Battle of the movie MacGuffins

[Riv86672]

[j9ac9k]

Ark of the Covenant rules them all. (although, y'know - the Maltese Falcon deserves props)

[Jim Kelly]

Would Hitchcock say that Marion Crane's car is the MacGuffin? She steals the money and gets away in her car and that is the focus of our attention for the first part of the movie. Norman then puts her body and (unwittingly) the money in the trunk of her car and sinks the car in the swamp. The last shot of the movie is the car being pulled from the swamp.

[WebLurker]

Why weren't the Death Star plans, Indiana Jones' Ark, or the Maltese Falcon included? Those are like the most iconic movie macguffins of all time.

[Riv86672]

Because I wasn’t just listing MacGuffins.

[Jim Kelly]

I guess if you're going to compare Dashiell Hammett MacGuffins, it's the Maltese Falcon vs the Thin Man--but explaining why they are is a spoiler for the movies and the books on which they're based. I'd say the Thin Man wins, just because for most of the book I hadn't figured it out, whereas I had been spoiled on the Maltese Falcon before I saw the movie or read the book.

[Riv86672]

^^^I’m a huge Bogart fan, but I like The Thin Man more than The Maltese Falcon.
Thin Man had a sense of whimsey that really balanced out the more serious aspects of the story.

[Kirby101]

There are no tigers in Scotland.

[Riv86672]

There are no McDonalds in Antarctica.

[j9ac9k]

Would Hitchcock say that Marion Crane's car is the MacGuffin? She steals the money and gets away in her car and that is the focus of our attention for the first part of the movie. Norman then puts her body and (unwittingly) the money in the trunk of her car and sinks the car in the swamp. The last shot of the movie is the car being pulled from the swamp.

I think of the money as more like a red herring - Hitchcock sets it up so that you'd think it would be the point of the movie, but it isn't. Dredging it up at the end, where it doesn't even matter anymore maybe was his way of emphasizing that. That's how I take it, anyway...

But to answer the original question:
-- Lebowski rug
-- Doug
-- Jones' Grail
-- Infinity Stones

[WebLurker]

Because I wasn’t just listing MacGuffins.

Yeah, but still, they should've been on there somewhere.

[Kirby101]

So in "Dude, Where's My Car", was it the car that was the McGuffin, or the Universal Transfunctioner?

[Riv86672]

So in "Dude, Where's My Car", was it the car that was the McGuffin, or the Universal Transfunctioner?

^^^Huh...I guess it was the trans functioner for the bulk of the movie, wasn’t it?
Or, maybe their memories?

But to answer the original question:
-- Lebowski rug
-- Doug
-- Jones' Grail
-- Infinity Stones

^^^HO-LY cow an actual on topic response!
Thanks!

[ChrisIII]

Did we ever actually see the Monty python version of the holy grail? I mean, the actual cup?

[Jim Kelly]

The Infinity Gauntlet is all the stones on one glove. But the one ring is the ring to rule them all. It's LORD OF THE RINGS--not RING.

"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie."

Apologies to Jim Starlin, but Tolkien's is a monumental fiction that encompasses far more than what the Marvel Universe represents. I just don't think there's any comparing them. I also wonder if you can even call Bilbo's ring a MacGuffin, since the MacGuffin isn't supposed to really matter--it's just a plot engine--whereas the rings are fundamental to the story and character development, not simply plot engines.

The Ark in RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK is more like a true MacGuffin--although it plays a key role at the climax of the movie--because in the end it doesn't matter; Spielberg shows it being completely ignored and relegated to obscurity in the final shot.