History Main / AMacguffinFullOfMoney

* ''Series/{{Leverage}}'': "The Homecoming Job" ends up being a shipping container full of stolen cash from Iraq. In this case, the money isn't really what's important - the two bad guys, a congressman, and CEO for some PrivateMilitaryContractors have plenty - it's the fact that it's cash, which makes it a giant, untraceable slush fund.

* In ''Literature/NoCountryForOldmen'', Moss has a suitcase containing $2 million. Chigurh is hunting Moss to get the money. Bell is hunting Chigurh and simultaneously hunting Moss in hopes of getting him to safety. [[spoiler:Chigurh never catches up with Moss, and Bell never catches up with either Moss or Chigurh. Bell and Chigurh ''almost'' cross paths, but they never actually meet one another.]]

* The first arc of ''Anime/HeavyMetalLGaim'' revolves around a cash card containing a few million of the local currency. Characters steal it, try to bribe military officials with it, and even try to deliver it to its rightful owner. [[spoiler: The bank that issued it [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome froze the card]] when they found out about the shenanigans, but it eventually gets to the arms dealer it was meant for.]]

[[folder:Films]]

* ''Film/ASimplePlan'' is about a group of characters who find a wrecked plane full of cash (which turns out to be [[spoiler:the ransom from a kidnapping]]).

* ''Film/DumbAndDumber'' centers around the protagonists trying to return a briefcase full of ransom money, which they picked up in the belief it was left behind by mistake. [[spoiler:Once they spend it all on luxuries, it becomes a briefcase full of [=IOUs=] instead - and they can't understand why the bad guys won't accept those, since they're practically the same thing.]]
* ''Film/{{Millions}}'' is about a 7-year-old boy who finds a duffel bag full of money, and what he and his brother do with it.
* This is the basis of several [[Creator/TheCoenBrothers Coen Brothers]] films including ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen'', ''Film/{{Fargo}}'', ''Film/TheBigLebowski'' and ''Film/BloodSimple''.
** In ''No Country for Old Men'', at a few points, characters end up needing to spend some of it after getting themselves in a tight spot.
** In ''Lebowski'''s case [[spoiler:the briefcase was actually full of phone books from the beginning, and the money had already been embezzled.]]
* The NaziGold in ''Film/KellysHeroes''.

* Film/{{The Maltese Falcon|1941}} looks like an ordinary statue, but only a few people know that it holds gems under its skin.
* The duffel bag of cash in ''Film/ColdComesTheNight'' is what everyone is after.
* In ''Film/CrimeDoctor'', the crooks are looking for a valise containing $200,000 that Morgan took when he doublecrossed them.

* In ''Film/TheCriminal'', Johnny buries the [[BriefcaseFullOfMoney suitcase full of cash]] he and his gang stole from the racetrack in an empty field. Various {{London Gangster}}s decide that they want that cash and are willing to go to any length to get, including busting Johnny out of prison.
* The plot of ''Film/{{Transit}}'' is driven by the bag containing $4 million the crooks hide in the Sidwells' SUV and then go to great lengths to recover.
* ''Film/{{Charade}}'' revolves around the search for a quarter of a million dollars (in 1963, so more like a few millions today) that the murdered Charles Lampert had before his death. It's assumed he must have either had it with him at the time of his murder or somehow given it to his widow, Regina, but she has no idea where the money is and the only items found in Charles' travel bag are mundane objects like a wallet with just a few franks in it, a comb, a tube of toothpaste, etc. There ''is'' a letter addressed to Reggie, but it's just to say hello (she was on holiday before the murder) and to tell her her dentist's appointment has changed. Both protagonists and antagonists spend the film wracking their brains and tearing apart each others' hotel rooms trying to figure out where the hell the money is, to no avail. [[spoiler:No one has a thought to spare for [[HiddenInPlainSight the stamps on the letter's envelope]].]]
* In ''Film/NewTownKillers'', Sean agrees to play [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame the game of cat-and-mouse]] against Alistair and Jamie for £11,000 in a locker at the train station.

* The Scapular which supposedly reveals the secret hiding place of the Treasure of Literature/TheBlackCoats.
* In ''Literature/TheTwelveChairs'', the MacGuffin is a chair stuffed with diamond jewelry. To make things worse, there are the [[GottaCatchThemAll other eleven]], which look the same.

* [[spoiler: The mysterious container]] in ''Literature/SpookCountry'' turns out to be one of those. In a variation of the trope, the protagonists are not out to steal it, but rather [[spoiler: make it unusable for anyone who ends up getting it]].

* ''Series/AltaMar'': A [[AMacGuffinFullOfMoney Macguffin full of Nazi gold ingots]] drives the plot for much of the first two seasons.
* The [=VH1=] reality series ''Ton of Cash'' relied on this trope in its first episode. Fourteen contestants gathered on a beach in Malibu and were presented with $1 million worth of StageMoney -- 167 bricks weighing 12 pounds each, locked inside a steel cage. They had to open the cage and physically carry as much as they could to each day's goal line.

* In Chapter 3 of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', [[KillerGameMaster Monokuma]] offers ten billion yen (ten million dollars in the English dub) to the first student to murder a classmate and escape [[ClosedCircle the school]] as a murder motive.
* ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' features a treasure that's stuck down in a well -- a load of cash! After buttering up the ghoul that buried it for its location and hiring a treasure hunter to help find it, the Chosen One gets their hands on [[spoiler:10,000 bottlecaps--which was an incredibly valuable treasure about 80 years ago while bottlecaps were legal tender, but became worthless when enough technology was restored to make new caps, forcing the NCR to re-open a number of [[GoldSilverCopperStandard gold mines]]. Hope the Chosen One held on to them, as the Brotherhood of Steel blew those mines up just a few years later, forcing people back to bottle caps again.]]
* The Diamond in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations''. It's worth 2 million dolars and serves as motivation for Mellisa Foster's start of darkness. That's all that is important about it.

* The Philosopher's Legacy in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'' is a microfilm with details of bank accounts containing a ''colossal'' amount of money (described as "one hundred billion dollars" or "[...] enough to fight the war five times over". And keep in mind this game takes place in 1963.) Enough, in fact, that despite the usual trapping of this trope, [[spoiler:the group that gets their hands on it does take over the world]].

* In Chapter 3 of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', [[KillerGameMaster Monokuma]] offers ten billion yen (ten million dollars in the English dub) to the first student to murder a classmate and escape [[ClosedCircle the school]] as a murder motive. As it turns out later, the killer in that chapter's case never cared about the money and just really wanted out.

* In Chapter 3 of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', [[KillerGameMaster Monokuma]] offers ten billion yen (ten million dollars in the English dub) to the first student to murder a classmate and escape [[ClosedCircle the school]]. As it turns out, the killer in that chapter's case never cared about the money and just really wanted out.

A popular subtrope of the {{MacGuffin}} concept. Rather than make the [=MacGuffin=] be a piece of obscure technology or the ChosenOne brought back to life, it is quite simply a giant pile of cash. Because money has intrinsic and universal value, the viewer can instantly understand why it is that the characters are so determined to retrieve it.

[[folder:Anime]]

[[folder:Film]]

* In the third case of ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', [[KillerGameMaster Monokuma]] offers ten billion yen to the first student to murder a classmate and escape [[ClosedCircle the school]]. As it turns out, [[spoiler:the killer in that case never cared about the money and just really wanted out.]]

The problem with this trope is that it can't generally be used to power stories that involve things like the villain seeking world domination.[[note]]While a villain with such intentions might well need more funds than he currently has on hand, the amount of money needed to fund a world-conquering army is too vast to be plausibly be represented by a single object that can be physically stolen.[[/note]] As such, it tends to show up most often in mundane fiction, although a [=MacGuffin=] full of money can make characters who would otherwise be normal act kind of insane -- compare GoldFever.

The problem with this trope is that it can't generally be used to power stories that involve things like the villain seeking world domination. As such, it tends to show up most often in mundane fiction, although a [=MacGuffin=] full of money can make characters who would otherwise be normal act kind of insane -- compare GoldFever.

** A minor example in ''Literature/TheWayOfKings''. Each battle of the Shattered Plains (though not the war as a whole) is driven by the appearance of chasmfiend pupae, each of which contain an enormous gemstone. A "gemheart" represents a staggering amount of money, enough to fund an army for months, and also provides the gems that are used to magic up food for said armies. This has turned what was supposed to be a war for vengeance into just another contest between the nobles, which is [[NotWhatISignedUpFor extremely annoying for their soldiers, who are dying in droves on a daily basis]].

** Fortunately, the author confirms it's something of real value, and not "Some kind of Wizard of Oz thing."

* The first arc of ''Anime/HeavyMetalLGaim'' revolves around a cash card containing a few million of the local currency. Characters steal it, try to bribe military officials with it, and even try to deliver it to its rightful owner. [[spoiler: The bank that issued it [[RealityEnsues froze the card]] when they found out about the shenanigans, but it eventually gets to the arms dealer it was meant for.]]

* [[MacGuffinTitle The eponymous treasure of Gold Roger]] in ''Franchise/OnePiece'' is very much a MacGuffin. Of course, while everyone ''assumes'' it's a vast fortune, the exact nature of it is arguably the greatest mystery in the series. It's merely the prestige of having been the only one since Roger to make it to the end of the world that will make whoever finds it the pirate king. In all likelihood, the actual ''treasure'' (as in silver and gold and all) aspect of the One Piece is probably rather not much. Speculations on what it could be range from a single piece of eight (It is ONE piece, after all) to a one-piece bathing suit that Roger was fond of.

* The {{VH1}} reality series ''Ton of Cash'' relied on this trope in its first episode. Fourteen contestants gathered on a beach in Malibu and were presented with $1 million worth of StageMoney -- 167 bricks weighing 12 pounds each, locked inside a steel cage. They had to open the cage and physically carry as much as they could to each day's goal line.