Factual error: It is said in the film that Ice Cube's character works in an airport in Detroit. When the scene shows Ice Cube at work as a baggage handler, there are mountains in the background. There are no mountains in the Detroit area. (00:14:10)
Three Kings (1999)
Directed by: David O. Russell
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, George Clooney, Ice Cube, Cliff Curtis, Jamie Kennedy, Spike Jonze, Nora Dunn
Continuity mistake: In one scene, some of Saddam's troops pour oil all over Mark Whalberg's face (while forcing him to bite down on a CD so it runs into his mouth) in an attempt to torture him. The next scene, when he is rescued, he has nothing but the requisite smudges and "movie dirt" on his face. Apparently the Iraqis decided to clean the oil slick off of his face before he got rescued.
Factual error: At times in the movie we see George Clooney handle solid bars of gold as if they were made of balsa wood, or chocolate. Gold is one of the heaviest metals, and bars the size of those depicted in the movie would weigh about 75 pounds. (00:33:40)
Trivia: When the scene where the cow is blown up was threatened to be cut due to money constrictions George Clooney paid for the effect out of his own pocket feeling it important to the scene. He was right, the scene was wildly popular with audiences. (Source George Clooney Biography at http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/biographies/george_clooney_biog/5).
Trivia: George Clooney and director David Russell got into a fist-fight when Clooney objected to the way Russell was treating some extras. In a moment of frustration, Russell lashed out and began berating the extras and Clooney stepped in to defend them. Later, Russell would say that he wouldn't make another movie with Clooney for $20,000,000. (Sources Clooney Biography at http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/biographies/george_clooney_biog/5 and IMDb).
Trivia: Tony Gardner, special makeup effects artist was under investigation by Arizona State Police and Missing Persons bureau for effects work done on "Three Kings" involving a bullet traveling through a soldier's body. Arizona State Police originally believed that bullets had been fired through a real human cadaver, and filmed with a high speed camera. The Missing Person's division thought that the "cadaver" was obtained by taking a homeless person off of the streets of Phoenix, Arizona. Eventually, Tony had to write a disclaimer describing how he had achieved the sequences with makeup effects technology so that Warner Brothers could hand or fax the disclaimer out to all of the people flooding their offices with inquiries.
Archie Gates: Sit down. What do you see here?
Chief Elgin: Bunkers, sir.
Archie Gates: What's in them?
Troy Barlow: Stuff they stole from Kuwait.
Archie Gates: Bullshit. I'm talking about millions in Kuwaiti bullion.
Conrad Vig: You mean them little cubes you put in hot water to make soup?
Archie Gates: No, not the little cubes you put in hot water to make soup.
Archie Gates: You're scared, right?
Conrad Vig: Maybe.
Archie Gates: The way it works is, you do the thing you're scared shitless of, and you get the courage after you do it, not before you do it.
Conrad Vig: That's a dumbass way to work. It should be the other way around.
Archie Gates: I know. That's the way it works.
Adriana Cruz: Are you ready to work with me now?
Archie Gates: Yeah, I'm ready to work with you.
Adriana Cruz: Good, 'cause I've got an amazing lead.
Archie Gates: It was in the guy's ass.
Camp soldier: That's not the real story.
Adriana Cruz: What's the real story?
Camp soldier: It was in the guy's dick, they had to pull it out with a pair of tweezers.
Adriana Cruz: A ten-page atlas of Saddam's bunkers?
Camp soldier: Yeah, only real small, like those books you get in a box of Cracker Jacks.
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