SNATCH (FILM)

'''Snatch''' is a 2000 film by British writer-director Guy Ritchie. It features an ensemble cast. Set in the London criminal underworld, the movie contains two intertwined plots — one dealing with the search for a stolen diamond, the other with a small-time boxing promoter named Turkish (Statham) who finds himself under the thumb of a psychotic gangster named Brick Top (Ford).
The film is characterised by an assortment of colourful characters, including the "pikey" Irish Traveller Mickey O'Neill (Pitt), Uzbek ex-KGB agent and arms-dealer Boris 'the Blade' Yurinov (or Boris the Bullet-Dodger) (Šerbedžija), professional thief-gambling addict Frankie 'Four-Fingers' (del Toro) and bounty-hunter Bullet-Tooth Tony (Jones), who can "find you Moses and the burning bush if you pay him enough". It is also distinguished by a kinetic direction and editing style, a circular plot featuring numerous ironic twists of chance and causality, and a fast pace.
The movie shares similar themes, ideas and motifs as Ritchie's first film, ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels''. It is also filmed in the same visual style and features many of the same actors, including Vinnie Jones, Jason Statham and Jason Flemyng, who appears in a minor role as one of the 'pikeys'.

Contents

Plot

Reaction

Eventual fate of each character

Soundtrack

Track listing

References to ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels''

Trivia

References

External links

Plot

The movie contains two main plots, both of which are intertwined. The first centres on a very valuable 84 carat (17.2 g) diamond (about the size of a "fist", as described by one of the robbers). It is stolen by Frankie 'Four-Fingers' (del Toro) in Antwerp and brought to London, where he and the diamond fall afoul of local thieves and underworld figures, all of whom scramble to claim the diamond for themselves. The other revolves around an unlicensed boxing promoter named Turkish who finds himself in debt to a psychotic local crime boss, Brick Top (infamously known for feeding those who fall out of his favour to his prized pigs) after his boxer Gorgeous George is incapacitated in a dispute with a group of pikeys over a caravan. Forced to improvise, Turkish and his partner Tommy decide to acquire the services of Mickey, the same pikey who knocked out Gorgeous George. As events twist and turn, the two situations blend into one with a chain reaction of events carrying on for each and every character.

Reaction

''Snatch'' was largely successful, both in critical acclaim and at the box office. From an estimated budget of $10,000,000 (according to the Internet Movie Database), the movie grossed a total of $30,093,107 in the United States and £12,137,698 in the United Kingdom [1]. ''Rotten Tomatoes'' lists ''Snatch'' as having 73% of the reviews (120 reviews listed in total) as being "fresh" (positive)[2], and as of March 2007 the Internet Movie Database ranks it at #188 of their 250 most popular films as voted by regular users [3].
While the film received mostly positive reviews, several reviewers commented negatively on perceived similarities in plot, character, setting, theme and style between ''Snatch'' and Ritchie's previous work, ''Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels''. In his review, Roger Ebert, who gave the film two stars, raised the question of "What am I to say of "Snatch," Ritchie's new film, which follows the "Lock, Stock" formula so slavishly it could be like a new arrangement of the same song?" [4], and writing in the ''New York Times'' Elvis Mitchell commented that "Mr. Ritchie seems to be stepping backward when he should be moving ahead" [5]. Critics also argued that the movie was lacking in depth and substance; many reviewers appeared to agree with Ebert's comment that "the movie is not boring, but it doesn't build and it doesn't arrive anywhere" [6]. The lack of prominent female characters was also commented upon by many reviewers.

Eventual fate of each character

Character	Actor	Status	Explanation
Turkish	Jason Statham	Alive	'Accidentally' finds the diamond and sells it to Doug and Avi.
Tommy	Stephen Graham	Alive	Gains a dog, and alongside Turkish, finds the diamond in the dog.
Gorgeous George	Adam Fogerty	Alive but injured	Broken jaw (gained early on in film by Mickey)
Mickey O'Neill	Brad Pitt	Alive but flees	His Gypsy friends have just killed Brick Top, Errol and his hit squad
Darren (Mickey's Friend)	Jason Flemyng	Alive but flees	See Mickey
Ms. O'Neill (Mickey's Mother)	Sorcha Cusack	Deceased	Errol and John burn her alive in her own caravan to try to get Mickey to fight for free (Mickey wanted a caravan for his mother so he would fight, Brick Top had her killed so he didn't have a mother to give a caravan to)
Boris The Blade/Boris The Bullet-Dodger	Rade Šerbedžija	Probably Deceased	Likely killed in the Drowning Trout (pub) by BT-Tony (ironically, he is shot). Death not confirmed. Possibly alive but incapacitated - displays astonishing durability earlier in film.
Sol/Solomon	Lennie James	Arrested	The body of Frankie Four Fingers is found in their car by the police
Vinnie/Vincent	Robbie Gee	Arrested	See Sol/Solomon
Tyrone	Ade	Unknown, Wounded, but not seen to be killed.	Last seen at the Drowning Trout (pub), as BT-Tony leaves without shooting him (he has run out of ammo, calling him a 'Lucky Bastard'), though he is shot and wounded earlier in the scene.
Bad Boy Lincoln	Goldie	Unknown, Presumably Alive	Last seen in Brick Top's meat locker, but he is allowed to leave
Doug The Head	Mike Reid	Alive	Turkish & Tommy bring the diamond to him, and he sells it to Avi
Cousin Avi	Dennis Farina	Alive	Gets the diamond, as planned (in the end)
Frankie Four-Fingers	Benicio del Toro	Deceased	Killed, and soon after has his arm severed, by Boris the Blade, for the briefcase containing the stolen diamond.
Bullet-Tooth Tony	Vinnie Jones	Deceased	Shot by Avi accidentally (who is aiming wildly (doesn't look) at Vinnie's dog, who has eaten the diamond)
Brick Top	Alan Ford	Deceased	Killed by Mickey's Gypsy friends in retaliation for killing Mickey's Mother, after the bareknuckle boxing match
Errol	Andy Beckwith	Deceased	Killed alongside Brick Top
John	David Legeno	Unknown, Presumably Alive	Last seen kidnapping Tyrone alongside Errol, not in Brick Top's limo or with hit squad at bareknuckle boxing match

Soundtrack

Two versions of the soundtrack album were released, one on the Universal International label with 23 tracks and a TVT Records release with 20.

Track listing

#"Diamond" - Klint
#"Vere Iz da Storn?" - Benicio del Toro
#"Supermoves" - Overseer
#"Hernando's Hideaway"
#"Zee Germans" - Jason Statham
#"Golden Brown" - The Stranglers
#"Dreadlock Holiday" - 10cc
#"Kosha Nostra Theme"
#"Avi Arrives" - Dennis Farina
#"Cross the Tracks (We Better Go Back)" - Maceo & the Macks
#"Disco Science" - Mirwais
#"Nemesis" - Alan Ford
#"Hot Pants (I'm Coming Coming I'm Coming)" - Bobby Byrd
#"Lucky Star" - Madonna
#"Come Again" - Alan Ford
#"Ghost Town" - The Specials
#"Shrinking Balls" - Vinnie Jones
#"Sensual Woman" - The Herbaliser
#"Angel" - Massive Attack
#"RRRRR... Rumble"
#"Fuckin' in the Bushes" - Oasis
#"Avi's Declaration" - Dennis Farina
#"Don't You Just Know It" - Huey "Piano" Smith

References to ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels''

Several similarities, aside from almost similar themes and motifs can be spotted to Guy Ritchie's earlier film, ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels''

★ When Bullet Tooth Tony is introduced in the film, he is seen slamming a car door against a gangster's head. Vinnie Jones's character in ''Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' did the same thing at the end of that movie.

★ Alex and Susi repeat the lines "Yeah dad, you told us" while in conversation in with Doug the Head, first separately and then in unison. This scene resembles the conversation with Hatchet Harry, Barry the Baptist and Chris in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels with the line: "No Harry, you can't."

★ Repeated expletive targeted at someone who is meddlesome: The line "I ''fucking'' hate pikeys" and "I ''fucking'' hate traffic-wardens" from Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels respectively.

★ The use of theme-music for the characters. In Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, there are sharp transitions of background scores when different characters make their appearances, such as the scene where Eddie, Tom, Bacon and Soap enter into their apartment, followed by a different theme for their neighbours. Also, Hatchet Harry's is a slow jazzy theme.

Trivia

★ DJ Goldie has a few lines in the film, as Bad Boy Lincoln, a yardie trying to pawn items to Vinnie and Sol and then trying to help them get rid of Franki's body.

★ In two scenes with Bullet Tooth Tony (the flashback scene and the scene with Avi and Mullet), the song Lucky Star by Madonna can be heard. Madonna is, in fact, Guy Ritchie's wife.

★ A painting hanging over Turkish's safe looks very much like Coat of arms of Moscow.

★ Writer-director Guy Ritchie originally had planned to work another plot twist into the film, involving a false diamond that resembles the 86 carat (17.2 g) diamond. However, he eventually decided that the subplot was unnecessary, and all the scenes involving this were cut from the final cut of the movie. Most of the cut scenes can be seen as extras of the DVD of the film; among them is a scene in which Tony, Avi and Brick Top — who do not encounter each other in the final cut — attempt to negotiate for the diamond.

★ Ade, the actor who played Tyrone had originally shown up looking for work as a security guard. Ritchie stated that they told him they had a job for him ''in'' the film, rather than on the set.

★ In the beginning of the film, the diamond is referred to as weighing 86 carats (17.2 g), while later on, it is mentioned that the stone is 82 or 84 carats (16.4 or 16.8 g).

★ In a scene following the aftermath of the climactic series of car crashes, numerous Indian women are shown looking curiously into one of the cars. Ritchie has stated this occurred because he felt Indian women didn't get seen much in mainstream films (as well as stating that he was "quite keen" on Indian women).

★ An accent teacher was employed purely to help Brad Pitt (Mickey) speak "Pikey".

★ In 2006, a Chinese film titled "疯狂石头" (Crazy Stone) was released, and appears to be very much based on ''Snatch''. Examples include frequent use of fast cuts, several groups vying for the same McGuffin (in this case, a precious jade artifact), as well as the robbers-living-next-door element from Ritchie's other film of note, ''Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels''.

★ The film comes in at No. 57 on the list of films that most frequently use the word "fuck" with a total of 159 uses of the word.

★ A Bollywood (Indian) movie named Fool N Final (released in 2007) is based on the movie Snatch, with many people and a dog after a diamond, and an intertwined, fixed boxing match. Incidentally, world-renowned boxer Mike Tyson also stars in the movie.

References

★ at 'Rotten Tomatoes'

★ Box office details for ''Snatch''

★ IMDb - Top 250 chart

★ York Times'' review of ''Snatch''

External links

★

★ Snatchweb.com Sound files from the film