# 171 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is Guy Ritchie's feature film debut. It's about a guy who loses £500,000 to a powerful crime lord in a card game. He overhears his neighbors, who plan a heist on marijuana growers, and, in order to pay off his debt, he and his friends decide to rob them after they come back from their heist. "Lock, stock, and a barrel" is an English expression, which means basically the same as "the whole nine yards", which is a title of another well known movie.

If you watch the movie after seeing Snatch, like I did, you probably won't find anything new here. These two movies share the same ideas, themes, motifs, visual style, and some of the same actors. I've heard that some critics accused Ritchie for delivering two very similar movies, but of course, if there is anything to criticize for that reason, it's Snatch, since Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels came out first.

I had difficulty understanding what was going on at first, because of all the characters we see on the screen, and it's hard to understand in which way they are connected before their plot lines intertwine. The movie is very well balanced between being humorous and serious at the same time. I got to laugh a lot because the characters were acting like complete idiots. There was also a good psychological scene in this film, I'm talking about the three card brag game scene.

Sting's appearance as the father of the main character was a nice surprise. Sting's wife Trudie Styler was an executive producer on the film, and the two later introduced director Ritchie to Madonna, whom he later married. So I think the film is good. It didn't blow my mind like Snatch did, but if I watched this one first, it probably would have had the same effect on me. And it's definitely a great movie for a director's debut.

Interesting fact: The movie is dedicated to Lenny McLean. He was a famous bare knuckle boxer before he became an actor. He was ill during filming with what he believed was the flu. After filming had ended he was hospitalized and initially told that he had pleurisy. However, tests revealed that he had lung cancer which had metastasized to his brain. McLean died of cancer exactly one month before the movie's debut in England.

Favorite quote: "Hatchet" Harry: You must be Eddie, J.D.'s son.

Eddie: Yeah. You must be Harry. Sorry, didn't know your father.

"Hatchet" Harry: Never mind son, you just might meet him if you carry on like that.