As implied by the name of the genre, war movies are always rooted in conflict, but David O. Russell’s Three Kings saw life imitating art when things kept continually boiling over behind the scenes.
John Ridley penned the original screenplay, and claims he was shut out of the process by Russell, ending up with only a “story by” credit for his troubles. When cameras were actually rolling, things got so fractious between the director and star George Clooney that they came to blows on set and ended up brawling over the filmmaker’s treatment of the crew.
There were also the inevitable disagreements with the studio over how Three Kings was being shot, with Warner Bros. reducing the production schedule by almost two weeks, trying to lower the budget by millions, and asking for the removal of more violent scenes to secure a more palatable and audience-friendly rating.
In the end, despite the many issues to have plagued it from beginning to end, Russell somehow conspired to deliver a minor masterpiece that deserves to be lauded as one of the war story’s most unheralded classics. Sure, it got strong reviews from critics and recouped its budget two and a half times over at the box office, but it never gets talked about often enough when discussing the genre’s genuine greats.
Whether it’s a first-time viewing or repeat business, though, Three Kings has returned with a bang on streaming, after FlixPatrol revealed that iTunes subscribers can’t get enough of Clooney, Ice Cube, and Mark Wahlberg planning to hijack Saddam Hussien’s hidden stash of gold from behind enemy lines at the height of the Gulf War.
Published: Jul 12, 2023 02:13 am