A hilarious film written and directed by Guy Ritchie, the director of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Snatch is a well-choreographed chaotic mess, consisting of numerous intertwined subplots that converge around British gangsters of numerous stripes and abilities. There's lots of fuckup hoods, thugs, psychotic bigwigs, American boors, pikies (British slang for gypsies who live in caravans in the countryside), and dogs. Jews, boxing, swank clothing, vicious animals, guns, bodies, and revenge populate the landscape. The plot revolves around a diamond heist and the gangsters who play hot potato with the stone. Brad Pitt plays a nearly incomprehensible pikey bareknuckle boxer. Benicio del Toro demonstrates his perfect awareness of the camera in his short-lived role as a slick diamond robber. Comparisons with Pulp Fiction are easy to make -- even the opening shots of the two films are nearly the same. Musically and visually, Snatch is a fast-paced blend, full of surprises. The sequence that describes Cousin Avi's trip to London is worth the price of admission alone. Wacked-out bits like the dog's chew toy and Boris' earplugs help distance this film from the specter of Tarantino's smug pretension.

This movie kicks ass.
Snatch is British Director Guy Ritchie's second film—his first being the hilarious Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. It is about a group of East London gangsters, pushers, ne'r do wells, and other colorful members of society. The film is immediately recognizable as one of Ritchie’s. Having seen Lock, Stock... far too many times, I wasn't too surprised to find this film was a near replica of Ritchie's first film. Not in story, but rather in the execution of the movie. The look and feel of the film, location filming, a collection of interesting characters, and a splintered plot that comes together right before the credits roll all act on your mind to give you the feeling that you may have seen this film before.

Ritchie seems aware that he is emulating his first film, and manages to work in a little homage to Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels: Vinnie Jones, who played the vicious yet strangely moral (and wickedly funny) Big Chris in Ritchie's first film, is introduced in Snatch killing, hurting, or otherwise ruining the day of a man in the same manner as Big Chris did in the final quarter of Lock, Stock.... Jones is also given another little speech in this film, which is quickly becoming one of his trademarks as he is rather good at it. This time it involves a Desert Eagle....

I am not in anyway implying that I didn't enjoy Snatch. It is full of acrid British humor, creative cinematography in Ritchie's distinctive style, and features Brad Pitt in an interesting role as a pikey who's speech is so clipped by his accent that no one is able to understand him (dare you to listen to him say Periwinkle Blue and not laugh). Also look for Benicio Del Toro in an interesting, if not brief, role in the film.

Guy Ritchie has said that for his third picture he would like to do a historical film.

Something interesting I noticed while watching Snatch: the name of one of the featured boxers in the film dispatched by Pitt's character is named Bomber Harris. This name is taken from a Monty Python sketch where Graham Chapman is a wrestler who fights himself.

In Olympic-style weightlifting, a snatch is a difficult lift in which a barbell is lifted from the floor to above the lifter's head in a single motion. The arms must be kept straight and locked throughout the entire lift, with any bend in the elbows resulting in a disqualification.

When performing a successful snatch, the lifter will initially lift the barbell with a powerful movement of legs and shoulders, then quickly move his/her body downward once the bar has reached chest level. While difficult and requiring a great deal of coordination and quickness, this procedure nearly eliminates any effort used in actually lifting the weight further overhead. Once the weight is in the proper position relative to the lifter's body, the legs are straightened to a final, standing position.

customs officer: - Do you have anything to declare, sir?
Avi: - Yeah. Don't go to England.


Introduction:

Snatch is British director Guy Ritchie's second movie. He started his climb to fame after Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, his first movie was released. Him marrying Madonna (yes the singing-chick) might also have something to do with his fame.

In Snatch, Ritchie basically makes a sequel to lock stock, but shows that he has learnt a lot from making that.

Snatch adds Brad Pitt in an absolutely hillarious role as a "pikey" (cockney slang for gypsy). This, along with a great lineup of absolutely brilliant, vibrant characters, and an intricate, complex Pulp Fiction-esque plot makes this a movie well worth watching.


Brick Top Polford:
- In the quiet words of the Virgin Mary... come again.


 

Stats:

Written and directed by Guy Ritchie

Released in 2001

Cast (most famous only):


Doug is a dodgy diamond dealer who thinks he's jewish.
He even tells his family they are jewish.
Of course, he is not jewish.


Plot synopsis:

Brick top is a promoter for illegal boxing. He rents boxers, and pays them to go down in round X, making a load of money for Brick Top's friends.

In a rather infortunate turn of events, one of the boxers get knocked into the hospital by Mickey (Brad Pitt), and the promoters have to find a replacement. They choose Mickey to do the fight, but will he go down when he is told?

While all of this happens, a giant diamond heist is pulled off, and the ones in charge get mixed up in the boxing affair.

While all of this is going on, Bullet-tooth tony (Vinnie Jones) and Boris "Bulletdodger" , a crazy-ass russian weapons dealer have their own interests in diamonds and boxing.


Tony: How do you wanna get rid of him. Do you wanna shoot him?
Avi: A bit noisy, isn't it?
Tony: Do you wanna stab him?
Avi: That's a little cold-blooded, don't you think?
Tony: Do you wanna kill him, or not?


Awards

Nominations:

 

More about the movie

It's got groovie music.
It's got cool lines.
It's got british accents.
It's got car chases.
It's got crazy russians.
It's got guns.

... Go see it!

Guy Ritchie about the movie:

- The film is about a load of big, large characters, sort of cartoon like.
- These films are about fast-take. Moving quick. No fat anywhere.
- There was lots of stuff that didn't fit into Lock Stock, and I decided to put a lot of it into Snatch instead. I think it worked out pretty well!

Brad Pitt about being in this movie:

- I actually called up Guy and asked if he had any plans for any future movies.

Guy Ritchie about Brad Pitt:

- When he called, we thought "fuck, there is nothing in there for him". But this is Brad Pitt, and he wants to work with us. So we decided to try him as Mickey.
- We had to be careful about - I mean - here we get a big shot US actor, and he plays in a small British films. It shouldn't look like we were just trying to put bums on seats. Of course, that is the case, but it shouldn't look like that!
- He did a very good job with the accent. The whole thing is; You can't understand (the pikeys), and he managed that pretty well.

-30-

Snatch is the title of an episode of "Space Ghost Coast to Coast," episode 70, to be precise. It is arguably the most surreal episode of the entire series, and for a Williams Street production, that is truly speaking a volume. Snatch originally aired on October 15, 1999, on the Cartoon Network, guest starring comedian Steven Wright.

The episode starts out with Steven Wright ruminating on how his recent discovery that Space Ghost is his real father is really fulfilling to him. Space Ghost, replete with Steven Wright afro wig, is engrossed in an anime magazine and pays his claims little attention. Noticing this, Steven Wright asks if he likes human women.

"I like these twins," replies Space Ghost, showing Steven Wright his magazine.

Meanwhile, in the control room, Moltar is picking up four unidentified blips on his radar screen. He relays this potentially important info to Space Ghost, who response is in the same disinterested manner he used on Steven Wright. Space Ghost, sensing Moltar's despair, reassuringly states that they're probably just "space creatures of some kind," and that everything is fine. Eventually the creatures, who turn out to be replicating pods, land on Ghost Planet and enter the studio via the loading docks.

Wanting to impress whoever might be dropping by, even if they are space creatures, Space Ghost utters the most immortal line in the history of immortal lines, the line that drove several sleep-deprived noders at the recent Atlanta noder gathering to Target, in search of monocles:

"Bring me my monocle. I want to look rich."

Each of the four pods sets itself up in front of each of the four characters on the show, even one for Steven Wright on his guest monitor. The pods are green, large, and look like human-sized pickles, complete with bumps. Space Ghost finally notices the pods, and attempts to blast the pod nearest him. ("Nobody sleeps with my grandmother, right?! THIS IS FOR NANA!") The normally lethal blasts from Space Ghost's wrist bands do not harm the pod; instead, the pod seems to feed off the energy beam.

"The pod! It's feeding off the ray!" Space Ghost bellows, just before screaming like a little girl.

"SO STOP SHOOTING IT!" suggests Moltar.

"Do what now?!" Space Ghost squeals, still shooting. Finally he stops. "Oh!... Dang it!"

Space Ghost finally stops shooting the pod, which by now has grown to approximately a dozen times taller and wider than it was when it first appeared. He tries to trade pods with Zorak, who will have none of it. In retaliation, Space Ghost blasts Zorak's pod, making it as big as the one beside himself. Space Ghost is then egged on to touch one of the pods, and indeed seems to be in a trance as he approaches it with a pointed finger. At the last second, he chickens out and flies away. He ends up at the back door, where he encounters a gigantic blob oozing over the door as it blankets the Ghost Planet building. Moltar shows the blob covering the entire planet on his control monitor. Space Ghost notices the blob, and screams like a little girl again, all the way back to the studio stage.

By now, the episode is timestamping itself, at first in minutes on a single day, then in weeks and eventually years, as the time passes while Space Ghost, Moltar, Zorak and Steven Wright attempt to stay awake, as the pods can't steal your DNA and take over unless you fall asleep first. (Moltar pointed this out at the beginning of the episode.) Steven Wright says he might need another coffee, which spurs our beloved host and his companions to go on a coffee break.

"You stay here. Try to live. If anything bad happens... to you... well... we'll be getting coffee!"

Cut to the break room. Space Ghost and companions are drinking coffee in silence. The silence is suddenly broken by the sound of Steven Wright, off-stage, repeatedly screaming as the pod replicates him. Moltar tries, in vain, to eke out a conversation during pauses in the screams, but eventually gives up. When the screams have stopped, Space Ghost has an idea.

A mop bucket and mop, dressed as Space Ghost, rolls across the studio floor. Space Ghost stands side-stage, and tries to get the pod to follow it. The pod inches toward it, seems to shake its head, then returns to Space Ghost's side.

"They're not buyin' it," groans Moltar.

"They're not buying it, BECAUSE YOU MESSED IT UP!"

Space Ghost returns to the back door, and talks to the blob. He insists that the pods have been talking smack about the blob's mother ("You, ah, you heard what the pods have been saying about your mother? People were laughing, man..."), and that if the blob wanted to, it could come inside and kill the pods. The blob whispers something unintelligible, which Space Ghost momentarily considers, and then apologizes for. On his way out, he gives it one last try:

"What's that, pods?! The blob is very fat!?"

It doesn't work, of course, so Space Ghost issues a call for help:

"Mayday! Mayday! I'm Space Ghost and I am in some big danger! My plans were foolproof, but it started feeding on the rays! And then Moltar had a plan that never would have worked. I need a ship to rescue me. I'll be waiting for you out by the front gate. Thank you!"

"Nobody can hear ya, Space Ghost. We've been off the air for 10 days," Moltar says casually.

"Excuse me," says Space Ghost, and then invisos to the control room to face Moltar. "Please don't tell me how to do it. It... sickens me."

More timestamps and cut-scenes, including a brief cut of Space Ghost wearing a monocle. During all this we go through Space Ghost's plan to order a mind-eraser kit, which he apparently already owns, Moltar's plan to rust at the seaside, and Zorak's plan to modify the gravitational properties of the planet. None of the plans are successful, or even attempted, and the pods remain. Eventually we end up in the month of March, in the year "99:099 A6." Space Ghost and the crew are drinking coffee.

"Say, this is some good coffee! I thought we were out of coffee," says Space Ghost.

"I found some more. It was in the orange container," Zorak says.

"YOU FOOL!" yells Space Ghost as he performs a spit take and just before he falls asleep. "THAT'S DECAF!"

Cut to Moltar and Zorak falling asleep, and the pods opening.

Cue credits.


The episode then ends abruptly, thus concluding what was probably the most genuinely surreal thing the Cartoon Network has ever broadcast, even by Space Ghost standards, nay, even by the rest of Adult Swim standards. If you never watch any episode of SGC2C other than this one, consider yourself fulfilled. It is the absolute litmus of what SGC2C is about and what it's been trying to do all these years.

This episode is also unique because the original ending, which was never aired, was auctioned on eBay by the Cartoon Network. I haven't seen it, so I can't say how it ends, but the aired ending seems fitting enough.

table of contents

  • i. the snatch
  • ii. mechanics of the snatch
  • iii. the snatch as an athletic movement

i. the snatch

The snatch is the first event contested in weightlifting meets, the "fast lift" which contrasts with the two-part lift and last event, the clean-and-jerk. It is the movement which defines weightlifting, to me, at least, with all its technical intricacies and physical and psychological requirements. A lot of athletes will use the power clean, and some can get pretty good at it, and maybe a few folks will use the power snatch or squat snatch in training, but the only individuals who are good at it are the weightlifters who compete. This is our signature.

The snatch brings a bar loaded with weight from the floor to directly overhead in one movement. This involves accelerating the bar as forcefully as possible through an extension of the trunk and shrugging of the shoulders while holding onto it, then pulling the body under it, receiving it overhead with arms locked-out before it develops excessive downward momentum, and standing with the weight. Proficient weightlifters can lift their bodyweight and then some in this discipline. The best approach and exceed double that.

I think the closest that the average gym rat and athlete get to the snatch is the power clean, bringing the bar to the shoulders without dropping into a squat. The snatch is a movement with a huge learning curve for most individuals and it probably is too much work for what it's worth. The snatch differs from the clean-and-jerk in that not only is it athletic, in that it requires one to be physically advanced, but it's also more of an athletic skill, and not necessarily a developer of physical ability. Granted, snatching a lot will make you pretty strong and explosive and give you some great core work as far as holding stuff overhead goes once you pick up the technique, but just power cleaning a lot would probably have a greater training effect and for most athletes is a more efficient training movement as far as use of time goes.

It's hard to describe how difficult the snatch is without actually having you do it. Plenty of people can put stuff overhead, but that's usually after taking it from the rack or some sort of support, or after first bringing it to the shoulders and then pressing it overhead. The snatch is one explosive movement, straight from the floor to overhead.

One final thing: despite all the complicated motor patterns involved in the snatch, it is one of the most powerful movements the human body can produce. In terms of weight moved at x speed, it would be hard to find something that produces the pure wattage of the snatch.

ii. mechanics of the snatch

Like the clean, the snatch is about moving the bar into a specific position relative to the hips and shoulders, the first pull, and then violently extending the trunk and shrugging the shoulders to produce an upwards acceleration on the bar, the second pull. The two separate phases of the pull in the clean are mirrored in the snatch. There are two differences with the snatch which make the nature of the first and second pulls different from the clean: the grip width is wider, meaning the first pull starts with the chest closer to the floor and the second pull begins higher, and the goal of the second pull in the snatch is to get the bar overhead, which changes the goal of the transition phase after the pull.

The first pull in the snatch begins with a little more leverage disadvantage than the clean, and the pull in general is going to be a little longer. The musculature of the upper back is going to be stressed a little more, and the lats play a much more active role in maintaining the bar's proximity to the center of mass. Like the clean, the goal is to shift the knees around and under the bar in order to establish a strong second pull position. "Chest up" is a frequent coaching cue during the first pull in the snatch, to maintain the back angle. That's another thing, the back angle, some lifters have a low hips start position, while others prefer a higher start position in terms of the hips. "Classical" technique dictates that the back angle should not change throughout the pull, so the "correct" start position would favor lower hips, but again, the goal is merely to establish the second pull. Ivan Chakarov was one of many weightlifters who didn't have the best first pull, he literally moved the bar around his knees on the way up, which is supposed to be very, very inefficient (depending on your positions it'll shift your center of mass from the heels to the toes, takes away your base), but this is the same guy who snatched 160k and power cleaned and jerked 180k a couple days before the 1993 World Championships as a freakin warm up.

The second pull starts probably about when the bar touches mid-thigh for most people, which is almost about where the clean pull ends. Again, the emphasis is on the extension of the hips, driving them forward so that the shoulders and heels align, and then shrugging the shoulders to generate a short, sharp impulse on the bar. A good snatch pull almost always makes contact with the body just before the moment of greatest acceleration. You'll see a lot of good lifters brush the bar up against the hips, i.e. accelerating the bar when it's closest to their center of mass. This is a lot like the thigh-brush in the clean, and I emphasize the "brush," some people perceive it as "bouncing" off the hips or thighs. Bouncing would indicate an effort to generate a reactive force by pushing the bar against part of the body, and this is both ineffective and dumb. The idea is exert the crucial force, the effort to generate space and momentum, when the weight is closest to the center of mass to eliminate the dampening effect of lever arms, etc.

During the transition under the bar, a good, close snatch pull will require the athlete to get the upper torso out of the way of the bar on the way up. No more force is being exerted on the bar, the feet aren't planted, and the primary effort is getting under. Some people refer to this as the "third pull," when the arms pull the athlete under the bar, and some people conceptualize the transition as beginning with the end of the shrug in the second pull.

Generally people can pull high enough, it's receiving the bar that makes this movement so difficult. It's not an issue of strength, especially once you learn to pull correctly, it's an issue of timing, position, and aggressiveness. You have to know when to stop pulling on the bar and start pulling yourself under it (immediately after the force exerted on the bar reaches its highest), you have to know where you're going to be once you're actually under the bar (bar directly above the shoulders and heels), and you've got to have the balls to do what you need to do fast and hard enough that you don't lose it out in front of you or miss it behind.

Standing out of the snatch requires considerable overhead strength and flexibility. The overhead squat is probably the hardest non-dynamic movement you could possibly think of. The weight is held overhead, locked-out, far away from your center of mass and your base of support. This means that unless you maintain strict tension throughout the trunk and shoulders, you'll be wobbling back and forth, and that even though the weight you can hold overhead may be 60% of your best back squat, it's still going to feel heavy standing out of the hole. Now take the difficult of the vanilla overhead squat, and add it to the task of reversing direction after the second pull, receiving the weight overhead with good timing, and re-establishing your center of mass, all in less than one second. This is what it's like to recover out of the squat snatch.

iii. the snatch as an athletic movement

Speed, flexibility, and good technique, good timing, this is what the snatch is all about. The less-developed lifters can get by in the clean if they pull too long, if maybe their transition is a little inefficient, but the snatch is much less forgiving. Bad position, poor timing, and looping the bar away from the body while dropping under it all make it a lot harder to make the lift; you lose it behind if you pull too far back, in front if you shrug in front of your hips, can't get the elbows locked-out, can't control it overhead, etc.

The snatch is a lot like the hammer or discus throw: it's more a display of athletic ability, rather than a developer. If competition isn't your thing, learning the snatch is probably not worth the effort. People spend months, in some cases a year or more learning and applying the correct motor pattern. And even in weightlifting training, most consider the power clean a much more effective assistance exercise compared to the power snatch, because the power clean develops the strength to clean heavy weights, as well as the explosiveness to move a weight a great distance (i.e. the distance the bar travels in the power clean is about the same as it travels in the power snatch: correlation between the weight lifted in these two movements is often very close in proficient weightlifters).

However, if you are competing, this is essentially what makes you a weightlifter. No other sport has any movement comparable to the snatch. This is what you spend years of your life perfecting while everyone else can't or won't. This is what will bury you into the platform time after time when you attempt a weight in training you know, you fucking know you can hit but it just won't come that day. This is how you can tell the difference between the guys who are just strong, and the guys who actually know how to pull.

Sources:

being a weightlifter

Snatch (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Snatched (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Snatching.] [OE. snachen, snechen; akin to D. snakken to gasp, to long (for), to desire. Cf. Snack, n., Sneck.]

1.

To take or seize hastily, abruptly, or without permission or ceremony; as, to snatch a loaf or a kiss.

When half our knowledge we must snatch, not take.
Pope.

2.

To seize and transport away; to rap. "Snatch me to heaven." Thomson.

Syn. -- To twitch; pluck; grab; catch; grasp; gripe.

 

© Webster 1913


Snatch, v. i.

To attempt to seize something suddenly; to catch; -- often with at; as, to snatch at a rope.

 

© Webster 1913


Snatch (?), n.

1.

A hasty catching or seizing; a grab; a catching at, or attempt to seize, suddenly.

2.

A short period of vigorous action; as, a snatch at weeding after a shower. Tusser.

They move by fits and snatches.
Bp. Wilkins.

3.

A small piece, fragment, or quantity; a broken part; a scrap.

We have often little snatches of sunshine.
Spectator.

Leave me your snatches, and yield me a direct answer.
Shak.

 

© Webster 1913

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