2000
Character: Jerry Welbach
Release Date: 1 September 2000 (UK)
Directed By: Guy Ritchie
Written By: Guy Ritchie
Genre: Comedy/Crime/Thriller
Tagline: Stealin’ Stones and Breakin’ Bones
MPAA Rating: R
Produced by: Columbia Pictures Corporation, SKA Films
Distributed by: Sony Pictures Entertainment, Screen Gems
Budget: $10,000,000 (estimated)
Filming Dates: 18 October 1999 – ??
Cast:
…Brad Pitt…Mickey O’Neil
…Ade…Tyrone
…William Beck…Neil
…Ewen Bremner…Mullet
…Sorcha Cusack…Mum O’Neil
…Mickey Dee…Jack The All Seeing Eye
…Benicio Del Toro…Franky Four Fingers
…Sam Douglas…Rosebud
…Dennis Farina…Avi
Filming Locations:
Jester’s Amusement Arcade, West Ealing, London, England, UK
London, England, UK
Oaklands Agricultural College, St Albans, Hertfordshire, England, UK
Synopsis:
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 the shit kicked out of him by Pitt, 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 Pitt 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!
Trivia & Facts:
• Brad Pitt, who was a big fan of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), approached director Guy Ritchie and asked to for a role in this film. When Ritchie found Pitt couldn’t master a London accent, he gave him the role of Mickey the Gypsy.
• To keep things in order during production, director Guy Ritchie introduced a system of fines on set. There were fines for mobile phones ringing, arriving late, taking naps during shooting, being “cheeky”, being unfunny, and/or moaning and complaining. One staff member was even charged for letting the craft service table run out of coffee cups.
• When Mickey “wins” a new trailer van for his mother from Turkish, he specifically picks out “periwinkle blue” as the color. In Psycho (1960), we are told that Norman Bates helped to pick out a “periwinkle blue” dress for his dead mother. Mickey, just like Norman, is also responsible (although indirectly) for his own mother’s death.
• When Vinnie Jones is introduced in the movie, he is slamming a man’s head in a car door, It was the head of stunt co-coordinator and action director Tom Delmar, who volunteered for the job.
• Bullet Tooth Tony’s character is introduced slamming a man’s head between a car door and a car, which the same actor does in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), another Guy Ritchie film.
• The hardcore band “Cold War from Orange County, California” quotes this movie several times throughout their CD “From Russia With Love.” Some of the lines quoted are: (“Quote” – Character / Song in which quote is used) “From Russia with love, ah?” – Doug The Head / Love Betrays “Heavy’s good, heavy’s reliable.” – Boris the Blade / Painful Delight “Do you know what “nemesis” means? A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent. Personified in this case by an ‘orrible c*nt… me.” – Brick Top / Retrace My Steps
• Lennie James actually hit himself in his private parts with the shotgun while blasting a hole in the wall at the bookies, but continued the scene. That footage was used in the film.
• Boris the Blade pulls a large cleaver from his belt. Soap did the same thing in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), another Guy Ritchie movie.
• Guy Ritchie reportedly paid US $1 million for the use of Madonna’s song, “Lucky Star”.
• Every mistake that Sol, Vincent and Tyrone make were inspired by various late-night TV shows about real-life crimes gone horribly wrong.
• Director Cameo: [Guy Ritchie] In the back of the bar when we are first introduced to Doug The Head. Ritchie is the man reading the newspaper.
• Tim Maurice-Jones, the cinematographer, plays the man who is repeatedly battered over the head at the beginning of the movie by Frankie Four-Fingers (Benicio Del Toro). In Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), for which he was also the cinematographer, he was the man being drowned at the beginning of the film by Barry the Baptist (Lenny McLean).
• Nearly every death in the movie takes place off-screen.
• In the final scene, the 86-carat diamond is referred to as an 84-carat diamond.
• In Guy Ritchie’s previous film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), there is a scene in which Harry, Barry and Chris have a conversation. Barry says the line. “No, Harry, you can’t,” which is shortly repeated by Chris, then by both together. This joke is carried over to this movie when Alex and Susi do the same thing with the line, “Yeah, Dad, you told us.”
• When Guy Ritchie told Brad Pitt that he would be playing a boxer, Pitt became concerned because he had just finished shooting Fight Club (1999) and did not want to play the same type of role again. Pitt book the role anyway because he wanted to work with Ritchie so badly.
• The U.S. distributors considered changing the title to “Snatched” or “Snatch’d”.
• The word “fuck” is said 153 times.
• During the opening credits, the Hasidic-clad diamond thieves are discussing the Virgin Mary. This is a reference to Reservoir Dogs (1992), where during the opening scene the thieves are discussing the Madonna song “Like a Virgin”.
• Franky Four-Fingers changes into four different outfits during the short telephone conversation to cousin Avi.
• According to the DVD commentary, Bow, the dog was very difficult to work with. During car scene with Vincent, Sol and Tyrone, the dog was actually attacking Lennie James, and James was actually bitten in the crotch by the dog but didn’t suffer any serious injury. The dog was replaced after that incident.
• The producers couldn’t afford enough extras for the boxing match sequences. Whenever a camera angle changed, the extras had to move around to create an impression of a crowded house.
• The film’s title only appears once throughout the entire movie, where Vinny (Robbie Gee) tells the dog, “Don’t Snatch!” as it takes the squeaky toy. It is said to the dog because it’s the dog who eats the diamond.
• When Vinny and Sol are sitting outside Brick-Top’s Bookies, about to give him the diamond, the man that approaches the car is not really Bullet-Tooth Tony, it was a look-alike. Vinnie Jones didn’t show up for shooting that day because he was in jail for fighting the night before.
• Body count: 26
• Brad Pitt’s character and indecipherable speech was inspired by many critics’ complaints about the accents of the characters in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). Guy Ritchie decided to counter the criticisms by creating a character that not only couldn’t be understood by the audience but the also couldn’t be understood by characters in the movie.
• One of the boxers is called Bomber Harris. “Bomber Harris” was the nickname of Sir Arthur Harris, chief of RAF Bomber Command in World War II. The name later appeared in a German Monty Python special (Monty Python’s Fliegender Zirkus (1971) (TV)) as the name of a man who wrestles himself – Colin “Bomber” Harris.
• The role of Brick Top Polford was originally offered to Dave Courtney.
From the gallery
Quotes
Mickey: [roused from his drunken stupor] I need to have a shite.
Turkish: Well, do you want to do it?
Mickey: That depends.
Turkish: On what?
Mickey: On you buying this caravan. Not the rouge one, the rose.
Turkish: It’s not the same caravan.
Mickey: It’s not the same fight.
Turkish: It’s twice the fucking size of the last one.
Mickey: Turkish, the fight is twice the size. And me ma still needs a caravan. I like to look after me ma. It’s a fair deal. Take it.
Turkish: Mickey, you’re lucky we aren’t worm food after your last performance. Buying a tart’s mobile palace is a little fucking rich.
[Realizes his mistake]
Turkish: I wasn’t calling your mum a tart. I just meant…
Mickey: Ah, save your breath for cooling your porridge. Now, look…
[starts talking incoherently]
Mickey: Right. And she’s terribly partial to the periwinkle blue, boss. Have I made myself clear, lads?
Turkish: Yeah, that’s perfectly clear, Mickey. Just give me one minute to confer with my colleague.
[to Tommy]
Turkish: Did you understand a single word of what he just said?
Mickey: I bet ya can box a little, can’t ya sir? Aye, you look like a boxer.
Mickey: Good dags. D’ya like dags?
Tommy: Dags?
Mickey: What?
Mrs. O’Neil: Yeah, dags.
Tommy: Oh, dogs. Sure, I like dags. I like caravans more.
Turkish: I’m sorry, Mickey.
Mickey: Did ya do it? Then why are ya sorry?
Mickey: Ya got a good kick fer a fat fella.
Gorgeous George: You better stay down.
[throws Mickey into a wooden fence]
Mickey: The deal was you bought it like you saw it. Hey, look, I’ve helped you as much as I’m going to help you. See that car? Just use it for you’re not welcome anymore. You should fuck off now while you still got the legs to carry you.
Gorgeous George: Nobody…
Mickey: Nobody brings a fella the size of you unless they’re trying to say something without talking, right boy?
Tommy: Sorry, Mickey. Just give our money back and you can keep the caravan.
Mickey: Why the fuck do I want a caravan that’s got no fucking wheels?
[Gorgeous rushes Mickey]
Mickey: You want to settle this with a fight?
Mrs. O’Neil: Over my dead body! Now, go on! Go on! I’ll not have you fighting! You know what happens when you fight.
Mickey: Get her to sit down. For fuck’s sake! Want the money? I ain’t fucked you. I’ll fight you for it. You and me.
Mickey: I’ll bet you for it.
Tommy: You’ll what?
Pikeys: HE’LL BET YOU FOR IT!
Turkish: What, like Tommy did last time? Do me a favour?
Mickey: I’ll do you a favour. You have first bet. If I win, I get a caravan… and the boys get a pair of them shoes.
[the Pikeys laugh at Turkish and Tommy, who are wearing plastic bags around their shoes]
Mickey: If I lose… Oh fuck it, I’ll do the fight for free.
Turkish: [narrating] Now the last thing I really wanna do is bet a pikey.
Gorgeous George: Get back down or you will not be coming up next time.
[watches as Mickey warms up]
Gorgeous George: Oh, bollocks to you. This is sick. I’m out of here.
Mickey: You’re not going anywhere, you thick lump.
[Pulls off his shirt]
Mickey: You stay until the job’s done.
[kisses his good luck charms and knocks Gorgeous out with a single punch]
Turkish: [narrating] It turned out that the sweet-talking, tattoo-sporting pikey was a gypsy bare-knuckle boxing champion. Which makes him harder than a coffin nail. Right now, that’s the last thing on Tommy’s mind. If Gorgeous doesn’t wake up in the next few minutes, Tommy knows he’ll be buried with him. Why would the gypsies go through the trouble of explaining why a man died in their campsite when they can bury the pair of them and just move camp? It’s not like they got social security numbers, is it? Tommy – the tit – is praying. And if he isn’t, he fucking should be.
Mickey: I’ll tell ya what. I’ll do it for a caravan.
Turkish: For what?
Pikeys: For a caravan.
Tommy: It was us who wanted a caravan.
[looking around]
Tommy: Anyway, what’s wrong with this one?
Mickey: It’s not for me. It’s for me ma.
Turkish: Your what?
Pikeys: His ma.
External Links
…Official website
…IMDB
SB Store (US)
…Snatch (Widescreen Edition DVD)
…Snatch (Blu-ray)
…Snatch (Special Edition DVD)
…Snatch (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition DVD)
…Snatch (Superbit Deluxe Collection)
SB Store (UK)
…Snatch (Two-disc set DVD)
…Snatch (Blu-ray)
…Snatch (Screenplay)
…Snatch (Newmarket Shooting Script)
