The Three Kings

1999 film by David O. Russell

Three KingsTheatrical release posterDirected byDavid O. RussellScreenplay byDavid O. RussellStory byJohn RidleyProduced byCharles Roven Paul Junger Witt Edward L. McDonnellStarring George Clooney Mark Wahlberg Ice Cube Spike Jonze Nora Dunn Jamie Kennedy Mykelti Williamson Cliff Curtis Saïd Taghmaoui CinematographyNewton Thomas SigelEdited byRobert K. LambertMusic byCarter BurwellProductioncompaniesVillage Roadshow Pictures Village-A.M. Film Partnership Coast Ridge Films Atlas EntertainmentDistributed byWarner Bros. (Worldwide)Roadshow Films (Australia & New Zealand)Release dates October 1, 1999 (1999-10-01) (United States) January 13, 2000 (2000-01-13) (Australia) Running time115 minutesCountriesUnited StatesAustraliaLanguageEnglishBudget$48 millionBox office$107.7 million Three Kings is a 1999 black comedy war film written and directed by David O. Russell from a story by John Ridley. It stars George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube, and Spike Jonze as four American soldiers on a gold heist that takes place during the 1991 uprisings in Iraq against Saddam Hussein following the end of the First Gulf War. Three Kings was released on October 1, 1999, in the United States and on January 13, 2000 in Australia. Warner Bros. distributed the film worldwide, while Roadshow Films distributed the film in Australia and New Zealand. The film received critical acclaim and grossed $107.7 million against a $48 million budget.

[edit] Following the end of the Gulf War, U.S. soldiers remaining in theatre are bored from the lack of action and throw parties at night. Major Archie Gates, a U.S. Army Special Forces soldier, is trading sex for stories with a journalist, Cathy Daitch, when he is interrupted by Adriana Cruz, the television reporter he is assigned to escort. While disarming and searching an Iraqi officer, U.S. Army Reserve Sergeant First Class Troy Barlow, his best friend Private First Class Conrad Vig, and their unit find a map in the officer's anus. Troy asks Staff Sergeant Chief Elgin to help interpret the document. Major Gates identifies it as a map of bunkers near Karbala containing gold bullion stolen from Kuwait. They decide to steal it, and Gates distracts Adriana by assigning Specialist Walter Wogeman to take her to investigate a false news tip. They find the gold among other Kuwaiti plunder, and stumble on the interrogation of Amir Abdullah, whose wife pleads with them not to abandon the anti-Saddam dissidents. She is executed by the Iraqi Republican Guard and the group decides to free the Iraqi prisoners, triggering a firefight. They withdraw as Iraqi reinforcements arrive. Trying to evade a CS gas attack, they blunder into a minefield and get separated. Iraqi soldiers capture Troy while the others are rescued by a group of rebels who take them to their underground hideout. Conrad, Chief, and Archie agree to help the rebels and their families reach the Iranian border after they rescue Troy. Confined in the bunker in a room full of Kuwaiti cell phones, Troy calls his wife on a MicroTAC and tells her to report his location to his local Army Reserve unit. The call is cut short when he is dragged to an interrogation by Iraqi Captain Saïd. The Americans and the rebels persuade a band of Iraqi Army deserters to sell them looted Kuwaiti luxury cars, then outfit them to resemble Saddam's entourage. The phony convoy scares away the bunker's defenders and Troy is freed. Saïd is spared, and they find more Shi'ite dissidents held in a dungeon. Iraqi soldiers return before they can depart, and in the ensuing firefight they kill Conrad and wound Troy with a punctured lung. Archie radios Walter and Adriana to arrange transport for the dissidents while hapless American officers in the camp try to locate the trio after the message from Troy's wife arrives. Every rebel is given a bar of gold, and the Americans bury the rest before the convoy arrives. The convoy carries the dissidents to the Iranian border, where the three Americans intend to escort the rebels across to protect them from the Iraqi border guards. American officers intervene and arrest the trio while the rebels are recaptured. Archie offers the buried gold to the American officers in exchange for letting the refugees through. The commanding officer agrees to assisting the rebels get into Iran, but insists the charges of being absent without leave and disobeying orders will result in a courts-martial of Archie, Troy, and Chief Elgin. The epilogue reveals the three surviving soldiers were cleared of the charges and honorably discharged because of Adriana's reporting. Archie becomes 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 is returned to Kuwait, who claim a small amount is still missing.

[edit] George Clooney as Major Archie Gates A career U.S. Army Special Forces officer close to retirement, who is disillusioned with the war. Mark Wahlberg as Sergeant First Class Troy Barlow An office worker with a wife and baby daughter at home. He wears the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations patch and identifies himself as a Civil Affairs Reservist. Ice Cube as Staff Sergeant Chief Elgin An airline baggage handler from Detroit who believes he is protected by a ring of "Jesus-fire", also wears the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations patch. Spike Jonze as Private First Class Conrad Vig A jobless, semi-literate soldier from a group home in Dallas who idolizes Troy; also wears the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations patch. Nora Dunn as Adriana Cruz A tough cable news correspondent who is determined to get a good story. Jamie Kennedy as Specialist Walter Wogeman A bumbling soldier whom Archie uses to distract Adriana. Mykelti Williamson as Colonel Ron Horn Archie's superior officer, who discovers the plan to steal the gold. Cliff Curtis as Amir Abdullah A Shi'ite Iraqi rebel who has been captured by Saddam's troops. Educated in the U.S. at Bowling Green State University, he was an entrepreneur in Baghdad, running several cafes before they were destroyed by Coalition bombs. Saïd Taghmaoui as Captain Saïd An Iraqi interrogator who tortures Barlow with electric shocks after he is captured. Judy Greer as Cathy Daitch A journalist competing with Adriana who has sex with Archie early in the film. Liz Stauber as Debbie Barlow, Troy's wife Holt McCallany as Captain Doug Van Meter Troy's superior officer, an obstreperous stickler for the rules. Alia Shawkat as Amir's daughter. Jim Gaffigan as Cuts Troy's cuff soldier Fahim Fazli as Refugee

[edit] Three Kings was filmed in the deserts of Casa Grande, Arizona, California and Mexico, with many of the extras played by actual Iraqi refugees. According to David O. Russell, two of the cast members had "personally defaced 300 murals of Saddam." After one of the military advisers to the film died during production, Russell said the death was "perhaps due to chemicals he was exposed to in the Gulf."

Script controversy[edit] Former stand-up comic John Ridley had originally written the screenplay, then titled Spoils of War, as an experiment to see how fast he could write and sell a film. The writing took him seven days, and Warner Bros. bought the script 18 days later. When the studio showed a list of their purchased scripts to Russell, the one-sentence description of Spoils of War, "heist set in the Gulf War", appealed to him. Although Russell claimed he never read Ridley's script, so as not "to pollute my own idea", he admits that "John gets credit where it's due. The germ of the idea that I took was his." Ridley maintains that Russell shut him out of the process, saying: "I never heard a word while he was shooting the movie. Never saw any of the script changes. And then finally, a year later, I get a copy of the script, and my name isn't even on it." Although Warner Bros. worked out a deal to give Ridley a "story by" credit, Ridley remains unhappy with the experience, and has blocked Russell's efforts to publish the Three Kings screenplay in book form.

Casting[edit] Russell penned the script with several actors in mind. Although Spike Jonze had never acted in a film before, Russell wrote the part of Conrad Vig specifically for him, and the two practised Conrad's Southern accent over the phone while Jonze directed his first feature film, Being John Malkovich. Although Russell had to convince a wary Warner Bros. 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." Co-star George Clooney also expressed initial reservations about the choice of Jonze. "It's always worrisome when somebody says, 'I got a friend,' and you've never heard of them. But within five minutes of meeting Spike, you just go, 'Oh, he's perfect for the part.'" The part of Archie Gates was originally planned for Clint Eastwood, but Russell decided to rewrite it as a younger character. George Clooney eventually saw a copy of the script and was "blown away" by it. When he heard the part was being re-written, he jumped at the chance to get involved. At this point in Clooney's career, he was best known for his role as the handsome Dr. Doug Ross on the popular television drama ER. Clooney was ready to pursue a role in film. Unfortunately, Russell seemed unwilling to cast Clooney in the role. Persistent, Clooney sent a humorously self-deprecating letter signed "George Clooney, TV actor" to Russell asking for the part, and showed up at Russell's New York City apartment to plead his case. Russell still wasn't satisfied that Clooney could portray the character. He instead convinced Nicolas Cage to play the role. However, when Cage became unavailable after being cast in Martin Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead, Russell gave the part to Clooney. Russell later stated that Clooney "was meant to play the part." Many of the Iraqi roles were played by actual Iraqi refugees in the United States.[citation needed]

[edit] The film was released in the United States and Canada on October 1, 1999, on 2,942 screens.

Planned re-release[edit] In 2004, Warner Bros., feeling the film had become relevant again due to the Iraq War, decided to re-release it in theaters and on DVD. Having no additional footage to add, Russell instead shot Soldiers Pay, a short documentary about the Iraq War, to accompany the film. Taking its name from William Faulkner's first novel of the same name about an airman's return home in World War I's aftermath, Russell said the documentary examined "both sides of the war, people who feel good about the war, who believe in the mission, people who feel bad." While making the documentary, Russell spoke with both Iraqis and U.S. troops. Asked how the Iraqis he had interviewed felt about the war, Russell said:

Every Iraqi I know is glad that Saddam is gone. I would completely disagree with Michael Moore about that. I think it's good that Saddam is gone. And I think basically the movie takes the position of, is Iraq better off without Saddam? Yes. Is the world better off with this war? Not sure, don't think so. Although Russell had planned to release the film before November 2004, hoping to "perhaps make a difference before the election," Warner Bros. abandoned the project at the last minute, citing "controversy surrounding the documentary, combined with a later-than-expected arrival of the bonus footage". Russell disputed the time-crunch excuse, saying: "I think if they really wanted to, they could make it happen." Eventually, the documentary was purchased by the Independent Film Channel, where it was aired in its entirety the night before the 2004 U.S. presidential election.

[edit] Box office[edit] The film opened at number two at the United States box office for the weekend with a gross of $15,847,636, behind Double Jeopardy's second weekend gross of $17 million. Exit polls suggested the film played to an older audience than anticipated. The film grossed $60,652,036 in the United States and Canada and $47.1 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $107.8 million.

Critical reception[edit] Three Kings received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 94% rating, based on 128 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Three Kings successfully blends elements of action, drama, and comedy into a thoughtful, exciting movie on the Gulf War." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 82 out of 100, based on 34 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B on scale of A to F.

Actor Spike Jonze greets Bill Clinton at screening in the White House. Peter Bradshaw says, "A strange flavour, but this is an enjoyable and intelligent action film." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four out of four, writing "Three Kings is some kind weird masterpiece, a screw-loose war picture that sends action and humor crashing head-on into each other and spinning off into political anger". He placed it third on his list of the best films of 1999. David Edelstein of The New York Times said: "It remains the most caustic anti-war movie of this generation." The director's commentary of the film reveals that then-incumbent President Bill Clinton liked the film so much that he had it screened for his staff, friends and advisors at the White House.[citation needed] In Reel Power: Hollywood Cinema and American Supremacy Matthew Alford called Three Kings "an unusual ideological product on Hollywood terms, which begins to break down the official history of the Gulf War [...but nevertheless...] suggests that the problems of Iraq can be solved, and only solved, by the application of US force". He observes that Russell "sheepishly indicated Three Kings' ideological consistency with the 2003 Iraq War" when Russell met George W. Bush in 1999(?) and said he was making a film that would question his father's legacy in Iraq. Alford quotes Bush as responding to Russell: "Then I guess I'm going to have to finish the job, aren't I?" A. O. Scott described 1999 as a magic year for movies, "up there with 1939 and 1962 and 1974", highlighting Three Kings and Magnolia. He chose the movie one of his "Critics' Picks".

Although the title "The Three Kings" instantly conjures the nativity trio, the track is pulled from a 1999 war‑drama, not a carol. Its gritty, Middle‑Eastern‑inspired motifs make it a surprising fit for winter evenings when you want something moody rather than festive. The music’s blend of brass and percussive rhythm creates a cinematic backdrop ideal for a cosy movie‑marathon or a snug fireside listen, but it’s not a traditional yuletide tune. Knowing its provenance helps you slot it into the right part of your festive playlist – think post‑dinner winding‑down, not the opening of the Christmas crackers.

If you fancy adding this track to your seasonal collection, look for the official Carter Burwell score rather than a generic compilation. Physical CD releases are scarce but can be found on specialist outlets or second‑hand sites; they often include extra cues that showcase the score’s range. For most listeners, streaming platforms carry the full album, but check that the version is the original 1999 release – some services bundle it with later reissues that may omit bonus tracks. When buying digitally, verify the bitrate (lossless FLAC is ideal) to retain the nuanced instrumentation that makes the piece stand out in a winter soundscape.

Many assume the music is purely war‑zone tension, overlooking its subtle nods to traditional Middle‑Eastern melodies that echo the journey of the biblical Magi. Burwell layers a lone fiddle with soft chimes, a hint of the shepherds’ pipe that can feel unexpectedly warm on a cold night. This undercurrent is easy to miss amid the film’s action, but it gives the piece a gentle, almost reverent quality that resonates with the spirit of giving and travel associated with Christmas. Listening for these nuances can transform a casual track into a reflective moment in your holiday routine.