Nearly two decades after it was stolen from the set of Pulp Fiction, director Quentin Tarantino’s classic red convertible has been located. Not all movie props have been so lucky though. From Dorothy’s ruby slippers to Spider-Man’s spidey suit and the Oscar Awards themselves, see more pieces of movie memorabilia that have gone missing over the years.
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Made famous for being driven by John Travolta in Pulp Fiction, director Quentin Tarantino’s 1964 red Chevelle Malibu convertible was recently found after being stolen from Tarantino 19 years ago. The classic car’s current driver has apparently never seen Pulp Fiction, as he did not know that he has been driving a piece of movie history. The thieves didn’t either, otherwise they would have known not to mess with another man’s vehicle.
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After taking Dorothy back to Kansas, the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz became one of Hollywood’s most cherished and valuable movie props. While three of the four remaining pairs are accounted for, a pair was stolen from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, in 2005. After a false lead in 2011, the shoes—worth an estimated $1 million—still haven’t been found.
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Despite the offer of a $25,000 reward, four Spider-Man suits stolen from the set of Spider-Man in 2001 remain missing. Tobey Maguire didn’t have to fight crime unmasked, though, as several backup suits were available to be used during filming.
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According to director Michael Bay, the craziest thing to happen on the testosterone-fueled set of Pain & Gain was the theft of $75,000 worth of sex toys. “We were like, ‘Who is taking the sex toys?’” Bay told The Daily Beast about the theft. But the bigger question for Bay is, why would you want them back?
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After he failed to assassinate James Bond with it in The Man With the Golden Gun, Bond villain Scaramanga’s firearm went missing from storage at the Hertfordshire studios in 2008. The missing golden gun is valued at £80,000.
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Cast members Brandi Passante and Jarrod Schulz found hidden Hollywood treasure on an episode of Storage Wars in December 2012. Amid the junk, they uncovered a vest from the 1968 film Planet of the Apes, a rare find. The discovery however called into question the authenticity of the show, as former cast member Dave Hester has alleged that its dramatic discoveries are staged.
Everett Collection
Even though the awards are among the most recognizable items of pop-culture iconography, that didn’t stop two thieves from stealing 55 Oscar statues en route to the 2000 Academy Awards. Miraculously, 52 of the missing golden men were found intact in a Dumpster by Willie Fulgear, who then was able to claim that he had “more Oscars than any of the movie stars.”
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Life imitated art when a Maltese falcon statue mysteriously went missing from the San Francisco restaurant where the Maltese Falcon writer and main character dined. Actor Elisha Cook Jr. had given a signed replica of the original statue seen in the film years earlier to the restaurant, where it was displayed until it was taken in 2007.
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One of Star Trek’s biggest fans was sent to the brig after trying to sell stolen costumes from Star Trek: The Next Generation. While some items were recovered with the arrest—including a Klingon mask—over 70 items remained missing, a loss valued at more than $150,000.
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A pair of cows was kidnapped from the set of Brad Pitt’s upcoming action movie World War Z. The cows were easy targets for theft presumably because they couldn’t moooo. Made of fiberglass, the fake cattle were used to replicate the American countryside on the Scottish set and are now a bovine collector’s item for the unknown thief.
David Moir/Reuters, via Landov
