GoldPaq

When it comes to the movies, the Oscar isn’t the only thing made of gold. Time and time again, gold finds itself as the star. These aren’t films that, “Oh hey the film had gold it.” Hardly. Some films flat out wouldn’t be the same without the stuff the glitters. Forget the director. Forget the star. Sometimes the real headliner of Hollywood’s best films is the shiny yellow metal that makes the world go round.
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark

One of the greatest films of all time. In his first very on-screen adventure, Indiana Jones finds himself on a quest to find the one and only Ark of the Covenant. The Ark, which holds the original tablets given to Moses, is an artifact of virtually limitless power. And what is it made of? Wood covered with the purest of gold. Raiders of the Lost Ark has gone on to spawn one prequel and two sequels, but throughout them all, one thing has remained the same; no matter what Indiana Jones does, it is always the artifact that ultimately saves him.

Beowulf

Did you see it? Why did you go? Was it the outstanding CGI animation? The cutting edge 3D available in some theaters? Perhaps you’re just a huge fan of mythology and lore? Yeah, come on, we all went for Angelina Jolie’s beautiful golden skin. Jewelry? Coins? Whatever. Gold has never looked so good. In all seriousness, the effect was amazing, giving the scene a feel that was arguably more erotic than if Angelina Jolie’s character had actually been nude. We see the effect done again with the final antagonist in the movie and it is equally imposing.

Goldfinger

One of the greatest James Bond films of all time. Goldfinger has one of the most famous uses of gold in all of movie history. James Bond, in an attempt to acquire better surveillance on his target, Auric Goldfinger, craftily seduces Goldfinger’s mistress. When Mr. Goldfinger finds out, however, he kills his mistress by covering every square inch of her body with gold, suffocating her skin. Mr. Goldfinger, as his name would suggest, is completely obsessed with gold, even building a special car allowing him to smuggle it across national borders. His ultimate goal is to plunder the greatest known source of gold in the world, Fort Knox. But how could he get away with such a huge amount of gold? That’s the catch; Goldfinger has no intention of taking the gold. Instead, he plans detonating a nuclear device within the vault, which will greatly increasing the value of the stockpile he already has. Fortunately for us, James Bond is on the job.The Maltese Falcon

In the year 1539 the Knights of Malta sent a tribute to the King of Spain as acknowledgment and thanks for allowing them to use his land, the Isle of Malta. This tribute was a jewel-encrusted statue of a falcon. And as you can probably guess, the metal this statue made of was pure, beautiful gold. Unfortunately for the knights and the King, while the falcon was en route to Spain, the ship carrying it was intercepted by pirates and the falcon lost. In the movie “The Maltese Falcon” a group of international thieves are searching for the elusive treasure when they cross paths with Detective Sam Spade, played by the legendary Humphrey Bogart. One of these thieves killed Spade’s partner. And when someone kills your partner, you do something about it. The real Maltese Falcon is considered to be the “Kniphausen Hawk”, a pouring vessel created in 1697 for Count Kniphausen.

Goonies

Arrr, pirate booty! When their neighborhood, “The Goon Docks” comes under threat from an ambitious developer, a group of kids calling themselves “The Goonies” set off to save the day. Discovering a pirate map to the treasure of One-Eyed Willie in one of their attics, the kids realize they might have a way to pay off the developer and save their parents’ homes. While many other famous pirate treasures are made up of silver pieces of eight, One-Eyed Willie’s treasure turns out to almost entirely be golden Spanish Doubloons. Literally a horde of gold. Granted it’s ultimately a small, overlooked bag of gems that saves the day, but lets face it, when the kids first saw the treasure, it was those enormous mountains of bling that bugged their eyes out.

Pulp Fiction

Arguably one of the most influential movies of the 1990’s, many things that began with Pulp Fiction are taken for granted today. The concept of blockbuster movie stars stepping down from their huge fees to do smaller independent films caught on when Bruce Willis stepped down to do Pulp Fiction for the same small price every other actor was paid on the film. The film was also non-linear, involving several different stories that all tie into each other in different ways. So where is the gold? It’s our only direct clue as to what’s inside the mysterious briefcase seen throughout the story. The one time the case is opened all we see is that its contents glow bright gold. Several other elements give us a hypothesis as to what contents may be. The combo to open the case is 666. Jules, one of the hit-men sent to retrieve it, shouts a bible verse at the men who have it, before killing them. And finally, Marellus, the owner of the case, has a band-aid on the back of his neck. The most intriguing hypothesis is that the case contains Marsellus’s soul. The men who have it are agents of hell, hence the bible verse. And in some mythologies, the soul is removed from the back of the neck and goes bright, beautiful, shining gold.

Aladdin

You can’t wish for more wishes. You can’t wish for someone to be killed. And you can’t wish for someone to fall in love with you. And while the genie can bring someone back from the dead, he warns that neither you nor he will like the results. So what can you wish for? Power, and lots of gold. In Disney’s movie Aladdin, the Cave of Wonders is a cavern filled with a mountain range of gold. But there is one treasure there more valuable than all of this, a golden lamp containing a genie. With nigh omnipotent power, the genie would be easily capable of creating a thousand Cave of Wonders. Obtaining the lamp, Aladdin uses his first wish to make himself a prince with all the wealth and power that comes with it. And while Aladdin may find that there are a few special things even more valuable than gold, he none-the-less keeps the genie’s lamp which is as gold as anything.There are other metals more valuable than gold, but none of them can match gold as the basis, the foundation, and ultimate symbol of wealth. No surprise then that it is at the heart of so many of our favorite films. And no surprise that the awards we use to honor those films are plated with it.

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