Maguffin

Maguffin

A MacGuffin or Maguffin is a plot device which drives the film.

For many films the Maguffin is not explained in depth. For some films it is simply just money, but it is what drives the characters to do what they do in the film.

Examples of a Maguffin:

• the 'Micro-Film' in North-By-NorthWest - which the antagonists are trying to smuggle out of the country, and the CIA are trying to retrieve.
• The 'Micro-Processors' in The Departed - which Mob Boss Costello is going to sell to the chinese, which the police believe they will use to build missiles.
• The money in No Country For Old Men - which leads to many shootouts and deaths through-out the film.