National Treasure2004

[In 1974 John Adams Gates tells the story of a mysterious treasure to a young Ben Gates]

John Adams Gates:
OK, here we go. It was 1832, on a night much like this. Charles Carroll was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was also a member of a secret society known as the Masons, and... he knew he was dying. He woke up his stable boy in the middle of the night and ordered him to take him to the White House to see Andrew Jackson because it was very urgent that he speak to the President.

Ben Gates:
Did he talk to him?

John Adams Gates:
No. He never got the chance. The President wasn't there that night, but Charles Carroll had a secret. So he took into his confidence the one person he could: my grandfather's grandfather, Thomas Gates.

Ben Gates:
What was his secret?

John Adams Gates:
A treasure! A treasure beyond all imagining. A treasure that had been fought over for centuries by tyrants, pharaohs, emperors, warlords. And every time it changed hands, it grew larger. And then, suddenly, [snaps his fingers] it vanished. It didn't reappear for more than a thousand years when knights from the First Crusade found hidden vaults beneath the Temple of Solomon. You see, the knights who found the vaults believed that the treasure was too great for any one man, not even a king. They brought the treasure back to Europe and took the name... the Knights Templar. Over the next century, they smuggled it out of Europe and formed a new brotherhood known as the Freemasons, in honor of the builders of the Great Temple. War followed. By the time of the American Revolution, the treasure had been hidden again. By then, the Masons came to include George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Paul Revere. They knew they had to make sure the treasure would never fall into the hands of the British, so they devised a series of clues and maps to its location. Over time the clues were lost or forgotten, until only one remained. And that was the secret that Charles Carroll entrusted to young Thomas Gates.

Charles Carroll:
Charlotte.

Ben Gates:
Who's Charlotte?

John Adams Gates:
Oh, not even Mr. Carroll knew that. Now, look here, Ben. The Freemasons among our Founding Fathers left us clues [takes out one-dollar bill] like these. The unfinished pyramid, the all-seeing eye. Symbols of the Knights Templar, guardians of the treasure. They are speaking to us through these.

Patrick Gates:
You mean laughing at us. You know what that dollar represents: the entire Gates family fortune. Six generations of fools... chasing after fool's gold.

John Adams Gates:
It's not about the money, Patrick. It's never been about the money!

Patrick Gates:
Come on, son. Time to go. You can say your goodbyes.