Snatch (film)

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Snatch is a 2000 film by British writer-director Guy Ritchie. It features an ensemble cast including Dennis Farina, Jason Flemyng, Adam Fogerty, Alan Ford, Stephen Graham, Brad Pitt, Benicio Del Toro, Vinnie Jones, Rade Šerbedžija and Jason Statham.

The film is characterised by Ritchie's usual assortment of colourful characters, especially the "pikey" Irish Traveller Mickey (Pitt), Uzbekistani ex-KGB agent and gangster Boris the Blade (or Boris the Bullet-Dodger) (Šerbedžija), professional thief-cum-gambling addict Frankie Four-Fingers (del Toro) and Bullet-Tooth Tony (Jones), who can "find you Moses in the burning bush if you pay him".

Many of the cast members also appeared in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Besides the cast, the films share many of the same ideas and motifs while using separate characters and storylines.

The film has several sections where many hours go by and incidents are implied but not shown, noticeably the confrontation between Avi's accomplice 'Rosebud' and Boris the Blade, as well as the resulting kidnapping of Boris by Tony and Avi.

1 Plot
2 Detailed Summary
3 Themes
4 External links

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Plot

There are two main plots, one that centres around a very valuable 86 carat (17.2 g) diamond, which later in the film is described as being 84 carats. The diamond is stolen by Franky Four-Fingers (Del Toro) in Antwerp and brought to London, where he and the diamond fall afoul of local thieves and underworld figures. The other revolves around an unlicensed boxing promoter who finds himself in debt to the local crime boss after running afoul of a camp of gypsies. As events twist and turn, the two situations blend into one with a chain reaction of events carrying on for each and every character.

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Detailed Summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Diamond thief, courier and gambling addict Franky 'Four Fingers' arrives in London en route to New York to deliver a huge diamond to boss Avi (Dennis Farina). While attempting to purchase a gun, he is convinced into placing a bet on an illegal boxing bout by Boris 'The Blade' as payment for the firearm. Little does he know that Boris has set him up - and local pawnshop owners Vincent (Robbie Gee) and Sol (Lennie James), along with their getaway driver, Tyrone (Ade) are to rob him at the bookies. All does not go according to plan; with the bookies having no money after the fight is declared void and setting off the alarm, forcing the gang to kidnap Franky as they flee.

Back at their pawnshop, Vinny and Sol open the case and discover the huge diamond. Boris turns up to collect his prize, but Sol and Vinny are now reluctant to give him the gem after leaving the bookies empty handed. In the ensuing argument, Boris kills Franky after Boris’ identity is revealed and leaves with the diamond.

In New York, news that Franky has gone missing forces Avi and his aid 'Rosebud' to hop on a plane to London. Avi, along with his cousin, jewellery store owner Doug ‘The Head’ (Mike Reid) hire local legend 'Bullet Tooth' Tony (Vinnie Jones) to find Franky and the diamond. The fate of the diamond courier is soon discovered and the hunt for the missing stone ensues.

Local crime boss Bricktop Polford (Alan Ford), owner of the robbed bookies and illegal fight organiser now wants revenge on the would-be robbers. After studying CCTV footage, Tyrone is easily recognised by Bricktop’s cronies. Tyrone is quickly tracked down and has dogs set on him, forcing him to reveal the identity of his accomplices. Bricktop pays a visit to Vinny and Sol’s pawnshop and under threat of being fed to pigs; they promise Bricktop the diamond in exchange for letting them live.

In the mean time, the protagonist (and very occasional narrator) of the film, Turkish (Statham), an unlicensed boxing promoter and arcade owner, sends Gorgeous George (Fogerty) and Tommy (Graham) to buy a caravan from a gypsy campsite to replace his old run-down one. But whilst leaving with their newly bought caravan, the wheels break off of it. The gypsies refuse to give a refund, but instead agree that Mickey will fight George for the money. Unknown to Tommy and George, however, Mickey is in fact a bare-knuckle boxing champion, who proceeds to knock out George with a single punch, breaking his jaw. Turkish now finds himself in debt to Bricktop, as his only fighter is unable to fight in a bout arranged by Bricktop.

Now in Bricktop's pocket, Turkish and Tommy need to find a replacement fighter and convince Mickey to fill the role, as long as they buy a new caravan for his mum. Bricktop consents, provided that Mickey loses the fight by going down in the fourth round. (As it happens, this fight was the same fight which was meant to turn a profit for Sol and Vinnie; because the fighters were switched at the last second, all bets were voided.) Mickey does not go down as planned, instead knocking his opponent out. This puts Turkish and Tommy further in debt to Bricktop, who sends his gang to smash up Turkish’s arcade. As punishment to Mickey, Bricktop has his mother’s caravan torched, while she is sleeping in it. Mickey is determined to exact his revenge, but agrees to fight in the next match.

Image:Bricktopsnatch.jpg

Elsewhere, Tony soon discovers information regarding the disappearance of Franky, notably the identity of the would-be robbers of the bookies (where Franky was last seen) from local 'grass' Mullet. Avi and co. pay a visit to Vinny and Sol's shop, who reveal that they were hired to do the job by Boris. Now they have the tough task of tracking Boris down... or so they think. Now wanting to sell the Diamond, Boris turns up at the local diamond specialist, which just so happens to be Doug.

Although the ensuing events are not shown, it is implied that Rosebud tangles with Boris and comes out on the losing side, with the viewers only being shown Tony and Avi trying to get Rosebud to a hospital. The next scene shows that the group has successfully kidnapped Boris, with him tied up and blindfolded in the back of Tony's car. They search his house and recover the diamond.

Vinny and Sol arm themselves with replica guns with "extra loud blanks" and along with Tyrone, trail Tony and co. in an attempt to steal back the diamond and save their skins. Unknown to them, Turkish and Tommy are also on their way to see Boris, with Tommy wanting a working gun, after previously being supplied with a broken weapon.

The next scene is the only time during the whole film when the paths of the 3 groups cross, with Tommy throwing Turkish's carton of milk out of the car window after giving him a speech on how "the human digestive system cannot handle dairy products". The carton hits Tony's window screen, causing him to crash, releasing the car boot and freeing Boris, who walks blindly in the road. Amid concerns that the replica guns aren't going to do anything, Sol decides to test out the pistol, which smashes all the car windows. In the resulting confusion, Tyrone hits Boris and almost crashes the car.

Tony and Avi escape to a nearby pub, leaving the car and the now dead Rosebud (who was impaled on a sword during the crash). Tony makes a phone call to be picked up while Avi goes to the toilets to clean himself up. While waiting for Avi, Tony is confronted by Vinny, Sol and Tyrone, who want the diamond. Unfortunately for them, Tony notices that their guns have 'Replica' written down the side and points out that his has "Desert Eagle .50".

Downhearted, the trio make their escape out the back door and run into Avi, as well as Boris, who had gone home and armed himself with an AK-103 assault rifle. Overhearing the commotion, Tony shoots through the wall, wounding Boris. In the confusion, Vinny and Sol steal the case from Avi and flee. Proving that he is the Bullet-Dodger, Boris manages to "dodge" a volley of shots aimed in his direction, until Tony finally successfully aims and kills him. Tony then tries to shoot Tyrone, but has lost count of how many shots he'd fired, and has just run out of bullets. An amused Tony comments on how lucky Tyrone happens to be, and leaves him in the hall.

Fearing what Bricktop could do to them, Vinny and Sol are hesitent to go in and see him and are caught by Tony, who takes them back to their shop. When they get there, they claim that their dog has swallowed the diamond (they received the dog earlier in the film, after buying some gold chains from the pikey's). In the ensuing chaos, during which Tony attempts to gut the dog and Vinny and Sol try to plead for its life, Vincent finally concedes that they, in fact, still have the diamond. However, when he presents it to Avi for inspection, the dog mistakes it for a treat, leaps forward, and snatches it from Avi's grasp, swallowing it. The dog then leaps out the window, and Tony is accidentally shot with his own gun by Avi, who steals it and fires it randomly at the escaping dog. With Tony now dead and the diamond missing, Avi returns to New York.

On the day of the boxing fight, Mickey is again supposed to go down in the fourth round, and again he does not, instead taking matters into his own hands and knocking his opponent out cold. Immediately after the match, Turkish, Tommy and Mickey leave the ring in an attempt to save their lives by fleeing. Little do they know that Bricktop is already waiting for them outside. However, unknown to Turkish and Tommy, Mickey planned an ambush of his own and things are reversed, with Bricktop and his gang being killed by the gypsies.

The dog, meanwhile, returns to its original home (the pikey camp site) only to find it deserted. Turkish and Tommy run afoul of the police when they arrive at the campsite, looking for Mickey. The police ask why they are there, and thanks to Turkish's quick thinking and his noting the wandering hound, he tells the police they are walking their dog. Satisfied with their answer, the police allow them to leave. As they are driving away, they notice Vinny and Sol, who had come to retrieve the dog, and end up caught by police with Franky’s dead body in the back of their car.

In the final scene (which was also the beginning scene when Turkish started the narrative), both Turkish and Tommy are with a jewel inspector. Turkish explains that because the dog saved them from the police, they kept it, so long as the squeaky toy was removed from its stomach. While removing the toy, the vet found an 86 carat diamond embedded in its stomach. Turkish and Tommy now plan to sell the diamond to none other than Avi's cousin, Doug, prompting Avi into another flight back to London.

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Themes

Snatch is a dark comedy of errors, in which most of the humor results from accidents and confusion. Mistaken identity is not a strong theme of the film (though Sol and Vinnie do mistake an innocent briefcase-bearing man for Franky), but deception and misunderstanding underpin most of the plot, as does irony and causality. The strongest example of this is the "bottle of milk" scene, in which Tommy tosses Turkish's bottle of milk out of a car window: this causes Tony's car to crash, releasing Boris from the boot, which causes Sol and Vinnie's car to crash. Tommy is lecturing Turkish on how unhealthy milk is, and declares that he's "doing (him) a favor" by throwing it away, yet he actually causes a great deal more harm than good.

In an earlier scene, Avi and Doug the Head attend a boxing match while looking for Franky Four-Fingers; this is the same boxing match where Mickey knocks out his opponent in one punch, and the same fight where Sol and Vinnie attempt to burgle the bookies'. Had Mickey not previously KO'd Gorgeous George, the bets would not have been cancelled at the bookies', Sol and Vinnie would not have argued with Boris over the amount of money they (didn't) make, and Franky would in all likelihood have never been killed.

Another theme of the movie lies in its cyclic nature. It begins and ends with the same scene (Turkish and Tommy attempting to sell the 86-carat diamond to Doug the Head). Chapters of the film are punctuated with Avi's flying sequence, which is repeated three times in the movie. The scene in which Turkish, Tommy, and Mickey are coursing the rabbits is a direct correlation with Tyrone being captured by Bricktop's men.

Additionally, Snatch employs the use of theme music for certain characters as a method of introducing them. Turkish is usually preceded by a light, jazzy theme; Boris the Blade's theme music sounds like traditional Russian folk; Mickey is introduced by brass-heavy Gypsy-style music. While most of the theme music occurs at the same moment the character appears, it occasionally is used to give the viewer clues as to who is about to resurface. For instance, when Turkish stands up to say "We'll use the fucking pikey", Mickey's theme music begins to play in the background before he speaks, indicating pre-emptively that "the fucking pikey" is about to re-enter the storyline.

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