it's called a macguffin!

I forget who I was talking to about this the other day, but we were talking about a plot device in movies (or tv shows or any story) where the whole storyline revolves around this one object -- but the actual object is not significant to the story (like the briefcase in pulp fiction).

a couple days later I was reading wikipedia about peter lorre (whom I adore) and then I read the wikipedia for the maltese falcon (b/c I had forgotten how it ends) and lookey tharr, it says the maltese falcon is a macguffin, or a "plot device that motivates the characters or advances the story, but the details of which are of little or no importance otherwise" !!

and of course, like all things that are sweet, hitchcock popularized both the term and the technique. below are some examples of a macguffin

maltese falcon in the maltese falcon (duh)

briefcase in pulp fiction

allspark in transformers

anything in an indiana jones movie!

any more that you can think of??