Image Source

Ben Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage) is an archaeologist treasure hunter whose family has been searching for a hidden treasure hidden by the Founding Fathers with the help of the Free Masons. A secret society consisting mostly by working class brick masons and stonemasons, but then later included members of other working class trades and some rather important American politicians. The only guides leading the way to solving this mysterious hidden treasure are puzzling clues that have been hidden on historical documents, in clever riddles and special opticals are need to reveal more keys to the puzzle.

Gates not working alone is accompanied by a wisecracking computer genius and a pretty young National Archives curator who originally become enthralled in the hunt for the treasure unwillingly. After successfully pulling off the crime of the century, Gates races against time to unravel the mystery before the FBI and his former greedy partner who originally tried to kill Gates are pursuing him on a cross-country high stakes adventure.

National Treasure puts the fun back into movies with its balance of action, humor and supercharged turn of events. Indiana Jones better watch out, because archaeologist Ben Franklin Gates is in town.

The movie “National Treasure” is worthy of (Renting: Yes - Buying: Yes)

1. The part of Indiana Jones was originally offered to Tom Selleck but three weeks before filming began he had to turn the part down because he was committed to play Magnum P.I. in the T.V. Series.
2. The original idea for "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was developed while George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were on holiday in Hawaii (George was supposedly trying to escape from what he thought may be the disastrous opening of "Star Wars"). Apparently, they were building a sand castle together and decided they'd like to recreate the adventure serials of the 1930's that they'd enjoyed as children.
3. Indiana Jones's full name is Henry Jones Junior but he calls himself Indiana after the pet dog he had as a child. In real life the name of the pet dog George Lucas had in the 1970's was also Indiana.
4. During the filming of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in Tunisia, nearly everyone in the cast and crew fell sick apart from Stephen Spielberg. A possible explanation was that he only ate the food he'd brought from home - cans and cans of "Spaghetti O"s'.
5. A kangaroo hide bullwhip used by Harrison Ford in "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Temple of Doom" and "The Last Crusade" was sold at Christies in September 1999 for a cracking £27,600.
6. Sharon Stone was originally one of the top choices to play the heroine Willie Scott in "The Temple of Doom".
7. The Russian soldiers in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" were cast from Russian actors so their accents would be as authentic as possible.
8. If you carefully watch the airport scene in the beginning of "The Temple of Doom", you'll see Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas both making cameo performances as missionaries.
9. The fedora hat and leather jacket that Indiana wore in "The Last Crusade" are now on display at the Smithsonian's American History Museum in Washington D.C.
10. Kate Capshaw met her future husband, Steven Spielberg, for the first time as she auditioned for the female lead, Willie Scott, in "The Temple Of Doom".
11. Even though George Lucas and Steven Spielberg were both 100% behind the filming of "Raiders of the Lost Ark", every studio in Hollywood originally turned the idea down.
12. Initially Danny Devito was all ready to play the part of Sallah (Indy's Arab guide) but due to conflicts with the filming of the hit T.V. sitcom "Taxi" he had to drop out and the part went to John Rhys-Davies.
13. To get himself fit enough to play Indy for the fourth time and complete all his own stunts, 64 year old Harrison Ford, spent three hours a day in the gym and lived on a high protein diet of only fish and vegetables.
14. The robots R2-D2 And C-3PO surprisingly feature as hieroglyphics in the Well of Souls scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and they also feature on a post to the right of Indy and Sallah as they remove the Ark.
15. Pat Roach, the British wrestler and best known as Bomber from "Auf Wiedersehen, Pet", seems to get killed more times than anyone else in the Indiana Jones films. In "Raiders of the Lost Ark", he's a giant Sherpa who dies in the burning Nepalese Bar. Then he's the German mechanic who gets splattered by an aeroplane's propeller. Finally in the "The Temple of Doom", he's the chief guard who's crushed by the rock crusher.
16. Next time you watch "The Last Crusade"; look out for the scene where Indy and his father are talking at a table aboard the Zeppelin. It was so hot on set that day, Harrison Ford and Sean Connery acted their parts with no trousers on.
17. Originally there were supposed to be five Indiana Jones films made but it was only in 2000 when Steven Spielberg's son asked when the remaining two films would be released that the director rekindled his interest in the project.
18. "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was the biggest movie hit of 1981, earning more at the box office than three of it's closest rivals combined: "Arthur", "Chariots of Fire" and "For Your Eyes Only".
19. Stephen Spielberg wrote the script to "E.T. The Extra Terrestrial" during filming breaks in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". He dictated the story to Harrison Ford's then wife, Melissa Mathison who's profession was a screenwriter.
20. The glamorous dress that Kate Capshaw wears in "The Temple of Doom" was a unique creation comprising of rare 1920's and 30's beads. However, in a scene where the dress is seen drying out over a tree, an elephant took a liking to it and decided to munch on it for lunch. As a result the production team had to fill out the unusual insurance claim "Dress eaten by Elephant!"
21. Before "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" was chosen as the title for the latest Indiana Jones film, several other titles were considered including "The City of Gods", "The Destroyer of Worlds", "The Fourth Corner of the Earth", "The Lost City of Gold", and finally, "The Quest for the Covenant".
22. Harrison Ford had to fly back to the United States for emergency surgery during the filming of "The Temple of Doom" as he ruptured a disc in his back from learning to ride an elephant.
23. The temple that's carved into the rock in "The Last Crusade" is not in the fabled city of Alexandretta but actually located in Petra, Jordan.
24. A lot of the filming for "The Temple of Doom" took place in Sri Lanka where the authorities weren't exactly happy with having live pythons brought into the country. So animal handler Michael Culling had to book the snakes into a hotel room under false names - that of Mr and Mrs Longfellow.
25. In "The Last Crusade" when young Indy is in the lion's compartment on the train, he cracks a whip that cuts him on the top of his chin, giving him a scar. In real life though Harrison Ford actually got that scar in his mid-twenties when he crashed his car while trying to put his seatbelt on.

1. Archaeologists rarely fight Nazis

   We'd be up to the challenge for sure (we're tough cookies), but most of our battles are against much milder foes. We generally battle brutal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) bureaucrats, deadly Central American mosquitoes and the occasional misguided environmentalist, but I have yet to jump out of a plane in the Himalayas, raft my way all the way to the Indian rainforest, or dodge a bullet from anyone named Helmut. One time, though, I did fall while scaling a barbed wire fence. I'm in discussion with Universal Pictures for the film rights.
   

2. Most of the treasures we find are not booby-trapped

   This one was a tough pill to swallow for sure. I mean I had expected blow darts, bloody spikes and large rolling boulders once we entered my first Anasazi pithouse, but all I got was two cubic tons of sand, one hibernating scorpion (don't for a minute think I wasn't suspicious) and a couple of earwigs guarding my treasure. Oh, and the treasure: a gorgeous little corncob. We partied that night.
   

3. Whip skills are not a prerequisite for any archeology program

   Believe me, I checked it all out. I have yet to find an undergraduate program that offers Whip Skills 101. Now, I understand it may be an advanced skill that only Masters students or Doctoral students get to practice, but I have yet to see it any curriculum. How is this possible? The whip is an essential tool for Indy. When I was 15 years old, I got a classic calfskin whip with the understanding that any self-respecting archaeologist would need one. Nope! Yet to use it at all.
   

4. No treasure maps

   In general, archaeologists read maps rather adeptly, so it would be nice to have a treasure map that we could try to decipher, but apparently Indiana, that Nicholas Cage character, and Cortez have them all. I once thought I saw some rock art that looked like a treasure map, but when I got to the X that marked the spot, I found two Gila monsters sipping on a Corona Light.

5. The hat does not make you Indiana Jones cool

   We have tried. I guarantee that should you walk on to any college campus in this great land and find the Anthropology/Archaeology department, you will find a certain cadre of students donning the hat. You be the judge, but I will bet that same group of derelicts could probably tell you the paste, temper, slip and form of every piece of pottery found in a five state radius. Not exactly show-stopping conversation at the Friday night keggers.
   Oh, I almost forgot about the girl. Yep, we get the girl in the end. She usually wears Birkenstocks, eats hemp, and knows the measurements of condensed milk cans from the 1920s, but she's all ours.