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Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Year: 1998
Director: Guy Ritchie
Cast: Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran, Jason Statham , Steven Mackintosh, Vinnie Jones , Sting , Lenny McLean, P.H. Moriarty, Steve Sweeney, Frank Harper, Stephen Marcus, Peter McNicholl.
Set Locations:
London: Borough Market, Camden Market and Bethnal Green Town Hall were used.
Guy Ritchie established himself firmly with the 1998 British Crime hit 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'. The film stars Jayson Fleming, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran, Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones and Sting. For Vinnie Jones the film represented the transition from 'football hard man' to 'film hard man'.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels tells the tale of four East London likely lads trying to make some fast money. They decide to go for broke by chipping in £25,000 each so that one of them, Eddie who has been known as a cardsharp all his life, can enter an illegal high stakes card game run by an East End gangster. Unfortunately for Eddie and the lads, the game is rigged and the four end up owing £500,000 to the gangster with just a week to pay!

Faced with violent repercussions, the lads cook up an ambitious plan after overhearing a gang of thieves who are next door. The gang talk of their plan to rip off a group of Cannabis growers who are out of their depth and keep their money lying around in their planting rooms. The lads decide that they will themselves then heist the robbers and use this money to pay back the money owed. The plot soon thickens and things do not go to plan. Faced with a rising body count and mayhem around them, the lads are desperate to find a way out before they become the next casualties.

Much of the action takes place in Bethnal in London's famous East End. The boxing scenes are shot at Bethnal Green's Repton Boxing Club . Bethnal Green Town Hall also features in the film, as does the Royal Oak Hotel there.

The film gives something of a tour of the East and East Central parts of the City of London. You get to see the very fashionable Borough Market, which appears in several films made in the last decade or so. Borough Market has been given quite a boost by references from popular TV chefs and is now the fashionable place to buy fresh food. But note that, if you want to follow this particular fashion, the retail section is only open Thursday to Saturday. Bow , Clerkenwell and Shoreditch , also in the East/East Central part of London can be seen in this film as well. The film also takes in Southwark Bridge on the River Thames . This stretch of the Thames also features London Bridge and Tower Bridge, which is close to one of London's most popular tourist destinations, the historic Tower of London.

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