The Monuments Men

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 Führer 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? It's not bad.

Eh, it's not good. This photograph

has been obtained by the OSS.

It's a model of his planned fuhrer Museum,

to be built in his hometown of Linz in Austria.

Fuhrer Museum? It'd be one of the biggest in the world.

Gonna take a lot of art to fill that up.

Exactly right.

We already know he's stealing art from Amsterdam, Warsaw, and from Paris.

The French are hiding it, the Germans are finding and taking it.

This is why Hitler didn't bomb Paris.

He bombed London.

Yes, I know.

Have they started building?

No. That's the point.

They're stealing the art and hiding it somewhere.

We think they're hiding it in homes in this area and towards the east.

Our boys are in Normandy giving them hell,

so that means it's our turn next, over the Channel and into France.

When?

Soon. We're gonna start with James.

He has a friend in Paris, director of the National Museum.

If he's still alive. If he's alive, he'll have some idea

where the French art has been hidden. We need that information.

Lieutenant, you'll cross the Channel to Deauville.

A contact named Emile will get you into Paris.

Well, it's a good thing I'm fluent in French.

Do we get to kill anybody?

I don't know about you guys, but I'd like to kill somebody.

You want to shoot Hitler, private? I wouldn't mind it.

And Richard, if you call me "private" again, I will take a shot at you.

Okay, so that's it.

We'll ship out in the next few days.

Although the war is coming to an end, it isn't any less dangerous.

So walk carefully, take no undue chances.

And remember that your lives are more important than a piece of art.

Sarge, can you tell us where to find command and control?

Just got here? Yeah.

Top brass command post is about a quarter-mile that way, past K.P.

Thanks!

What?

If you'd read the orders... I don't give a shit.

The orders say, "Don't knock out old buildings..."

To be fair... Do not interrupt me!

If you think I'll write home to some kid's mom

saying her boy's dead because we couldn't take out a church tower, I will not.