Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Long-time friends and small-time criminals Eddie, Tom, Soap, and Bacon put together £100,000 so that Eddie, a genius card sharp, can buy into one of "Hatchet" Harry Lonsdale's high-stakes three-card brag games. The game is rigged, however, and the friends end up massively indebted to Harry for £500,000. Harry then sends his debt collector Big Chris, who is often accompanied by his son, Little Chris, to ensure that the debt is paid within a week.

Harry is also interested in a pair of expensive antique shotguns that are up for auction and gets his enforcer Barry "the Baptist" to hire a pair of thieves, Gary and Dean, to steal them from a bankrupt lord. The two turn out to be highly incompetent and unwittingly sell the shotguns to Nick "the Greek", a local fence. After learning this, an enraged Barry threatens the two into getting the guns back.

Eddie returns home one day and overhears his neighbours—a gang of robbers led by a brutal man called "Dog"—planning a heist on some cannabis growers loaded with cash and drugs. Eddie relays this information to the group, intending for them to rob the neighbours as they come back from their heist. In preparation for the robbery, Tom visits Nick the Greek to buy weapons, and ends up buying the two antique shotguns.

The neighbours' heist gets underway, and despite a gang member being killed by his own Bren gun, and an incriminating encounter with a traffic warden, the job is a success; they return home with a duffel bag filled with money and a van loaded with bags of marijuana. Eddie and his friends ambush them as planned, and drive away in the neighbors' van containing the marijuana and the traffic warden. They transfer the loot to their own van and return home. They then have Nick fence the drugs to Rory Breaker, a gangster with a reputation for violence. Rory agrees to buy the marijuana at half price, however two of Rory's men visit the house of the cannabis-growers and discover they've been robbed, and the marijuana he just bought had been stolen from his own growers. Rory threatens Nick into giving him Eddie's address and brings along one of the growers, Winston, to identify the robbers.

Eddie and his friends spend the night at Eddie's father's bar to celebrate. Meanwhile, Dog's crew accidentally learns that their neighbours are the ones who robbed them, and set up an ambush in Eddie's flat. Rory and his gang arrive instead and a shootout ensues, resulting in the deaths of all except Dog and Winston. Winston leaves with the drugs; Dog leaves with the two shotguns and the money but is waylaid by Big Chris, who knocks him out and takes everything. Gary and Dean, having learned who bought the shotguns and not knowing that Chris works for Harry, follows Chris to Harry's place.

Chris delivers the money and guns to Harry, but when he returns to his car he finds Dog holding Little Chris at knifepoint, demanding the money be returned to him. Chris complies and starts the car. Meanwhile, Gary and Dean burst into Harry's office, starting a confrontation that ends up killing them both, and Harry and Barry as well.

Returning to see the carnage at their flat and their loot missing, Eddie and his friends head to Harry's, but when they discover Harry's corpse they decide to take the money for themselves. Before they are able to leave, Chris crashes into their car to disable Dog, and then brutally bludgeons him to death with his car door. He then takes the debt money back from the unconscious friends, but allows Tom to leave with the antique shotguns after a brief standoff in Harry's office.

The friends are arrested but declared innocent of recent events after the traffic warden identifies Dog and his crew as the culprits. Back at the bar, they send Tom out to dispose of the antique shotguns—the only remaining evidence linking them to the case. Chris then arrives to give back the duffel bag, from which he has taken all the money for himself and his son, and which is empty except for a catalogue of antique weapons. Leafing through the catalogue, the friends learn that the shotguns are actually quite valuable (worth £250,000 to £300,000), and quickly call Tom to stop him from disposing of the guns. The film ends with Tom leaning over the side of a bridge, with his mobile phone stuffed in his mouth and ringing, as he prepares to drop the shotguns into the River Thames.

Soundtrack reviews

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	Link

The soundtrack to the film was released in 1998 in the United Kingdom by Island Records. Madonna's Maverick Records label released the soundtrack in the United States in 1999 but omitted nine tracks from the UK release.

1. "Hundred Mile High City" by Ocean Colour Scene
2. "It's a Deal, It's a Steal" by Tom, Nick & Ed*
3. "The Boss" by James Brown
4. "Truly, Madly, Deeply" by Skanga*
5. "Hortifuckinculturist" – Winston
6. "Police and Thieves" by Junior Murvin
7. "18 With a Bullet" by Lewis Taylor & Carleen Anderson*
8. "Spooky" by Dusty Springfield
9. "The Game" by John Murphy & David A. Hughes*
10. "Muppets" by Harry, Barry & Gary
11. "Man Machine" by Robbie Williams*
12. "Walk This Land" by E-Z Rollers
13. "Blaspheming Barry" by Barry
14. "I Wanna Be Your Dog" by The Stooges
15. "It's Kosher" by Tom & Nick
16. "Liar, Liar" by The Castaways*
17. "I've Been Shot" by Plank & Dog
18. "Why Did You Do It" by Stretch
19. "Guns 4 show, knives for a pro" by Ed & Soap
20. "Oh Girl" by Evil Superstars
21. "If the Milk Turns Sour" by John Murphy & David A. Hughes (with Rory)*
22. "Zorba the Greek" by John Murphy & David A. Hughes
23. "I'll Kill Ya" by John Murphy & David A. Hughes (with Rory)*
24. "The Payback" by James Brown
25. "Fool's Gold" by The Stone Roses*
26. "It's Been Emotional" by Big Chris
27. "18 With a Bullet" by Pete Wingfield

* Track omitted from 1999 US release.

Release history

The production of the film followed Guy Ritchie's single short film which preceded Lock, Stock. As stated in filmscouts.com:

Although it was Ritchie's first feature, his previous short film The Hard Case was sufficiently impressive to secure interest not only from financial backers but also persuaded Sting to take the role of JD. "I'd seen Guy's short film and was excited by the pace and energy in it. The way in which he handles violence and action appealed to me. I don't like gratuitous violence. I think it's much more chilling when it's suggested rather than graphic." For Ritchie, getting exactly the right actor for each role was essential. "The casting took forever and we auditioned hundreds of people, but I was determined to hold out until we got the real McCoy." This led to employing several genuine ex-cons, who certainly invest the film with its menacing undertones. Ritchie also looked to the celebrity arena to secure the right cast such as Vinnie Jones. "I didn't hesitate in casting Vinnie as I have the most incredible respect for his acting capabilities."[6]

A one-hour documentary of the production of the film was released featuring much of the cast along with Ritchie.[7]

The film poster depicting the lead characters as very graphic black and white portraits against a stark white background was created by the advertising photographer John Mac, who is known for his advertising campaigns for luxury brands. He would use a similar technique some years later in 2019 when creating the front cover for the psychological thriller The Chair Man by Alex Pearl, which features a man in a wheelchair as a black silhouette against a stark white background.

• Hyperlink cinema – the film style of using multiple interconnected story lines
• Heist film

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels at IMDb
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels at Box Office Mojo
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels at Rotten Tomatoes
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels at Metacritic