The term “MacGuffin” was coined by Angus MacPhail, an English screenwriter who often worked with Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock himself is often associated with the term, as he used the term often and, indeed, employed MacGuffins often in his movies. The term refers to an object (usually) that is central to the motivation of the characters in a film and is used to move the plot along.
There is debate amongst film fans as to whether a MacGuffin can be a person, or if it has to be something that is otherwise pointless to the plot, but for this list’s sake, we’re not making any kind of distinction. It can be a person or a character. It can be crucial to the plot, or irrelevant. It is just something that carries the plot forward.
Pee-Wee’s Bicycle In Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
One of the classic ’80s MacGuffins is, of course, Pee-Wee Herman’s bicycle in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. After it is stolen, Pee-Wee embarks on a cross-country trip to the Alamo’s basement to find it. Without the stolen bicycle, there is no movie, so it is, indeed, a true MacGuffin.
The Briefcase In Pulp Fiction
One of the coolest uses of a MacGuffin is by Quentin Tarantino in Pulp Fiction. We never even see what the MacGuffin really is, just the briefcase it’s housed in. We know it radiates golden light and leaves everyone who sees it a little speechless, so it must be something either incredibly beautiful, incredibly valuable, or both.
Doug In The Hangover
Sometimes, the MacGuffin is a person. You can argue all you want about whether or not that counts, but we’re not listening. The best example we can think of to prove it can be a character is Doug in The Hangover. The movie doesn’t happen without the search for Doug, and the groom-to-be isn’t really much of a character otherwise, with only a few scenes at the beginning and at the end. Without him though, there isn’t even a bachelor party to create the hangovers in the movie.
Big Worm’s Money In Friday
In Friday Craig (Ice Cube) gets sucked into Smokey’s bad day after Smokey (Chris Tucker) gets himself into trouble with the local neighborhood dealer and must come up with the money he owes him or else. It doesn’t motivate Smokey all the much, but hey, it finally does by the end.
The Death Star Plans In Star Wars
There is a lot of debate over what the MacGuffin is in the original Star Wars. Some say it’s the plans for the Death Star that R2-D2 is tasked by Princess Leia to deliver, others say it’s the droid itself. Let’s quit splitting hairs here because they are both kind of the same thing, and they are both critical to the whole adventure.
The Letters Of Transit In Casablanca
In the very beginning of Casablanca, it’s explained that everyone in Casablanca during World War II is trying to get out and on to their next place of safety, usually the U.S. via Portugal. That’s what makes letters of transit so important, especially when you are wanted by the Germans for being a spy, as Victor Lazlo (Paul Henreid) is. His hunt for them, and Rick (Humphrey Bogart) hiding them is what drives the plot (along with Rick and Elsa’s love story).
The Dude’s Rug In The Big Lebowski
The Coen Brothers love to use MacGuffins in their movies, and for The Big Lebowski, they created the perfect one – The Dude’s rug. It’s a completely meaningless object in the grand scheme of things, but without The Dude’s ire at the destruction of it and the hunt to replace it (because it really tied the room together), there would be no adventure at all.
The Ring In The Lord Of The Rings
One of the greatest MacGuffins in film and literature is the one ring to rule them all in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. There is no question it’s a true MacGuffin, as literally everyone and everything in the franchise is motivated by it.
The Ark In Raiders Of The Lost Ark
All of the Indiana Jones movies have used MacGuffins to send our hero, played by Harrison Ford, on his adventures. In the first of the five movies, it is, of course, the Lost Ark of the Covenant. It’s being chased by both Indy and the Germans, and whoever gets it first could change the fate of World War II and, indeed, the whole world.
The Fabergé Egg In Octopussy
A lot of James Bond movies employ MacGuffins to motivate the super spy into action. One of the most fun has to be the Fabergé Egg in Octopussy. Not only is it a really cool-looking MacGuffin, but it’s not something you’d ever think a spy like Bond would need to be worried about, yet it also works perfectly within the story.
Rosebud In Citizen Kane
At the very beginning of Citizen Kane, we hear Kane say “Rosebud.” For the rest of the movie, we are left wondering what that means. It turns out, as we discover in the final scene that Rosebud was Kane’s childhood sled and that his entire motivation in life and through the movie was to find that lost bit of his youth. Without the sled, there is no Charles Foster Kane, tycoon.
The Plans For The Silent Plane In The 39 Steps
Of course, you have to include Hitchcock on this list, as he was the master of the MacGuffin. The most common one people point to comes from one of his earliest movies, The 39 Steps. You can argue over whether it’s the secret plans for the plan themselves, or Mr. Memory, who has memorized those plans as the MacGuffin, but either way, the movie’s plot relies on those plans to motivate all the characters in the film.
Ruby Slippers In The Wizard Of Oz
Two of the most famous props in history are Dorothy’s ruby slippers in The Wizard Of Oz. The twist here is that it’s not our hero Dorothy looking for the MacGuffin, it’s the Wicked Witch of the West desperately seeking them out and trying to steal them. “Home” motivates Dorothy, while the shoes motivate her enemy.
The Grail In Monty Python And The Holy Grail
The Cup of Christ, or The Holy Grail, is a common MacGuffin in pop culture. Indiana Jones and his father search for it, and so does Robert Langdon in The Da Vinci Code. The most ridiculous (and hilarious) search for the mythical cup has to be Monty Python’s quest for The Grail. Like so many others, they come close to grasping the holy relic, only to be thwarted by the police in the end. It’s really a silly story.
Private Ryan In Saving Private Ryan
One great example of a person or a character being a solid MacGuffin is Private Ryan (Matt Damon) in Saving Private Ryan. Ryan is really only there to motivate Miller (Tom Hanks) and his chosen team to save him. He’s otherwise irrelevant to the story. Sure, we care if Ryan’s been a good man since getting saved, but mostly, we care about the other characters in their hunt for him.
The Maltese Falcon In The Maltese Falcon
The Maltese Falcon in The Maltese Falcon is a wonderful example of a MacGuffin being basically just a random object. The object could be anything, it just happens to be the little statue that is motivating everyone in the movie. It’s maybe the most basic example of a successful MacGuffin in film history.
The Chimera Virus In Mission: Impossible 2
Every Mission: Impossible movie has a MacGuffin. Some are cooler than others and even though Mission: Impossible 2 is generally ranked as the worst in the franchise, the MacGuffin is kinda the coolest. A virus that could wipe out life on Earth. Now that we’ve all gone through a traumatizing pandemic, it feels even more motivating.
The Infinity Stones In The MCU
There is no more ubiquitous MacGuffin in movie history than the Infinity Stones in the MCU. They appear in one form or another in more than a dozen movies, culminating with the destruction of Thanos and his minions at the end of Avengers: Endgame when Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr) sacrifices himself to save the world and prove he has a heart.
Colonel Kurtz In Apocalypse Now
Marlon Brando’s wild performance as Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now is part of what makes it such an incredible movie. Without it, it would unquestionably be less of a film. BUT, Willard (Martin Sheen) could have been searching for anything important to motivate him and the boat’s crew up the river. It just happened to be a rogue psychopath.
The Necklace in Ocean’s 8
Obviously all the best heist movies usually have a pretty motivating MacGuffin. In Ocean’s 8 it is a pretty traditional one. It’s simply a very valuable necklace around the neck of an actress played by Anne Hathaway. How Ocean’s crew goes about stealing it is what makes the movie great, but it’s still just a thing at the end of the day that could have been anything else.
The Declaration Of Independence In National Treasure
There is no bigger piece of American history than the actual Declaration Of Independence. As a MacGuffin in National Treasure, it makes for the perfect object worth stealing. For Benjamin (Nicholas Cage), the motivation is pathological, as he’ll stop at nothing to acquire it.
The President In Escape From New York
There are arguments that the briefcase handcuffed to the President (Donald Pleasance) is the real MacGuffin in Escape From New York, but let’s give those going after it a little credit and hope that they at least partly wanted to save the man himself.
The Heart Of The Ocean Necklace In Titanic
James Cameron needed to find a good reason for us to get invested in the love story in Titanic because, without it, it’s just a disaster movie that would have been over too quickly. The way he brings us all into the hunt for the ship and the stories on it before it sinks is the fictional “Heart Of The Ocean” necklace owned by Rose and had been in her possession all that time.
Red Ryder BB Gun In A Christmas Story
Ralphie gets berated by Santa, dismissed by his mother, pens a wonderful composition for his teacher, and eventually shoots his eye out all in his desire to own a “Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time.” It’s the ultimate MacGuffin.
The Briefcase Full Of Money – No Country For Old Men
There is no bigger motivator in the world than money. For better or for worse, that’s how it goes. Even someone like Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) in No Country For Old Men, who seems only slightly motivated by money goes through a terrible ordeal to keep the briefcase full of money he found and everyone else is after.
The Buried Money/The Big W In It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World
A MacGuffin doesn’t get any plainer than cash at the end of an epic race like in It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World. The price, $350,000 buried under “a big W” in a California state park motivates one of the greatest comedic casts ever assembled to race each other to find the buried money.
Genesis Device In Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan
Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan is often thought of as the best of all the Star Trek movies, and certainly the best that features the cast of the original series. In it, both the crew of the Enterprise and their arch-enemy, Khan, are in desperate search of The Genesis Device.
The Buried Treasure In O Brother Where Art Thou?
Yet another movie where the MacGuffin is buried treasure, but we couldn’t leave the Coen Brothers’ classic O Brother Where Art Thou? off the list. Though it’s based on The Oddessy, where the motivation was to get home, this one is a little simpler. Three idiot prisoners trying to get rich quickly. In the end, it’s more about the friends we met along the way.
The Diamonds In Diamonds Are Forever
James Bond often has some interesting MacGuffins and as the years have worn on, they’ve gotten increasingly complicated. It makes us yearn for the days when it was just a simple bag of diamonds, as it is in the aptly titled Diamonds Are Forever.
Turboman Doll In the Jingle All The Way
Every Christmas there is a hot toy that people occasionally come to blows over, like Frank in Seinfeld, for example. In Jingle All The Way, it’s a Turbo Man doll and one father is willing to go to extreme lengths to get one for his son!
The Pink Panther Diamond In The Pink Panther
Peter Sellers’ portrayal of Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther is one of the all-time great comedic performances. In it, he is searching for the stolen Pink Panther diamond. It’s a classic MacGuffin, but worth mentioning because the hunter is such a goof.
Green Destiny Sword In Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Occasionally, a MacGuffin is a supernatural object or even a supernatural weapon like the Green Destiny Sword in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The movie, though highly stylized and more of a visual work of art than a true quest, still has a fairly simple motivating device, just like all the best MacGuffins.
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