The Monuments Men Page #6

Looks like the lieutenant here

is standing on an unexploded mine.

Why would you do that?

I asked him the same thing.

He did.

Well, you're going to have to...

step off of it eventually.

Well, eventually, yes.

And either the mine is so damaged

from the fire that it's a dud...

How likely is that?

Most likely.

But if it's not, there will probably be

a sizable explosion.

How much do you weigh?

Uh, one-seventy-five.

Grad school, I was 175.

Now what?

Well, if we did this right,

you just step off.

Okay, well, what say, uh,

you fellas head to the exit?

I think we'll just hang around

and keep you company.

That's not necessary, Frank.

I think it is. Fellas?

I'm not going anywhere.

I'll be fine right here.

Yeah, what the hell.

Okay, James,

that's how it's gonna be.

Well...

on the off-chance that this thing

blows us sky high...

been an honor serving with you all.

Same here.

Agreed.

Okay, so I'll just count to three

and step off.

Good.

Take your time.

One...

Goddamn it.

Sh*t.

What happened to two and three?

I panicked.

Told you it was a dud.

Picasso.

Is that gold?

It's from teeth.

That's a Rodin.

Altaussee!

The Ghent Altarpiece

is in the mine at Altaussee.

What?

- It's right here.

- What did you find?

- Sam, give us a hand!

- What is it?

It was stored there a year ago.

How do you know?

It says nothing after that.

It's still there.

Want to go get it?

You give that Claire a big kiss.

She'd like that.

Hey, sarge, we're trying

to get to Altaussee.

Keep going that way.

Where you fellas headed?

Home.

Germany surrendered.

War's over.

No kidding?

Yeah.

Ain't there supposed to be

a parade or something?

Probably not in Germany.

Yeah, right.

Jesus Christ,

they blew the mine.

Any other openings?

Two others, blown to sh*t.

They stored armaments here,

then blew everything up.

Who gave the order? War's over.

Ask him.

Caught a Kraut, Wegner,

hiding in town.

Sam, Savitz, find some locals,

get a diagram of the mine.

Walter and I can look at the entrances.

Okay.

Come on.

Captain,

can I talk to that Kraut?

Sure can.

Bum your smokes?

Yeah.

Thanks.

I'm told you speak English.

I do.

Would you like a cigarette?

Don't smoke.

I'd like to ask you

a few questions.

So I assumed.

Why'd you blow the mine?

What was in the mine?

Salt, I think.

You know the war is over.

Congratulations.

We believe there are pieces of art

in that mine

that we've been tasked to find.

Did you take them out?

What will you offer me

for my answer?

As you say, the war is over.

I followed orders.

I committed no crime.

According to the Geneva Conventions,

I will be released and sent home.

I was told that before you were sent

here, you ran one of those camps.

Who told you that?

A little bird.

You're not Jewish, lieutenant?

No.

Then you should thank me.

You know, I don't smoke either.

My first cigarette.

But, mm...

I want to remember this moment.

I'm gonna go home soon.

Got a nice apartment in New York

on the Upper West Side.

There's a deli down the street

called Sid's.

Every morning,

I walk there and I get

a cup of coffee and a bagel,

and I read the newspaper.

I think about it every day here. It'll be

the first place I go when I get stateside.

I'm gonna be sitting there, eating one

of Sid Meldman's toasted onion bagels

and reading a tiny article

in The New York Times, page...

18...

that says you, Colonel Wegner,

were hanged

for your crimes you committed

during the war

and you were buried

in an unmarked grave.

And then I'll think about

my cigarette...

and I'll think about you sitting there

with that stupid look on your face.

Then I'll finish my coffee,

leave the paper for Sid

to wrap fish in.

I'll never think of you again.

Sure you don't want that cigarette?

The Germans didn't blow it!

The local miners did!

They found out the Nazis' plan, sealed

the mine entrances to stop them.

We'll dig in.

How long will that take?

A day or two

if these miners help us.

Might wanna move quicker.

We got orders to pull out tonight.

What orders?

Top brass.

This territory goes to the Russians.

They're moving south now.

- Should be here tomorrow.

- Tomorrow?

Maybe sooner.

Do you have any explosives?

Here we go! Everybody down!

Maybe I should do this.

What do you know

about explosives?

Nothing.

Okay.

We're short one.

We're missing one.

You've gotta be kidding me.

We're missing a goddamn panel.

We have to go, fellas,

unless you speak Russian!

We've covered all this area.

We didn't look here.

We did.

We didn't look here.

This is us right now.

This is where we have to go.

This is this.

No, this is where we are now. And

this is where we didn't look.

We were here, we went over here.

Where didn't we go?

We didn't go here

and we didn't go there.

Yeah, we

gotta... This, this.

- Give me a hand, will you?

- What?

You are going to miss me

so much when this is over.

I doubt it.

Okay.

Right now you wish

that German had shot you.

I do.

- Get out of here now, I'm not kidding.

- I'm going after Stokes.

Be right behind you, captain!

Stokes!

Frank, we gotta go!

Stokes!

Stokes!

Let's get out of here.

Hey.

Hey, hey, we gotta go.

Give me a hand.

No, no, Frank, we gotta go.

Give me a hand.

Holy sh*t.

Come on, give me a hand.

- Holy sh*t.

- Stokes!

Granger!

Jesus.

- We gotta get out of here.

- Give us a hand.

Holy sh*t!

He just said that.

I did.

You can add this to the

long list of Hitler's failures.

He tried to take something

that could never be his.

The story of our lives painted

on canvas or etched in stone.

With the Russians

bearing down on us,

we left Altaussee

with some 3000 pieces,

including the Ghent Altarpiece

and the Bruges Madonna and Child.

We did leave something

for our Russian friends

to take back to Leningrad.

We headed northwest. Savitz and Campbell

flew the Altarpiece to Belgium.

It was displayed in Brussels and then

returned to the chapel in St. Bavo.

With Second Lieutenant

James Granger,

several trainloads of French art

found in a castle

in Bavaria were returned to Paris.

Thank you, James.

Everything from

paintings to sculptures,

tapestries, even jewelry,

is being returned.

It is the greatest collection of private

art in the history of the world.

We also found 5000 church bells,

300 trolley cars, 3 million books,

and thousands of Torahs.

In all,

the numbers are staggering.

There were over

5 million pieces recovered.

There are still, of course, many

great works that have gone missing.

Raphael's Portrait of a Young Man,

for instance.

And with your permission,

I'd like to keep looking for him.

Well, lieutenant, let me have

a talk with Secretary Stimson here

and I'll give you an answer.

Thank you, sir.

And you lost men on

this mission, lieutenant?

Yes, sir, two men. A Frenchman

named Jean-Claude Clermont

And a Brit named Donald Jeffries,

who lost his life saving

the Bruges Madonna and Child.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes