322 THREE KINGS
“The Arab Capital of North Amer i ca”). The shoot proved to be an unusually rocky
one. Still filming episodes of ER in Los Angeles three days a week, an increasingly
exhausted Clooney was working on the shoot in the Arizona desert the other four
days. For his part, Russell was under enormous pressure, shooting his first big-
budget Hollywood film— a nerve- wracking challenge that made him irritable
and petulant, especially toward extras and crew members. Clooney came to loathe
Russell, whom he would later describe as “vulnerable and selfish,” and the two
began to clash verbally. Eventually the on- set tension erupted into a fistfight. Wit-
nessing the altercation, a disgusted Paul Bernard (assistant director) walked off
the set, never to return. The conflict was kept under wraps at the time but word
of it later surfaced in the October 2003 issue of Vanity Fair in a cover story on
C looney.Plot Summary
In March 1991, following the end of the Persian Gulf War, U.S. soldiers are sent
over for mop-up operations. They throw rowdy parties out of boredom— a result
of inaction. Maj. Archie Gates (George Clooney), a U.S. Army Special Forces sol-
dier, swaps sex for stories with a news journalist, Cathy Daitch ( Judy Greer). While
pro cessing a captured Iraqi officer, U.S. Army Reserve Sergeant First Class Troy
Barlow (Mark Wahlberg) and his best friend, Pfc. Conrad Vig (Spike Jonze), find a
hidden map on the captive’s person. Troy consults with Staff Sergeant Chief Elgin
(Ice Cube) to interpret the map. Maj. Gates joins in and convinces the others that
the map shows the way to stolen gold bullion from Kuwait and that they should
steal the gold for themselves. To keep meddling TV news reporter Adriana Cruz
(Nora Dunn) at bay, Gates has Specialist Walter Wogeman ( Jamie Kennedy) give
her an incorrect lead to follow. The next day the men arrive at the bunker indi-
cated on the map, where they find the gold and luxury goods plundered from
Kuwait and stumble on Amir Abdullah (Cliff Curtis) being interrogated and tor-
tured. The crew stays to fight for the Iraqi prisoner’s freedom and gets involved in
a firefight. They retreat right before reinforcements arrive, but happen upon a mine-
field and become separated. Troy is captured by Iraqi soldiers, and the remaining
Americans are rescued by local rebels and ushered to an underground hideout.
There, Conrad, Chief, and Archie make a deal with the rebels, offering to help their
families if they are first allowed to rescue Troy. Troy is brought back to a bunker
and tossed in a room filled with Kuwaiti cell phones. He is able to phone his
spouse and ask her to report his location, but he is cut off when the soldiers drag
him to an interrogation room and have Iraqi Captain Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui) tor-
ture him. The other Americans eventually free Troy, who spares Saïd, and finds
Shi’ite dissidents being imprisoned in a dungeon. A few of the Iraqi soldiers who
initially fled return, shooting Conrad and Troy. Conrad dies, but Troy survives
the shots. Archie arranges transport, while the inept officers in the camp try to
find the three soldiers after hearing from Troy’s wife. Each of the rebels receives a
bar of gold for his ser vices, and the remaining gold is buried. The convoy reaches
the Ira nian border, and the Americans attempt to escort the rebels to Iran, but
new American officers arrive and arrest the three soldiers while recapturing the