20 Iconic Objects in Movies
The One Ring from Lord of the Rings series
“It is strange that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing. Such a little thing.” –Boromir in Fellowship of the Ring
This object needs no introduction. It is the One Ring. The Ring of Power. My Precious. Ash Nazs Durb-At (many pardons for using the Dark Language of Mordor among so fine of people as you). It’s the star of the biggest, baddest, raddest, coolest fantasy in the age of men (disclaimer: that was a totally subjective statement).
It gives the power to jump out of the regular plane of men (and disappear) and be in the spirit realm. This is good if you want to hide from people. Bad if you want to hide from the All Seeing Eye. It will also corrupt your soul, so watch out if you ever find one.
Other cool objects from Lord of the Rings include: Elven cloaks, Sting, Narsil, Gandalf’s staff, mithril, & lembas bread.
Time Traveling DeLorean (with Flux Capacitor) from Back To The Future series.
When I thought about cool objects in movies, this is the first thing that came to my mind. It’s not only a hot car, it’s my favorite color. It’s not only my favorite color, it’s a time machine. It’s not only a time machine. It can freakin’ fly!
Did I ever attach checkers, stop watches, and buttons to my mom’s van when I was a kid, just so I could pretend to drive it? Yes, yes I did. Do I still have them up in my current car? That’s privileged information.
Ruby Slippers in Wizard of Oz
These shoes mean so much. According to my laborious internet research, they symbolize our inner spark, life blood of Americans vs the blue and black “corporate blood” of America, creativity, innocence, sexuality, reproduction, menstruation, the Populist’s idea of “Free Silver” (her shoes in Baum’s original story were silver), and the list could go on.
Whatever the slippers mean to you is between you and Glinda. For me, I’m thinking they represent the inner spark in us all, and they also represent people who wear socks with heels.
Luke Skywalker’s Blue Lightsaber in Star Wars: A New Hope
Luke Skywalker was turning out to be a whiny, limp character until he was handed the blue lightsaber and suddenly he became the coolest stud ever! He has a blue lightsaber! What’s he gonna do next? I like that guy! I want him to go fight something with it!
Lightsabers will do that to a person. Coolest. Weapon. Ever.
The only way someone would part with a lightsaber was if their hand was cut off. Just ask Luke.
Other cool objects from Star Wars include: purple lightsabers, red lightsabers, green lightsabers, the Millenium Falcon, and the ponchos the rebels wear on Endor. (R2D2 & C3PO are exempt because they’re more like characters than objects.
Hockey Mask from Friday the 13th
It’s a simple hockey mask. Paired with a machete. It defined the entire franchise. I would say it even defined a genre.
And it made children everywhere run screaming in fear from hockey goalies.
Harry Potter’s Wand
11 inches. Holly, with phoenix feather core (donated by Fawkes). “Nice and supple.”
The wand was a part of Harry, beloved, kept close, even when a much more powerful wand was offered—Harry refused it. “I was happier with mine,” he says.
This isn’t just a weapon; it is all of Harry’s magic in one item.
Also, out of all the cool objects on this list, this would be the one I’d want. Dang, my house would be so clean, and my Dementor enduced nightmares would be gone.
Other cool objects in Harry Potter include: horcruxes, invisibility cloak, Marauder’s Map, Time-Turner necklace, flying car, Bertie-Botts Every Flavor Beans, flying brooms, Polyjuice potion, and Resurrection Stone, to name a few of the best.
Cobb’s Top Totem in Inception
This item’s importance can’t be overstated. It’s not only Cobb’s fragile handle on reality; it’s also the catalyst for the tragedy in his life.
Movie trivia: Can you name Arthur, Ariadne, and Eames totems?
Indiana Jones’ Hat from Indiana Jones Trilogy
Indiana Jones hat is important. It’s so important Lucas even had to tell it’s backstory in The Last Crusade. It’s so important to Indy he’d risk life and limb to save it.
No one will ever forget the scene after Indiana defeats the tanks full of Nazis with a horse and his whip, and he barely catches the cliff as the tank is falling off, and then he climbs up and he’s bruised and battered and bloody and his father says, “Let’s go then. Why are you sitting there resting when we’re so near the end? Come on—let’s go!” And you think, ‘that’s so cruel, just let him rest for a moment okay? He battled a dozen bloody tanks with basically his bare hands!’ But then, a gust of wind blows his hat at his feet. And at the sight of his hat you think, ‘Oh, there’s his hat. He’s gonna be okay after all. He has his hat again.’
Wallace’s blue war paint in Braveheart
Okay, so his huge claymore is amazing, but this movie became truly epic when you see him with his blue war paint on. It’s inspiring and intimidating. Almost as intimidating as a thousand Scottish butts bared in your direction.
The horse Head in The Godfather
Speaking of intimidation, Don Vito Corleone knows how to do intimidation. He probably does it in his sleep. Speaking of sleep, Jack Woltz will probably never sleep again. Probably because he’ll always have nightmares of his beloved racehorse’s dead eyes staring at him as warm blood covers the sheets.
Yeesh. And they say never get into gangs because you’ll either end up dead or in prison. I say you should never get into gangs because something like this might happen to ya.
Briefcase in Pulp Fiction
What is in it? WHAT is in it? WHAT IS IN IT?
Pulp Fiction defined the postmodern media age. Who the crap cares what’s in the briefcase? It could be my grandma’s bloomers for all I care. Or YOUR bloomers. Terentino isn’t going to tell whatever the heck he meant by it. And we aren’t supposed to mind a bit. Isn’t that what the point is? That we just shouldn’t care anymore?
Red Pill Blue Pill in The Matrix
This concept is so ingrained in our culture. Blue or red. You wanna wake up or stay asleep? Which pill will you swallow?
So, dudes and dames, which will it be? Will you swallow the blue pill and “wake up in bed and believe whatever [you] want to believe?” Or do you want to swallow the red pill and “stay in Wonderland” and let Morpheus “show [you] how deep the rabbit hole goes?”
Since you’re still reading this, I assume you’ve already swallowed the red pill. Well done, my friends. Well done.
Oxygen Destroyer in Godzilla
Fingernail scratches. BB Guns. Slingshots. Shotguns. Machine guns. High powered rifles. Bazookas. Tanks. Missiles. Bombs. High-pitched screams.
Nothing could kill Godzilla. He’s like God, with a zilla. Unbeatable.
Until the Oxygen Destroyer came along. Then Wham-Oh Bam-Oh, he’s gone.
Or so we believe.
A Rose in Beauty & The Beast
The rose meant a lot in the original fairy tale, it was the reason why Belle’s father was trapped in the castle in the first place—because Belle asked for a flower from his travels.
But in the movie, it actually represents the Beast’s life. And once the rose was gone, he was gone. Yowzas. Who would want such a constant reminder of their own mortality? No wonder he was so crabby.
The Voight-Kampff Machine in Bladerunner
This polygraph-like machine interrogates people to determine if they are replicants or not. It judges things such as respiration, “blush response,” heart rate, and eye movement in response to emotionally provocative questions like, “Han didn’t shoot first.” “I could get you a date with Inara.” “I accidently left your Xbox in the rain.” “Football takes a lot of intelligence to play.” And “There was a glitch in Blizzard’s servers and … I’m afraid your World of Warcraft level 70 black elf wizard has been deleted. Ever so sorry.”
Other cool object in Bladerunner: the silver unicorn that represents his love interest.
The Maltese Falcon in The Maltese Falcon
In 1539 the Knight Templars of Malta, paid tribute to Charles V of Spain, by sending him a Golden Falcon encrusted from beak to claw with rarest jewels—but pirates seized the galley carrying this priceless token and the fate of the Maltese Falcon remains a mystery to this day—
—Introductory text appearing after the film’s opening credits
Add a San Franciscan private detective, three unscrupulous and eccentric criminals, and a gorgeous liar, and you have one of the “greatest films of all time.”
What’s so cool about this object? Money! If you hand over this precious all-gold falcon encrusted with red garnets, amethysts, emeralds, and blue sapphires then you’ll receive … wait for it … $5000! That’s right! Almost as much as two months rent in San Francisco!
Fun fact: Bogart accidently dropped and seriously dented the Maltese Falcon on set. They had to make another one. He should take his job more seriously.
Wilson in Castaway
I had a hard time adding this one because really, Wilson is more of a character than an object. A round, white, lovable character with a red face painted on it, who is a darn good listener. And for Hanks, Wilson equals survival.
And yes, I’d have to be lying if I said there weren’t a few tears in my eyes when Hanks yelled, “Wilson! Wilson! Wilson!” in his raft and there was no Wilson there to listen.
Hattori Hanzo Katana in Kill Bill
If the best swordmaker (and, I suspect, best sushi maker) in the world made the finest and sharpest sword he’d ever made, even though he swore never to make another weapon for destruction ever again, simply at the mere mention of one of his pupils’ name (and such a simple name at that) . . . I’d say it deserves to be on the coolest movie items list. Especially if that sword takes down one of the most evil men in the world.
Other cool object in Kill Bill: The Bride’s yellow suit.
Leg Lamp in A Christmas Story
This is probably the most infamous item on the list. Out of everything, it’s the thing I wouldn’t let into my house. Such a tasteless shade. I mean, look at it! Tan! With a boring little fringe at the bottom. And such an ugly curve to it. Just sitting there. Ugh. I can’t even stand to look at it.
Monoliths from 2011: Space Odyssey
These computer-controlled objects can do scads of amazing things normal objects only dream of doing. Things like self-teleportation, self-replication, traveling faster than light, growing exponentially, producing powerful, directional radio waves, generating strong magnetic fields, and emitting high-pitched squeals.
So basically, if we dug up this thing (or create this thing) on earth then space travel will open up to us! Which would be incredible. Start digging, dudes and dames!
***
Other iconic and cool objects in movies include: Rosebud in Citizen Kane, the briefcase in Dumb & Dumber, McCoy’s instruments in Star Trek, Serenity and the blue gloves in Serenity, the neon sign for Rick’s Café American in Casablanca, baby shoes from Raising Arizona, red stapler from Office Space, plastic bag from American Beauty, the mask from The Mask, lamp post and wardrobe from The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe.
***
Ellie Ann is an author and an editor for Stonehouse Ink Publishing. Check out her new thriller, , and the upcoming , she co-authored with #1 Amazon bestseller Aaron Patterson. Her first solo novel, a YA science fiction called The Silver Sickle, will be released by Stonehouse Ink this Spring. Something else that tickles her fancy is working with transmedia books at Noble Beast Publishing, where she is a producer, author, and editor.
Ellie Ann blogs at I’m Ellie Ann and would love to meet you on or .
