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We have a crash course in MacGuffins this week starting with John Huston’s classic noir adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon (1941) which relates to the country and not the confectionery. Next up is Alfred Hitchcock’s dream cast of Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant and Claude Raines in Notorious (1946) and a MacGuffin made of atomic sand by a secret society of Nazis in South American exile. Then we have what Paul Schrader considers the downfall of American culture in Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), which we have far too much enthusiasm for to care what Schrader thinks. We finish with a film that really ties the room together: the Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski (1998) which is a strike for Joe and another Coen strike out for Dee. Also: Joe’s delivery service. We perform an Alfred Hitchcock anecdote. Hail Hydra. Dee suspects Mission: Impossible II might not be an original story. Joe explains the Seven Stories of the World and the missing Eighth. Dee corrects Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler’s Raiders Minimization. People don’t say “chocks” enough. Joe invokes Metatron. Dee is worried about a phantom Nazi injury. Shut up Donnie. Joe admires the way the Coens write music. We play a game of “MacGuffins, MacGuffins Everywhere”