Favorite coin-related movie moment?

CoinasaurusRex

An overlooked Hollywood sub-genre: the coin movie. Is there such a thing? I will announce the winners in the following categories after receiving a suitable number of nominations:

Best Appearance by a Coin in a Leading or Supporting Role
Best Appearance by a Coin in a . . . ahem . . . Cameo Role
Best Coin-Related Line in a Movie

Winners will be selected by me, based on entirely subjective criteria.

A first nominee: "Somewhere in Time," Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour romance. Reeve goes back in time to be with his true love. All is well, until Reeve unknowingly pulls a penny out of his pocket and--horror--sees the date. It is from the future from whence he has come. The spell is broken; Reeve is thrust back to the future. Misery and tears ensue for the chicks in the audience. This is a great cjick flick--rent it and your wife/girlfriend will love you for it.

Let the nominations begin!

C-Rex

Placid

Coinman does dallas.

MastaHanky

OK, technically not a movie, and technically inaccurate (since there were no silver dollars minted in 1918), I still nominate the following from the Simpsons episode "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy", as it still gets the point across about them being collectible.


(Abe Simpson is giving his possessions to his family.)

Abe: And to my son Homer --
Homer: Woo-hoo!
Abe: -- and his entire family --
Homer: D'oh!
Abe: -- I leave these: a box of mint-condition 1918 liberty-head
silver dollars. You see, back in those days, rich men would ride
around in Zeppelins, dropping coins on people, and one day I seen
J. D. Rockefeller flying by. So I run of the house with a big
washtub and -- [notices everyone ready to leave] where are you
going?
Homer: Dad, we'd love to stay here and listen to your amusing antidote,
but we have to take these coins to the mall and spend them.

relayer

I second MastaHanky's nomination, yet find it strangely disturbing that he could quote it verbatim.

Just that short snipet proves why The Simpson's is best satire on TV today.

Outhaul

Relayer...I find it disturbing that you KNEW MastaHanky quoted it ver batim

I third it!

Cheers,

Bob

Gemini

in the movie "Moby Dick" when captain Ahab (Gregory Peck) nails that beautiful Central American Spanish gold ounce to the mainmast.
All darksiders moaned and screamed in horror at that moment.

boiler78

I like the Hawaii Five O episode where the guy steals the 1913 Lib Nickel at the coin show and when the police seal the exits he spends it in the newspaper machine. I think the episode is called " The $100,000 dollar nickel"

ricardouno

Only Movie named after a specific coin?...The Brasher Dubloon, 1947

airplanenut

In Caddie Woodlawn (I think that is the title), Caddie is given a silver $ from her uncle... when I saw it, something didn't look right, so I took out the movie from school (I was a new collector in 4th grade ) and I watched the scene a few times...

Based on her age that I could tell from various birthday information, the year was around 1857... and she was given none other than a Morgan Dollar... a little ahead of her time, eh?

Jeremy

DHeath

Danny DeVito's coin collection in "Throw Momma from the train". When he shows his friend his collection, it turns out to be the change he received at important events in his life, the ones his father took him to. Nice thought.

CapAnson

The worst coin appearance has to be "Titanic" where the Girl flips Jack a dime to pay for her portrait, and instead of a 1912 Barber, it was a 1995(I think) Roosevelt. I think this may have been edited out when the movie went to Video and DVD..

nwcs

Well, the best in TV is the Simpsons, of course. But also followed by:

1. Star Trek TNG cliffhanger of season 5 where they're using morgan dollars in poker
2. The commercials that showed coins like a 1943 copper cent
3. I remember an episode of Silver Spoon as a kid where the episode centered around a 3 legged buffalo nickel

The worst being every time in Star Trek that they say they don't use money and then turn around and spend "credits" or "gold" or "gold press latinum"

dorkkarl

didn't a 1913 lib-nick show up on hawaii-5-0 once?

also, there was some movie where steve martin played a drunken coin dealer, & in 1 scene, he pulls out a desk drawer or something like that, & a whole slew of unc $20 lib's are taped to the bottom.

K S

Twowood

I seem to remember Humphrey Bogart coolly flipping a coin in one of his films.
Was it "Casablanca" or "The Maltese Falcon"? Twowood

TheNumish

TV show "My Three Sons" when Ernie gets a 1914-D Lincoln Cent to finish his collection. It was uncirculated but he was walking around with it in his pocket. Ernie looses the coin and suspects his brother took it. They have a trial where Ernie proves his brother took it but in the last moment finds the coin. Brought a tear to my eye. Not the lessons learned but how Ernie had the unc coin in his pocket.

1jester

I liked the scene in a recent Star Wars movie (Attack of the Clones, I believe) when the heroes are all stranded on the planet, and they are trying to buy some spare parts for their ship, and they propose using "Federation Credits", but the parts dealer replies that credits are no good there, they must have some cold hard cash. Gold?!

Another interesting, indeed very moving scene appears in the recently-released movie "The Pianist" by Roman Polanski, which is about the life of pianist Szpielman, and the Nazi's invasion of his hometown Warsaw during WWII. During a scene depicting life in the Warsaw ghetto, Szpielman is playing piano in a bar/restaurant, and one merchant sitting at a table asks him to stop playing for a second so he can hear the clinking of gold coins on the table to determine if they are real or not.

Conder101

<< <i>The worst coin appearance has to be "Titanic" where the Girl flips Jack a dime to pay for her portrait, and instead of a 1912 Barber, it was a 1995(I think) Roosevelt. I think this may have been edited out when the movie went to Video and DVD.. >>



Sorry,the coin IS an barber dime. I saw the movie in the theater and watched for that scene. I also have it on video and it is definitely a barber dime. You can't see the date in the film but James Cameron owns the actual coin used to shoot the scene and it is an AU 50 1912 barber dime. (He was asked about it in an interview back when the movie first came out.)

paigowjohnny

The Hawaii 5-0 episode with the 1913 Liberty nickel....no slab , no holder, nothing...the guy is just able to palm it....and then put it in a newspaper machine....

ricardouno

Twowood,

There was a coin flipped in Casablanca but not by Bogart.

Ingrid Bergman flips a coin in the air and says, "Here's a Franc for your thoughts" (they are in Paris).

Boggie then responds something like, " That's funny, in my country their only worth a penny".

Twowood

Hey Ricardouno...You're good...I'm impressed!!! Twowood

KenzoT

Best movie, "UFH" with Weird Al Yankoveck where the rich man gives a "1955 triple die" cent to the old begger and the proceeds from the sale of that coin save the TV station from hostile takeover.
Best TV, "The Andy Griffith Show" where Andy fools Barney into believing he has a RARE inverted Buffalo nickel.

TheNumish

Read in an interview somewhere that James Cameron took that Barber Dime and had it mounted so he could keep it on his key chain.


Wasn't there a Christmas movie a few years ago that centered around a father stealing millions in slabbed coins? It had one of the kids from the TV show with Tim Allen as the host of a TV fix it show. Tool Time? Sorry, I need to watch more TV. They even had a scene in the movie that showed PCGS. Never saw it but remember reading about it.

flaminio

<< <i>Well, the best in TV is the Simpsons, of course. >>



Definitely. Who can forget Moe's classic line:

"Get out of here, and take your Sacagawea dollars with you!" (blam, blam)

nwcs

Definitely remember that one! Classic! Or when Burns comes back from the mayo clinic and is pleased that the rare coins weren't spent in the vending machine right next to them...

baccaruda

Get out of here, and take your Sacagawea dollars with you! (blam, blam)

that is a great one flaminio.

the funniest part is after he pulls the shotgun and gives him to the count of 3 to get out he fires after 1 even though the guy was running for the door, then he just goes on with the conversation.

people just don't care for those sacs...

Clankeye

There is a movie called "The Hunley" yes, about the submarine. There is a scene where Lt. Dixon played by Armand Assante is standing at the bar, pounding shots of whiskey and looking at his gold twenty dollar coin. The combination of my two hobbies (one active, one past) in one great movie moment makes me weak in the knees.

Good thread. Funny and interesting posts. Welcome CoinasaurusRex, hope you have more like this.

Clankeye

shirohniichan

I liked the episode of the Twilight Zone (though not a movie) in which the main character throws a coin into the newspaper seller's cigar box and the coin stands on edge. I swear I saw some Walkers in that box!

sinin1

"Getting Even With Dad" Macaulkay Culkin and Ted Danson - Dad steals a couple million in slabs from PCGS and the kid steals them from his dad and 2 partners - although I do not remember any specific coins, I remember lots of slabs with gold/silver/etc.

mr3holesinone

I'm a western movies watcher and you always see old coins on the table when they're playing cards, paying for drinks or robbing stage coaches.

Clint Eastwood even dunks an old coin in someone's drink in High Plains Drifter or Hang Em High?. May have the wrong movie but it's a scene you can't miss when you watch the movie.

flaminio

<< <i>Clint Eastwood even dunks an old coin in someone's drink in High Plains Drifter or Hang Em High?. May have the wrong movie but it's a scene you can't miss when you watch the movie. >>



Well, it wasn't Hang 'Em High -- just watched that yesterday on DVD; no coin dunking visible.

shirohniichan

I like the scene in Josey Wales when the bounty hunter after him says bounty hunting is "a living."

"Dyin' ain't much of a livin', boy," was Josey's response.

As long as we're accepting TV applicants, how about the episode of Dennis the Menace in which Dennis spends Mr. Wilson's 1894-S dime (or was it a 1916-D)?

Clankeye

That's a great scene, Shiro. Then he leaves, comes back, and Clint plugs him. Just like in real life!

Clankeye


Edited to add: Oh my God, I've got over 1000 posts now. I don't know if that's happy or sad.

moursund

Ok, what's the movie in which Charleton Heston, after shooting a Chinese guy, tosses a double eagle to the Chinese boss in payment?

am

Conder101

Coin in UHF was a "Double die 1955 Denver mint penny"

au58

In an episode of Dennis the Menace, Mr. Wilson was showing Dennis his coin collection. He had a 1907 $10 Indian, Rolled Edge, with periods. Reported mintage esitmated at 42. Somehow, Dennis ended up with the coin and threw it into the fountain in the center of town. Wilson found out and was wading in the fountain before he was arrested. I saw this show at least 35 years ago. I was collecting then and looked the coin up in my Redbook.

CoinasaurusRex

Great replies! Thanks to all.

And the winners are. . .

Movie Appearance by a Coin -- "UHF," in which proceeds from sale of the 1955 double die penny save the TV station.

TV Appearance by a Coin -- "Dennis the Menace."

Cameo Appearance by a Coin -- "The Hunley," for the fleeting glimpse of the gold coin that took a bullet for Dixon, only to go down with him in the historic proto-sub, and then recovered in the present.

Coin Related Dialogue -- "The Simpsons," ably recounted verbatim by MastaHanky, with the unforgettable line "Get out of here, and take your Sacagawea dollars with you!". Words to live by.

Again, thanks for the entertaining and insightful responses.

C-Rex

MastaHanky

<< Best movie, "UFH" with Weird Al Yankoveck where the rich man gives a "1955 triple die" cent to the old begger and the proceeds from the sale of that coin save the TV station from hostile takeover. >>

Woah, I totally forgot about that.

That movie is great, yet so horrible that you can only watch it about once a year.