May 19th, 2008
8. 1964 Chevrolet Malibu, Repo Man (1984)
In the grungy world of Alex Cox's caustic cult classic Repo Man, products like beer and food come in generic white packages labeled with their contents in big black letters: "BEER." "FOOD (meat-flavored)." Which could be taken as an anti-consumerist, anti-merchandising message, or just an indication that nothing in the movie's grimy world is particularly special or significant—neither the products nor the worn-down people using them. But one item does stand out: the 1964 Chevy Malibu that all the film's repo men are trying to get their hands on, for the remarkable $20,000 bounty. The FBI wants it, too. Why? That's the point of the film, and the key to its bizarre, transcendent ending. But here's a hint: It's glowing, dangerous, and another clear reference to that nuclear briefcase in Kiss Me Deadly.
9. The Holy Grail, Excalibur (1981)
The Holy Grail isn't the original elusive object of desire, but it's undoubtedly the one that's dominated the Western imagination since the popularization of Arthurian legends began in the 12th century. It's been in countless films, but few played up its symbolic value to the degree of John Boorman's Carl Jung- and Golden Bough-informed Excalibur. The Grail quest comes relatively late in the film as Arthur lies sickened and sends his knights out on a desperate quest for this earthly token of Christ's time on Earth. Only the purest of them, Perceval (filling the role usually played by Galahad), makes it to the Grail and obtains it, only after realizing that the King and England are one, and when one is healed, the other will return to greatness. Cue blossoming flowers. Cue "Carmina Burana."
10. The Ark Of The Covenant, Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981)
Though Raiders Of The Lost Ark opens with daredevil archaeologist Harrison Ford escaping an impossible series of traps to get his hands on a golden idol, the idol is only the first in a string of treasures that Ford and an assortment of Nazis and fortune-hunters hotly pursue. At the end of the trail: a legendary golden box which is said to contain the remnants of the original Ten Commandments. Those who possess it wield the power of God and shall smite all enemies. (Unless God doesn't want them to have it, in which case… It's face-meltin' time!) The ultimate fate of the ark provides Raiders' creepy ending: The U.S. government seizes the property from Ford, crates it up, and wheels into a warehouse full of secrets, effectively re-burying it in a bureaucracy that no action hero can overcome.
11. The Necronomicon, Army Of Darkness (1993)
Reluctant monster-slayer Bruce Campbell—and his Oldsmobile—get dropped through a time warp and land back in the 14th century, where Campbell is imprisoned. A priest advises him that he can return to his own time if he retrieves the ancient Book Of The Dead and beats back the encroaching hordes of demonic "Deadites." All he has to do is say three magic words: "Klaatu barada nikto." When he messes up the spell, supernatural mayhem ensues, so Campbell grabs The Necronomicon and mounts a defense against the armies of the undead, led by an evil version of himself. All of which only proves—as if the first two Evil Dead movies hadn't already—that maybe some books are better left unopened.
12. The "intercostal clavicle" of a brontosaurus, Bringing Up Baby (1938) The mild-mannered paleontologist played by Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby might just be able to extricate himself from the smothering attentions of flibbertigibbet socialite Katharine Hepburn, if only he could get his hands on the rare dinosaur bone that Hepburn's dog has stolen and buried. Over the course of one long outing in Connecticut, Grant ducks Hepburn's other pet—a leopard named Baby—and the attentions of the local authorities, in order to complete his brontosaurus skeleton and land a million-dollar grant for his museum. Now where did that dog bury that bone?
13. The treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (1948)
It's an old story: Poor, desperate men go searching for gold, and end up driven insane by all-consuming greed once the treasure is found. The definitive cinematic telling of this classic morality tale is unquestionably John Huston's masterful The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre, where buried gold ends up being as fleeting as the wealth and status it represents to three destitute Americans (played by Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, and Tim Holt). A parable about the dark side of capitalism, The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre suggests that the pursuit of money ultimately leads to betrayal, hatred, and death. Worst of all, the riches you've attained end up scattered to the wind, like dirt or lost dreams.
14. The One Ring, The Lord Of The Rings trilogy (2001-2003)
For all their epic, larger-than-life stateliness, it's easy to forget that the Lord Of The Rings films are essentially one long (really long) chase movie, and what's being chased is the destructive, all-powerful Ring. But unlike most stories featuring an elusive object, the point of getting the Ring isn't to possess it—at least not for our hero Frodo—but to destroy it. Holding out against the persuasive powers of the Ring prove difficult, however. After finally making it to Mount Doom, the only place where the Ring can be annihilated, Frodo is overcome with a desire to keep it for himself. In the end, though, it's Gollum, the Ring's most committed pursuer, who ends up both winning and losing the great Ring sweepstakes.
15. The gold watch, Pulp Fiction (1994)
Sure, the mysterious glowing briefcase gets plenty of deserved attention in Pulp Fiction, but if Bruce Willis' cutie-pie French girlfriend hadn't forgotten his gold watch when packing for their escape, a good chunk of the film wouldn't exist. First there's the incredible backstory: Christopher Walken's monologue about the watch's history, from its purchase generations before to its notorious travels ("I hid this uncomfortable hunk of metal up my ass two years") is one of the film's most memorable moments. And of course there's the major plot point: If the watch didn't mean so much to Willis, he never would have gone home to retrieve it, thus never going on his little "adventure" with Ving Rhames.
16. Declaration Of Independence, National Treasure (2004)
The Declaration Of Independence isn't all that interesting in and of itself—it's just some old piece of paper that constituted the backbone of American government. Sure, it's a heavily guarded historical artifact kept under thick glass at the National Archives in Washington DC, but really, all that security is just for show. No one would ever want to steal it… Unless, of course, it also happens to include a secret hidden treasure map only visible through Benjamin Franklin's bifocals. Which just so happens to be the plot of Jon Turteltaub's adventure movie National Treasure. Nicolas Cage and his unstoppable band of American-history buffs waste no time in stealing the Declaration Of Independence/map-to-the-most-overblown-treasure-in-the-world, and then spend the rest of the movie carrying it around in a special sling, and fighting to keep it out of the hands of evil people who are always interested in things like secret treasure maps.
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