney approached Russell and began criticizing him again, coming to the extra's defense. The two began shouting at one another before getting into a physical fight. Second assistant director Paul Bernard was so fed up that he put down his camera and walked off the set, effectively quitting.[12] Clooney concludes, "Will I work with David ever again? Absolutely not. Never. Do I think he's tremendously talented and do I think he should be nominated for Oscars? Yeah." Russell offered a different view, saying, "We're both passionate guys who are the two biggest authorities on the set," and maintained that the two continue to be friends. Ice Cube felt the conflict helped the film, saying, "It kind of kicked the set into a different gear where everybody was focused and we finished strong. I wouldn't mind if the director and the star got into an argument on all of my movies."[13]
The movie takes place at the end of the Gulf War of 1991 ("Operation Desert Storm," the Pentagon publicists called it). The first words set the tone: "Are we shooting?" The truce is so new that soldiers are not sure, and a guy waving a white flag gets his head shot off in a misunderstanding. Shame. Three U.S. soldiers find an Iraqi with a piece of paper stuck where the sun don't shine. An officer issues a rubber glove and tells a private to pull if out. The guy wants two gloves, but he'll do it with one, he's told: "That's how the chain of command works." The map shows the location of gold bullion looted from Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's troops and buried in secret bunkers. ("Bullion? Is that a little cube you put in hot water?") The three soldiers are Sgt. Troy Barlow (Mark Wahlberg), Chief Elgin (Ice Cube) and Pvt. Conrad Vig (Spike Jonze). They attract the attention of Sgt. Maj. Archie Gates (George Clooney), a Special Forces veteran who decides on the spot to lead them on an unauthorized mission to steal the treasure. This involves dumping the cable news reporter he's been assigned to escort. She's Adriana Cruz, played by Nora Dunn as a Christiane Amanpour clone so driven by journalistic zeal that she is heedless of her own safety or anything else but a story. The gold, of course, would be a story.
A festive tradition in Spain, Puerto Rico, Mexico and many Latin American countries, Three Kings Day, or the Feast of the Epiphany, commemorates the arrival of the three kings (Balthazar, Melchior and Gaspar) in Bethlehem to worship the newborn Christ child.
In the Gospel of Mathew, the three Kings find baby Jesus by following the path of a star across the desert for twelve days. According to the Gospel, the three Kings, named Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar traveled to Bethlehem to bring gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the baby Jesus.
Today, children celebrate Three Kings' Day by receiving gifts of their own. Children in Spain and Latin America are instructed to leave their shoes by the door of their house so, like Santa Claus, the three kings can come and leave them presents.
In 1991, U.S. troops, under the first President George Bush, chased Saddam Hussein's army back across the Kuwaiti border, then halted, abandoning the homegrown Iraqi freedom movement once the Kuwaiti oil wells were secure. Saddam Hussein's cease-fire surrender brings jubilation to U.S. forces, who act like frat guys on Spring Break. During the melee, soldiers find a map hidden by a high-ranking captive Iraqi. Special Forces Capt. Archie Gates (George Clooney) deduces the map shows the location of stolen Kuwaiti gold and forms a small raiding-party of three reservists (Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, Spike Jonze) to venture past the cease-fire lines to get the loot. Gates is correct about the gold, and Saddam's forces are busy violently crushing uprisings among their own people. But Gates and his men are sickened by the sight of innocent civilians being terrorized. Instead of making a clean getaway they do what the Bush Administration did not; open fire to help the oppressed Iraqi rebels. Now,the accidental freedom-fighters have to race, shoot, and deal their way to safety.
Nativity scenes around the world display them. Songs and poems have been written about them. They are featured in movies, plays, and Sunday school skits. They are some of the most recognizable figures in our culture as nearly everyone has seen images of three wise men riding on camels and following a star. Some have even gone so far as to name these guys.
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