Snatch is the second film by British director and recovering Madonna enthusiast Guy Ritchie. Like his first film, Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch is a humorous crime caper featuring a trainwreck of villains in a cartoonish London underworld.The film's plot is essentially broken down into two mostly separate plot threads, both of which feature large ensemble casts.The film opens with Jewish gangster and expert thief Frankie "Four Fingers" stealing a huge 86 karat diamond in Antwerp. With the help of a section of the Russian Mob that his boss is working with, Frankie is able to smuggle the diamond onto a plane, but his gun is taken by the Russians so as to not cause problems. Frankie is advised to see Boris, a local fence in London, if he wants a new gun. The Russian Gangster who took Frankie's gun, (who is actually Boris' brother) and Boris immediately begin conspiring on how to steal the diamond from Frankie before Frankie heads back home to America, without the deed leading back to them.At this point we're introduced to Turkish and Tommy, who are the closest thing the film has to main characters. The two are shady but basically decent entrepreneurs who dabble in unlicensed boxing and slot machines. Turkish, who has a reputation for running honest fights, is being forced by circumstances to work with Brick Top, a monstrous local gangster, on a fixed fight. Gorgeous George (Turkish's leading fighter) is set to go down in the 4th round against one of Brick Top's fighters. There's just one problem: on a completely unrelated errand Gorgeous George gets knocked out and damn near killed by Mickey, a bareknuckle boxing Irish Traveller. When Turkish recruits Mickey as a replacement, Brick Top attempts to force him to take the same dive Gorgeous George was going to, but Mickey has plans of his own.Boris decides that the best way to go about getting the diamond without seeming to be involved is to prey on Frankie's gambling addiction. Boris gives Frankie a tip about how the upcoming fight with Brick Top's fighter is supposed to be fixed, which sends Frankie off to the bookie to place a bet on it. Boris then hires a pair of pawnbrokers (Sol and Vincent) to ambush him at Brick Top's bookie. When Frankie disappears, his boss and New York crime kingpin Avi heads to London and recruits the enforcer-for-hire Bullet-Tooth Tony to find Frankie and the diamond.The two threads parallel each other and converge in surprising ways before the dust finally settles.This film contains examples of:
Actor Allusion: More like a writer/director allusion - Tony hears Madonna's "Lucky Star" on the radio and comments, "I love this track!" Guy Ritchie and Madonna, well, you know the story.
Anti-Hero: Turkish is definitely a shady character, and hardly a nice guy, but he's by far the most decent of the bunch. On account of being the only one who's not a violent criminal. Or a complete idiot.
Tony: I'm driving down the street with your head stuck in my window. What do you think I'm doing, you pen-arse?
Bad Ass Bystander: The girl behind the counter at Brick Top's betting shop. She stares down some flunky robbers and manages to shoot at them with their own gun before escaping.
Batter Up: Turkish uses what looks like a lead-cored baseball bat to take out two similarly-armed thugs during the attack on his arcade.
BFG: "That's a fucking anti-aircraft gun, Vincent!"
Avi: Shut up and sit down, you big bald fuck. I don't like leaving my country, Doug, and I especially don't like leaving it for anything other than white sandy beaches and drinks with little straw hats.
Avi's tendency to drop a Cluster F-Bomb at any moment isn't too surprising when you consider that he's played by the same guy who brought us Ray Bones.
According to IMDB the word "fuck" is said 163 times in the movie. The movie is 104 minutes long so it's said about one and half times per minute.
Chekhov's Gun: Turkish mocks Tommy for buying a gun, then mocks him further when the gun turns out to be defective, but Tommy successfully uses it to hold off Brick Top's Mooks and secure their escape.
The Chessmaster: Of all people, Mickey. There's a reason he kept winning those fights. He wanted to.
Cracking Up: Tony does this, but Mickey takes the cake. He spends most of the fight against Gorgeous methodically cracking his entire skeleton, before laying him out with one punch.
Turkish: Well, fuck me. What have you been reading?
Deadpan Snarker: Turkish. Completely. Tony also has more than a touch of it.
"Well, c'mon. Before ze Germans get here."
Tommy is panicking about what to do if any of the countless things that can go wrong with the plan they're forced into go wrong. Turkish has no trouble working out the right thing to do but Tommy doesn't seem too happy with a plan involving "get murdered before we leave the building and I imagine we get fed to the pigs."
"You show me how to control a wild fucking Pikey, and I'll show you how to control an UNHINGED, pig-feeding gangster!"
Bullettooth Tony: Boris the Bullet-Dodger? Avi: Why do they call him that? Bullettooth Tony: ...Because he dodges bullets, Avi.
Brick Top ordering a pair of Mooks tasered and suffocated to death with plastic bags...in full view of witnesses, whom he then effortlessly intimidates into silence.
Bullet-Tooth Tony repeatedly slamming a man's head in a car door, then pausing to answer his car phone with a jaunty, "Bonjour!"
Fake Brit: Brad Pitt. (with a bizarre version of the Traveller accent; type "Irish traveller" into YouTube if you want to know what he should sound like)
Supposedly Pitt proved incapable of learning to speak with a 'proper' British accent, so Guy Ritchie decided to go with that instead.
Fake Ultimate Hero: Possibly Bullet-Tooth Tony. He has a reputation for being Made of Iron due to supposedly having survived being shot six times at one sitting, but Avi kills him stone dead with a single stray shot.
Of course, Tony survived being shot by a small compact pistol, not a Desert Eagle. Guess the guy who wanted to kill him simply needed bigger bullets.
Rosebud: You gotta get me to a doctor! Shoot that fuck! And then get me to a doctor!
Groin Attack: Suffered by Tommy when he attempted to complain to Boris about the defective firearm he'd been sold. Boris had recently been run over and was in no mood to listen.
Hey, It's That Guy!: The main Traveller who isn't Mickey or Mickey's mam is played by Jason Flemyng, who was Tom in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. In the DVD commentary, the filmmakers joke about how much screen time Flemyng managed to nab for himself in what was supposed to be a cameo.
Ironic Nickname: Brick Top probably received his nickname before his hair went grey.
Kick the Dog: There's no real reason to dislike Avi until he gives a certain command involving a dog. Bricktop is also seen killing two Mooks and brutalizing dogs early in the film to establish him as a villain amongst villains. When he order the burning of Mickey's caravan with his mother still inside, he crosses a Moral Event Horizon.
Laser-Guided Karma: By the end of the film, Turkish and Tommy, the only people who didn't try anything more criminal or morally questionable than surviving and who didn't even know the diamond existed, end up profiting from it. Everyone else is either dead, arrested, or suffered a severe loss.
Also, it's implied that Avi will get the diamond, and therefore a big profit, which probably goes a long way toward making up for the losses of Frankie and Rosebud.
Laughably Evil: Even for a Guy Ritchie movie, Brick Top is truly a complete monster, brutalizing dogs and people both, committing multiple cold blooded murders and threatening to wipe out an entire Traveller clan. He's also really funny, and gets many of the best lines in the movie.
Law of Inverse Recoil: A Desert Eagle .50 Action Express doesn't seem to have a lot of recoil when fired one-handed by both Tony and Cousin Avi.
Leitmotif: Boris' theme music plays every single moment that he is on screen. At one point he walks into a house and we can hear his theme song muffled through the walls.
Likes Older Women: Tommy seems to have quite the soft spot for Mickey's mam...
MacGuffin: The 86 carat diamond. Several characters spend much of the film trying to get the diamond, however by the end of the film, most of the bad guys end up in jail or dead. The diamond gets swallowed by a dog which in turn is adopted by Turkish and Tommy, the only main characters who were not involved with the diamond plot.
Made of Iron: Tony having survived getting shot six times (in one sitting) in the past automatically qualifies him. Boris earned his nickname "The Bullet-Dodger" by, well, dodging bullets and it takes a full magazine from Tony's Desert Eagle .50 to lay him out for good. And Mickey, who gives his first opponent about 8 free hits before laying him out.
The Mafiya: Boris isn't actually a "sneaky fuckin' Russian," but a sneaky fuckin' Uzbekistanian.
Meaningful Name: Played with. Boris' two nicknames (Boris the Blade and Boris the Bullet Dodger) actually aren't all that accurate. He's only seen using a blade once in the entire movie, and he doesn't dodge bullets so much as absorb them. His third name "Boris the sneaky fucking Russian" is a bit more accurate (although technically he's an Uzbekistanian).
Oh Crap: Several moments: Bad Boy Lincoln when he recognizes Bricktop, Turkish and Tommy's reaction when Mickey knocks out Bricktop's fighter (both times).
Turkish Now, we are fucked.
Sol, Vince and Tyrone's reactions to Bullet Tooth Tony's Desert Eagle, and Avi's reaction to accidentally killing Bullet Tooth Tony.
Bricktop gets a retroactive one; at the climax, he see him hang up his phone with a troubled expression on his face. It's only after a flashback that we realize it's because his plan to teach Mickey a lesson by killing his entire clan has gone badly wrong.
The guy who tried to shoot Tony six times in flashback also looks rather anxious when Tony refuses to 'fucking die' and comes at him with a sword.
Mickey gets one in the last fight in the movie, when he almost knocks the other fighter out in the first round. He's worried because he knows that his friends haven't had enough time to take care of Brick Top's men, and if he won the fight that early, they'd all be fucked. Proper fucked.
Only Sane Man: Turkish seems to be the only main character in the film who is not too greedy, crazy, or stupid.
Rapid-Fire Comedy: It's best to watch this film on DVD so you can pause it to crack up laughing without missing another joke in the process. They're "blink and you'll miss it" at times.
Tony: So. You're obviously the big dick. And the men on either side of you are your balls. There are two types of balls. There are big brave balls and there are little mincy faggot balls.
Vinny: These are your last words so make them a prayer.
Tony: Now dicks have drive and clarity of vision, but they're not clever. They smell pussy and they want a piece of the action. And you thought you smelled some good ole pussy and have brought your two little mincy faggot balls along for a good ole time. But you've got your parties muddled up. There's no pussy here. Just a dose that'll make you wish you were born a woman. Like a prick, you're having second thoughts. You're shrinking. And your two little balls are shrinking with you. And the fact that you've got 'Replica' written down the side of your guns...[they look in horror at their guns] and the fact that I've got Desert Eagle, point-five-oh written on the side of mine [They look at his with even more horror] should precipitate your balls into shrinking, along with your presence. Now... [he sips his drink] ...Fuck off.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: "It had previously occurred to me that the pikey had taken the demise of his mother rather lightly. But for every action, there's a reaction. And a pikey reaction...is quite a fucking thing."
Running Gag: Mostly just repeated phrases like "sneaky fuckin' Russian", "Franky fuckin' Four Fingers", "I fucking hate pikeys", "proper fucked", and "ze Germans".
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Pretty much said word-for-word by Sol after witnessing a massive shoot out which they only just managed to survive.
'Fuck it, we're outta here.'
Shirtless Scene: Brad Pitt as a bareknuckle boxer spends a lot of time with his shirt off, exposing his numerous gypsy tats and chiseled abs.
Shout Out: Bullet Tooth Tony is introduced in a scene where he is continuously banging a car door off the head of some random Mook in the same manner as Big Chris (Also played by Vinnie Jones) does in Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels.
Brick Top: Do you know what Nemesis means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by a 'orrible cunt. Me.
Those Wacky Nazis: Referenced. When Tommy reveals he has bought a gun "for protection", Turkish replies "Who from? Ze Germans?"
Throwing The Fight: Mickey is asked to do this twice. He's not too keen on the idea.
Took a Level in Badass: Tommy, Turkish's timid little sidekick, grows a pair of giant Brass Balls before the movie is over. He saves Turkish's ass by walking in with his defective Hand Cannon and facing down a half-dozen of Brick Top's mooks armed with various bladed and blunt weapons. When Errol advances on him, does he back down, knowing his gun won't fire? Nope. He steps forward, shoves the gun in Errol's face and dares him to try anything.
Tony shouting to Avi "Pull your socks up!" as a way to warn him to duck, before he shoots through the wall.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Tyrone's fate is not immediately clear; he appears to survive the showdown at the pub unscathed, and we last see him running off, but nothing more is mentioned of him.
The Yardies: Lincoln (played by Goldie) is described as "a bad boy Yardie."
You Have To Have Jews: Doug the Head obviously believes this, because he pretends to be Jewish thinking it's good for business, "because when you're in the diamond trade... it is good business".
Snatch is the second film by British director and recovering Madonna enthusiast Guy Ritchie. Like his first film, Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch is a humorous crime caper featuring a trainwreck of villains in a cartoonish London underworld.The film's plot is essentially broken down into two mostly separate plot threads, both of which feature large ensemble casts.The film opens with Jewish gangster and expert thief Frankie "Four Fingers" stealing a huge 86 karat diamond in Antwerp. With the help of a section of the Russian Mob that his boss is working with, Frankie is able to smuggle the diamond onto a plane, but his gun is taken by the Russians so as to not cause problems. Frankie is advised to see Boris, a local fence in London, if he wants a new gun. The Russian Gangster who took Frankie's gun, (who is actually Boris' brother) and Boris immediately begin conspiring on how to steal the diamond from Frankie before Frankie heads back home to America, without the deed leading back to them.At this point we're introduced to Turkish and Tommy, who are the closest thing the film has to main characters. The two are shady but basically decent entrepreneurs who dabble in unlicensed boxing and slot machines. Turkish, who has a reputation for running honest fights, is being forced by circumstances to work with Brick Top, a monstrous local gangster, on a fixed fight. Gorgeous George (Turkish's leading fighter) is set to go down in the 4th round against one of Brick Top's fighters. There's just one problem: on a completely unrelated errand Gorgeous George gets knocked out and damn near killed by Mickey, a bareknuckle boxing Irish Traveller. When Turkish recruits Mickey as a replacement, Brick Top attempts to force him to take the same dive Gorgeous George was going to, but Mickey has plans of his own.Boris decides that the best way to go about getting the diamond without seeming to be involved is to prey on Frankie's gambling addiction. Boris gives Frankie a tip about how the upcoming fight with Brick Top's fighter is supposed to be fixed, which sends Frankie off to the bookie to place a bet on it. Boris then hires a pair of pawnbrokers (Sol and Vincent) to ambush him at Brick Top's bookie. When Frankie disappears, his boss and New York crime kingpin Avi heads to London and recruits the enforcer-for-hire Bullet-Tooth Tony to find Frankie and the diamond.The two threads parallel each other and converge in surprising ways before the dust finally settles.
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