Nicolas Cage in National Treasure (2004)
Vitals
Nicolas Cage as Benjamin Franklin Gates, treasure hunter and cryptographer
Philadelphia to New York City, Fall 2004
Film: National Treasure
Release Date: November 19, 2004
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Costume Designer: Judianna Makovsky
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 4th of July to my fellow Americans!
On this day in 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously ratified the Declaration of Independence that announced the separation of the thirteen American colonies from British rule. Primarily drafted by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration remains one of the most sacred and influential documents in global history and underwent centuries of preservation and protection until it was ultimately stolen by Nicolas Cage in 2004.
At least he warned us first.
Appropriately titled given Mr. Cage’s reputation, National Treasure was released 20 years ago this November and centers around a historically informed search for a long-buried Freemason treasure trove. A rumored map on the back of the Declaration of Independence provides guidance to Cage’s well-meaning treasure-hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates as well as his assistant Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) and the lovely government archivist Dr. Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) reluctantly roped into their mission.
Unfortunately for our heroes, Ben’s rival Ian Howe (Sean Bean) is also in pursuit of the treasure… but Ian is British, so one can only imagine the disrespect he would show the Declaration if he were the one to steal it first.
What’d He Wear?
The morning after Ben and Riley successfully liberate the Declaration during a gala event at the National Archives, they follow the early-00s product placement gods to an Urban Outfitters in Philadelphia (actually Pasadena), where they can purchase clothes more appropriate for evading detection while on the run in the City of Brotherly Love than their formal fits.
Once safely ensconced in an Urban Outfitters dressing room, Ben outfits himself in a practical selection of rugged, neutral layers appropriate for a November weekend spent breaking into historical buildings and being chased across rooftops and piers.
Ben’s outer layer is a trucker jacket in a greenish-gray (similar to “field gray”) pinwale corduroy cotton. It’s evidently a favorite style for the character, as the young Ben (Hunter Gomez) had worn a blue denim trucker jacket during the 1974-set opening prologue.
Ben demonstrates a lifelong appreciation for trucker jackets.
Ben’s new waist-length trucker jacket follows the design of the iconic Levi’s “Type III” 557XX that the brand has produced since the 1960s, though it lacks any conspicuous branding aside from on its nickel rivet buttons, which feature a large Swiss cross in the center—a likely key to identifying its manufacturer, though my own search has come up short. (At first, I thought it might be the Lucky Brand’s four-leaf clover, but it appears to be a more rigid cross shape.)
The jacket has six rivet buttons up the front, as well as on the chest pockets, the single-button squared cuffs, and the side-tab adjusters on each side of the waist hem. The two chest pockets are positioned just below the horizontal yoke, with gently pointed flaps that button closed over the top of the V-shaped seams that taper down to the waistband, and there are also two additional vertical-entry hand pockets.
Under his jacket, Ben wears a slate-gray ribbed cotton quarter-zip pullover which—as I recall—was all the rage circa 2004. (As a trend-following high school student, I owned three from American Eagle—one in blue, one in burgundy, one in brown.) Ben’s sweater has a brass zipper and matching pull with a lowercase “b” logo that may inform the garment’s manufacturer.
Ben’s base layer is a light heather-gray cotton short-sleeved crew-neck T-shirt.
Ben’s black cotton five-pocket jeans are Levi’s, as informed by the brand signatures like the leather patch over the back-right of the waistband, the tonal black arcuate stitch across both back patch pockets, and the red tab sewn along the seam of the back-right patch pocket. He holds them up with a plain black web belt that closes through a brass single-prong buckle with a brass-finished end.
Ben continues wearing the black ribbed dress socks he had worn with his tuxedo with his black full-grain leather Timberland work boots. Likely the waterproofed “1973 Newman” model, these heavy-duty plain-toe chukka boots have ankle-high uppers that are reinforced around the back with a soft collar and derby-laced through four sets of eyelets. The rubber lug outsoles provide necessary traction while scaling the rooftops of the Quaker City.
Note Timberland’s encircled tree logo debossed on the heel of Ben’s right boot.
“But wait,” you say. “Shouldn’t I be wearing red, white, and blue on the fourth of July? Where’s your patriotism?”
Said patriotism can be found within a brick in Independence Hall, where Ben unearths a set of multi-lensed glasses built by Benjamin Franklin specifically to decode the map on the back of the Declaration of Independence. Built against a pair of brass-framed eyeglasses, this ocular device consists of four additional round lenses—red and clear on one side, blue and green on the other—that are hinged to be manipulated by the wearer to filter light through the various colors. The ocular device has been recreated by Magnoli Clothiers, who sells it on their website and on eBay.
The right eyewear can really spruce up an otherwise neutral outfit.
When the Urban Outfitters clerk (Alexandra Balahoutis) resists lending the group the $100 bill that Ben had just used to pay for his clothes so they can decipher a clue, he offers up his stainless steel Rolex Submariner Date as a temporary exchange:
Here, I have this diver’s watch, it’s called a Submariner. I dive with this, it’s actually quite valuable. You can use it as collateral.
The Urban Outfitters clerk inspects Ben’s Submariner offered as collateral. Even if the group chose to flee, the proceeds from selling this Rolex would arguably make up for the $100 missing from her drawer.
Ben’s Submariner follows the classic configuration on a matching stainless Oyster three-piece link bracelet, black bezel insert, and black dial, distinguished with its luminous non-numeric hour indices and a white-wheeled date window in the 3:00 position. Assuming it’s contemporary to the production timeline, this 40mm-cased Rolex would be the ref. 16610 produced between 1988 and 2010.
National Treasure puts its money where its mouth is and rewards its horologically inclined viewers with a great shot of Ben’s Rolex Submariner several scenes after he talked it up to the Urban Outfitters clerk.
After jumping into the Hudson and emerging in New Jersey (good thing those Submariners are water resistant up to 1,000 feet!), Ben is greeted by Ian’s henchmen who hand him a towel and a set of fresh clothes: “Hope these fit, we had to guess your sizes!”
How to Get the Look
Nicolas Cage on the set of National Treasure (2004), clearly wearing more fun socks than the plain black hosiery we saw in the Urban Outfitters dressing room.
Though he had been previously wearing a tuxedo, Benjamin Franklin Gates knows he’s not James Bond and wisely takes the time to re-gear himself at Urban Outfitters in a suitable urban outfit of a corduroy trucker jacket, quarter-zip, work boots, and jeans—all in understated shades of black and gray to help him blend in among the historical sites in the Cradle of Liberty.
- Gray pinwale-corduroy trucker jacket with six nickel rivet buttons, two chest pockets (with pointed single-button flaps), two hand pockets, single-button squared cuffs, and button-tab side adjusters
- Slate-gray ribbed cotton quarter-zip pullover sweater
- Light heather-gray cotton crew-neck short-sleeved T-shirt
- Black cotton five-pocket jeans
- Levi’s
- Black web belt with brass-finished single-prong buckle and end
- Black waterproofed full-grain leather ankle-high 4-eyelet derby-laced plain-toe chukka work boots
- Timberland 1973 Newman Waterproof Chukka Boot
- Black ribbed dress socks
- Rolex Submariner Date ref. 16610 stainless steel dive watch with 40mm case, black bezel, black dial (with 3:00 date window), and stainless three-piece Oyster link bracelet
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
The Quote
Something I noticed about fishing… never works out so well for the bait.
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