History Main / BriefcaseFullOfMoney

* In the Creator/StacyKeach adaptation of ''Literature/MikeHammer'' episode "Murder Me, Murder You", Mike has to bring a briefcase of money to the people holding his daughter hostage. To guard against the VillainOfTheWeek just killing him and taking the money, he transports it in an embassy briefcase used for transporting secret documents, designed to [[SelfDestructMechanism incinerate the contents]] if not opened correctly. For after the incineration device is disarmed, Mike has his .45 pistol hidden under the stacks of money and retrieves it while the minion is checking a bill to see if it's counterfeit.

* [[SubvertedTrope Subversion]] of this trope is discussed in detail in [[Literature/{{Neuromancer}} William Gibson's]] ''Spook Country''. At the climax of the novel, Tito uses his LeParkour skills [[spoiler:to camouflage the contamination of a '''cargo container''' full of cash with radioactive material.]] When it comes to transporting ridiculous amounts of cash to fuel a GovernmentConspiracy, a briefcase just won't do.
* Three books in Creator/TimDorsey's ''Literature/SergeStorms'' series (set OnlyInMiami) follow a variety of wacky yet violent criminals (as well as a few unsuspecting {{Muggles}}) who chase after a suitcase containing $50 million in cash, which a ConMan ripped off from an insurance company that was actually a front for TheCartel.
* In the fifth ''Literature/{{Dexter}}'' novel, Deborah is presented with a case of money by a rich family seeking revenge for their daughter's kidnapping. She doesn't take it. Dexter mentions that it really is insultingly small anyway, only being about half a million dollars.
* In ''Literature/TheBadPlace'', the duffel bag Frank hauls around contains MultipleIdentityIDs and bound twenties and hundreds, he estimates roughly $150,000.
* In the French kid novel ''Danger sur les Gratte-ciels'' (Peril on the Skyscrapers) the teenage window washer protagonist indulges in joyriding and one night finds such a briefcase (whose contents he eyeballs at half a million dollars) in the car he just stole. When the gangsters track him down, they send him a note containing only "500100", which he understands as the exact amount therein.
* ''[[Literature/JohnPutnamThatcher Double, Double, Oil and Trouble]]'' opens with the delivery of a $1.5 million ransom payment, which fills four briefcases. However, given that the ransom demand specified small bills [[note]]for a 1970s novel, this would have meant ones, fives, and tens, ''maybe'' a few twenties[[/note]], that's probably a reasonable bulk.
* In Roald Dahl's ''Literature/TheWitches'', the Grand High Witch tells the assembled witches of England:

* In ''[[Literature/{{Wyatt}} Kickback]]'', Wyatt is hired to steal a briefcase full of money that is intended as a bribe for a SleazyPolitician.

** ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'' has them pop up a few times. Literal examples are seen at the beginning and end in the hands of Le Chiffre's clients and Mr. White, respectively. The banker for the high stakes poker game also has a briefcase, though his contains not cash but a [[UpToEleven portable online banking terminal]].

* The script for ''Beethoven'' features one of these, but the actual cut of the film replaced it with a rather less impressive brown envelope of notes.

A full briefcase isn't really an obscene amount these days, relatively speaking. Assuming all $100 USD bills, an average-sized briefcase (25" x 18" x 4") could fit about US$2,400,000. An average attache case (18" x 12" x 4.5") is good for about US$1,000,000. That's obviously a lot of money, enough to make for a plausible bribe in most circumstances, but not generally enough in the modern developed world to live on like a king, or sufficient to fund a significant enterprise. Years ago, the US Treasury stopped making bills bigger than $100 to make it more difficult to conceal large amounts of illicit cash. The European Central Bank followed suit in 2018[[labelnote:*]]Though they are no longer issued, €500 bills are still legal tender. A briefcase as described above can hold €6,350,000 ($8,550,275 USD), whereas an attaché case can hold up to €3,213,000 ($4,326,304 USD).[[/labelnote]].

By the way, a briefcase filled with cash would weigh quite a lot: ten thousand American banknotes would weigh twenty-two pounds, twenty-four thousand would weigh ''fifty-three.'' On top of that, those cool aluminum suitcases weigh eight-- as much as a carton of milk. Carrying a million bucks in a silver briefcase would thus be like carrying one of those jugs that go on top of water coolers -- in ''one hand''. [[HollywoodDensity However, you never see anyone struggling to lift the suitcase.]] You're also unlikely to see the suitcase ''enthusiastically'' spit out the excess bills that have been crammed into it when it opens, to make sure that everything's neatly stacked inside when the audience gets a look.

A briefcase filled with cash would weigh quite a lot: ten thousand American banknotes would weigh twenty-two pounds, twenty-four thousand would weigh ''fifty-three.'' On top of that, those cool aluminum suitcases weigh eight-- as much as a carton of milk. Carrying a million bucks in a silver briefcase would thus be like carrying one of those jugs that go on top of water coolers -- in ''one hand''. [[HollywoodDensity However, you never see anyone struggling to lift the suitcase.]] You're also unlikely to see the suitcase ''enthusiastically'' spit out the excess bills that have been crammed into it when it opens, to make sure that everything's neatly stacked inside when the audience gets a look.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'', you may open a briefcase to find either a stash of [[GlobalCurrency meat]] or "fat stacks of cash"... which aren't of any use except as VendorTrash. Though the stacks of cash briefly found a use in the Crimbo 2008 quest for bribing members of the [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins Penguin]] [[TheMafia Mafia]].

** In "The Untouchables", an Arab diplomat is photographed by [=CI5=] handing over a briefcase of money to pay for a contract murder. Of course the photograph proves nothing, but Bodie (posing as a corrupt [=CI5=] agent) insisted the money be Swiss francs, leaving a money trail as the diplomat had to make special arrangements to get the money converted. And the man he thinks he's paying for a hit is actually part of a radical political group opposed to his GloriousLeader.

* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Kickback", a briefcase holding half a million pounds is to be used to pay for a hit, only to be stolen by a RogueAgent who knocks out the courier, pours lighter fluid over another briefcase with the fake stacks of bills version (he sacrifices a real stack of bills which he scatters around the room), then [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident turns on the gas and leaves a lighted candle on the desk]] and then legs it with the money before the [[FieryCoverup whole place blows up]].

* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Kickback", a briefcase holding half a million pounds is to be used to pay for a hit, only to be stolen by a RogueAgent who knocks out the courier, pours lighter fluid over another briefcase with the fake stacks of bills version (he sacrifices a real stack of bills which he scatters around the room), then [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident turns on the gas and leaves a lighted candle on the desk]] and then legging it with the money before the [[FieryCoverup whole place blows up]].

* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Kickback", a briefcase holding half a million pounds is to be used to pay for a hit, only to be stolen by a RogueAgent who knocks out the courier, pours lighter fluid over another briefcase with the fake stacks of bills version (he sacrifices a real stack of bills which he scatters around the room), then [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident turns on the gas and leaves a lighted candle on the desk]] and then legging it before the [[FieryCoverup whole place blows up]].

* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Kickback", a briefcase holding half a million pounds is to be used to pay for a hit, only to be stolen by a RogueAgent who knocks out the courier, pours lighter fluid over another briefcase with the fake stacks of bills version (he sacrifices a real stack of bills which he scatters around the room), then [[GasLeakCoverup turns on the gas and leaves a lighted candle on the desk]] and then legging it before the [[FieryCoverup whole place blows up]].

* At the beginning of one episode of ''Series/PersonOfInterest'' Finch goes to a morgue with a critically wounded Reese (he had been shot at the end of the previous episode) and tells the coroner that he knows that the man is a brilliant surgeon who hadn't practiced medicine since immigrating to the US because he couldn't afford the fees involved in getting certified to practice in the US (he was sending most of his money to his family overseas). Finch then produces a large handbag full of cash and says "Stitch him up, no questions asked, and you can be a doctor again."

** This was put startlingly into perspective when James May inquired as to the price of a baseline Fiat 500 and got ''560,000,000'' in response. This would equate to - at the time the show was filmed - just over US$37,000. Given Clarkson's allusion to a ''"200% import tax"'' (though likely an exaggerated percentage), the steep price for a car perhaps worth around US$20,000 in the West seems to have been handily explained.

* When the trio is mistaken for a fence by a pair of jewel thieves in ''Series/ThreesCompany'', they attempt to bluff the thieves by handing them an empty briefcase as payment for a satchel of stolen diamonds.
* ''Series/Batwoman2019''. In "If You Believe In Me I'll Believe In You", Kate Kane is captured and is being sold off at an AuctionOfEvil which her stepsister Mary is able to infiltrate as the heir to Hamilton Dynamics seeking to buy Batwoman's high-tech Batsuit. The crime boss running the auction notes that Mary's suitcase is way too small to hold the $10 million she says she has. Mary explains that the suitcase only has a plausible $2.5 million, and that the rest will be wired to whatever account he wants upon delivery.

* Cases of money are a fairly common bonus item in ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage4''. Mr. Y also tries to bribe the heroes with one filled with cash as well as gold in the scene following stage 2.

* ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage 4'':
** A briefcase of cash is a somewhat common item you can pick up for points.
** At the end of Stage 2, Mr. Y offers one to the heroes in exchange for a ceasefire between them and the Syndicate. [[ScrewTheMoneyIHaveRules Axel does a flaming uppercut on the money and he and his friends make a run for it instead.]]

** In ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'', when Kiryu purchases certain pieces of real estate, a brief cutscene plays where he dramatically opens a briefcase full of cash.

* In the ''ComicBook/{{Marsupilami}}'' book "Le Temple de Boavista", photocopier tycoon Harold Stonelove carries with him a money briefcase he's willing to give to anyone who makes him laugh. [[spoiler:He finally laughs in the epilogue, when he sees the briefcase's contents swapped with a statuette BlowingARaspberry. He decides whoever did it earned the money.]]

* An episode of ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' had a rich person trying to get his daughter back by paying one of these...only the bills were all fake because he couldn't get that much in cash at the time without bankrupting himself [[spoiler: and the kidnapper didn't really want the money anyways]].

** In fact, many game shows used such a prop. Many of them, like the one in ''Series/SaleOfTheCentury''(which itself also includes a standard one in its intro), were clear, so you could see the money in them (though it was usually just prop money, or, as could be seen quickly as a FreezeFrameBonus, stacks and stacks of...one-dollar bills).

** In fact, many game shows used such a prop. Many of them, like the one in ''Series/SaleOfTheCentury'', were clear, so you could see the money in them (though it was usually just prop money, or, as could be seen quickly as a FreezeFrameBonus, stacks and stacks of...one-dollar bills).

* In ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' Bun-Bun actually requests "[[http://sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20090813 two briefcases full of money]]" as payment for fighting Oasis. Well, he requested two ''suitcases'' full of money, but those were a little too heavy for Torg.