Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a
1998 British crime film directed and written by
Guy Ritchie. The story is a
heist film involving a self-confident young
card sharp who loses £500,000 to a powerful crime lord in a rigged game of
three card brag. In order to pay off his debts, he and his friends decide to rob a small-time gang who happen to be operating out of the flat next door. The film garnered Guy Ritchie international acclaim, and introduced actors
Vinnie Jones, a former Welsh international
football player, and
Jason Statham, to worldwide audiences.
In 2000, Ritchie won an
Edgar Award from the
Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture Screenplay. In 2004, the
magazine Total Film named
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels the 38th greatest British film of all time.