The Monuments Men

Synopsis: Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action drama focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. It would be an impossible mission: with the art trapped behind enemy lines, and with the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how could these guys - seven museum directors, curators, and art historians, all more familiar with Michelangelo than the M-1 - possibly hope to succeed? But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind's greatest achievements.
Genre: Drama, History, War
Director(s): George Clooney
Production: Sony Pictures
  3 wins & 3 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.1
Metacritic:
52
Rotten Tomatoes:
30%
PG-13
Year:
2014
118 min
$67,239,378
Website
3,620 Views


Claude.

Put these clothes on.

Take only the back roads.

The Germans are coming from the east,

so head south to Brussels.

- Yes, Father.

- God be with you, Claude.

Champagne... very nice.

You must join me, Doctor Stahl.

- Get another glass.

- With pleasure.

Claire?

We need another champagne glass.

It's for Stahl.

This one...

and this one...

to Carinhall.

And this will be a present

for the Fhrer in Berchtesgaden.

What else, Doctor Stahl?

This is da Vinci's Last Supper.

The British bombers

leveled three walls and a roof.

This is Monte Cassino,

founded in 529 by Saint Benedict.

This is in February.

This is Monte Cassino in March,

after we dropped 20 tons

of explosives on it.

Mr. President, the simple fact is

that we are at a point in this war

that is most dangerous to the greatest

historical achievements known to man.

But, Professor Stokes,

understand that this is war.

And that lives are lost,

and with them, oftentimes,

their greatest achievements.

Yes, sir. There's something more.

This is the Ghent Altarpiece.

It is the defining monument

of the Catholic Church.

We now know that the Nazis

have stolen it.

Now, while we must and we will,

sir, win this war,

we should also remember

the high price that will be paid

if the very foundation

of modern society is destroyed.

Let's look at where we are now.

The Russians are here.

The Allies are here

and here.

In the next few months, God willing,

we are all going to end up in Berlin.

Meaning that we will have blasted

our way west,

through Poland, through Hungary,

through Austria,

north through Rome and Florence,

and east through Paris.

Then the question must be asked:

Who would make sure

that the Statue of David is still standing,

or that Mona Lisa's still smiling?

Who would be their protectors?

Well, professor, it's

a very compelling argument.

What would you suggest?

I suggest you pull

together young art scholars

to get over there

and identify the great works.

Our young art scholars

are already over there fighting.

You have a family?

I have a wife and a young son.

I might be asking

a great deal of you, then.

I'll do my best, sir.

There's a Michelangelo joke

to be made.

You're just the man to make it.

You hungry?

You buying?

Uncle Sam is.

- How's Penny?

- She's swell.

I do question her taste.

So does she.

How's the ticker?

Still ticking.

Want to get in the war?

"The Monuments Men."

Signed by Roosevelt.

I see that.

I'm to put a team together

and try to protect what's left,

and find what's missing.

Aren't you a little old for that?

Yes.

You want to go into a war zone

and tell our boys

what they can and cannot blow up.

That's the idea.

Okay. How many men?

For now, six.

Jesus.

Mm.

With you, that's seven.

That's much better.

We'll go through basic in Shrivenham,

England, then wait for orders.

Basic?

Mm-hm.

Basic training. Us?

Oh, boy.

You're gonna need a point man

in England.

Yeah, Donald Jeffries.

He's a drunk.

You're a drunk.

That's true. Pass me that.

But isn't Donald Jeffries in jail?

No, he didn't go to jail.

His father paid the money back.

Mm.

How about his wife?

Did she stick it out?

No, nobody stuck it out.

So when do we start?

Good to see you! Frank. James.

Donald.

The chaps are all very anxious

to get started.

You're a lieutenant?

They are getting desperate.

Don't let Churchill hear that.

James, how's your lovely wife?

Fine. She told me to send you a kiss,

which I won't deliver.

I'll just shake.

You usually do.

Not anymore. I'm on the wagon.

Since when?

Nine this morning.

Congratulations.

Thank you, private.

This is Private

Epstein, from New Jersey.

You don't say. Whereabouts?

Newark. But really the north side.

Of Newark?

Yes, sir. The north side.

That's what I thought.

Indeed.

I was born in Germany.

The north side.

How are the fellas making out?

Like Olympians.

Yes, sir.

We have your architect from

Chicago, Sergeant Richard Campbell.

And we have a Frenchman,

Lieutenant Jean-Claude Clermont,

director of design at the Chalet School

of Fine Arts before the war.

- Is Preston here?

- Private Preston Savitz.

Private? That won't sit well with him.

It doesn't.

Finally we have your sculptor,

Sergeant Walter Garfield.

He's a good egg. I worked with him

on the World War I memorial

in St. Louis.

Uh-huh.

Hey, Stokes!

How are you, old boy?

Hey, Walter. How

are they treating you?

Been taking it pretty easy on us.

I think they feel sorry for us old guys.

I don't much fancy

an obstacle course.

It's not so bad.

You're just crawling on your belly while

teenagers shoot blanks over your head.

Well, yes and no.

How's that?

Yes, they are teenagers.

And no?

They're not blanks.

We're meeting up after mess.

Let the other chaps know, will you?

Try not to get shot in the meantime.

I'm guessing you have all

gotten to know each other by now.

Basic training will do that.

You've been selected by myself

and Lieutenant Jeffries

because we need your knowledge

and skill.

We have been tasked

to find and protect

buildings, monuments, and art.

Private, will you get those lights?

Did you know they were shooting

at us with real bullets?

Yes.

Everyone's favorite dictator.

Age 19, and before his romantic novel

Mein Kampf,

he was a failed art student

at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna.

Hitler painted that?

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George Clooney

George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor, director, producer, screenwriter, and businessman. He has received three Golden Globe Awards for his work as an actor and two Academy Awards, one for acting in Syriana (2006) and the other for co-producing Argo (2012). Clooney made his acting debut on television in 1978, and later gained wide recognition in his role as Dr. Doug Ross on the long-running medical drama ER from 1994 to 1999, for which he received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. While working on ER, he began attracting a variety of leading roles in films, including the superhero film Batman & Robin (1997) and the crime comedy Out of Sight (1998), in which he first worked with director Steven Soderbergh, who would become a long-time collaborator. In 1999, he took the lead role in Three Kings, a well-received war satire set during the Gulf War. In 2001, Clooney's fame widened with the release of his biggest commercial success, the heist comedy remake Ocean's Eleven, the first of what became a trilogy starring Clooney. He made his directorial debut a year later with the biographical spy comedy Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and has since directed the historical drama Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), the sports comedy Leatherheads (2008), the political drama The Ides of March (2011), and the war film The Monuments Men (2014). Clooney won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the Middle East thriller Syriana (2005), and subsequently earned Best Actor nominations for the legal thriller Michael Clayton (2007) and the comedy-dramas Up in the Air (2009) and The Descendants (2011). In 2013, he received the Academy Award for Best Picture for producing the political thriller Argo. He is the only person who has been nominated for Academy Awards in six different categories.In 2009, Clooney was included in Time's annual Time 100 as one of the "Most Influential People in the World". He is also noted for his political and economic activism, and has served as one of the United Nations Messengers of Peace since January 31, 2008. His humanitarian work includes his advocacy of finding a resolution for the Darfur conflict, raising funds for the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Armenian Genocide recognition, 2004 tsunami, 9/11 victims, and creating documentaries such as Sand and Sorrow to raise awareness about international crises. Clooney helped fund the March for Our Lives after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2013, Clooney co-founded Casamigos Tequila with Rande Gerber and Michael Meldman. It was sold to Diageo for $700 million in June 2017, with an additional $300 million possible depending on the company's performance over the next ten years. He is married to British human rights lawyer Amal Clooney. more…

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