# national treasure? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 8, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709 "2004-11-08T20:38:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2004, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/41 "2004-11-10T19:08:11Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > Aaarrgghh! The pain! The pain! Make it stop! Make it STOP! LOL…but you know that I meant the plot holes and inconsistencies _in that particular book_, right? > [@](#): > > _Two plus two is five!_ For large values of two, yes. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/42 "2004-11-11T02:01:56Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > I keep looking at the ads and thinking - The Declaration of Independence - the one that just taken out of the National Archives for conservation and which has spent two years with experts **pouring** over every square centimeter of it - that Declaration of Independence has a treasure map hidden on its back? > > I hate it when movies absolutely depend on the stupidity of the audience for their very existence. “Pouring”? What were they pouring? ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/43 "2004-11-11T02:47:33Z")
Maple syrup. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/44 "2004-11-11T03:46:49Z")
When two plus two equal five, all speellings are possibal. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/45 "2004-11-11T14:34:23Z")
I have the ability to shut off my brain and enjoy mindless action movies, especially ones with a good cast. I’ll give this one a try. > [@](#): > > Watching the commercials all I could think of was “Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and numerous other founders all died broke and deeply in debt when they knew that this treasure existed? Just a handful or two would have kept them solvent” or “A brand new country that is so broke it has to borrow money from every nation in Europe just to meet operating expenses is sitting on ‘the largest treasure of all time’”. It could happen. And Thomas Jefferson might fly out my butt. I’m predicting that the “treasure” will wind up being something other than gold or gems. Its going to be a symbol of “freedom” or “liberty” or something like that. I’m sure you can picture the irony. No spoiler box because I have no actual information, just my own speculation. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/46 "2004-11-11T16:20:24Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > I’m sure at the end, the treasure will turn out to be someting corny and hackneyed. > [@Loach](#): > > I’m predicting that the “treasure” will wind up being something other than gold or gems. Its going to be a symbol of “freedom” or “liberty” or something like that. Like in the old song “One Tin Soldier,” where the valley people kill the mountain people for the treasure that’s buried at the top of the mountain, and when they get to it it’s just a rock that says “peace on earth.” In which case, this movie will be even _more_ derivative. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/47 "2004-11-11T16:34:16Z")
Jerry Bruckheimer’s doing it. It’s going to suck. Please, please, please people. Don’t give him any more money. Please. Please. If you don’t give him money, eventually he’ll go away. Please. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/48 "2004-11-11T17:37:20Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I’m predicting that the “treasure” will wind up being something other than gold or gems. Its going to be a symbol of “freedom” or “liberty” or something like that. I’m sure you can picture the irony. No spoiler box because I have no actual information, just my own speculation. Simply because when it comes to Bruckheimer movies, I calibrate my expectations, then lower that figure by about 3000%, I can see your hypothesis playing out **Loach** - which of course **Misnomer** accurately derives from One Tin Soldier - pure '70’s bad-idealistic pap if there every was. However, we have the conflicting business interests of Mr. B here. If he took the approach described above, wouldn’t that just piss off the international markets, who typically represent a huge portion of his revenues? I mean, with movies like that submarine movie - U-571 or something? - where the actual heroic actions of UK soldiers were re-cast to be done by Americans - well, I guess they thought they were only gonna piss off the Brits, so it would be isolated. But foisting that kind of patriotic twaddle on a set of international markets already pissed at the US because of Iraq, etc.? Seems like a bad move… ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/49 "2004-11-11T17:43:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Please, please, please people. Don’t give him any more money. Please. I get to see movies for free so I’m still going to see it. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/50 "2004-11-11T18:36:23Z")
> [@vibrotronica](#): > > Jerry Bruckheimer’s doing it. It’s going to suck. > > Please, please, please people. Don’t give him any more money. Please. > > Please. > > If you don’t give him money, eventually he’ll go away. > > Please. He also did Pirates of the Carribean and some movies that didn’t suck. If it were a Micheal Bay directed movie, I’d be worried, but this movie might be entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/51 "2004-11-11T18:52:22Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I’m predicting that the “treasure” will wind up being something other than gold or gems. Its going to be a symbol of “freedom” or “liberty” or something like that. I’m sure you can picture the irony. No spoiler box because I have no actual information, just my own speculation. I’m vaguely recalling an episode of “Scooby-Doo” which pulled the same trick. I think the treasure chest turned out to be filled with corn? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/52 "2004-11-11T20:01:15Z")
I remember the one when the treasure turned out to be Confederate Dollars. We can only hope. Maybe it will be an IOU from George Washington. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/53 "2004-11-11T20:09:54Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Holy crap coincidence, Batman! I jsut started reading the short story “At the Mountains of Madness.” > > So far…it’s boring and very verbose, and I don’t see what would be so scary about it. Altough it was written in, like, 1930, so people were easier to scre back then. > > “A mountain? In Antarctica? Taller than Everest? Ahhhhhh!!! I can take no more!” Have you read lovecraft before? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/54 "2004-11-11T20:12:28Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > What makes me wonder what the f\*ck the writers were smoking was the scene of the treasure hunters driving across antarctica in giant snow cats. > [trimmed] > So…our founding fathers…at some point between the writing of the Declaration of Independance, the Constitution, and fighting a couple wars, had time to go put a clue to some mysterious treasure on a forzen continent? And on a part of the continent that, even by today’s standards, is apparantly very hard to reach? 😕 If the movie actually does have something important in Antarctica, my guess is that it will turn out to have been left by one of the early explorers, like Admiral Byrd. Usually movies or books that involve conspiracies that stretch over decades or centuries tend to involve everyone of significance during that time. ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/55 "2004-11-22T03:22:02Z")
> [@Ignatz](#): > > “Pouring”? What were they pouring? Lemon juice, actually. But seriously, I saw it last night, and wasn’t expecting much. Much to my surprise, [spoiler]it was surprisingly smart – I’d say 45% or more of the “history” was accurate, shock! Nic Cage seemed to be playing his character as “Donald Kaufman playing Indiana Jones,” and prompts Diane Kruger’s character at one point to say something like, “Okay, you know no one talks like that in real life, right?” Lovely woman, that Diane Kruger. Much lovelier when the plot of the movie doesn’t require her to be so, IMHO. The script also allowed her character to be intelligent (she’s supposed to be an archivist at the Library of Congress, IIRC) and have her own agenda, which she chooses to pursue several times over that of Team Good Guys. Aside from some laughable climate issues at the beginning (while they’re “above the Arctic Circle,” Cage’s character pulls out an _unfrozen_ plastic bottle of water and uses it to _melt snow_), the science and computer stuff is pretty accurate, as far as I can tell. Google is employed more than once by both sides, which I loved. None of the mystery/code plotline is very unrealistic – save for a little deus ex machina at the end in the form of a previously-unknown Freemason in a position of power – and no, the Founding Fathers didn’t hide anything in the Arctic Circle.[/spoiler] It was a definite Indiana Jones ripoff, of course, but it was definitely a fun one, and a lot smarter than I expected it to be. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/56 "2004-11-22T07:06:02Z")
Good fun movie if you don’t think too hard. I Googled the same word from the movie and got very different results, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![BlackKnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@BlackKnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackKnight)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/57 "2004-11-22T07:15:00Z")
> [@Tracy Lord](#): > > Google is employed more than once by both sides, which I loved. When in the movie was this? I saw Yahoo being used twice, but no Google. ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/58 "2004-11-22T09:30:03Z")
> [@BlackKnight](#): > > When in the movie was this? I saw Yahoo being used twice, but no Google. I was thinking of the scene where Sean Bean and his crew of miscreants look up “declaration independence stow,” but that might have been Yahoo. I wasn’t paying attention to the title bar of the search engine, I was just excited that one was being used so simply, and, you know, like normal people use them. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/59 "2004-11-22T11:39:29Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I remember the one when the treasure turned out to be Confederate Dollars. We can only hope. Maybe it will be an IOU from George Washington. You may be thinking of an episode of _The Dukes of Hazzard_ where some out-of-towners were searching for a lost Union Army payroll. Boss Hogg is eventually paid off with the promise that he can keep the cash if the cutie-pie historian can keep the documents. It turns out the cash is Confederate and of value only to a collector (though Hogg is so tearfully disappointed, this apparantly doesn’t occur to him). Why was a Union regiment being paid in Confederate money? Well, that’s just regular mixed-up life in Hazzard County. ---
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2004, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709/60 "2004-11-22T20:34:05Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > You may be thinking of an episode of _The Dukes of Hazzard_ where some out-of-towners were searching for a lost Union Army payroll. Boss Hogg is eventually paid off with the promise that he can keep the cash if the cutie-pie historian can keep the documents. It turns out the cash is Confederate and of value only to a collector (though Hogg is so tearfully disappointed, this apparantly doesn’t occur to him). Why was a Union regiment being paid in Confederate money? Well, that’s just regular mixed-up life in Hazzard County. Wasn’t that the episode with the car chase? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/national-treasure/273709.md?page=4)