National Treasure (film)

National Treasure
Directed by	Jon Turteltaub
Produced by	Jerry Bruckheimer John Turteltaub
Written by	Story by Jim Kouf Oren Aviv Charles Segars Ted Elliott Terry Rossio Screenplay by Marianne & Cormac Wibberley
Starring	Nicolas Cage Diane Kruger Justin Bartha Sean Bean Jon Voight Harvey Keitel Christopher Plummer Yves Michel-Beneche Jason Earles
Music by	Trevor Rabin
Cinematography	Caleb Deschanel
Editing by	William Goldenberg
Distributed by	Buena Vista International
Release date(s)	November 19, 2004
Running time	131 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$100,000,000[1]
Gross revenue	US$347,451,894 (worldwide)
Followed by	Book of Secrets
IMDb • Allmovie

National Treasure is a 2004 adventure film from Walt Disney Pictures written by Jim Kouf, Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Cormac Wibberley, and Marianne Wibberley, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and directed by Jon Turteltaub. It is the first film in the National Treasure franchise and stars Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha, Sean Bean, Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel, and Christopher Plummer. It is an adventure movie set in the USA about a search for lost treasure, involving stealing the Declaration of Independence, which leads to a trail of clues and a back-story intertwined with the Knights Templar and the Freemasons.

Plot

The story centers on Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage), an amateur cryptologist with a mechanical engineering degree from MIT and an American history degree from Georgetown who comes from a long line of treasure hunters that believe in the legend of a fantastic treasure trove of artifacts and gold, hidden by the Founding Fathers of the United States, and forgotten to all but a few. The first clue was given to Ben's great-great-great-great grandfather Thomas Gates by Charles Carroll, the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence, saying simply, "The secret lies with Charlotte".

Using sophisticated computer arctic weather models, Ben, with his friend Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) and financier Ian Howe (Sean Bean), finds the wreckage of a Colonial ship, the Charlotte, containing a meerschaum pipe engraved with a riddle. After examining the riddle, Ben deduces that the next clue is on the back of the Declaration of Independence. While Ben sees gaining access to such a highly guarded artifact as an obstacle, Ian finds no problem in stealing it. In the standoff, Ian escapes and the Charlotte explodes with Ben and Riley inside, nearly killing them.

They attempt to warn the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and Dr. Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) at the National Archives, but no one takes them seriously, believing it to be too heavily guarded to be under any threat. Ben thinks otherwise, however, and decides to steal it to keep it from Ian. Ben and Riley manage to steal the Declaration during a 70th anniversary-gala, just before Ian arrives. Dr. Chase, who is holding a replica, is kidnapped by Ian who thinks she has the real one, and Ben has to engage in a car chase to rescue her. As she will not leave without the Declaration, and Ben will not let her leave with it, she is forced to go along with them.

Ben and Riley agree that the only place to hide from the police would be Ben's father's (Jon Voight) house. Despite his father's disbelief in the treasure, Ben manages to reveal an Ottendorf cipher on the back of the Declaration, referring to characters in the Silence Dogood letters. The coded message in the letters leads them to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where they find special bifocals invented by Benjamin Franklin inside of a brick from the building. Ben examines the back of the Declaration with the glasses, to find another clue. After a short chase, Ian gets the Declaration from Riley and Abigail, and the FBI arrests Ben, who has the glasses.

When the FBI attempts to use Ben as bait to get the Declaration back, Ian arranges to have him escape by jumping from the deck of the USS Intrepid, into the Hudson River, a feat not too difficult for Ben as a graduate of the Navy Diving and Salvage Training Center. Using Ben's father, Riley, and Abigail as leverage, Ian forces Ben to interpret the clue on the back of the declaration, a reference to a secret chamber under Trinity Church in New York City. When they arrive at a seemingly dead end, Ben's father makes up another clue to keep Ian going, telling him a lantern is the clue to the Old North Church in Boston, referencing Paul Revere's ride. Ian goes to Boston with his men, leaving everyone else to die in the caverns.

After Ian leaves, Ben reveals there is another exit that must be through the treasure room. They find a secret passage into another chamber. To their disappointment, they find it empty, and assume that the treasure was already moved. However, they realize a secondary exit must have been created in case of cave-ins. Ben examines the walls of the room, to find a hole the shape of the pipe from the Charlotte. This lock opens a door into the true treasure room, containing artifacts from all periods of history.

When they leave through the second exit and the FBI arrives, Ben discovers that the chief investigator, Special agent Peter Sadusky (Harvey Keitel), is a Freemason. Ben proposes to give the treasure to various museums around the world, with credit being given to the entire Gates family and Riley, with Dr. Chase not being penalized for the theft of the Declaration. However, Sadusky says that someone has to go to prison for the theft of the Declaration, so they fly to Boston, where Ian and his men are breaking the lock to gain entry to the Old North Church. FBI agents emerge from hiding and arrest them under charges of "kidnapping, attempted murder, and trespassing on government property." The U.S. government offers Ben and his friends 10% of the treasure, but Ben only takes 1% and splits it with Riley. With his share, Ben and Abigail buy a mansion once owned by a man who knew Charles Carroll, and Riley buys a red Ferrari 360 Spider.

A film set for one of the final scenes

Clues and their meanings

• "The secret lies with Charlotte" — refers to a ship that ended up frozen and preserved in the ice cap north of the Arctic Circle.
• "The legend writ, the stain affected. The key in Silence undetected. Fifty-five in iron pen, Mr. Matlack can't offend" — Written on the stem of a meerschaum pipe. The pipe, found in a cask containing gun powder guarded by a skeletal captain, needed to be dipped in ink or a similar substance (in the film, blood is used) and then rolled across paper to read the clue, in the manner of a cylinder seal. The clue refers to the Declaration of Independence as well as the Silence Dogood Letters.
• Ottendorf cipher on back of Declaration of Independence — Cipher where the key is the Silence Dogood letters. This piece of information is withheld from Ian at the beginning of the movie.
  • Ottendorf cipher solution — "The vision to see the treasured past, comes as the timely shadow crosses in front of the house of Pass and Stow" — refers to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.
• $100 bill — The image of Independence Hall on the back supplies the specific time (2:22) to be at Independence Hall to find the next clue. Ben and team go to Independence Hall at 3:22 Eastern Daylight Saving Time because Daylight Saving was not established until World War I. Therefore, in 1776 when the painting was done, it would have been 2:22.
  

  

  Notice the time is 2:22
• Ocular Device — Found in a hollow brick carved with the Masonic Square and compasses when the shadow from Independence Hall points to a specific brick in a nearby wall, the Ocular Device is needed to see the map in its entirety.
• "Heere At The Wall" and the Trinity Church symbol — Found on the map when viewed through the Ocular Device, refers to Trinity Church in New York City on the intersection of Wall Street and Broadway which was originally called "D'Heere Street."
• "Beneath Parkington Lane" — Found on the map when viewed through the Ocular Device when the lenses are adjusted. This refers to a Master Mason entombed in the Trinity Church Mausoleum, his tomb concealing the entrance to the underground location where the treasure was hidden: a secret temple of the Masons.
• The Pipe — The final clue, the pipe was not only a clue to the Declaration of Independence, but it is also the key to unlock the treasure room. The bowl of the pipe needed to be placed inside an imprint in the wall, which then allowed the stem of the pipe to turn the lock. The pipe bowl was then pushed to unlock the room.

Cast

• Nicolas Cage as Benjamin Franklin Gates - protagonist seeking the Templar treasure
• Justin Bartha as Riley Poole - Ben's technologically inclined friend
• Diane Kruger as Abigail Chase - National Archives employee who gets caught up in Ben's quest
• Sean Bean as Ian Howe - antagonist trying to steal the Declaration and find the treasure for himself
• Jon Voight as Patrick Henry Gates - Ben's father who does not believe in the treasure
• Harvey Keitel as FBI Special Agent Peter Sadusky - FBI agent who tries to reclaim the Declaration
• Christopher Plummer as John Adams Gates - Ben's grandfather who tells him of the treasure
• Yves Michel-Beneche as Museum Kid - kid Riley hires to decipher clues at the Franklin Institute
• Jason Earles as Thomas Gates, ancestor of Ben Gates who first hears of the legend

Home video releases

Collector's Edition DVD

A special collector's edition, two-disc DVD set of the movie was released on December 18, 2007.[1].

Blu-ray Disc

Disney released Blu-ray Disc versions of National Treasure and its sequel, National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, on May 20, 2008.^[2]

Soundtrack

Main article: National Treasure (soundtrack)

Sequels

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Main article: National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Although the DVD commentary stated that there were no plans for a sequel, the film's box office gross of an unexpected $347.5 million worldwide warranted a second film, which was given the greenlight in 2005. National Treasure: Book of Secrets, on DVD known as National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, was released on December 21, 2007.

National Treasure 3

Director Jon Turteltaub said that the filmmaking team will take its time on another National Treasure sequel,^[3] but Disney has already registered the domains for NationalTreasure3DVD.com and NationalTreasure4DVD.com.^[4] Though the second film ended with the question about page 47 of the President's book of secrets, Turteltaub responded in a press interview that the idea was not set in stone as the basis for National Treasure 3.^[5]

See also

Crew members altering the natural light for filming an indoor scene

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: National Treasure

• United States Declaration of Independence
• National Archives and Records Administration
• Beale ciphers
• Arnold Cipher
• Baron Ottendorf
• National Treasure franchise

References

External links

• National Treasure at the Internet Movie Database
• National Treasure at Rotten Tomatoes
• National Treasure at Box Office Mojo
• The National Archives "Our National Treasure" website
• National Treasure mistakes at Nitpickers.com
• Nicolas Cage interview for National Treasure at Movie Hole
• Secret Methods and Techniques - Intelligence letters - From the collections at Clements Library
• On Baron Ottendorf