National Treasure Page #4

Synopsis: Benjamin Franklin Gates descends from a family of treasure-seekers who've all hunted for the same thing: a war chest hidden by the Founding Fathers after the Revolutionary War. Ben's close to discovering its whereabouts, as is his competition, but the FBI is also hip to the hunt.
Director(s): Jon Turteltaub
Production: Buena Vista
  1 win & 9 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.9
Metacritic:
39
Rotten Tomatoes:
44%
PG
Year:
2004
131 min
$172,975,674
Website
9,095 Views


- Once we catch them what do we do?

- I'm working on it.

Right turn, right turn.

Why don't you just pass me that

document? Then we can all go home.

(horn blares)

Oh, no.

Skidding, skidding, skidding.

- Oh, no!

- Holy Lord!

- Help!

- No! If she falls, the document falls.

Get me next to her.

(horn blares)

- Thank you.

- No!

Got it. Go on.

Abigail!

- Come on. Jump.

- (screams)

- We lost them.

- That's all right. This... is what we need.

Well done, Gates. Well done.

- (Ben) Are you all right?

- No! Those lunatics...

- You're not hurt, are you?

- You are all lunatics!

- Are you hungry?

- What?!

Are you all right?

Still a little on edge from being shot at,

but I'll be OK. Thanks for asking.

Yeah, well, I'm not all right. Those men

have the Declaration of Independence!

- She lost it?!

- They don't have it.

See? OK?

Now could you please stop shouting?

- Give me that!

- You're still shouting. It's starting to annoy.

You'd do well, Dr. Chase,

to be a bit more civilized in this instance.

If this is the real one, what did they get?

A souvenir.

I thought it'd be a good idea to have

a duplicate. It turned out I was right.

I actually had to pay for the souvenir and

the real one, so you owe me $35, plus tax.

- Genius.

- Who were those men?

Just the guys we warned you

were gonna steal the Declaration.

And you didn't believe us.

We did the only thing we could do

to keep it safe.

Verdammt! Give me that!

You know something?

You're shouting again.

I'm pretty sure she was swearing, too.

Well, we probably deserve that.

(man) Ladies and gentlemen...

Ladies and gentlemen, my name is

Peter Sadusky. I'm the agent in charge.

I wanna reassure you,

you are not in danger in any way.

If we all cooperate, we'll get through this

with as little frustration as possible.

Thank you.

Get positive IDs. Search everyone,

including the security staff.

If they refuse,

detain them and get warrants.

- (clears throat)

- Agent Hendricks? You have something?

Um...

- This isn't a day for "Um..."

- We got a tip several days ago

that someone was going to steal

the Declaration of Independence.

Do we have a name on the tipster?

There was no file opened.

We didn't find the information credible.

How about now?

There is not a treasure map on the back

of the Declaration of Independence.

And there's no chance

anyone can steal this either.

I leveled with you 100 percent.

Everything I told you was the truth.

I want that document, Mr. Brown.

OK, my name's not Brown.

It's Gates.

I leveled with you 98 percent.

Wait a minute, did you just say "Gates"?

Gates?

You're that family with the conspiracy

theory about the Founding Fathers?

- It's not a conspiracy theory.

- Per se.

You know what? I take it back.

You're not liars. You're insane.

There's a copy of the Declaration

on display now?

- Yes, we decided to...

- Leave it there.

The guests know something happened,

but they don't know what.

They got him with a Taser at the service

entrance. He doesn't remember a thing.

Also, we found bullet casings.

Did we get a description

from the other guards?

- Which guards?

- The guards that were fired upon.

There weren't any other guards

on patrol down here.

So...

who was shooting,

who were they shooting at,

and why weren't they getting along?

You can't seriously intend

to run chemical tests

on the Declaration of Independence

in the back of a moving van.

We have a clean-room environment

all set up.

EDS suits, a particulate air filtration

system, the whole shebang.

- Really?

- We can't go back there.

What? Why not?

This is the guy. Dr. Herbert said

Dr. Chase introduced him as Mr. Brown.

Not on the guestlist.

Now, the gift-store clerk - she said

he seemed... Well, she said "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."

A credit-card slip?

Dude, we're on the grid.

They'll have your records from forever.

They'll have my records from forever.

I know. I know. It's only a matter of minutes

before the FBI shows up at my front door.

What do we do?

- We need those letters.

- What letters?

(Ben) You know, get off the road,

take a right.

(Abigail) What letters?

You have the original Silence Dogood

letters? Did you steal those, too?

We have scans of the originals.

- Quiet, please.

- How'd you get scans?

Oh, I know the person

who has the originals. Now shush.

- Why do you need them?

- She really can't shut her mouth, can she?

I'll tell you what, look.

I will let you hold onto this

if you'll promise to shut up, please.

Thank you.

- Ben, you know what you have to do.

- I know what to do.

I'm just trying to think

of anything else we could do.

Well, not to be a, uh, nudge,

but you do realize how many people

we have after us.

We probably have

our own satellite by now.

It took you all of two seconds to decide

to steal the Declaration of Independence.

Yeah, but I didn't think I was gonna

personally have to tell my dad about it.

Hey, not cool! Not cool!

Let me go!

OK. You're let go. Go, shoo.

I'm not going. Not without the Declaration.

You're not going with the Declaration.

Yes, I am. I'm not letting it

out of my sight, so I'm going.

Wait. You're not going with us

with the Declaration.

- Yes, I am.

- No, you're not.

Look, if you wanted to leave me behind,

you shouldn't have told me

where you were going.

(groans)

(police radios)

Clear.

What the...

(Sadusky) Now we're getting somewhere.

(woman) They're digital scans of letters

to the editor of The New England Courant.

Written 1722.

They're all from the same person.

"Your humble servant, Silence Dogood."

Gentlemen...

why is this word capitalized?

Because it's important?

Because it's a name.

OK, I got it.

When Ben Franklin was only 15 years old

he secretly wrote 14 letters

to his brother's newspaper

pretending to be a middle-aged widow

named Silence Dogood.

These letters were written

by Benjamin Franklin.

(Riley) Looks OK.

- Park a couple of blocks away.

- Well, how long do you think we got?

I'm gonna give them a couple of hours

at least. I hope.

What do we do about her?

I've got some duct tape in the back.

(Ben) No, that won't be necessary.

She won't be any trouble.

- Promise you won't be any trouble.

- I promise.

See? She's curious.

Here's what I got on Gates. A degree

in American History from Georgetown,

a degree in Mechanical Engineering

at MIT,

Navy ROTC and Naval Diving

and Salvage Training Center.

Hm.

What in the world did this guy

want to be when he grew up?

We keep our focus on Gates.

Run him to ground.

Compile a family-and-friends list.

Closest relative first.

I want to find out who this guy is.

(doorbell)

Dad.

Where's the party?

Uh, well, uh...

I'm in a little trouble.

- Is she pregnant?

- (Ben) Well, if she is,

are you gonna leave the woman carrying

your grandchild standing out in the cold?

Rate this script:4.6 / 7 votes

Jim Kouf

Jim Kouf (born July 24, 1951) is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He received the 1988 Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay for his work on Stakeout (1987). more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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