7 Bizarre Stories of Stolen Movie Props

There was a time when movie props were worthless. When a film wrapped, the studio would often recycle props and costumes for use in other films, or sometimes simply throw them away. But that's changed over the years, and now movie collectibles are a big business, with high-profile props going for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Unfortunately, when you start talking that kind of money, there are bound to be a few crooked characters who will do whatever it takes to get their hands on a piece of Hollywood history.

1. Has Anyone Questioned the Flying Monkeys?

It's believed there were six or seven pairs of Dorothy's famous ruby red slippers made for the production of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Of those, the location of four pairs is currently known, including one that resides in the Smithsonian. The Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, had their own pair, until the shoes were stolen one night in August 2005. The case went cold until this past April, when police received a tip that a resident in Homer Glen, Illinois, had not only bragged about paying someone to steal the slippers, but openly displayed the shoes in a glass box. Police raided the alleged thief's house, but didn't find the ruby red shoes. For now, the case remains open, and the shoes are still at-large.

2. Easy Rider Choppers Chopped

3. The Man Without the Golden Gun

4. The Case of the Missing Maltese Falcon

After the falcon went missing, John's Grill offered a no-questions-asked reward of $25,000 to the person who brought it back, but no one came forward. The owner could have easily gotten a good replacement replica off eBay for a few hundred bucks, but he took a different approach instead. He put the $25,000 towards the creation of a new, original design of the Maltese Falcon that is a more stylized interpretation than the one used in the 1941 film. The new statue is five inches taller than the original and weighs around 150lbs, three times heavier than the plaster replica that was stolen. To ensure this bird doesn't go missing, it's been bolted down and is monitored 24/7 by closed-circuit cameras. With that much security, the next time someone messes with this Maltese Falcon, it won't take Sam Spade to crack the case.

5. Big Bucks in Spandex

6. Do Collectors Dream of Rubber Handguns?

Oddly enough though, about a month after the film was released, highly accurate plastic replicas of Deckard's gun began appearing for sale on the collector's market. These knock-offs were so close to the ones used in the film that they must have been created using molds taken from the missing, now presumed stolen, dummy gun.

While it's certain the thief made a pretty penny by selling the dummy gun, he would have surely been better off stealing the custom-made gun instead—it sold at auction in 2009 for $270,000.

7. Well, That's One Way to Get an Oscar

After reporting his find to police, Fulgear collected a $50,000 reward from Roadway Express, but the other men didn't make out quite so well. Anthony Hart received the lightest sentence with three years probation. John Harris was sentenced to six months in jail, three years probation, and had to pay $921 to the Academy in restitution for the three missing statues. Lawrence Ledent was given six months in prison, five years probation, had to pay the Academy $1,050, and pay Roadway Express the full amount of the reward they offered to Fulgear.

As for the three missing Oscars, one was found in 2003 during a Miami drug raid, but the other two are still out there somewhere.
* * * * * *
What piece of movie memorabilia would you like to get your hands on? Tell us about it in the comments below!