A botched card game in London triggers four friends, thugs, weed-growers, hard gangsters, loan sharks and debt collectors to collide with each other in a series of unexpected events, all for the sake of weed, cash and two antique shotguns.
Unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookmakers, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers and supposedly Jewish jewelers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond.
An NYPD officer tries to save his wife and several others taken hostage by German terrorists during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.
Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire of the same name, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.
Disgruntled Korean War veteran Walt Kowalski sets out to reform his neighbor, Thao Lor, a Hmong teenager who tried to steal Kowalski's prized possession: a 1972 Gran Torino.
Director:
Clint Eastwood
Stars:
Clint Eastwood,
Bee Vang,
Christopher Carley
A tale of greed, deception, money, power, and murder occur between two best friends: a mafia enforcer and a casino executive, compete against each other over a gambling empire, and over a fast living and fast loving socialite.
When a Russian mobster orchestrates a crooked land deal, millions of dollars are up for grabs, drawing in the entire London underworld into a feeding frenzy at a time when the old criminal regime is losing turf to a wealthy foreign mob.
Four Jack-the-lads find themselves heavily - seriously heavily - in debt to an East End hard man and his enforcers after a crooked card game. Overhearing their neighbours in the next flat plotting to hold up a group of out-of-their-depth drug growers, our heros decide to stitch up the robbers in turn. In a way the confusion really starts when a pair of antique double-barrelled shotguns go missing in a completely different scam.Written by
Anonymous
Jason Flemyng joked that he was the poshest person on set, as everyone else had criminal records. See more »
Goofs
As Tanya, the dealer, is explaining the game of Three Card Brag she completes the initial deal. She accidentally exposes the bottom of the deck which would be visible by all players as a 7 of diamonds. This should have resulted in a misdeal. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Bacon:
Right. Let's sort the buyers from the spyers, the needy from the greedy, and those who trust me from the ones who don't, because if you can't see value here today, you're not up here shopping. You're up here shoplifting. You see these goods? Never seen daylight, moonlight, Israelite. Fanny by the gaslight. Take a bag, c'mon take a bag. I took a bag home last night. Cost me a lot more than ten pound, I can tell you. Anyone like jewelry? Look at that one there. Handmade in Italy, ...
[...] See more »
Crazy Credits
In the closing credits, the character names in the cast list are shown entirely in lower-case letters with no initial capital letters. See more »
Alternate Versions
New footage included in director's cut:
at the very start of film, Ed is shown explaining the rules of 3 Card Brag to two people;
the scene where Big Chris goes to see the man on the sunbed is longer
Tom, Soap and Bacon are shown walking through the pub to the bar while Ed is playing cards
the earlier stages of the card game are shown
Alan explains to Ed the "history" between JD and Harry
when Barry is talking to the two scousers the dialogue is different
when Big Chris is walking into Harry's office near the end, he meets the man who was on the sunbed near the start of the film.
when Ed is being interviewed by the police you see him finishing explaining the rules of 3 Card Brag to them (as seen at very start)
just before the credits, you see Soap telling a whole joke in the car when they are coming back from the job
three outtakes are shown during the credits: one with Soap telling a joke, the next where Barry asks one of the scouser's for an ice cream and one where a guy runs onto the set.
I'm not sure whether to call this a black comedy or a comedy-noir. The story is about four working class lads who have each managed to save up 25,000 pounds to spot their card-shark friend for a high-stakes poker game with "Hatchet" Harry, the local gangster.
Unfortunately, Harry's game is rigged and the four end up owing Harry half a million pounds, with just one week to come up with the cash. What ensues is a set of schemes, counter-schemes, rip-offs, and bad/good luck that demand you pay attention. On several occasions I had to pause the video just to take stock of which gang was planning what.
The final thirty minutes of the film, as the plots all collide and overlap, turn set-piece shoot outs into comedic punchlines. The comedy is driven by exploding our expectations of what are otherwise pretty standard scenes from the film-noir genre.
The acting is strong and the script very tight. Although I am not normally a fan of voice overs, this one informs without spoiling the action. And I liked the use of the slow-motion to disrupt the action and keep me paying attention.
While this film may not be for everyone, if you enjoy a darker pallette, this may be right up your alley.
75 of 92 people found this review helpful.
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I'm not sure whether to call this a black comedy or a comedy-noir. The story is about four working class lads who have each managed to save up 25,000 pounds to spot their card-shark friend for a high-stakes poker game with "Hatchet" Harry, the local gangster.
Unfortunately, Harry's game is rigged and the four end up owing Harry half a million pounds, with just one week to come up with the cash. What ensues is a set of schemes, counter-schemes, rip-offs, and bad/good luck that demand you pay attention. On several occasions I had to pause the video just to take stock of which gang was planning what.
The final thirty minutes of the film, as the plots all collide and overlap, turn set-piece shoot outs into comedic punchlines. The comedy is driven by exploding our expectations of what are otherwise pretty standard scenes from the film-noir genre.
The acting is strong and the script very tight. Although I am not normally a fan of voice overs, this one informs without spoiling the action. And I liked the use of the slow-motion to disrupt the action and keep me paying attention.
While this film may not be for everyone, if you enjoy a darker pallette, this may be right up your alley.