THREE KINGS

"Three Kings" is a rousing update of a story idea that has been used before in pictures like "Kelly's Heroes" (1970) and "Inside Out" (aka "Hitler's Gold") from 1975. A bunch of guys go looking for the enemy's hidden cache of untold millions.. Those two take place during and after World War II. "Three Kings" starts at the very end of the Gulf War.

Writer/director David O. Russell embellishes the plot created by John Ridley ("U-Turn") with stylistic touches that begin with the very first scene. A cease fire announcement is greeted by GIs with booze, song, and dance. The celebration looks like Spring Break on MTV. Everyone wants to go home until a map detailing the whereabouts of looted gold bars is discovered protruding from the anal cavity of a stripped down captive. To the victor belong the spoils! The chain of command is violated, a TV reporter (Nora Dunn) is sent on a wild goose chase through the desert, and four guys - the three kings of the title and a sidekick - suddenly go AWOL. They find the gold and a lot more than they bargained for. The truce between Iraq and the U.S. calls for a hands-off policy between their standing armies, but the barbarism of Saddam Hussein's troops sticks in the craw of Archie Gates (George Clooney), a Communications Officer for the Special Forces. He's a professional soldier, single, and has nothing to lose. Troy Barlow (Mark Wahlberg) is a reluctant hero. He is a weekend warrior called to active duty who has everything to lose. Troy has a wife, a kid, and a business waiting for him back in the States. Chief Elgin (Ice Cube) is a religious guy who believes in the power of prayer and money. Survival tactics, poison gas, the enemy's superior arsenal and sheer chutzpah affect the men's shifting fortunes. What starts out as a lark, ends up as an international incident with gold bars determining the measure of a person's life.

"Three Kings" is just as funny as it is dramatic. The humor is organic. It grows out of the situations and the personalities of its characters. There is one recurring hilarious comic bit about the nomenclature of a luxury car that keeps cropping up at the most tense moments, making the men lose focus. George Clooney has never seemed brassier because his sarcasm is rooted in the militaristic way of life and not the star's cult of personality. When he asks each guy about their civilian lives, each man's imagination is visualized with the absurdity of a Looney Toon. Later, "Three Kings" imagines a better life for everyone with rib tickling effect.

Despite the presence of the three stars and a standout performance by Spike Jonz as Vig, a not too bright guy who'll do anything for a friend, "Three Kings" is very much the vision of its director, David O. Russell. He blends a pastiche of conflicting styles, themes, and images that depict a schism in the perception of war. Impersonal scenes of war and revelry have the flat washed out look of a live TV broadcast like the ones in the real Gulf War, while the devastation and exhilaration experienced first hand by Gates and his buddies are shown in glorious color. Symbols of affluence and modern technology are found in the most primitive parts of the country. The Kuwaitis' stolen wealth, buried deep inside the bowels of underground bunkers, can't help the starving locals above ground. Joy and misery are the byproducts of war. The juxtaposition of moods is carried out in a moving, yet horrific scene between Barlow and his captor, Captain Said (Said Taghmaoui).Each talks about the one thing that connects them to the human race, family. Barlow still has his but could end up dead. Said is alive but has lost his wife and child.

Surprisingly, "Three Kings" never gets preachy. It makes its points about man's inhumanity to man in bite size pieces making them palatable as well as memorable. In the end, Gates - Barlow - and Elgin come, not bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh like the Three Kings of the New Testament, but themselves. Then fate steps in and the press takes over. "Three Kings" works as thrilling entertainment, and as a reminder that the Gulf War is America's first blow-by-blow television war with the media delivering the government's censored sanitized view of victory.

Copyright 1999

"Gunga Din" (1939) Dir. George Stevens. Sounds an awful lot like "Three Kings!" Gunga Din is the native water boy in British India who longs to be a soldier. His role models are three reckless Army regulars who go in search of a mythic temple of gold. They find the temple of Kali and a blood thirsty cult. Sam Jaffe, who played the High Lama in "Lost Horizon" two years earlier, is the title character inspired by the Rudyard Kipling poem. With Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. The classic line is, "You're a better man than I, Gunga Din." This is one of the Greats!

Two movies with a different kind of treasure

"The Train" (1965) - Director John Frankenheimer's thrilling classic about a group of French partisans trying to stop a Nazi train loaded with art treasure from reaching Germany. Burt Lancaster heads an international cast with Paul Scofield as the bad guy.

"Is Paris Burning" (1966) - Directed by French Director Rene Clement with a screenplay credited in part to Gore Vidal and Francis Ford Coppola. (not to be confused with "Paris is Burning" about drag queen balls) The producers tried to capitalize on the formula that worked for "The Longest Day" with mixed results. The movie details the attempt by Hitler to blow up all the museums, and landmark buildings that housed the art treasures of Paris before the Americans liberated the city. It's an amazing story, but not an amazing movie. A look might pique the interest of history buffs.

Something from Said Taghmoui

"Hideous Kinky" (1999) - Said shines in the pivotal role of Balil, the lover of a wandering adult 'flower child' of the sixties, played by Kate Winslet, trying to find herself in Morocco in the early 70's. The movie also offers a visual contrast with the primitive clannish lifestyle of its people and the encroaching industrialization looming in the background. Minarets and smokestacks share the skyline. Based on a book by Esther Freud. The title refers to the word play of the two daughters who would much rather lead normal lives than follow the nomadic lifestyle of their mother. Balil forms a genuine bond with the girls by respecting their space as children and by treating their mother as an equal.