Snatch is a 2000 crime comedy film written and directed by Guy Ritchie, featuring an ensemble cast and 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 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.
Plot
A gang of robbers disguised as Orthodox Jews steal an 86-carat (17.2g) diamond during a heist in Antwerp. Franky Four-Fingers, the gang's leader, goes to London to see diamond dealer Doug the Head on behalf of Jewish-American organized crime figure Cousin Avi to fence the stolen diamonds. Franky is told to visit arms dealer and ex-KGB agent Boris the Blade in London by one of the robbers, who tells Boris, his brother, to steal the diamond from Franky.
Unlicensed boxing promoter and slot machine shop owner Turkish is forced to enter his boxer Gorgeous George in a match against one of crime boss Brick Top's boxers. When Turkish sends his partner Tommy with George to purchase a caravan from a group of Irish Travellers, George is knocked out by bare-knuckle boxing champion Mickey O'Neil with a single punch. Mickey agrees to replace the injured George in the upcoming match in exchange for a new caravan for his mother, and Brick Top demands that Mickey throw the fight.
Boris arranges for pawnbrokers Vinny and Sol to rob Franky at Brick Top's bookies, while Avi, knowing Franky is a gambling addict, flies to London with his bodyguard Rosebud to pick up the diamond personally. At the bookies, Sol, Vinny, and their getaway driver Tyrone are caught on camera and find no money, since Gorgeous George's cancellation means that all bets are off. They manage to kidnap Franky, handcuffed to the briefcase containing the diamond, but he is killed by Boris after Vinny accidentally uses Boris's name within earshot. Hacking off Franky's arm, Boris leaves with the diamond.
At the match, Mickey again knocks his opponent out with a single punch, prompting Brick Top to seize Turkish's savings and demand that Mickey lose another fight. When Mickey refuses, Brick Top's men trash Turkish's arcade and burn down Mickey's mother's caravan, killing her. Brick Top tracks down Tyrone, Vinny, and Sol, who bargains for their lives by offering to retrieve the diamond. Avi and Doug hire bounty hunter Bullet-Tooth Tony to find Franky and they capture Boris and the diamond, pursued by Sol, Vinny, and Tyrone, with Turkish and Tommy driving on the same road. Tommy inadvertently causes Tony to crash, killing Rosebud, and Boris escapes only to be hit by Tyrone's car.
Confronted by Sol, Vinny, and Tyrone at a pub, Tony scares them off after noticing their guns are harmless replicas. A heavily armed Boris arrives and is killed by Tony, while Sol and Vinny escape with the diamond. Tony catches up to them, and they lie that the diamond is at their pawn shop, where Vinny accuses his dog, which he was given earlier by the Travellers, of eating it. When Avi tells Tony to kill the dog, Vinny produces the diamond, which the dog snatches and runs off back to the Travellers' campsite. Avi fires wildly at the fleeing dog, accidentally killing Tony, and returns to New York City emptyhanded.
Mickey agrees to fight to avoid further carnage, but gets so drunk at his mother's wake that Turkish fears he will ruin the fixed match. Brick Top sends his men to the Travellers' camp, prepared to kill them all if Mickey fails. Making it to the fourth round per Brick Top's plan, Mickey is knocked down, but recovers at the last moment and once again knocks out his opponent with one punch. Before they can kill Tommy, Turkish, and Mickey, Brick Top and his men are ambushed and massacred by the Travellers. This was all planned by Mickey, avenging his mother while making huge winnings by secretly betting on himself.
The next morning, Turkish and Tommy return to the Travellers' campsite to recruit Mickey to fight for them legitimately, but find it deserted and are confronted by the police. Vinny's dog appears then and they claim to be simply out walking it, and the police allow them to leave. They cross paths with Sol and Vinny, who are arrested with Franky's body in the boot of their car. Taking the dog to a veterinarian to extract a squeaky toy it swallowed, Turkish and Tommy discover the diamond and consult Doug; he calls Avi, who returns to London to purchase it.
Sol Campbell as Bouncer at Boxing match (uncredited)
Production
Principal photography for Snatch was filmed between 18 October and 12 December 1999, in London and Buckinghamshire.[5] A half-hour documentary of the production of the film was released featuring much of the cast along with Ritchie.[6] Tom Delmar worked as the stunts choreographer for Snatch, and he has also choreographed stunt sequences in films such as Aliens, 102 Dalmatians and Velayudham.[7]
Reception
Box office
Snatch was largely successful, both in critical response and financial gross, and has gone on to develop a devoted cult following. It opened in the UK on 1 September 2000 in 389 cinemas and grossed £2,637,364 in its opening weekend to become the number one film at the box office. Including preview grosses of £542,638, its opening weekend gross of £3.1 million set the record for an 18-certificate film, beating the record set earlier in the year by American Beauty.[8][9] From a budget of $10 million,[3] the film grossed £12,137,698 in the United Kingdom,[10] $30.3 million in the United States and Canada, and a total of $83.6 million worldwide.[4]
Critical response
On review aggregatorRotten 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."[11] On Metacritic, the film has a score 55 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[12] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[13]
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 two out of four 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?"[14]
Writing in the New York TimesElvis Mitchell commented that "Mr. Ritchie seems to be stepping backward when he should be moving ahead".[15] 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".[14]
The film has gone on to develop a cult movie following,[16] and features within the IMDb top 250 rated films.[17]
The film has been released in multiple incarnations on DVD and other formats.
In July 2001, a two-disc special edition was released, containing both a full-screen and widescreen presentation of the feature. Included was an audio commentary track with director Guy Ritchie and producer Matthew Vaughn. The special features on the second disc included a making-offeaturette, deleted scenes, original theatrical trailer and TV spots, text/photo galleries, storyboard comparisons, and filmographies.[citation needed]
In September 2002, Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment released a "deluxe collection" DVD as part of the company's Superbit series. This release contained two discs, one being the special features disc of the original DVD release, and the other a superbit version of the feature. As is the case with superbit presentations, the disc was absent of the additional features included in the original standard DVD, such as the audio commentary. The disc contained subtitles in eight different languages, including a "pikey" track, which only showed subtitles for the character Mickey.[citation needed]
In June 2003, a single disc setup was released, with new cover art, containing the feature disc of the special edition set. This version was simply a repackaging, omitting the second disc.[citation needed]
In July 2021, Sony Pictures released Snatch on the 4k Ultra HD format, which features an HDR transfer of the film along with the special features of the previously released Blu-Ray.[20]
The series had 20 episodes, running one hour-long each, and was named the most-viewed series for the streamer.[22] The project was announced as a joint-venture production between Sony Pictures Television, Little Island Productions, and Sony Crackle Originals.[23] The series debuted on 16 March 2017 and ran for two seasons.[24][22]
Goodfellas is a 1990 American biographical gangster film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of Pileggi's 1985 nonfiction book Wiseguy. Starring Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci, Lorraine Bracco, and Paul Sorvino, the film narrates the rise and fall of mob associate Henry Hill and his friends and family from 1955 to 1980.
Frankenstein is a 1931 American gothic pre-Code science fiction horror film directed by James Whale, produced by Carl Laemmle Jr., and adapted from a 1927 play by Peggy Webling, which in turn was based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The Webling play was adapted by John L. Balderston and the screenplay written by Francis Edward Faragoh and Garrett Fort, with uncredited contributions from Robert Florey and John Russell.
Guy Stuart Ritchie is an English film director, producer and screenwriter. His work includes British gangster films and the Sherlock Holmes films starring Robert Downey Jr.
Dr. Who and the Daleks is a 1965 British science fiction film directed by Gordon Flemyng and written by Milton Subotsky, and the first of two films based on the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who. It stars Peter Cushing as Dr. Who, Roberta Tovey as Susan, Jennie Linden as Barbara, and Roy Castle as Ian. It was followed by Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966).
True Romance is a 1993 American romantic crime film directed by Tony Scott and written by Quentin Tarantino. It features an ensemble cast led by Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette, with Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, and Christopher Walken in supporting roles. Slater and Arquette portray newlyweds on the run from the Mafia after stealing a shipment of drugs.
The Criterion Collection, Inc. is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A de facto subsidiary of arthouse film distributor Janus Films, Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinephiles and public and academic libraries. Criterion has helped to standardize certain aspects of home-video releases such as film restoration, the letterboxing format for widescreen films and the inclusion of bonus features such as scholarly essays and documentary content about the films and filmmakers. Criterion most notably pioneered the use of commentary tracks. Criterion has produced and distributed more than one thousand special editions of its films in VHS, Betamax, LaserDisc, DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray formats and box sets. These films and their special features are also available via The Criterion Channel, an online streaming service that the company operates.
Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. is the American home video distribution division of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The Flintstone Kids is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera. It is an alternative incarnation of the studio's original animated series The Flintstones. The series depicts juvenile versions of the main characters from the original show. It aired from September 13, 1986, to November 14, 1987, on ABC. It was the first Flintstones series not to have a laugh track.
The Sandlot is a 1993 American coming-of-age sports comedy film co-written, directed, and narrated by David Mickey Evans. It tells the story of a group of young baseball players during the summer of 1962. It stars Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Karen Allen, Denis Leary, Marty York, and James Earl Jones. The movie is set in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, CA and the filming locations were in Midvale, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, Utah. It grossed $34 million worldwide and has since become a cult film.
Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc. is the home entertainment distribution arm of the Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, and other audiovisual content across digital formats and platforms.
Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers, or simply Walt Disney’s The Three Musketeers is a 2004 American animated direct-to-video musical adventure film based on the film adaptations of the 1844 novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and the Mickey Mouse film series by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. As the title suggests, it features Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy as the three musketeers in their first full-length feature film together. This film was directed by Donovan Cook, produced by Walt Disney Pictures and the Australian office of DisneyToon Studios. It was released directly to VHS and DVD on August 17, 2004, by Walt Disney Home Entertainment, and was later re-released on Blu-ray Disc on August 12, 2014, coinciding with the film's 10th anniversary.
Best of the Best 4: Without Warning is a 1998 American martial arts action film written and directed by the film's star, Phillip Rhee. It is the third sequel in the Best of the Best film series. The film co-stars Ernie Hudson, Tobin Bell, Paul Gleason, and Sven-Ole Thorsen.
Rises Over Japan is a concert film by the Mark IV of Deep Purple, directed by Tony Klinger and released in 1985.
Luca Giuseppe "Luke" Pasqualino is a British actor. He is best known for portraying Freddie McClair in the television series Skins (2009–2010), d'Artagnan in the television series The Musketeers (2014–2016) and Elvis Harte in Our Girl (2016–2020).
Phoenix Rising is a combo CD/DVD live album by the Mark IV line-up of Deep Purple, released in May 2011. It includes rare live tracks from Mk IV history, Rises Over Japan, a concert film directed by Tony Klinger, Gettin' Tighter, an 80-minute new music documentary about the band's 1975/1976 tour, and some extras.
Life Story is a British natural-history television series co-produced by the BBC Natural History Unit, Discovery Channel and France Télévisions in association with The Open University. The six-part series, narrated by David Attenborough, reveals the challenges faced by individual animals at different stages of their lives.
Planet Earth II is a 2016 British nature documentary series co-produced by the BBC Natural History Unit, BBC Studios, BBC America, ZDF, France Télévisions and Tencent and distributed by BBC Worldwide. It functions as a sequel to Planet Earth, which was broadcast in 2006. The series is presented and narrated by Sir David Attenborough with the main theme music composed by Hans Zimmer.
Snatch is a crime comedy-drama television series based on the film of the same name, and that premiered on March 16, 2017, on Crackle. The series was created by Alex De Rakoff and stars Luke Pasqualino, Rupert Grint, Lucien Laviscount, Phoebe Dynevor, Juliet Aubrey, Marc Warren, Stephanie Leonidas, Tamer Hassan, and Dougray Scott.
The Gentlemen is a 2019 gangster film written, directed and produced by Guy Ritchie, who developed the story along with Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Eddie Marsan, Colin Farrell, and Hugh Grant. It follows an American drug lord in England who is looking to sell his business, setting off a chain of blackmail and schemes to undermine him.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
