Definitely. :cool:

The Jewels in Reservoir Dogs.

The cannibalistic incidents at the start of Dr Butcher MD :-)

The Case of uranium in Kiss me Deadly.

The Cure in Doomsday.

The books in Ninth Gate.

The 'lament configuration' in some of the Hellraiser sequals.

the jewel of the nile, in The Jewel of the Nile

I used to know the guy that was the jewel of the nile. He was a Vaudeville performer- a clown- who toured the West coast as Avner the Eccentric. He went to New York, got a successful one man show on Broadway and ended up in the movie, It also included his friends The Flying Karamatzov Brothers, a troupe of jugglers.

Neo in the Matrix. he is even inanimate :)

would the ring in Lord of the rings count?

I would guess not as its properties are used by many characters to influence situations (ie its invisability etc - the evil influence it has etc). just my take.

thats what i was thinking. mcguffin's are more an indirect impetus than an actual player, it would seem.

in that case, the clit in south park: deeper longer and uncut is a mcguffin for stan.
Manbearpig is one for al gore
kyle sucking his balls is one for cartman (imaginationland)

Yeah like the objections of desire in the Malestese Falcon, the suit case in Pulp fiction and the plans in North by Northwest could be pretty much inter changeable with really affecting the plot much.. (except the Maltese Falcon might have to be called a different title :-)

However the One Ring in LOTR has (by its power/natural) direct influence on the characters and plot.

Pretty much the whole plot of Vanishing Point