History Film / TheMonumentsMen

* GoldTeeth: The Men find an entire barrel full of them.

** In his first lecture Stoltz states that the war will be over in a few months once the Allies invade when it actually lasts another year.

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Justified - Stahl shoots at Claire at the railway station and misses even though she doesn't try to take cover, but he's a non-combatant soldier using a Luger pistol at long range. Colonel Wegner kills Jeffries with his Luger after being shot in the shoulder, but he's an experienced soldier firing at a much closer range.

** Jeffries discovers the Madonna and Child has been untouched by bombing or looting. Then a Nazi colonel enters the church to take it at gunpoint.

* TheAtoner: Jeffries regards his WW2 service as making up for his alcoholism, which has ruined his reputation and [[WellDoneSonGuy disgraced his father]].

Tropes displayed include:
* AllStarCast: Creator/GeorgeClooney, Creator/MattDamon, Creator/BillMurray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Creator/CateBlanchett

* WellDoneSonGuy / TheAtoner: Jeffries regards his WW2 service as making up for his alcoholism.

* WasItReallyWorthIt: The President asks Stokes whether the two Monuments Men who died would have considered their deaths worthwhile. Stokes concludes that they would have.

* PunnyName: The SS officer in charge of collecting and looting art from Paris is Viktor Stahl, which is German for "steel"

* HypocriticalHumor: Stokes gripes over the flippancy of the Soviet's naming their art unit the "Trophy Commission". Granger points out that "Monuments Men" is NotSoDifferent.

* DramaticIrony: Stoltz asks for permission to continue searching for the Raphael painting ''Portrait of a young man'', in the belief that it survived the war. The painting is shown being destroyed by the Nazis earlier in the movie.

* DramaticIrony: Stoltz asks for permission to continue searching for the Raphael painting ''Portrait of a young man by Raphael'', in the belief that it survived the war. The painting is shown being destroyed by the Nazis earlier in the movie.

* NotSoDifferent: The Nazi solider found in the woods by two of the men, after their standoff. The Russians are also revealed to have their own team of art recoverers, albeit men who keep the art for Russia.

* OhCrap: Garfield and Clermont realise they're out in the open between an American and a German patrol.

* SpitefulSpit: Viktor Stahl tells Claire Simon to [[YouGetMeCoffee fetch him another champagne glass so he can share a toast with Hermann Goering. She selects a glass from the kitchen and spits in it. A member of the staff is looking on in surprise, but [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating when Claire informs her it's for Stahl she spits in the glass as well]].

* ChildSoldiers: The sniper firing at two of the Monuments Men in one scene is revealed to be a young child. As this was late in the war and Germany was getting desperate, this makes sense.

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: The Monuments Men accidentally stumble upon Germany's gold reserves while searching for stolen art, but in the film it's treated as just something that happened that seemed irrelevant to their primary mission. In RealLife, though, this accidental discovery did more to end the war than almost any soldiering on the part of any of the Allies: the world was still on the gold standard, and when word got out that there was nothing backing the Deutschmark, the Third Reich had no way to continue to fund their war effort, and the ''Wehrmacht'' fell apart very quickly after that. ''That'' is why Generals UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower, George S. Patton and Omar Bradley are getting their picture taken.

** Much of the time the Monuments Men had to march on ''foot'' or were forced to hitch rides. In many cases they got little help from the military.

* RunningGag: French people constantly asking Granger to please ''not speak French.''

* CreatorCameo: AlexandreDesplat not only composed the score but also appears onscreen as a member of the Resistance (in several scenes, yet).

* GenreBlindness: [[spoiler: Jean Claude]] is this when he stops the car to pet that wild horse [[spoiler: and there's a group of enemy soldiers hiding in the undergrowth]].
* GracefulLoser: [[spoiler: The Russian leader of the "trophy brigade," once he finds the American flag in front of the salt mine.]]

*** In the film he gives a lecture to Roosevelt and identifies a work by "Da Vinci", rather than Leonardo. This is a classic post-''TheDaVinciCode'' mistake that '''no''' art historian- and certainly none living in the 1940's- would have made. The ''name'' of the artist was Leonardo and he ''was born'' in the town of Vinci- Leonardo Da Vinci means "Leonardo, of Vinci".
** The Germans did not destroy the art held in the mines. The Nero Decree did not mention archives or art at all. In fact Hitler specifically ordered that all the art be left to German museums upon his death. While the Germans did destroy some art, it was all art they considered "degenerate", which does not cover most of the art depicted in the film (though Picassos' were indeed on the list), and the mines were reserved for art they intended to keep. Hitler actually considered the Ghent Altarpiece an example of "Aryan genius". In addition, there is little evidence that the Monuments Men knew of the Decree.
** Several names and personalities were changed and at least one character- the Frenchman Jean Claude Clermont- outright made up for the movie. [[spoiler: Which slightly undermines the impact of his death]].

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: The Monuments Men accidentally stumble upon Germany's gold reserves while searching for stolen art, but in the film it's treated as just something that happened that seemed irrelevant to their primary mission. In RealLife, though, this accidental discovery did more to end the war than almost any soldiering on the part of any of the Allies: the world was still on the gold standard, and when word got out that there was nothing backing the deutchemark, the Third Reich had no way to continue to fund their war effort, and the ''Wehrmacht'' fell apart very quickly after that. ''That'' is why Generals UsefulNotes/DwightDEisenhower, George S. Patton and Omar Bradley are getting their picture taken.

* ActorAllusion:
** Clooney's [[OceansEleven putting together a team of]] [[AllStarCast impressive men]] for an... [[InvertedTrope anti-]][[TheCaper caper?]]
** Goodman plays a man named [[Film/TheBigLebowski Walter]] who served in a war.
** Murray is [[Film/{{Stripes}} once again in the army]], although with less hijinks.
** This isn't the first time Matt Damon has been part of [[Film/SavingPrivateRyan a special WWII mission that questions the value of human lives.]]
** This is also not the first time Clooney has [[Film/ThreeKings stumbled upon gold while serving in a war]].

* AllStarCast: Creator/GeorgeClooney, Creator/MattDamon, Creator/BillMurray, Creator/JohnGoodman, Creator/JeanDujardin, Creator/BobBalaban, Creator/HughBonneville, and Creator/CateBlanchett

'''''The Monuments Men''''' is a 2014 War Movie directed by Creator/GeorgeClooney and starring himself, Creator/MattDamon, Creator/BillMurray, Creator/JohnGoodman, Creator/JeanDujardin, Creator/BobBalaban, Creator/HughBonneville, and Creator/CateBlanchett. It is based on the history book ''The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History'' by Robert M. Edsel.

'''''The Monuments Men''''' is a 2014 WarMovie directed by Creator/GeorgeClooney and starring himself, Creator/MattDamon, Creator/BillMurray, Creator/JohnGoodman, Creator/JeanDujardin, Creator/BobBalaban, Creator/HughBonneville, and Creator/CateBlanchett. It is based on the history book ''The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History'' by Robert M. Edsel.

* CompositeCharacter: The film's main characters of the unit are under eight. In reality, the program consisted of 400 men.

** The Germans did not destroy the art held in the mines. The Nero Decree did not mention archives or art at all. In fact Hitler specifically ordered that all the art be left to German museums upon his death. While the Germans did destroy some art, it was all art they considered "degenerate" and which does not cover most of the art depicted in the film (though Picassos' were indeed on the list), and the mines were reserved for art they intended to keep. The Ghent Altarpiece Hitler actually considered an example of "Aryan genius". In addition, there is little evidence that the Monuments Men knew of the Decree.

** Much of the time the Monuments Men had to march on ''foot'' or forced to hitch rides. In many cases they got little help from the military.

* AMillionIsAStatistic: Subverted, it is noted that the Russians are seizing the art they recover as reparations for the 20 million men they have lost in the war, and this loss is treated with decent gravity. They are still treated as rivals at best and the lesser evil at worst, since most of the art they are stealing was already stolen from the ''other'' millions of people the Nazi's conquered and killed.

* PullTheThread: Two of the Monuments Men are lead to a farmer who was an "arts student," who is in reality Viktor Stahl, one of the Nazis in charge of the looting in Paris. The fugitive tries to pass off the paintings in his house as mere copies, but the experts are able to tell in seconds that they are the real ones with clear evidence they are stolen and make him squirm with their questions until they arrest him.

* Foreshadowing: Claire reads about the arrest of Viktor Stahl as a small story buried within her newspaper, while drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette at a cafe. See the ButForMeItWasTuesday entry.

* CallForward: Claire reads about the arrest of Viktor Stahl as a small story buried within her newspaper, while drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette at a cafe. See the ButForMeItWasTuesday entry.

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: The CoolAndUnusualPunishment Stokes has for the Nazi Officer who was destroying art and running a Death Camp: that he will have a smoke, and remember it when he is back in New York City on an perfectly ordinary day reading the tiny newspaper sidebar story about the Nazi being executed for war crimes, and never think of the officer again.

'''''The Monuments Men''''' is a 2014 WarMovie directed by Creator/GeorgeClooney and starring himself, Creator/MattDamon, Creator/BillMurray, Creator/JohnGoodman, Creator/JeanDujardin, Creator/BobBalaban, Creator/HughBonneville, and Creator/CateBlanchett. It based on the history book ''The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History'' by Robert M. Edsel.

** Godman plays a man named [[Film/TheBigLebowski Walter]] who served in a war.