'Celluloid Portraits Vintage' - George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Ice Cube Retrò - Uscito negli USAil 1° Ottobre 1999; in Italiail 3 Marzo 2000
(Three Kings; Usa, Australia 1999; Guerra; 114'; Produz.: Warner Bros. in associazione con: Village Roadshow Pictures, Village-A.M. Film Partnership, Coast Ridge Films, Atlas Entertainment, Junger Witt Productions, Witt/Thomas Productions; Distribuz.: Warner Bros. Italia)
Cast: George Clooney (maggiore Archie Gates) Mark Wahlberg (sergente di prima classe Troy Barlow) Ice Cube (Chief Elgin) Spike Jonze (Conrad Vig) Cliff Curtis (Amir Abdulah) Nora Dunn (Adriana Cruz) Jamie Kennedy (Walter Wogaman) Saïd Taghmaoui (capitano Said) Mykelti Williamson (colonnello Horn) Holt McCallany (capitano Van Meter) Jay Giannone (cecchino Oasis Bunker) Judy Greer (Cathy Daitch)
Musica: Carter Burwell
Costumi: Kym Barrett
Scenografia: Catherine Hardwicke
Fotografia: Newton Thomas Sigel
Montaggio: Robert K. Lambert
Effetti Speciali: Jeff Bresin; Mike Brown; Dan Edwards; Dale Ettema; Werner Hahnlein; Chris Jones; David A. Poole; Michael Roundy; Robert Simokovic; Gary Snyder; Ron Thompson; Mike Van Arkel; Tim Walkey; Richard Zarro
Makeup: Allan A. Apone (supervisore); Barry R. Koper (direzione, seconda unità ); Donald Mowat (per Mr. Wahlberg)
Scheda film aggiornata al:
24 Gennaio 2025
Sinossi:
Ambientato durante la Guerra nel Golfo, la trama del film ruota intorno ad un gruppo di quattro soldati americani guidati dal maggiore delle Forze Speciali Archie Gates che, a guerra finita, tentano di rubare una partita di lingotti d'oro provenienti dal Kuwait e custoditi nei bunker iracheni. Trovati i lingotti, i 4 stanno per fare ritorno alla base americana quando sopraggiunge un plotone dell'esercito di Saddam Hussein il quale si appresta a giustiziare i ribelli iracheni che George Bush aveva incitato a ribellarsi a Saddam, senza poi supportarli militarmente. Inorridito, il maggiore interviene in loro favore violando l'armistizio e gli iracheni rispondono prima distruggendo il camion su cui erano stati caricati i lingotti e poi utilizzando i gas, che costringono gli americani a fuggire nelle catacombe del bunker, tranne Troy Barlow che viene preso in ostaggio mentre cerca di salvare dei bambini che scappano su un campo minato. Archie vorrebbe tornare senza di lui, ritenendolo morto, ma Conrad, suo migliore amico, si oppone fortemente, convincendo i compagni ad intraprendere la ricerca; inoltre, commossi dal discorso di Amir, un prigioniero da loro liberato, decidono di scortare i ribelli in Iran, al sicuro oltre la giurisdizione di Saddam. Nel viaggio si imbattono in un gruppo di miliziani male armati ed equipaggiati, disertori dell'esercito di Hussein, che si offrono di aiutare gli americani, i quali riescono a liberare Troy, ma dopo una rocambolesca battaglia contro i soldati che lo tenevano prigioniero, Conrad viene colpito alle spalle e muore. Giunti al confine iraniano, i soldati vengono raggiunti dal resto dell'esercito americano, che li arresta per diserzione, così Archie ammette di aver ritrovato l'oro consentendo almeno ai ribelli di passare il confine. Tornati in patria i 3 vengono onorati grazie al reportage della giornalista Adriana Cruz che li ha accompagnati nella loro impresa.
Storyline:
Following the end of the Gulf War, U.S. soldiers are sent to tie loose ends. The soldiers 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 goes to Staff Sergeant Chief Elgin to help translate the map. Major Gates appears after tracking down a lead from Adriana. Archie convinces them that the document is a map of bunkers near Karbala containing gold bullion stolen from Kuwait, which they decide to steal in turn. To keep Adriana off his back, Gates sends Specialist Walter Wogeman to aid her on a false lead.
They set off the next day and, among other goods plundered from Kuwait, find the gold, and stumble on the interrogation of Amir Abdullah. As they leave, Amir's wife pleads with them not to abandon the anti-Saddam dissidents. Still, she is executed by the Iraqi Republican Guard. The group decides to free the Iraqi prisoners, triggering a firefight. They pull out just as Iraqi reinforcements arrive, and as they try to evade a CS gas attack, they blunder into a minefield and get separated. Iraqi soldiers capture Troy while a group of rebels rescue the other Americans and take them to their underground hideout. There, Conrad, Chief, and Archie agree to help the rebels and their families reach the Iranian border after they rescue Troy.
Troy is taken back to the bunker and thrown into a room full of Kuwaiti cell phones. He calls his wife on a MicroTAC and tells her to report his location to his local Army Reserve unit. His call is cut short when he is dragged to an interrogation room where he is interrogated by Iraqi Captain Saïd.
The Americans and the rebels go to a band of Iraqi Army deserters, who are persuaded to sell them luxury cars stolen from Kuwait. The vehicles are outfitted as Saddam's entourage in a ruse to scare away the bunker's defenders. After storming the bunker, they free Troy, who spares Saïd, and find more Shi'ite dissidents held in a dungeon. A few of the soldiers who ran away return, and shoot Conrad and Troy. Conrad dies; Troy's lung is punctured, but he survives.
Archie radios Walter and Adriana and arranges transport while the hapless officers in the camp try to locate the trio after getting the message from Troy's wife. Each of the rebels is given a bar of gold, and the rest is buried as they wait for the transport to arrive. The convoy goes to the Iranian border, where the three Americans intend to escort the rebels across to protect them from the Iraqi soldiers guarding the crossing; American officers arrive and stop the group, however, arresting 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 acquiesces to assisting the rebels get into Iran, but still states that charges (of being absent without leave and disobeying orders by contradicting American post-war policy) and courts-martial will be convened against Archie, Troy, and Chief Elgin.
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 was missing, implying that the rebels managed to keep the gold they had been given.
Secondo commento critico (a cura di La parola al film)