Saturday, September 20, 2008

This Is A McGuffin, Right?

The Missus and I saw "Burn After Reading" yesterday, we are talking good Coen Brother hi-jinks. Brad Pitt surprised the both of us just to how funny he was and while this film was not up there with "The Big Lebowski" or "O Brother, Where Are Thou," it was still very enjoyable.

Just right now, we were watching "Witness For The Prosecution" before it was preempted by The Kid's show and I was wondering about something. First, please don't tell me the ending (though I bet I have that figured out already) or discus the film, that's not what I'm concerned about.

What I want to know is this: Tyrone Power's character allegedly built a better egg-beater that he demonstrated to the Widow French. The Widow French asked more or less if the beater used centrifugal force and he said "no, it uses specific gravity." Now, I Wiki-ed it and while I don't claim to know the first thing about science, an egg-beater that uses specific gravity is just a McGuffin, right?

10 comments:

Dale said...

It must be. Were they making Egg McGuffins by chance?

Unknown said...

"Egg McGuffins"

Ouch
ow
ow
ow
ow



ow
JDC

Joe said...

Damn it. I was late to the party with my Egg McGuffin comment. Well done, Dale.

Cormac Brown said...

Dale,

Oh, Dale.

John,

Agreed.

Bubs,

You are still the fastest draw in Illinois.

Unknown said...

"Witness For The Prosecution"

LOVE this movie so hard. Something so amazing about it.

JDC

Cormac Brown said...

Johnny Dollars,

What an outstanding cast and oh, those sets? It was beautifully shot by Wilder with a couple of Hitchcockian-styled shots, what's not to like?

Cup said...

Or it could be screenwriter laziness.

Cormac Brown said...

Beth,

This was originally an Agatha Christie play, though I'm not sure if she wrote that particular part.

quin browne said...

i loved burn after reading... and who saw that once scene, coming.

i refuse to comment on the egg mcguffin line.


sheesh.

Cormac Brown said...

Quin,

Ab-so-lutely. Only The Coens could get away with that, the studio would've put the kibosh on anyone else doing that to a lead actor or they would've forced them to make it just a flesh wound.