Snatch (film)

''Snatch'' (stylized as ''snatch.'') is a 2000 British-American crime comedy film written and directed by Guy Ritchie, featuring an ensemble cast. Set in the London criminal underworld, the film contains two intertwined plots: one dealing with the search for a stolen diamond, the other with a small-time boxing promoter ( Jason Statham) who finds himself under the thumb of a ruthless gangster ( Alan Ford) who is ready and willing to have his subordinates carry out severe and sadistic acts of violence.

The film features an assortment of characters, including Irish Traveller "One Punch" Mickey O'Neil (Brad Pitt), referred to as a " Pikey", Russian arms-dealer Boris "the Blade" Yurinov ( Rade Šerbedžija), professional thief and gambling addict Franky "Four-Fingers" (Benicio del Toro), American gangster-jeweller Abraham Denovitz known as "Cousin Avi" ( Dennis Farina), small-time crooks Sol ( Lennie James) and Vinny ( Robbie Gee), getaway driver Tyrone ( Ade), and bounty hunter Bullet-Tooth Tony ( Vinnie Jones). It is also distinguished by a kinetic direction and editing style, an intricate double plot featuring numerous ironic twists of chance and causality, and a fast pace.

The film shares themes, ideas, and motifs with 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, Jason Flemyng, and Alan Ford.

Plot

After stealing an diamond while dressed as an ultra-Orthodox Jew during a heist in Antwerp, Franky "Four-Fingers" goes to London to see diamond dealer Doug "The Head" on behalf of New York jeweler and Jewish-American organized crime figure "Cousin Avi". One of the other robbers advises Franky to obtain a gun from his brother, arms dealer and ex- KGB agent Boris "The Blade", then later calls Boris and encourages him to steal the diamond from Franky before he can turn it over to Doug.

Meanwhile, Cockney boxing promoter and slot machine shop owner Turkish is persuaded by crime boss "Brick Top" to put his boxer "Gorgeous George" in a match against one of Brick Top's boxers. However, when Turkish sends his partner Tommy and Gorgeous George to purchase a caravan from a clan of Irish Travellers, George gets challenged to a fistfight against Traveller bare-knuckle boxing champion Mickey O'Neil, who beats up and severely injures George. Turkish persuades Mickey to replace George in his upcoming match by agreeing to purchase a new caravan for Mickey's mother. Brick Top grudgingly agrees, but only on the condition that Mickey will throw the fight in the fourth round.

Boris gives Franky a revolver in exchange for a favour: Franky is to place a bet on Boris' behalf at Brick Top's bookies. Avi, knowing Franky has gambling addiction, flies to London with his bodyguard "Rosebud" to pick up the diamond personally. Boris hires Vinny and Sol, two pawnbrokers and small-time crooks, to rob Franky while he is at the bookies. The robbery goes awry when they crash their car into Franky's van while trying to park, trapping Franky inside. Sol, Vinny, and their getaway driver Tyrone are caught on camera and find no money at the bookies due to the bets being cancelled since Gorgeous George had to drop out, but manage to kidnap Franky in their escape. At their pawn shop, Sol and Vinny hold Franky captive with a sack over his head. Upon Boris' arrival, Sol and Vinny demand he gives them half of the cash when he sells the diamond, during which Vinny utters Boris' name. Realizing that his identity and betrayal has been exposed to Franky, Boris kills Franky by shooting him in the head, and leaves with the diamond.

Instead of throwing the fight, Mickey accidentally knocks his opponent out with a single punch due to his overwhelming power. Infuriated, Brick Top robs Turkish of his life savings and demands that Mickey fight again, and lose since the majority of the gamblers will now bet on him. Mickey refuses to fight again unless Turkish buys an even better caravan for his mother, but Turkish has no money left since Brick Top stole his savings. Furious, Brick Top has his men vandalize Turkish's gambling arcade and burn down Mickey's mother's caravan while she is asleep inside. Brick Top and his men then track down Tyrone, Sol, and Vinny to kill them for robbing his bookies. Sol bargains for their lives by offering Brick Top the stolen diamond, and is given 48 hours to retrieve it.

Avi and Doug hire "Bullet-Tooth" Tony to help them find Franky. When the trail leads to Boris, they kidnap him and retrieve the diamond, while being closely pursued by Sol, Vinny, and Tyrone. Turkish and Tommy, who are on their way to purchase a gun from Boris, are driving on the same stretch of road at the time. When Tommy throws Turkish's carton of milk out of their car window, it splashes over Tony's windscreen, causing him to crash which accidentally kills Rosebud in the process. Boris escapes from the wreck only to be hit by Tyrone's car. Tony and Avi are confronted by Sol, Vinny, and Tyrone at a pub where Tony realizes that the trio's pistols are replicas, which he contrasts with his real handgun, intimidating them into leaving. The wounded Boris arrives with an assault rifle and a grenade launcher looking for the diamond, but is shot and killed by Tony, who wounds Tyrone at the same time. Sol and Vinny leave a wounded Tyrone and escape with the diamond, which Vinny hides in his pants. When Tony catches up to them, they tell him that the diamond is back at their pawn shop. Once there, Vinny pretends to have misplaced the diamond, then accuses his dog, which he got earlier from the Irish Traveller clan, of eating it. When Avi tells Tony to kill the dog, Vinny gives in and produces the diamond from his pants, but the dog snatches the diamond away and runs off, presumably back to the Irish Travellers' campsite. Avi wildly fires at the fleeing dog, accidentally killing Tony. He gives up and returns to New York City.

Mickey agrees to fight to avoid more carnage, but gets so drunk after his mother's wake that Turkish fears he will not make it to the fourth round. If he fails to go down in the fourth round as agreed, Brick Top vows that his men will murder Turkish, Tommy, Mickey, and his entire clan of Travellers.

At the fight, Mickey makes it to the fourth round as per Brick Top's plan, and gets knocked down by his opponent. But at the last moment, Mickey recovers and knocks out his opponent with one punch, much to the chagrin of Turkish, Tommy and Brick Top. Outside the arena, as Tommy, Turkish, and Mickey try to run for their lives, Brick Top and his men are ambushed and killed by the Travellers. It is revealed that this has all been planned out by Mickey to avenge his mother. In fact, Mickey purposely did not go down during the fight as he had secretly bet on himself to win.

The next morning, Turkish and Tommy find the Travellers' campsite deserted as Mickey and "the pikeys" have escaped with their winnings. When confronted by the police, they cannot explain why they are there, until Vinny's dog suddenly appears and they claim to be walking it. On their way back, they cross paths with Sol and Vinny, who are discovered and being put under arrest by the police for hiding Franky and Tony's bodies in the boot of their car. Sol and Vinny watch in defeat as Turkish and Tommy drive away with the dog (and the diamond).

Turkish and Tommy take the dog to a veterinarian to extract a squeaky toy that it had swallowed, and consequently discover the diamond in its stomach. They consult Doug about selling the diamond and he calls Avi, who returns to London to purchase it.

Cast

* Jason Statham as Turkish
* Stephen Graham as Tommy
* Dennis Farina as Abraham "Cousin Avi" Denovitz
* Brad Pitt as Mickey O’Neil
* Alan Ford as "Brick Top" Pulford
* Robbie Gee as "Vinny" Vincent
* Lennie James as "Sol" Solomon
* Benicio del Toro as Franky Four-Fingers
* Ade as Tyrone, the 'Getaway Driver'
* Rade Šerbedžija as Boris "The Blade" Yurinov
* Vinnie Jones as Bullet Tooth Tony
* Adam Fogerty as Gorgeous George
* Mike Reid as Douglas "Doug The Head" Denovitz
* Nicola and Teena Collins as Alex and Susi
* Sorcha Cusack as Mrs O'Neil
* Jason Flemyng as Darren
* Goldie as Bad Boy Lincoln
* Velibor Topić as The Russian
* Sam Douglas as Rosebud
* Ewen Bremner as Mullet
* Andy Beckwith as Errol
* Dave Legeno as John
* William Beck as Neil

Production

Principal photography for ''Snatch'' was filmed between October 18 and December 12, 1999 in London and Buckinghamshire. A half-hour documentary of the production of the film was released featuring much of the cast along with Ritchie.

Reception

Box office

''Snatch'' was largely successful, both in critical response and financial gross, and has gone on to develop a devoted cult following. From a budget of $10 million, the film grossed £12,137,698 in the United Kingdom, $30.3 million in the United States and Canada, and a total of $83.6 million worldwide.

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 74%, based on 142 reviews, with a weighted average score of 6.40/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Though perhaps a case of style over substance, Guy Ritchie's second crime caper is full of snappy dialogue, dark comedy, and interesting characters." On Metacritic, the film has a score 55 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

''Snatch'' also appears on Empire magazine's 2008 poll of the 500 greatest movies of all time at number 466.

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 gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, writing that while ostensibly rooted in the London underworld, Pitt's Irish traveller community were the most interesting element of the plot and the film's clearest predecessors were all American: '' Dick Tracy'' comics, Damon Runyon stories, and zany Marx Brothers comedies. He 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?"

Writing in the ''New York Times'' Elvis Mitchell commented that "Mr. Ritchie seems to be stepping backward when he should be moving ahead". Some critics also argued that the film 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".
The film has gone on to develop a cult movie following, and features within the IMDb top 250 rated films.

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" – The Johnston Brothers
#"Zee Germans" – Jason Statham
#" Golden Brown" – The Stranglers
#" Dreadlock Holiday" – 10cc
#" Hava Nagila" – John Murphy and Daniel L. Griffiths
#"Avi Arrives" – Dennis Farina
#"Cross the Track (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
#"RRRR...Rumble" – Charles Cork
#"Fuckin' in the Bushes" – Oasis

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