Snatch (2000)

Unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookmakers, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers and supposedly Jewish jewelers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond.

Director:

Guy Ritchie

Writer:

Guy Ritchie

Stars:

Jason Statham, Brad Pitt, Benicio Del Toro

Top Rated Movies #104 | 4 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Benicio Del Toro	...	Franky Four Fingers
Dennis Farina	...	Cousin Avi
Vinnie Jones	...	Bullet-Tooth Tony
Brad Pitt	...	Mickey O'Neil
Rade Serbedzija	...	Boris the Blade (as Rade Sherbedgia)
Jason Statham	...	Turkish
Alan Ford	...	Brick Top
Mike Reid	...	Doug the Head
Robbie Gee	...	Vinny
Lennie James	...	Sol
Ewen Bremner	...	Mullet
Jason Flemyng	...	Darren
Ade	...	Tyrone
William Beck	...	Neil
Andy Beckwith	...	Errol

Storyline

Turkish and his close friend/accomplice Tommy get pulled into the world of match fixing by the notorious Brick Top. Things get complicated when the boxer they had lined up gets badly beaten by Mickey, a 'pikey' ( slang for an Irish Gypsy)- who comes into the equation after Turkish, an unlicensed boxing promoter wants to buy a caravan off the Irish Gypsies. They then try to convince Mickey not only to fight for them, but to lose for them too. Whilst all this is going on, a huge diamond heist takes place, and a fistful of motley characters enter the story, including 'Cousin Avi', 'Boris The Blade', 'Franky Four Fingers' and 'Bullet Tooth Tony'. Things go from bad to worse as it all becomes about the money, the guns, and the damned dog.

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Plot Keywords:

diamond | boxer | narrated by character | fight | cockney accent | 

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Taglines:

Stealin' Stones and Breakin' Bones

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence, language and some nudity

Did You Know?

Trivia

The role of Brick Top was originally offered to Sean Connery. Connery liked the script and was curious to see Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), so producer Matthew Vaughn hastily arranged a screening for him at extreme short notice. Connery duly turned up and watched the film, before emerging with his judgment: "That is a good film", he said, "and (in a stage whisper) you're not going to be able to afford me." Cue Alan Ford.

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Goofs

In the first fight, Mickey's cigarette appears/disappears several times

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Quotes

[first lines]
Turkish: [narrating] My name is Turkish. Funny name for an Englishman, I know. My parents to be were on the same plane when it crashed. That's how they met. They named me after the name of the plane. Not many people are named after a plane crash. That's Tommy. He tells people he was named after a gun, but I know he was really named after a famous 19th century ballet dancer.

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Crazy Credits

In the opening credits, the names are shown on the surveillance screens.

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Alternate Versions

In the American version, Turkish appears to enunciate far more clearly in several of his voice-overs, especially near the beginning. In the British version, his speech is closer to that of his character in dialogue.

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Connections

References Die Hard (1988)

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Soundtracks

Don't You Just Know It
Written by Huey P. Smith (as Huey Smith) and John Vincent
Performed by Huey P. Smith (as Huey "Piano" Smith)
Courtesy of Ace Records of Mississippi
Issued under licence from the Demon Music Group Ltd

User Reviews

There are few films that can make me laugh like this one can

`Snatch', written and directed by Guy Ritchie is by far one of my favorite films of all time – it is easily in my personal Top Thirty. In the film, about (what else?) several schemes that happen to go very wrong yet manage to intertwine and (for better or worse) resolve themselves in the end, Ritchie assembles one of the funniest cast of characters in recent memory. Let's see if we can keep this straight:

Turkish (Jason Statham) and his partner Tommy (Stephen Graham) are amateur boxing promoters who, after their premier fighter is wounded, have to find a replacement to fight, or one of the meanest guys in London, Brick Top (Alan Ford), who just happens to run the boxing matches and stands to make a lot of money off of the fight is going to impart his unique brand of justice on them. Enter Mickey (Brad Pitt) the gypsy who knocked their fighter out, who is an unintelligible drunk with quite a right hook. Meanwhile, there is a diamond `the size of a fist' that has been stolen by Franky Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro). On his way back from London to America where he is planning on fencing the diamond, trouble ensues, and his fence, Cousin Avi (Dennis Farina) is forced to come to London to find both Franky and the diamond with the help of characters like Bullet Tooth Tony (Vinnie Jones) and Doug `The Head' Denovitz (Mike Reid). Of course, this can't happen easily, as there are a trio of inept thieves on the trail of the diamond as well as my personal favorite character in the film, Boris `The Blade' Yurinov (Rade Serbedzija) – or as he's better known, `Boris the Bullet Dodger'.

Did you get all that? The performances by all of the above actors, and several more that I didn't even mention are all really good, particularly Brad Pitt's. Every single actor in `Snatch' looks like they are having one hell of a good time working in the film. This story, while complex and with many ramifications from the core plot is absolutely brilliant and a lot of fun. There are many one-liners that I still personally use four years after first seeing the film, and the intricate weaving of the characters to tell a very simple heist story is just SO good. `Snatch' would be a great film due to its story alone, but Guy Ritchie's direction is so dead on, the film transcends brilliant and becomes FAN-insert your choice of expletive here-TASTIC. The slick cinematography, lightning-fast pacing and fun camera angles are right on target with the story. Add on a great soundtrack that spans Oasis, techno and a traditional-sounding Hasidic song and Ritchie has presented the viewer with an instant classic.

While this was not the first time I had seen the film `Snatch', it was the first time I'd watched the film knowing that I would have to analyze it slightly in order to funnel my thoughts from the film just being `Phenomenal!' to `Phenomenal because…..' While I can certainly be classified as an unabashed Madonna fan, and have been for the last two decades, I REALLY hope that Ritchie decides to drop his wife from his film work and not continue on the `Swept Away' path, rather, to get back to the work that has earned him well-deserved high praise. Sorry Madge.

--Shelly

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

19 January 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Diamonds

Filming Locations:

UK

Box Office

Budget:

GBP6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$27,932, 10 December 2000

Gross USA:

$30,328,156

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$83,557,872

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, SKA Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1