Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels: Guy Ritchie’s Genesis

Review by Jack Watkinson

Everyone loves gangster films every now and again, whether it be Italian mobsters, American hitmen, or British cockney London escapades. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is the latter with a certain British charm to it that makes it as rememberable as other classics in the same genre, indeed Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is right up there with Casino and Goodfellas.

The story behind Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (henceforth referred to as LSaTMB for the sake of repetition) is one of genesis (in this case the genesis of Guy Ritchie). Prior to making LSaTMB Ritchie had made only one previous film called The Hard Case in 1995, however, this film was only a 20 minute short film and not a full feature. Following The Hard Case Ritchie had been writing a crime comedy but it was just a vague idea and had no concrete foundation. Ritchie needed help getting the film off the ground, he wasn’t well known in the industry and couldn’t grab the attention of the big players. With help of his dad, Ritchie contacted Peter Morton (co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe) and asked if he knew any investors that might be interested in a feature film and Morton suggested his cousin Matthew Vaughn might be interested.

Matthew Vaughn was studying film production in Los Angeles and accepted the role of producer for LSaTSB. Vaughn, Ritchie, and Morton contacted Trudie Styler (with whom they were all acquainted) and asked if she would be interested in investing in the film. Styler agreed to help fund the production and as it turns out her husband and famous band singer Sting ended up playing a role in the film.

Ritchie was constricted by the budget, luckily enough he found previously unknown newcomers to the industry to act in the film. Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones both made their theatrical debut in the film, Statham was chosen because of his history of trading in the black market and Jones was chosen after his retirement from professional football.

Ritchie was able to get notable talent involved such as Nick Moran, Dexter Fletcher, Steven Macintosh, and Lenny McLean. McLean is of particular note as he died soon after finishing production of the film. McLean was known as “The Guv’nor” and was an English bare-knuckle fighter, many regarded him and the hardest man in Britain.

The plot of LSaTSB is a case of a simple plan going wrong. The main protagonist, Eddy (Moran), and his 3 friends Soap (Fletcher), Bacon (Statham), and Tom (Jason Flemyng) all save up a total of £100,000 to buy- into an illegal card game run by Harry “Hatchet” Londsdale. Londsdale is a criminal boss whom also owns a porn shop. Londsdale employs Chris (Jones) a mob enforcer whom collects debts for Londsdale and Barry “The Baptist” (McLean) whom is Londsdale’s underboss. Londsdale tasks Barry with stealing two very expensive shotguns from a mansion, Barry hires two post officer robbers to do the job. Later Eddy arrives at the poker game and plays against Londsdale, unbeknownst to Eddy, Barry is spying on Eddy’s hand and signalling to Londsdale. At the end of the poker game Londsdale tricks Eddy into getting a loan from him in order to extort his father, JD (Sting) into paying off Eddy’s debt by signing over JD’s pub. When Eddy loses the game Londsdale gives Eddy and his 3 friends; Bacon, Fletcher, and Tom a week to pay back the £500,000 otherwise Barry will take JD’s pub away.

The plot takes a twist, however, as the only way Eddy and his friends have to get the money back in time is to rob a group of gangsters living next to Eddy after they rob a weed farm. What develops is a chaotic mess with multiple gangsters getting involved.

The film’s plot starts off relatively simple but takes twists and turns and ends up not how you would have expected it to be, is an intricate plot disguised as something far more innocent. The film has a certain London charm about it, its not about some hoodlums in hoodies roaming the streets but about geezers. The cobbled streets, traditional pubs, lampposts, and the architecture in the background help the general feel of the film. The lighting (and if you are a regular reader you know I like to harp on about the lighting) here adds depth, the streets are dark and murky, there is a slight orange tint to all the footage giving the impression of aged film stock. There is a scene toward the end of the film when one of the characters is in a van talking to his henchmen and the lighting goes dim so that only the characters face is visible, I don’t know why but I love that scene.

The musical selection is spot on here with songs from artists like James Brown, Dusty Springfield, The Stooges, Robbie Williams, and Junior Murvin all contributing. All the tracks are chosen thoughtfully for the film, James Brown’s Big Boss song, for example, plays as Chris’ character is being introduced and The Stooges song, I Wanna Be Your Dog, plays when Eddy loses the card game. The is even a fantastic reggae song by Junior Murvin, Police And Thieves, which plays during the introduction to the weed farm. Some may regard some of the music as being on the nose but I think its fine as this is a comedy film.

The film was a big hit in the UK, but struggled to get into the US. Tom Cruise helped to get it into US cinemas, the result meant that Vinnie Jones and Jason Statham became universally known and helped launch their film careers.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the film is its budget, originally Ritchie sought £20m but during production Ritchie realised he had overestimated the budget and reduced it accordingly to only £800,000. The film went on to gross £19,766,837.72 world wide.

At the end of the day I wonder who this film is for and I think anyone who likes crime films or darker comedies would love this film, but there is also enough action that any self proclaimed action fan would enjoy it.

I can safely highly recommend this film, its definitely a classic and is well worth the watch. If you do end up watching this film and liking it then I suggest watching Ritchie’s next film, Snatch, as it too is a crime comedy.

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