10 Greatest Movie MacGuffins
Alfred Hitchcock gave name to a literary and film device called a MacGuffin (sometimes spelled “McGuffin”), which is any object or device that serves to trigger the plot. This boils down to anything that sets the plot in motion or keeps it going in one direction or another. In terms of Hitchcock, the birds were the MacGuffin in . . . well, The Birds and he used others like Norman Bates’s mother in Psycho to keep things going.
While he may have coined the term, Hitchcock wasn’t the only one to use MacGuffins. They have been around for a long time, especially in some incredible works of fiction. Here are the 10 greatest MacGuffins from some of the greatest movies ever made.
Spoiler Alert: We do tell you about some things that happen in these movies. If you haven’t seen them, tread carefully. Be especially careful of entry one about Citizen Kane because we tell you how the movie ends. You’ve been warned.
10 Doug – The Hangover
A lot of people might forget while watching the movie, but the guys get into so much trouble throughout their actual hangovers in the film due to their quest to find Doug. He was the reason they were in Vegas in the first place.
Doug was getting hitched, and they were celebrating with a good old-fashioned bachelor party. A lot of people might have forgotten the guy since he was only in the movie for the opening of the first act and just a few minutes at the end.
Finding Doug was the entire plot of the film when you get right down to it. The fact that they woke up with a tiger and nothing but questions as to what happened the night before was just the comedic sprinkling atop the ice cream sundae that was The Hangover.
Although some MacGuffins are right there in front of the viewer the whole time, Doug is a perfect example of a MacGuffin that rarely makes an appearance.[1]
9 The Death Star Plans – Star Wars
We have finally been given the backstory of how the Rebels got their hands on the plans for the Death Star thanks to Rogue One. (Incidentally, Rogue One also used the plans as that film’s MacGuffin.) But in the original Star Wars, they were the principal element moving the story forward.
After the Tantive IV is boarded and we learn that “the Death Star plans are not in the main computer,” the Empire will stop at nothing to find them. The Empire stormtroopers follow R2-D2 and C-3PO down to the surface of Tatooine and torch Luke’s uncle and aunt while looking for the plans.
Then we get to meet Han and Chewie as the plans are moved across space and finally make their way to the Rebel Alliance so that they can be scrutinized to find a weak point.
Here’s how we know the plans were the MacGuffin: If Vader had found them on the ship in the opening act, that would have been it. They had Princess Leia and would have proceeded to wipe out the Rebel Alliance “in one fell swoop” thanks to the secret of their vulnerability never winding up in their enemy’s hands.[2]
8 The Briefcase – Pulp Fiction
Here’s the thing about MacGuffins: You don’t always need to know what they are. The characters on-screen usually require that information to keep them moving one way or another. But when you get right down to it, do you really need to know what’s in the briefcase everyone’s carting around in Pulp Fiction?
The short answer is, of course, no. It doesn’t matter. All we need to know as members of the audience is that it’s something important.
For years, the Internet has speculated as to what could possibly be in the briefcase. Fan theories have suggested that it is the cache of diamonds stolen in Reservoir Dogs, Rudolph’s nose, O.J.’s other glove, the Oscar that Quentin Tarantino hoped to win, or even Marsellus Wallace’s soul (which explains the Band-Aid he had on the back of his neck prior to getting the briefcase back).
Tarantino has admitted that there is no official explanation for the briefcase’s contents and that it was written specifically into the screenplay to be an intriguing MacGuffin.[3]
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