The MacGuffin is common in films, especially thrillers.    From Wordnik.com.  [Hillary Rettig: Perfectionists Love MacGuffins] Reference

That seems to be essential to the idea of MacGuffin hunting.    From Wordnik.com.  [Somewhere on the masthead] Reference

In cinematic parlance, The MacGuffin is the object, the thing that drives the plot.    From Wordnik.com.  [Somewhere on the masthead] Reference

The MacGuffin is a small notebook an Iraqi general grabbed four months earlier as the U.S. invasion began.    From Wordnik.com.  [Latest News - Yahoo!7 News] Reference

I was always amused by that G.I. Joe episode where the MacGuffin was literally called The MacGuffin Device.    From Wordnik.com.  [A Blast of ASP Reviews: The Engineer | Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources] Reference

If the MacGuffin is some sort of weapon or power-enhancement device, usually he’ll use it on a small target.    From Wordnik.com.  [Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » A Villainous Forum] Reference

A rare pink diamond, coveted by all, is the "MacGuffin" that sets the plot in motion.    From Wordnik.com.  [Holiday Movie Guide] Reference

The director and producer Alfred Hitchcock popularized both the term "MacGuffin" and the technique.    From Wordnik.com.  [Filmstalker: Indiana Jones IV to be controversial?] Reference

Interviewed in 1966 by François Truffaut, Hitchcock illustrated the term "MacGuffin" with this story.    From Wordnik.com.  [Filmstalker: Indiana Jones IV to be controversial?] Reference

What's interesting here is that Hitchcock's infamous "MacGuffin" is, in this film, simply an abstract idea.    From Wordnik.com.  [Archive 2008-07-01] Reference

The director and producer Alfred Hitchcock popularized both the term "MacGuffin" and the technique, with his 1935 film The 39 Steps.    From Wordnik.com.  [Hillary Rettig: Perfectionists Love MacGuffins] Reference

For those familiar with the term "MacGuffin," now would be the appropriate time to roll your eyes.    From Wordnik.com.  [craigdailypress.com stories] Reference

The MacGuffin is a briefcase.    From Wordnik.com. Reference

(As in The Closer, sarin gas is a MacGuffin here.).    From Wordnik.com.  [Matt's TV Week in Review] Reference

CONS: The advertised supernatural element is a MacGuffin.    From Wordnik.com.  [REVIEW: The Osiris Ritual by George Mann] Reference

Blog@Newsarama » Blog Archive » What happened to MacGuffin.    From Wordnik.com.  [What happened to MacGuffin] Reference

The supernatural element is, sad to say, a bit of a MacGuffin.    From Wordnik.com.  [REVIEW: The Osiris Ritual by George Mann] Reference

Hitchcock held that the less specific the MacGuffin the better.    From Wordnik.com.  [Keys to the Kingdom] Reference

And I said, ‘Well, look, I can’t think of another MacGuffin.    From Wordnik.com.  [Keys to the Kingdom] Reference

I ask Lucas if each version had made use of the prize MacGuffin.    From Wordnik.com.  [Keys to the Kingdom] Reference

And I said, ‘I won’t do it unless we can have that MacGuffin.    From Wordnik.com.  [Keys to the Kingdom] Reference

The villain uses the MacGuffin to make himself vastly more powerful.    From Wordnik.com.  [Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » A Villainous Forum] Reference

He gets entangled in some silly cloak-and-dagger MacGuffin intrigue.    From Wordnik.com.  [RUN TO DEATH by Patrick Quentin (Dell 1948)] Reference

(Why am I not surprised that Frank Paynter knows about the MacGuffin.).    From Wordnik.com.  [I owe, I owe, its off to work I go...] Reference

My "favorite" MacGuffin in that it's the least legitimate concern of all.    From Wordnik.com.  [Hillary Rettig: Perfectionists Love MacGuffins] Reference

The use of technology here may also be as an Object of Power or a MacGuffin.    From Wordnik.com.  [Of Genres and Sub-Genres] Reference

I didn't need to know how an arc reactor worked because it is really a MacGuffin.    From Wordnik.com.  [MOVIEW REVIEW: Iron Man] Reference

But my other local shops now that MacGuffin is gone seem to largely be DC/Marvel only.    From Wordnik.com.  [Quote, Unquote] Reference

Antimatter is The MacGuffin -- the desired thing -- that sets the movie's plot in motion.    From Wordnik.com.  [Sharon Glassman: Angels and Demons -- Does Hollywood Science Equal Good Science?] Reference

Maybe introduce a MacGuffin device like a bodyswapping device, but never actually use it.    From Wordnik.com.  [Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » Five superhero plots that need to die] Reference

The blogger at Life is a MacGuffin seems to highlight the mysterious atmosphere of the plot.    From Wordnik.com.  [Global Voices in English » Japan: ‘1Q84′, the new bestseller by Haruki Murakami] Reference

I thought the ruby was important, and I do not feel as though it was set up to be a MacGuffin.    From Wordnik.com.  [slayground: Scholar's Blog Book Group] Reference

The hero spends the first half of the book finding the MacGuffin and returns it to the villain.    From Wordnik.com.  [Superhero Nation: how to write superhero novels and comic books » A Villainous Forum] Reference

He hired screenwriter after screenwriter to make his MacGuffin the linchpin of a new Indy story.    From Wordnik.com.  [Keys to the Kingdom] Reference

If they can keep the story fresh and run with a viable MacGuffin, people will line up to see it.    From Wordnik.com.  [Harrison Ford Confirms Another Indiana Jones Gaining Momentum « FirstShowing.net] Reference

With some general input he goes off and searches for the MacGuffin and then stumbles into a story.    From Wordnik.com.  [EXCLUSIVE: Harrison Ford Talks Fifth Indiana Jones Film » MTV Movies Blog] Reference