National Treasure
In an attic in
Young Benjamin Franklin Gates: Grandpa!
John Adams Gates: You’re not supposed to be up here…looking at that.
Ben: I just wanted to know.
John Adams Gates: Well, you’re old enough I suppose. You should know the story. Ok, here we go. It was 1832, on a night much like this. Charles Carroll was last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was also a member of a secret society known as the Masons. And he knew he was dying. He woke up his stable boy in the middle of the night and ordered him to take him to the White House to see Andrew Jackson because it was urgent that he speak to the president.
Ben: Did he talk to him?
John Adams Gates: No, he never got the chance. The president wasn’t there that night. But Charles Carroll had a secret, so he took into his confidence the one person he could, my grandfather’s grandfather, Thomas Gates.
Ben: What was his secret?
John Adams
Gates: A treasure… a treasure
beyond all imagining. A treasure that had been fought over for centuries by tyrants,
pharaohs, emperors, warlords.
Every time it changed hands it grew larger. And then suddenly it
vanished. It didn’t reappear for
more than a thousand years when knights from the first crusade discovered secret
vaults beneath the
Charles
Carroll:
Grandfather
Gates: …the secret lies with
Ben: Who is
John Adams Gates: Oh, not even Mr. Carroll knew that. Now look here Ben. The free masons among our founding fathers left us clues like these. The unfinished pyramid, the all-seeing eye, symbols of the Knights Templar. Guardians of the treasure. They’re speaking to us through these…
Patrick Gates: You mean laughing at us. You know what that dollar represents? The entire Gates family fortune. Six generations of fools chasing after fool’s gold.
John Gates: It’s not about the money Patrick. It’s never been about the money.
Patrick Gates: Come on son, time to go. You can say your goodbyes.
Ben: Grandpa, are we knights?
John Gates: You want to be?
Ben: (Shakes head yes)
John Gates: Alright, um, kneel. Benjamin Franklin Gates, you take upon yourself the duty of the Templars, free masons, and the family Gates. Do you so swear?
Ben: I so swear.
Ben grows up, it is now the
present day. They are in the artic
circle. The title National Treasure flashes up on the screen.
Ben Gates: I was thinking about Hanson and Perry, crossing this kind of terrain with nothing more than dog sleds and on foot. Can you imagine?
Ian Howe: It’s extraordinary.
Powell: Are we getting closer?
Riley Poole: Assuming Ben’s theory is correct and my tracking model’s accurate, we should be getting very close. But don’t go by me, I broke a shoelace this morning. It’s…it’s a bad omen.
Ian: Should we turn around and go home?
Ben: Or we could pull over and just throw him out here.
Riley: Haha…okay.
Ben: Oh Riley, you aren’t missing that windowless cubicle we found you in are you?
Riley: Oh no,
absolutely not.
His computer beeps and alerts them they have reached their destination.
Shaw: Why are we stopping? I thought we were looking for a ship.
Shippen: I don’t see any ship.
Ben: Oh she’s out there.
Shippen: Look, this is a waste of time. How could a ship wind up way out here?
Riley: Well I’m no expert, but it could be that the hydrothermal properties of this region produce hurricane force ice storms that cause the ocean to freeze, then melt, than refreeze, resulting in a semi-solid migrating land mass that would land a ship right around here.
Ben’s metal detector goes
off, indicating something buried in the snow. He uncovers what appears to be a bell or
the mouth of a cannon with the words
Ben: Hello
beautiful……..2 years ago, if you hadn’t shown up, hadn’t believed the treasure
was real, I don’t know if I ever would have found
Ian: You would have found it, I have no doubts. That’s why I didn’t think this was a crazy investment as everyone says.
Ben: I’m just relieved I’m not as crazy as everyone says, or said my dad was, or my granddad, or my great granddad. Okay! Let’s go!
Ian: Let’s go find some treasure.
The group enters the ship’s
holds.
Riley: After seeing a frozen skeleton… Ahh! OH GOD! AHH!
Ben: You handled that well. This is it. It’s the cargo hold.
Riley: You think it’s in the barrels?
Ian: Gunpowder
Ben: Now why would the captain be guarding this barrel?....I’ve found something!
Riley: What is it?
Ben proceeds to open a nice
box and reveal an ivory pipe.
Ben: Do you guys know what this is?
Riley: Is it a billion dollar pipe?
Ian: It’s a Miashawn pipe. Ah, it’s beautiful.
Ben: Look at the intricacy of the scroll work on the stem.
Riley: Is it a million dollar pipe?
Ben: No it’s a clue. Let me see that.
Riley: What…Don’t break it.
Ben: We are one step closer to the treasure gentleman.
Ian: Ben, I
thought you said the treasure would be on the
Ben: No, the
secret lies with
The legend writ,
The stain affected,
The key in silence undetected.
Fifty five in iron pen,
Mr. Matlack can’t offend.
It’s a riddle. I need to think. To himself: The legend writ the stain affected. What legend? There is the legend of the Templar treasure, the stain affects the legend. How? The key in silence undetected. Wait! The legend the key. There’s something. A map. Maps have legends maps have keys. It’s a map, an invisible map. So now…
Ian: Wait a minute. What do you mean invisible? An invisible map?
Ben: The stain affect could refer to a die or reagent used to bring about a certain result, combined with the key in silence undetected. The implication is to make what was undetectable detectable. Unless the key in silence could be….
Shaw: Prison.
Riley:
Shaw: It’s where the map is. Like you said, 55 in iron pen. Iron Pen is a prison.
Ben: Or it could be since the primary writing medium of the time was Iron gull ink, the pen is…just a pen. Than why not say a pen, why say iron pen?
Shaw: Because it’s a prison.
Ben: Wait, iron pen. The ink does not describe what was in
the pen, it describes what was penned.
It was iron, it was firm. It
was mineral, no no no no. It was firm it was adamant. It was resolved, it was resolved. Mr. Matlack
can’t offend. Timothy Matlack was the official scribe of the continental
congress. Calligrapher, not writer. And to make sure he could not offend the
map, it was put on the back of a resolution that he transcribed, a resolution
that 55 men signed. The declaration of
Ian: Ooooh
Riley: Come on. There is no invisible map on the back of the declaration of independence.
Ian: It’s clever really. A document of that importance would ensure the map’s survival.
And you said several masons signed it yeah?
Ben: Yeah, nine for sure.
Ian: We’ll have to arrange for a way to examine it.
Ben: This is one of the most important documents in history, they aren’t just going to let us waltz in there and run chemical tests on it.
Ian: What do you propose we do?
Ben: I don’t know!
Ian: We could borrow it.
Ben: Steal it? I don’t think so.
Ian: Ben, the treasure of the Knight’s Templar is the treasure of all treasures.
Ben: Oh? I didn’t know that. Really?
Ian: Ben, I understand your bitterness I really do. You’ve spent your entire life searching for this treasure only to have the historical community treat your family with mockery and contempt. You should be able to rub this treasure in their arrogant faces, and I want you to have the chance to do that.
Ben: How?
Ian: We all have our areas of expertise. You don’t think mine is limited to writing Sheakstean. Why, I’ve arranged a number of operations of questionable legality.
Shaw: I would take his word for it.
Ian: Don’t worry, I’ll make all the arrangements.
Ben: No.
Ian: I really need your help here.
Ben: Ian, I am not going let you steal the declaration of independence.
Ian: Okay, from this point on all you’re going to be is a hindrance.
Shaw pulls out a gun and
points it toward Ben.
Riley: Hey!
Ben: What are you going to do? You going to shoot me Shaw? Well you can’t shoot me; there is more to the riddle. Information you don’t have, I do. I am the only one who can figure it out and you know that.
Ian: He’s bluffing.
Ben: We played poker together Ian you know I can’t bluff.
Ian: Tell me what I need to know or I’ll shoot your friend.
Riley: Hey!
Ian: Quiet Riley. Your job is finished here.
Ben strikes a flare against
a barrel. He waves it for Ian and
Shaw to see.
Ben: Look where you’re standing. All that gunpowder. You shoot me, I drop this, we all go up.
Riley: Ben!
Ian: What happens when the flare burns down? Tell me what I need to know Ben.
Ben: You need to know…to shock and catch!
Ben tosses the flare and with quick
reflexes, Ian catches it.
Ian: Nice try though Ben.
Ian’s arm catches on fire. He drops the flare in the
gunpowder. Ian and Shaw head for
the door, while Ben and Riley retreat farther into the hold. Everything starts to ignite.
Ian: Get out Shaw!
Ian closes and locks the door to the hold,
trapping Ben and Riley inside.
Ben: Riley get over here!!!!
Riley: AHH! What is this?!
Ben: Smuggler’s hold! Get in!
Shaw: Move! Get out of here! MOVE!!!!!!!!
Ben: Follow me!
Shaw: Get back! It’s going to blow!
Ben: Get down!
Ian: Okay. Let’s go before someone sees the
smoke.
Ben and Riley both gasp for
air as they emerge from the wreckage.
Ben: There is an Inuit village about 9 miles east of here. It’s popular with push pilots.
Riley: Alright, ahh, ooh, ahh, then what are we going to do?
Ben: Start making our way back home.
Riley: No I meant about Ian. He is going to steal the declaration of independence Ben.
Ben: We stop him.
The scenery changes to
Riley: Is it really so hard to believe that someone is going to steal the declaration of independence?
Ben: The FBI gets 10,000 tips a week. They aren’t going to worry about something they are sure is safe.
Riley: But anyone that can do anything is going to think we are crazy. And anyone crazy enough to believe us isn’t going to want to help.
Ben: We don’t need someone crazy. We are one step short of crazy and what do you get?
Riley: Obsessed.
Ben: Passionate.
Ben and Riley are now in the
National Archives, waiting to speak with Dr. Chase.
Ben: Excuse
me.
He reaches for a pamphlet about the
National Archives Gala.
Secretary: Dr. Chase can see you now Mr. Brown.
Ben: Thank you.
Riley: Mr. Brown?
Ben: Family name doesn’t get a lot of respect in the academic community.
Riley: So you are cutting down by the man. A very cute man.
Dr. Abigail Chase: On phone: Thank you. To Ben and Riley: Good afternoon gentleman.
Riley: Hi.
Abigail: Abigail Chase.
Ben: Paul Brown.
Abigail: Nice to meet you.
Riley: Bill.
Abigail: Nice to meet you Bill. How may I help you?
Ben: Well your accent…Pennsylvania Dutch?
Abigail: Saxony-German.
Ben: Oh.
Riley: You’re not American?
Abigail: Oh I am an American I just wasn’t born here. Please don’t touch that.
Ben: Sorry. Neat collection. George Washington’s campaign buttons. You’re missing the 1789 inaugural though. I found one once.
Abigail: That’s very fortunate of you. Now you told my assistant that this was an urgent matter.
Ben: Ah yes mam. Well I am going to get straight to the point. Someone is going to steal the declaration of independence.
Riley: It’s true.
Abigail: I think I better put you gentleman in touch with the FBI…
Ben: We’ve been to the FBI.
Abigail: And…
Riley: And they assured us the declaration could not possibly be stolen.
Abigail: They’re right.
Ben: My friend and I are less certain. However, if we were giving the privilege of examining the document we would be able to tell you for certain if it were in any danger.
Abigail: What do you think you are going to find?
Ben: We believe that there is an encryption on the back.
Abigail: An encryption of what?
Ben: Uh, a cartograph.
Abigail: A map?
Ben: Yes ma’m
Abigail: A map of what?
Ben: The location of…clears throat…of items of historic and intrinsic value.
Abigail: A treasure map?
Riley: That’s where we lost the FBI.
Abigail: You’re treasure hunters aren’t you?
Ben: We’re more like treasure protectors.
Abigail: Mr. Brown I have personally seen the back of the declaration of independence and I promise you the only thing there is a notation that reads original declaration of independence dated…
Ben: …of independence dated 4 of July 1776. Yes ma’m.
Abigail: But no map.
Ben: After a long and uncomfortable silence…It’s invisible.
Abigail: Oh…right.
Riley: And that’s where we lost the department of homeland security.
Abigail: What led you to assume there is this invisible map?
Ben: We found an engraving on the stem of a 200 year old pipe.
Riley: Owned by free masons.
Abigail: May I see the pipe?
Riley: We don’t have it.
Abigail: Did Big Foot take it?
Ben: It was nice meeting you.
Abigail: It was nice to meet you too.
Ben: You know that really is a nice collection. Must have taken you a long time to hunt down all that history.
Ben and Riley enter the
display room of the National Archives building. They move to stand in front of the
declaration.
Riley: Ben, if it’s any consolation you had me convinced.
Ben: It’s not.
Riley: I was thinking, what if we go public? Flash this story all over the internet. It’s not like we have our reputations to worry about. Although, I don’t think that’s exactly going to scare Ian away.
Ben: 180 years of searching and I am 3 feet
away. Of all the ideas that became
the
Riley: Beautiful…huh…no idea what you said.
Ben: It means if something is wrong, those that have the ability to take action have the responsibility to take action. I’m going to steal it.
Riley: What?
Ben: I’m going to steal the declaration of independence.
Riley: uh…Ben?!
The following part takes
place on the steps of the
Riley: This is huge. Prison huge. You are going to go to prison. You know that?
Ben: Yeah probably.
Riley: That bothers most people.
Ben: Ian’s going to try and steal it and if he succeeds, he will destroy the declaration. The fact is the only way to protect the declaration is to steal it. It’s upside-down. I don’t think there’s a choice.
Ben: Ben, for god-sakes it’s like stealing a national monument. It’s like stealing him. It can’t be done. It’s not that it shouldn’t be done, it can’t be done. Let me prove it to you.
In the Library of Congress.
Okay Ben pay
attention. I brought you to the
Library of Congress. Why? Because it’s the
biggest library in the world.
Over 20 million books. And they are all saying the same exact
thing. Listen to Riley. What we have here my friend is an entire
layout of the Archives. We’ve got
builder’s blue prints, we have construction orders,
phone lines, water and sewage. It’s
all here. Now, when the declaration
is on display, it is surrounded by guards and video monitors, and little
families from
Ben: You know Thomas Edison tried and failed nearly 2000 times to develop the carbonized cotton filament for the incandescent light bulb.
Riley:
Ben: And when asked about it he said “I didn’t fail, I found out 2000 ways how not to make a light bulb”, but he only needed to find one way to make it work. The preservation room. Enjoy. Go ahead. Do you know what the preservation room is for?
Riley: Delicious jams and jellies?
Ben: That’s where they clean, repair, and maintain all the documents and storage housings when they aren’t on display or in the vault. Now when the case needs work, they take it out of the vault and directly across the hall into the preservation room. The best time for us or Ian to steal it would be during the Gala this weekend, when the guards are distracted by the V.I.P.s upstairs. But we’ll make our way to the preservation room where there is much less security.
Riley: Huh…well if Ian…preservation room…gala…this might be possible.
Ben: It might.
Preparations begin. Riley is now hacking into the video cables.
Riley: Uh, and we are in. There you are. Hello. The hallway. That’s what I want. Game on.
Ben: I’ll buy that.
Riley: Cool.
In the
national archives.
Secretary: This just came for you.
Abigail: I hope it’s not from Stan. For the woman who has everything else thanks for listening…Paul Brown.
Riley sets off one of the
Declaration’s sensors. Abigail
responds to the call.
Abigail: Abigail Chase. Hey Mike. What have you got? Run full diagnostics and then I want them all changed out.
Riley: Our evil plan is working.
Ben and Riley begin to
execute their plan. Riley stays in
the van while Ben goes inside the National Archives.
Riley: Ben are you sure that we should do th….
Ben: Riley can you hear me?
Riley: Unfortunately yes. We’re all set then.
Guard: Go ahead.
Ben: Howdy.
Riley: How do you look?
Ben: Not bad.
Riley: Mozeltov.
Ian is also ready. His team moves into position.
Ian: This is it.
Ben: For you.
Abigail: Oh Mr. Brown.
Ben: Dr. Chase.
Abigail: What are you doing here?
Riley: Is that that hot girl? How does she look?
Ben: I made a last minute donation. A pretty big one.
Abigail: Well on that subject thank you for your wonderful gift.
Ben: Oh you did get it?
Abigail: I really couldn’t accept something like that normally, but I really want it.
Ben: Well you needed it.
Riley: Come on Romeo, get out of there.
Abigail: I have been wondering though, what the engraving indicated on the pipe that Big Foot took.
Dr. Herbert: Hi. Here you go.
Abigail: Oh Dr. Herbert this is Mr. Brown.
Dr. Herbert: Hi
Ben: Hi there.
Riley: Who’s the stiff?
Ben: Here why don’t you let me take that, so you can take that off his hands.
Abigail: Thank you.
Ben: A toast yeah? To high treason. That’s what these men were committing when they signed the declaration. Had we lost the war, they would have been hanged, beheaded, drawn and quartered, and oh my personal favorite, had their entrails cut out and burned. So here’s to the men who did what was considered wrong in order to do what they knew was right. What they knew was right. Well…good night.
Dr. Herbert: Good night.
Abigail: Good night.
Ian: Okay go go!
Riley: This better work.
Ian: Door one, thirty seconds.
Riley: How does it look?
Ben: It’s working. It’s working.
Riley: Unbelievable.
Ian: Second door, ninety seconds. Well done boys lets go.
Ben: We’re in the elevator.
Riley: Okay I am going to turn off the surveillance camera. Ready? In five, four, three now. Ben Gates, you are now the invisible man. Give me the letters to her password. Hit me.
Ben: A…e… f… g… l…o… r… v …y.
Riley: Anagrams being listed. Okay top results, a glove fry, a very
golf,
Ben: It’s valley forge.
Riley:
Ben: It’s valley forge, she pressed the “l” twice. We’re in.
Riley: Hello. Ben you’re doing great. Ben pick it up. You got about 1…
Phil: We have video.
Riley: I lost me feed. I lost my feed Ben! I don’t know where anyone is. I have nothing…Ben I have….Ben I have nothing. Get out of there, get out of there now.
Ben: I’m taking the whole thing with me. I will get it out in the elevator.
Riley: What are you talking…Is it heavy?
Ian: Shaw, Door three 1 minute. Gates.
Riley: What was that. Who is shooting.
Ian: He’s got the bloody map!
Riley: Ben you still there? Ben?!
Ben: I am in the elevator. Ian’s here. There was a shooting.
Riley: I hate that guy.
Abigail: Rebecca, do you have a Paul Brown on that list?
Rebecca: Paul Brown? No. Not here.
Store Clerk: Are you trying to steal that?
Ben: Oh uh..
Store clerk: It’s 35 dollars.
Ben: For this?
Store clerk: Yeah.
Ben: That’s a lot.
Store clerk: I don’t make the prices.
Ben: I have um 32, uh 57?
Store Clerk: We take Visa.
Patrol: This is mike sublevel 3. I have an alert.
Riley: Where are you Ben? Where are you?
Ben: Stop talking. Start the van.
Riley: Ben, the uh, mean declaration lady is behind you.
Abigail: Hey.
Ben: Oh it’s you.
Abigail: Mr. Brown what’s going on? What’s that?
Ben: It’s a souvenir.
Abigail: Really?
Riley: Stop chatting and get in the van.
Security officer: Code red, code red. We have a break in. Lock it down. Nobody leaves. Get the FBI on the phone.
Ben: Did you enjoy the party?
Abigail: Yeah…
The alarms go off and
everything goes haywire.
Ben: Oooh…
Riley: Oh my god.
Abigail: Oh my god. You did not. Security!!!
Ben: Stop.
Abigail: Give me that.
Ben: It’s yours. Take it. SECURITY! OVER HERE!
Ian: Gotcha.
Ben: Go.
Riley: What?
Ian: Victor move.
Riley: We can’t just let her go!
Ben: We can. Now go!
Abigail: Security over here.
Ben: Wait no hold it. Hold it. Bad. No bad. Bad bad bad.
Phil: Give me the document.
Abigail: No. let me go.
Ian: Just bring her!
Ben: GO! GO!
Ian: And just who might you be?
Riley: Once we catch them what are we going to do?
Ben: I’m working on it.
Riley: Right turn right turn.
Ian: Why don’t you pass me that document and we can all go home.
Victor: Oh no!
Riley: Skidding skidding skidding.
Abigail is screaming
throughout the entire scene, so her screams have been
omitted.
Ben: Oh no!
Riley: Holy lord!
Ian: NO! If she fall the document falls.
Ben: Get me next to her.
Ian: Thank you. Got it. Go on.
Ben: Abigail! Jump!
Shaw: Lost them.
Ian: That’s alright. This is all we need. He opens the document to find out it’s fake. Well done Gates. Well done.
Ben: You alright?
Abigail: No those lunatics…They stole…
Ben: You’re not hurt are you?
Abigail: You’re all lunatics.
Ben: You hungry?
Abigail: What?
Ben: Are you alright?
Riley: Still a little on edge from being shot at, but I’ll be okay. Thanks for asking.
Abigail: Well I’m not alright. Those men have the declaration of independence.
Riley: She lost it?
Ben: They don’t have it. See? Okay? Now can you please stop shouting.
Abigail: Give me that.
Ben: You’re still shouting and it’s really starting to annoy. You’d do well Dr. Chase to be a bit more civilized in this instance.
Abigail: This is the real one. What did they get?
Ben: A souvenir. I thought it might be a good idea to have a duplicate. Turned out I was right. Actually I had to pay for both the souvenir and the real one so you owe me 35 dollars plus tax.
Riley: Genius.
Abigail: Who were those men?
Ben: Just the guys we warned you were going to steal the declaration.
Riley: And you didn’t believe us.
Ben: We did the only thing we could do to keep it safe.
Abigail: That doc…give me that!
Ben: You know something, you’re shouting again.
Riley: Pretty sure she was swearing too.
Ben: Well we probably deserve that.
Back at the National
Archives
Sedusky: Ladies and gentleman, ladies and gentleman, my name is Peter Sedusky, I am the agent in charge. I want to reassure you, you are not danger in any way. If we all cooperate, we will get through this with as little frustration as possible. Thank you. Get positive I.D.s and search everyone, including the security staff. If they refuse, detain them and get warrants. Yes agent Hendricks? You have something?
Agent Hendricks: Um...
Sedusky: This isn’t a day for um.
Agent Hendricks: We got a tip several days ago that someone was going to steal the declaration of independence.
Sedusky: You have a name on the tipster?
Agent Hendricks: There was no file opened. We didn’t find the information credible.
Sedusky: How about now?
Abigail: There is not a treasure map on the back of the declaration of independence.
Ben: And there is no chance that anyone could steal this either. I level with you 100 percent. Everything I told you was the truth.
Abigail: I want that document Mr. Brown.
Ben: Okay my name’s not Brown, it’s Gates. I level with you 98 percent.
Abigail: Wait a minute, did you just say Gates? Gates? You’re that family with the conspiracy theory about the founding fathers.
Ben: It’s not a conspiracy theory.
Riley: Per say.
Abigail: I take it back. You aren’t liars, you’re insane.
Sedusky: There is a copy of the declaration on display now?
Dr. Herbert: Yes we felt it best to leave…
Sedusky: Leave it there. The guests know something happened, but they don’t know what.
Female Agent: They got him with a tazer at the service entrance. He doesn’t remember a thing. Also we found bullet casings.
Sedusky: Did we get a description from the other guards.
Mike: What other guards?
Sedusky: The guards that were fired upon.
Mike: There weren’t any other guards on patrol down here.
Sedusky: So who was shooting? Who were they shooting at? And why weren’t they getting along?
Abigail: You can’t seriously intend to run chemical tests on the declaration of independence in the back of a moving van.
Riley: We have a clean room environment all set up. ETS suits, particulate air filtration, the whole chi-bang.
Abigail: Really?
Ben: We can’t go back there.
Riley: What? Why not?
Male agent: This is the guy. Dr. Herbert said Dr. Chase introduced him as Mr. Brown. Not on the guest list. Now the gift store clerk said he seemed well, flustered. He tried to walk out with a copy of the declaration of independence without paying. He paid with a Visa. Charge to Benjamin Gates.
Riley: A credit card slip? Dude, we’re on the grid. Do you… they are going to have your records from forever; they are going to have my records from forever.
Ben: I know I know. It’s only a matter of time before the FBI shows up at my front door.
Riley: What do we do?
Ben: We need those letters.
Abigail: What letters?
Ben: You know what, get off the road. Take a right.
Abigail: What letters? You have the original Silence Dogood letters? Did you steal those too?
Ben: They are scans of the originals. Quiet please.
Abigail: How did you get scans?
Ben: Well I know the person who has the originals. Now shush.
Abigail: Why do you need them?