Snatch (2000)
Directed by Guy Ritchie
Unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookies, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers, and supposedly Jewish jewellers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond.
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11 films that influenced Snatch
What critics say influenced Snatch
A hip-trip joyride with a handful of cinema-cool Cockney roughnecks, "Snatch" is directed by Guy Ritchie, who has a flair for creating something stylish, imaginative and droll out of elements aped from recently influential genre staples like "Pulp Fiction," "Trainspotting" and "The Usual Suspects."
Another in the "Coarse Comedy" genre made popular by Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction."
Like the Pulp Fiction auteur, Mr. Ritchie revels in plumbing the minds as well as the bloodthirsty ways of his low-life, and mostly short-lived, bad guys.
The non-linear structure, adding a poetic edge to something so disposable, led directly to films like Boogie Nights, Go and Snatch in the following years.
…i.e. before “Pulp Fiction”, one of the movies it shamelessly rips off (along with “Get Shorty”, “Trainspotting” and Guy Ritchie’s own “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels”).
Sure, there's an 86-carat diamond involved, an attempt to rig a bare-knuckles fight, all kinds of shooting and plenty of double-crosses, but where "Pulp Fiction" put its finger on a few funny lines coming from a funny character's mouth, "Snatch" offers the biggest, baddest-ass handful you can grab.
…out of Swept Away (October 7/02) Based on Lina Wertmüller's 1974 movie of the same name, Swept Away follows spoiled socialite Amber (Madonna) as she embarks on a yacht trip with her husband (Bruce Greenwood's Tony) and four friends - with problems ensuing as Amber finds herself forced to become brutish deckhand Giuseppe's (Adriano Giannini) slave after the two characters are shipwrecked on a deserted island.
He even pulls off the trick Hitchcock did in "Psycho" of making us believe a certain person is going to be the key figure in the film, then bumping the actor off a couple of reels into the film.
I save such biographical details for my footnotes, and would overlook them altogether, except that it is blindingly clear to me that he should direct, and she should star in, a British remake of "Guys and Dolls."
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Like Robert Rodriguez with his transformation of El Mariachi into Desperado, Ritchie has used the extra money to hire a few big name stars and to make the final product look more polished, but his overall approach has not changed.
Ford, who also was in "Lock, Stock" and the great British gangster film "The Long Good Friday," keeps his hammy role lively - at least until Brick Top wears out his welcome.
Pawnbroker Sol (Lennie James, "Among Giants"), his buddy Vinny (Robbie Gee, "The Firm") and oversize, unskilled driver Tyrone (Ade) are like three Black Stooges who try to pull the Blade's job and run afoul of Brick Top.
Wandering in and out is a stew of inglorious characters seemingly pumped from the sewers of London's East End: boxing promoter Turkish (Jason Statham), jewel thief Franky Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro: Traffic , The Pledge ), enforcers Boris the Blade (Rade Serbedzija: Space Cowboys , Mission: Impossible 2 ) and Bullet Tooth Tony (Vinnie Jones: Gone in 60 Seconds ), and bare-knuckle fighter One Punch Mickey O'Neil (Brad Pitt: Fight Club , Meet Joe Black ), a gypsy with a hilariously unintelligible pseudo-Irish accent.
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Like Robert Rodriguez with his transformation of El Mariachi into Desperado, Ritchie has used the extra money to hire a few big name stars and to make the final product look more polished, but his overall approach has not changed.
And Pitt, following up "Fight Club" by acting as weird as he was in "Twelve Monkeys," seems to enjoy being the goofiest part of an ensemble cast.