The Monuments Men (2014)

An unlikely World War II platoon is tasked to rescue art masterpieces from Nazi thieves and return them to their owners.

Director:

George Clooney

Writers:

George Clooney (screenplay), Grant Heslov (screenplay)

Stars:

George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray

3 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George Clooney	...	Frank Stokes
Matt Damon	...	James Granger
Bill Murray	...	Richard Campbell
Cate Blanchett	...	Claire Simone
John Goodman	...	Walter Garfield
Jean Dujardin	...	Jean Claude Clermont
Hugh Bonneville	...	Donald Jeffries
Bob Balaban	...	Preston Savitz
Dimitri Leonidas	...	Sam Epstein
Justus von Dohnányi	...	Viktor Stahl
Holger Handtke	...	Colonel Wegner
Michael Hofland	...	Priest (Claude)
Zachary Baharov	...	Commander Elya (as Zahary Baharov)
Michael Brandner	...	Dentist
Sam Hazeldine	...	Colonel Langton

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

art | art expert | nazi stolen art | world war two | soldier | 

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Taglines:

It was the greatest art heist in history

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some images of war violence and historical smoking

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English German Russian French Flemish

Release Date:

7 February 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

Monuments Men - Ungewöhnliche Helden

Filming Locations:

Studio Babelsberg, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$70,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$22,003,433 (USA) (7 February 2014)

Gross:

$78,031,620 (USA) (16 May 2014)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Fox 2000 Pictures, Smokehouse Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Some viewers incorrectly assumed that it would be unlikely, if not impossible, for the German soldier who holds Savitz at gunpoint to have been familiar with John Wayne. While it is true that Germans had very limited access to American films during the war, Wayne had been working steadily in Hollywood movies since long before that rule was in place. Furthermore, even if the German soldier didn't know about John Wayne through actually seeing his movies, historians know from many contemporary historical accounts (including Anne Frank's autobiography The Diary of a Young Girl) that Germans were a huge audience for movie magazines and Hollywood gossip publications, so the young man might have read about John Wayne in those.

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Goofs

During live fire training, the location of the World War I memorial is attributed to Saint Louis, Missouri. The sculptor upon whom John Goodman's character is based designed sculptures for St. Louis' World War I memorial, which is called the Soldiers Memorial and should not be confused with the National World War I Memorial located in Kansas City, Missouri.

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Quotes

James Granger: You want to go into a war zone and tell our boys what they can and cannot blow up?

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Crazy Credits

At the beginning of the end credits there are black and white photos of the real Monuments Men with some of the art they saved.

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Connections

Spoofs Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

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Soundtracks

Night And Day
Written by Cole Porter
Performed by Patrick Peronne (as Patrick Péronne)
Courtesy of Promo Sound Ltd

User Reviews

A Pathetic and Self-Indulgent Piece of Nonsense

Having read the original book from which "Monuments Men" is taken, I was very interested to see the movie. There is a really fascinating and historically important story here, and it could have made a great film. However, soon after the show begins, it all starts to fall apart. The reason? George Clooney. He directed, and he wrote the screenplay. It's amazingly obvious that in neither of these capacities does Clooney know what he is doing. The screenplay is an absolute joke, totally disjointed, disconnected, silly, trite, and incredibly amateurish for a major Hollywood star of Clooney's stature. The same goes for the directing. George Clooney is obviously a guy with a huge ego, capable of fooling himself and a lot of other people who should know better, that he knows what he is doing. Film-making schools should show this movie as a classic example of what not to do. It's fundamentally flawed in every respect. Editing, music, etc.------one is taken aback by the unbelievable ineptness. Co-stars Matt Damon and Bill Murray and John Goodman and the rest of the cast merely parrot their lines in strange, disjointed scenes that beg to be rewritten by someone with a brain in his head. On the one hand, I totally condemn this piece of Hollywood egotistical stupidity, but on the other I heartily recommend it as an example of how bad movies can get in the hands of people with enormous egos. Stick to acting, Clooney---for God's sake don't direct and write screenplays ever again.