Top Props

When we think of movies, our minds immediately flash to the talented men and women, both on screen and behind the camera, who have communicated to us on a personal, deeply human level.

But all too rarely do we pay proper attention to the unsung hero of cinema: the inanimate object.

NO MORE! The following list is a series of items. Each comes from a specific movie. Each is absolutely critical to a memorable scene, a story twist, or in some cases, the entire plot of the film. Please provide the PRECISE weight of each object, in both ounces and kilograms.

Or, failing that, just write down which movie each thing comes from.

1. A single rancid turnip.

2. A sparking rose, suspended in midair, under a glass container.

3. A penny floating in midair.

4. The Green Destiny sword.

5. A boombox playing Public Enemy.

6. Zoltar, the fortune telling machine.

7. A kiosk with a secret passage leading to the sewer.

8. A cross, used to jam the handles of two doors.

9. Lightbulbs, chewing gum, and kumquats.

10. A magic helmet that controls the weather.

11. A machine gun that shoots wet glop.

12. A chess set with 33 hollow pieces.

13. Acherontia styx.

14. The "Good Golly Miss Molly" 45 single (flip side: "Hey Hey Hey Hey").

15. Khartoum's head.

16. Four trees shaped like a big "W."

17. A plastic bag blowing around.

18. A CGI feather blowing around.

19. A safe deposit box key inside an aquarium treasure chest.

20. Two switchblade knives with identically-carved ivory handles.

21. Gray's Sports Almanac.

22. A large clock on the side of a 12-story building.

23. One cooked boot.

24. Floating petals on a German lake.

25. Half a grapefruit / unwelcome facial.

26. A .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world.

27. A discarded sheriff's badge.

28. Ominous bundles of sticks.

29. A pirate radio transmitter rigged on a jeep.

30. A shattered snow globe.

31. The pod bay door.

32. The Heart of the Ocean.

33. A bass viola with a row of bullet holes across it.

34. A pair of bulldozers with keys in their ignitions.

35. A 1966 John Deere tractor.

36. A smoldering copy of "Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care."

37. A penis scupture and a harlequin mask.

38. A statue of Christ, suspended from a helicopter.

39. The letters of transit.

40. Collapsed scaffolding on a golf course.

41. The intercostal clavicle.

42. A book of e.e. cummings poetry, with special emphasis on "somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond" (pg. 112).

43. A bottle of Dom Perignon buried at a precise location on the Mexico-U.S. border.

44. A building's detached front facing, with one center window near the top.

45. A portable nitrous oxide facemask.

46. Waterlogged Fed Ex packages.

47. Crates of 24K gold miniature Eiffel Towers.

48. Santa Claus' walking stick, in the corner of an empty house.

49. The quick fuse.

50. An inadvertantly electrified road guard rail.

51. An intentionally electrified hat.

52. A videotape containing outtakes of a TV interview with a rape victim.

53. A Coca-Cola machine blasted apart by a machine gun.

54. A wet towel used as a turban.

55. A bloody wood chipper.

56. A Jewish child's red coat.

57. Two twin ivory elephants, one with a broken trunk.

58. A very old copy of "The Wizard of Oz".

59. Pulsating red crystals, permanently attached.

60. A bag of "chocolate"-covered pretzels.

61. A broomstick with most of the bristles burned off.

62. A desk that gets pulled back and forth through a wall.

63. A flute/sexual aid.

64. A bronze nozzle designed to spray kerosene.

65. A bag containing 100,000 Deutsche marks.

66. A bloody euphonium.

67. A Bren gun.

68. A crucifix full of cocaine.

69. Two crumpled student government ballots.

70. A pinecone left on a chair.

71. A chicken-pie-making machine.

72. Impossibly souped-up PowerBooks.

73. A carbon-fibre-reinforced briefcase.

74. An insanity-producing hurdy-gurdy.

75. A bar of soap that's not just a bar of soap.

76. Golden Nautical Safety Bars.

77. The best bicycle in the world.

78. A falling Coke bottle.

79. A child's drawing, on the wall of a police station.

80. A baby carriage rolling down a flight of steps.

81. A 200-year-old Volkswagon.

82. A tennis racket/spaghetti strainer.

83. A blank book that mysteriously writes in itself.

84. A large wall covered by someone else's family photographs.

85. A talking plaster statuette of the Virgin Mary.

86. Excalibur, the guitar.

87. An extremely overvalued Ferrari.

88. The salmon mousse.

89. A small shard of a bedroom door.

90. A candy that makes noise when you blow through it.

91. A ham costume.

92. A potted palm tree secured by a chain.

93. A cup of mare's sweat.

94. A pair of positively enormous door-knockers.

95. A Christmas goose as big as a boy.

96. A puce lollipop.

97. Sixteen million dollars of Nazi gold.

98. A transsexual stripper's suitcase full of $200,000.

99. $8,000 in cash, wrapped in a newspaper.

100. A briefcase whose contents include 50 gold sovereigns.

101. 50,000 cases of Scotch.

102. Intercom switches hidden under a table in a police interrogation room.

103. Dad's gas card.

104. An unconscious woman's Maryland driver's licence.

105. A milkman's uniform, borrowed in a lobby.

106. One of the last surviving komodo dragons, well lit.

107. Pocket watches placed under car wheels.

108. A smoking, old-fashioned fireman's helmet.

109. A Voice-O-Graph record, used as a suicide note.

110. Red, white, and blue Mini Coopers.

111. A ski pole rigged to fire bullets.

112. A half-submerged gas cylinder filled with blasting gelatin.

113. A basket and rope, used as an elevator for a small dog.

114. Coffins filled with brand-new repeater rifles.

115. A case full of red Airborne berets.

116. A British destroyer refitted to look like a German one.

117. An American submarine refitted to look like a German one.

118. Crates full of rubber anvils.

119. A Yangzte River gunboat's steam engine.

120. Breadfruit plants.

121. Ball bearings, rolled in a man's hand.

122. A tide table covering the Frisian (NW German) coast.

123. A white synthetic-fibre suit that will never fall apart.

124. A giant comb carried by two men.

125. A box full of big green, orange-spotted leaves, and nothing else.

126. A harmonica inserted into a dying man's mouth.

127. A roll of film ejected by a reconnaissance satellite.

128. A huge stained-glass window on a fire station.

129. A stolen electromagnetic-pulse generator.

130. Three million pounds sterling, dipped in urea nitrate.

131. One copy of the "Cadogan Guide to Bali."

132. An origami unicorn.

133. A gold bracelet lying in a mined road.

134. A wallet embroidered with the words "Bad Motherfucker."

135. Globes of nerve gas in a "string of pearls" configuration.

136. Blue soup.

137. Six empty cages, next to six tiny graves.

138. A vial of monkey-serum to save the day.

139. Broomsticks with hands.

140. Two tennis balls numbered "1" and "2," and a length of rope.

141. An earwax candle.

142. A vial of a potion that is odorless, tasteless, dissolves instantly into liquid, and is among the more deadly poisons known to man.

143. Fop hair pomade.

144. Half of the Statue of Liberty.

145. A table full of water glasses, emptied at the last minute.

146. A black box that breaks codes.

147. A clock radio with a fondness for Sonny and Cher.

148. A jar of deadly nightshade.

149. A lucky piece of string.

150. A key, dropped from the heavens.

151. Mother's balalika, passed down over the years.

152. A Ford Pinto, falling off of an exit ramp.

153. Green envelopes containing pop-up puzzles.

154. A signal light in an unfinished subway tunnel.

155. A tape measure, and a basketball hoop exactly 10 feet high.

156. Reggie Jackson's mind-controlling wristwatch.

157. A metal prosthetic arm holding a wedding ring.

158. A pulp magazine celebrating the Duke of Death.

159. Broadway's award for Best Newcomer, and the dress of its winner.

160. A sign for Athena College.