History Main / GoingByTheMatchbook

* Used in ''Film/SupermanIII''. Gus Gorman (Richard Pryor's character) is inspired to go into computers after seeing it on the back of a matchbook.
* In ''{{Film/Switchback}}'', [[spoiler:Lane]] realizes that [[spoiler:Bob]] really is a SerialKiller by seeing that he's got a matchbook from a motel where a high-profile double murder was committed.
* ''Film/TheUntouchables'' (1987). Frank Nitti has the address of Jim Malone written on a book of matches. Unfortunately he forgets to dispose of it after killing Malone, so when Elliot Ness searches him later it leads to their final shootout.

In the old days, back when people [[SmokingIsCool cared more about looking cool than smelling fresh]], [[EverybodySmokes everyone smoked]]; accordingly, every diner, hotel or bar would have a basket of logo-stamped matches by the door that patrons would just instinctively shove into their pocket. This is a reasonable (if cliché) clue for stories set in the '40s (e.g., FilmNoir). A little less realistic nowadays, but still shows up in a noir-style show.

* ''Film/AsianSchoolGirls'': When Vivienne goes missing, her brother searches her room and find a matchbook from The Kitty: the strip club where she has been working. He and Hector go to the club where the bouncer is able to point them in the right direction.

* Roger O. Thornhill uses his monogramed matchbook to deliver an important warning to Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) near the end of Hitchcock's ''Film/NorthByNorthwest''.
* Subverted in ''Film/OSS117CairoNestOfSpies'': the title character finds a match book with an important clue written on the flap, but completely fails to pay any attention to it. Twice.

* Hartigan in the ''Film/SinCity'' movie finds Nancy with the help of a book of matches in her apartment. He does, however, [[LampshadeHanging point out]] in the narration that it's his ''only'' lead. The time period in which the story is set [[RetroUniverse isn't entirely clear]]; some characters dress like 90s [[AntiHero antiheroes]], while the cars (equipped with early '90s car-phones) look early '60s at the latest and weapons run the gamut from swords to bleeding-edge sniper rifles. But they had to use the matchbook gag, as the whole premise of the series is "take film noir and turn all the dials {{up to eleven}}".

* ''Series/MagnumPI'': Tom Magnum sometimes finds matchbooks, but his adventures take place in the 1980s, when people were starting to smoke less. He's more likely to find business cards.

* In the ''VideoGame/CasebookTrilogy'' on the second case one of the clues is a match book for an Irish pub. In England. So that chances of anyone else having one are very rare.
* In ''VideoGame/TheDarksideDetective'', one of the people [=McQueen=] interviews hands over a matchbook from the club he was partying at on the night in question. [[spoiler:The club itself is irrelevant -- except in that the nature of the club gives an insight in the the nature of the person--but [=McQueen=] later uses the matches themselves to throw light on the matter when the case takes a dark turn.]]

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' uses a version of this: If player visit his "grave" he can find Distinctive Cigarette Butt and later in Boulder City he can find Distinctive Lighter. Both are unique items and can be presented as a proof of Benny's attempt to murder you. Played somewhat more realistically, in that the person you have to convince isn't swayed by either piece of evidence alone, you need both to actually get him to believe you enough to let you snoop around Benny's pad.

* Averted in Literature/TheSaint short story "The Saint and the Sizzling Saboteur". The police find the matchbook used to [[ManOnFire set fire to the victim]]. One of the officers thinks this might be the clue that breaks the case open, only for the lead detective to reach into his pocket and pulls out a matchbook, saying that he has no idea where this particular bar is or how the matchbook came to be in his possession.

* In ''{{Film/Switchback}}'', Lane realizes that Bob really is a SerialKiller by seeing that he's got a matchbook from a motel where a high-profile double murder was committed.

* In ''Film/{{Switchback}}'', one character is able to deduce that other is a SerialKiller by hearing that he has a matchbook from a motel where a high-profile double homicide was committed.

* One of the {{Feelies}} in the Creator/{{Infocom}} game ''Witness'' (a FilmNoir MurderMystery set in 1938) was a matchbook with a vital clue. One reviewer mentioned accidentally using the matches and throwing away the matchbook before solving the game.

* ''Series/{{CSINY}}'': In "White Gold", Hawkes and Flack find a matchbook stuck to the victim's back with blood; having fallen out of the killer's pocket when he dumped the body into a dumpster. This leads them to the bar where he hangs out.

* ''Series/{{Endeavour}}'': In "Home", Morse finds a matchbook with the phone number of the GirlOfTheWeek written on it. He initially goes looking for the girl and learns that she is a cigarette girl at a nightclub and brought the matchbooks home with her. When she goes missing, Morse uses the book to identify the club she works at and goes looking for her.
* ''Series/TheEqualizer''. In "No Conscience", a chronic womanizer gets kidnapped by industrial spies who kept insisting that "she said she gave it to you" and [[MistakenForSpies refuse to believe his claims of innocence]]. Realising he's going to be tortured, TheCasanova quickly "confesses" and promises to get "it" to them within 36 hours -- he then has to hire the Equalizer to help him sort through the multitude of women he's dated to find the right one. "It" turns out to be a microdot on a matchbook handed to him with a girl's phone number written on the inside; the girl had realised she was being followed and passed the microdot on to him to get rid of it. He passed it to his date-for-the-night, who passed it onto another man in the singles bar, who passed it on to a girl...

* Done in an episode of ''Series/{{Heroes}}''.
* ''Series/InspectorGeorgeGently'': In the episode "Peace & Love", the murder victim has a matchbook from a particular bar in his pocket. Played with slightly, in that the barman remembers him even though he only went there once because he swiped all the matchbooks.
* ''Series/JonathanCreek'': In "Daemons' Roost", the matchbook the killer used to light the furnace turns out to be an important clue to the killer's identity (although not the one it first appears to be).

* ''{{Series/Warehouse 13}}'': Myka realises that a matchbook is an important clue in the "[[Recap/Warehouse13S4E13TheBigSnag The Big Snag]]" episode as the name of the hotel where it is from is the same as the mother of Anthony Bishop, the author of the [[NoirEpisode Noir novel]] that [[TrappedInTVLand they are trapped in]].

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* In a [[Creator/WaltDisney José Carioca]] story, all they find is a burnt match the villain had used, but he instructs Nestor to take it to all the bars and try to figure out where it came from and who bought it. This naturally doesn't work at all.

* Parodied on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''; Marge goes through Bart's pockets while she's doing the laundry, and a matchbook from a jazz club is one of the things she tosses aside before a flyer for an upcoming bake sale catches her attention.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' episode "Root Beer Guy," the titular Root Beer Guy finds a matchbook which leads him to Lake Butterscotch, where [[spoiler:Finn and Jake pretend to drown Princess Bubblegum as part of a mock-kidnapping to test the police force.]]

* In an episode of ''Series/PoliceSquad!'', Drebin dismisses a suspect's alibi by presenting a matchbook from his favorite club that had been found at the crime scene. Of course, since this is ''Police Squad!'', when he is asked to explain the matchbook, the suspect briefly explains how rubbing sulfur against a surface can produce fire.
* In a flashback on ''Series/VeronicaMars'', we see that Lily has quite a collection of matchbooks with Hispanic names and phone numbers written on them. Of course, she's never been to the bars or met the guys, she just left them around the house for her mother to find…
* One classic ''Series/MissionImpossible'' episode depended on a bad guy noticing something about a matchbook in order to fall for the team's BatmanGambit.
** It was the fact that the matches were removed from the left side of the matchbook, indicating that the user of the matches was left-handed (ie, held the matchbook in their right hand and used their left hand to strike the match). There was a tense scene where the team was listening to the bad guy not getting it, and worrying that they had made the clues too subtle.
* Done in an episode of ''Series/{{Heroes}}''.
* ''Series/TheEqualizer''. In "No Conscience", a chronic womanizer gets kidnapped by industrial spies who kept insisting that "she said she gave it to you" and [[MistakenForSpies refuse to believe his claims of innocence]]. Realising he's going to be tortured, TheCasanova quickly "confesses" and promises to get "it" to them within 36 hours -- he then has to hire the Equalizer to help him sort through the multitude of women he's dated to find the right one. "It" turns out to be a microdot on a matchbook handed to him with a girl's phone number written on the inside; the girl had realised she was being followed and passed the microdot on to him to get rid of it. He passed it to his date-for-the-night, who passed it onto another man in the singles bar, who passed it on to a girl...
-->'''[=McCall=]:''' ...and before you know it we've got a case of matchbook, matchbook, find the bloody matchbook.
* A variation in an episode of ''Series/DueSouth''. The matchbook wasn't important because of where it was from, it was important because the inside of it doubled as a mobster's address book. It ends up getting stolen by his ex-girlfriend (who just thought it was a matchbook) and accidentally ended up in the possession of a Canadian official's daughter, in a distinct aversion of the ClingyMacguffin quality of clue matchbooks in fiction.

* On ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', Earl's ex-girlfriend Jessie has become a BountyHunter, and wants to take Joy in--to get back at her for a) knocking out her two front teeth and b) stealing Earl from her. Earl goes to talk to her, while Joy hides out in his motel room. When he returns, he finds that Jessie has followed him using this method.

* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', when Belle is let out of the hospital, the only thing Mr. Gold finds in her room is a matchbook for a sleazy bar called "The Rabbit Hole." This is because the matchbook was planted by Regina after she used it to give Belle an alternate personality.
* [[Series/TheRockfordFiles Jim Rockford]] often finds matchbooks as clues. This is a 1970s show. [[Series/MagnumPI Tom Magnum]] sometimes finds matchbooks, but his adventures take place in the 1980s, when people were starting to smoke less. He's more likely to find business cards.
* ''{{Series/Warehouse 13}}'': Myka realises that a matchbook is an important clue in the "[[Recap/Warehouse13S4E13TheBigSnag The Big Snag]]" episode as the name of the hotel where it is from is the same as the mother of Anthony Bishop, the author of the [[NoirEpisode Noir novel]] that [[TrappedInTVLand they are trapped in]].
* ''Series/JonathanCreek'': In "Daemons' Roost", the matchbook the killer used to light the furnace turns out to be an important clue to the killer's identity (although not the one it first appears to be).
* ''Series/InspectorGeorgeGently'': In the episode "Peace & Love", the murder victim has a matchbook from a particular bar in his pocket. Played with slightly, in that the barman remembers him even though he only went there once because he swiped all the matchbooks.

* ''Series/{{Endeavour}}'': In "Home", Morse finds a matchbook with the phone number of the girl of the week written on it. He initially goes looking foe the girl and learns that she is a cigarette girl at a nightclub and brought the matchbooks home with her. When she goes missing, Morse uses the book to identify the club she works at at goes looking for her.

* Phoenix in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' finds a matchbook for the Tres Bien restaurant, where a murder was committed, in the office of a loan shark. He later uses the matchbook to refute the loan shark's claim that he had never set foot in Tres Bien, and thus could not have been the murderer.

* In ''VisualNovel/{{Snatcher}}'', finding a matchbook from the Outer Heaven bar is one of the [[spoiler:red herring]] clues to the identity of [[spoiler:the Snatcher that has infiltrated the Junkers.]]
* In the VideoGame/CasebookTrilogy on the second case one of the clues is a match book for an Irish pub. In England. So that chances of anyone else having one are very rare.
* This is used a number of times to find new locations during several cases in ''VideoGame/LANoire''. Inverted when the crime scene is a nightclub and irrelevant matchbooks are scattered throughout the location.
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' uses a version of this: If player visit his "grave" he can find Distinctive Cigarette Butt and later in Boulder City he can find Distinctive Lighter. Both are unique items and can be presented as a proof of Benny's attempt to murder you. Played somewhat more realistically, in that the person you have to convince isn't swayed by either piece of evidence alone, you need both to actually get him to believe you enough to let you snoop around Benny's pad.
** Played straight while investigating a disappearance at the Ultra-Luxe.
* In ''VideoGame/DiscworldNoir'', a major clue early on is a matchbook from the Octarine Parrot.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'', pygmy janitors will sometimes drop matchbooks, which can be used outside of combat to unlock a bar in the Hidden City (they can also be used in combat to [[AgonyOfTheFeet give the enemy a hot-foot]]).
* In ''VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries'', Batman finds a matchbook to the Skyline Club on a dead goon.
* In ''VideoGame/TheDarksideDetective'', one of the people [=McQueen=] interviews hands over a matchbook from the club he was partying at on the night in question. [[spoiler:The club itself is irrelevant -- except in that the nature of the club gives an insight in the the nature of the person--but [=McQueen=] later uses the matches themselves to throw light on the matter when the case takes a dark turn.]]

* In ''Film/StrayDog'', Sato the detective notices a matchbook in the home of the bad guy's girlfriend. It leads him to the hotel where the bad guy is hanging out.
* Used as a clue in ''Film/DarkCity''.
* Axel Foley in ''Film/BeverlyHillsCopII'' recovers a matchbook from a failed hitman, and is able to recover Cain's fingerprint. Oddly, though' ''not'' the hitman's fingerprints, even though he was the last one to handle it and didn't have gloves.
* In ''Film/{{Halloween 1978}}'', Loomis finds a plumber's abandoned pickup, and in it is the same matchbook carried by the nurse who was with him when Michael Myers escaped the previous night; she left her matches in the car Michael stole, and they wound up in the truck of the guy he stole his jumpsuit from.
* Hartigan in the ''Film/SinCity'' movie finds Nancy with the help of a book of matches in her apartment. He does, however, [[LampshadeHanging point out]] in the narration that it's his ''only'' lead. The time period in which the story is set [[RetroUniverse isn't entirely clear]]; some characters dress like 90s [[AntiHero antiheroes]], while the cars (equipped with early '90s car-phones) look early '60s at the latest and weapons run the gamut from swords to bleeding-edge sniper rifles. But they had to use the matchbook gag, as the whole premise of the series is "take film noir and turn all the dials {{up to eleven}}".

* ''Film/TheUntouchables'' (1987). Frank Nitti has the address of Jim Malone written on a book of matches. Unfortunately he forgets to dispose of it after killing Malone, so when Elliot Ness searches him later it leads to their final shootout.
* Roger O. Thornhill uses his monogramed matchbook to deliver an important warning to Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) near the end of Hitchcock's ''Film/NorthByNorthwest''.

* This was used (or homaged) in ''Film/{{Watchmen}}'', in the film at least.

* In ''Film/AnotherThinMan'', a matchbook leads Nick to the "West Indies Club", which leads to a vital clue.
* In ''Film/MenInBlack3'', K notices Roman the Fabulist carried a matchbook from Cosmic Bowling Lanes. Since Roman didn't smoke, K deduces this to be meant as a clue. Oh, and if you wonder about the use of the classic form of this trope in a movie this new, it should be noted that it all started with a [[TimeTravel time jump]] to TheSixties.

* This is the first clue Creator/HarrisonFord's character gets in ''Film/{{Frantic}}''. The matchbook is for the Blue Parrot nightclub, with the number of Michelle's contact written on it.
* Variation in ''Film/DieHardWithAVengeance'': an aspirin bottle that the villain jokingly hands to [=McClane=] earlier turns out to have an address on it of the hotel in Canada where he and his men are hiding out later.
* Used in ''Film/EddieAndTheCruisers 2: Eddie Lives!'', of all places. Diane the artist chick meets the hero, a disguised Eddie Wilson, at a hockey game and becomes so obsessed with painting him that she tracks him down at the bar featured on the matches he had briefly used to light a cigarette.
* A branded napkin is the clue in ''Film/SinnersAndSaints'' (2010), for a club that closed down five years before, so the police realise the villains are using the supposedly derelict building.
* In ''Film/CastleOfSand'' the only clue found by the body was a matchbook to an establishment called Bar "Ron". This leads to the witness who saw the dead man with another man, and recalls the mysterious mentions of "Kameda."
* In ''Film/{{Harper}}'', Harper pulls a matchbook out of the pocket of the dead guy who came for the ransom money. It leads him to the nightclub where Betty Fraley is performing.

* ''Film/TheBakerStreetDozen'':
** An important clue in ''Sherlock Holmes in Washington'' is that [[spoiler:the microfilm that the Nazi agents had been hunting all over the place for was concealed within a matchbook that the British agent they killed was carrying.]]
** In ''The Woman in Green'', Sir George uses his dying strength to grab and firmly grasp a matchbook from Bancroft House as a DyingClue.

* In ''Halfway House'', Literature/ElleryQueen points out that most matchbooks are far too common for one to be incriminating. Then it turns out [[DoubleSubversion that one is]], anyway.
* Used in ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' "{{trilogy|Creep}}", where [[spoiler:Arthur Dent learns in advance that he can't die until he visits a certain place, which he takes to be the name of a planet. It turns out to be a trendy bar on Earth, which he winds up in without learning its name; not until too late does he notice the bar's logo]] printed on a book of matches.

* Novelist/humorist James Lileks purchased a collection of old matchbooks at an estate sale, arranged them in alphabetical order, and began a novel about the person who might have accumulated them. The result was ''[[http://www.lileks.com/match/joeohio/index.html Joe Ohio]]'', which unfortunately peters out after fifty-six chapters/matchbooks.

* In ''Literature/CityOfDevils'', Nick's first clue is a matchbook that turns out to be from [[spoiler:a brothel in which the employees are monsters pretending to be humans, and the clients pretend to turn them into monsters. No one has sex there, which the hero thinks is sick.]]
* Averted in Literature/TheSaint short story "The Saint and the Sizzling Saboteur". The police find the matchbook used to [[ManOnFire set fire to the victim]]. One of the officers thinks this might be the clue that breaks the case open, only for the lead detective to reach into his pocket and pull out a matchbook, saying that he has no idea where this particular bar is or how the matchbook came to be in his possession.

* Lampshaded in ''Series/{{Batman}}'' in the episode, "A Death Worse Than Fate," where Zelda the Great, upon releasing Aunt Harriet whom she kidnapped, deliberately planted a matchbook of her accomplice's bookstore to lure the Dynamic Duo into a DeathTrap.

* In "The Lords of Luck", the first story arc in the revived version of ''ComicBook/TheBraveAndTheBold'', a matchbook found on a corpse leads Batman and GreenLantern to the casino where he worked.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* Roger O. Thornhill uses his monogramed matchbook to deliver an important warning to Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) near the end of Hitchcock's ''North by Northwest''.

* [[VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries Batman]] finds a matchbook to the Skyline Club on a dead goon.

* In ''Switchback'', one character is able to deduce that other is a SerialKiller by hearing that he has a matchbook from a motel where a high-profile double homicide was committed.

In the old days, back when people [[SmokingIsCool cared more about looking cool than smelling fresh]], [[EverybodySmokes everyone smoked]]; accordingly, every diner, dive, and kindergarten would have a basket of logo-stamped matches by the door that patrons would just instinctively shove into their pocket. This is a reasonable (if cliché) clue for stories set in the '40s (e.g., FilmNoir). A little less realistic nowadays, but still shows up in a noir-style show.

* ''Series/Endeavour}}'': In "Home", Morse finds a matchbook with the phone number of the girl of the week written on it. He initially goes looking foe the girl and learns that she is a cigarette girl at a nightclub and brought the matchbooks home with her. When she goes missing, Morse uses the book to identify the club she works at at goes looking for her.

* Axel Foley in the second ''Film/BeverlyHillsCop'' movie recovers a matchbook from a failed hitman, and is able to recover Cain's fingerprint. Oddly, though' ''not'' the hitman's fingerprints, even though he was the last one to handle it and didn't have gloves.