Three Kings
(1999)
They didn’t make all that many movies about the First Iraq War, the first one I can recall that had a sexy nickname: Operation Desert Storm. I guess it was over before the screenwriters could really tackle it. This is a damn good one. It starts out like an updated version of one of those wacky post-WWII service comedies crossed with Kelly’s Heroes, where the crew of a tank try to grab some Nazi gold for themselves. But it quickly gets more serious, without ever losing the humor totally. George Clooney, as the man in charge, increasingly feels sympathy for these poor Iraqis who we were abandoning to the mercy of Saddam Hussein, after first promising we would do no such thing. Good acting, good writing, good directing. Loved it.