Throughout his career, filmmaker Guy Ritchie has created no shortage of entertaining and memorable characters. His stories often focus on British gangsters at a range of mob hierarchy levels, and their witty dialogue is typically fired off so quickly and with such thick accents that repeat viewings are required to absorb all the jokes and slang utilized.
A technique Ritchie latched onto early in his career is giving characters catchy nicknames. This makes characters easier to remember and differentiate, and gives audiences valuable information about them upon introduction. His latest movie - The Gentlemen (2020) is available for rent April 14, so acquaint yourself with some of Ritchie's best-named characters (fit to print) before you watch!
Dry Eye - The Gentlemen
A product of Ritchie's most recent picture, Dry Eye's name is a tad poetic, considering he has designs on taking over a British cannabis empire. Portrayed by Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians), Dry Eye - and underboss for Chinese gangster Lord George (Tom Wu) - plays a primary antagonist to Matthew McConaughey's Mickey, who intends to hand his empire over to his right-hand man (Charlie Hunnam).
If you're willing to shell out the money to purchase The Gentlemen, you can enjoy Golding's performance today. If not, you'll have to wait a couple of weeks, but rest assured the wait is worth it.
Hatchet Harry - Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels
Another primary antagonist, the four heroes of Ritchie's first feature - Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) - find themselves in massive debt after losing a card game to criminal boss Hatchet Harry (P.H. Moriarty).
How he earned the nickname "Hatchet" is never explicitly revealed, but according to Bacon (Jason Statham, a Ritchie regular), a man named Smithy once worked for Harry. When Harry suspected Smithy of holding money out on him, he beat Smithy to death with a 15-inch rubber sex toy, hence, "Hatchet Harry is the man you pay if you owe."
Johnny Quid - RocknRolla
At the beginning of the RocknRolla (2008) story, Johnny Quid (Toby Kebbell) - the stage name of the drug-addicted stepson of London mob boss Lenny Cole (Tom Wilkinson) - is supposedly dead, but it doesn't take long before the audience finds out Quid's death was faked to try and boost his music sales.
When Quid re-emerges from death and steals an important painting from his stepfather's house, it sets in motion a series of wacky events for himself, Lenny's criminal organization, and several other parties involved, but we'll get into that later.
Brick Top - Snatch
"Be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm. They will go through a body that weighs 200 pounds in about eight minutes. That means that a single pig can consume two pounds of uncooked flesh every minute. Hence the expression, 'as greedy as a pig.'"
This monologue delivered by Brick Top (Alan Ford) in Snatch (2000) says more about the ruthless crime boss than we ever could and is one of many intimidating threats he makes throughout the story to strike fear into the hearts of Turkish (Statham) and Tommy (Stephen Graham), two small-time crooks who get mixed up in Brick Top's unlicensed boxing racket.
One Two - RocknRolla
Johnny Quid isn't the only character stealing from crime boss Lenny Cole in RocknRolla. To help steal 7,000,000 euros intended for a crooked land deal, Stella (Thandie Newton) - an accountant who works for Cole's Russian business partner (Karel Roden) - hires a three-man gang called "The Wild Bunch," led by One Two (Gerard Butler).
The Wild Bunch struggle to bite off more than they can chew when they get involved with mobsters significantly more powerful than themselves, but their toughness, cleverness, ability to play sides against each other, and willingness to work with anyone allows them to survive in the big leagues.
Samoan Joe - Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels
Not to be confused with WWE wrestler Samoa Joe, Samoan Joe (David Reid) is the bartender at Samoan Joe's Pub. While Eddy (Nick Moran) is busy losing their money to Hatchet Harry, the rest of his mates nervously await the card game's result while drinking at this neighboring pub.
If you're looking for a pint of beer, Samoan Joe's is not your place, which Bacon finds out upon being served a cocktail, which he claims looks so much like a rainforest that he could fall in love with an orangutan in it. Don't touch the television remote either, unless you're prepared for Rory (Vas Blackwood) to set you on fire.
Franky Four Fingers - Snatch
The MacGuffin in Snatch is an extremely large and valuable diamond, which is stolen from a jewelry store in the movie's opening scene by four thieves disguised as Hasidic Jews, led by Franky Four Fingers (Benicio Del Toro).
Before Franky can deliver the stone to crooked jewelry dealer Doug the Head (Mike Reid), he's sidetracked by placing a bet on one of Brick Top's boxing matches, raising the concern of Doug's associate Cousin Avi (Dennis Farina), who explains that Franky earned his nickname by making stupid bets with dangerous people until they chopped his finger off as payment.
Boris The Blade/Boris The Bullet-Dodger - Snatch
It's no accident that Franky Four Fingers is led to make his boxing bet, as he's put up to it by the man who sold him his gun used for the diamond heist - Boris the Blade (Rade Serbedzija) - who hires three goons to then steal the diamond from Franky.
Boris, an ex-KGB agent who's "as bent as the Soviet sickle and as hard as the hammer that crosses it" according to Turkish, earns his first nickname for his reputation as a weapons dealer. He's also nearly impossible to kill, earning him his second nickname and making him a two-for-one addition to the list.
Goosefat Bill - King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword
Ritchie's unconventional adaptation of the Arthurian legend, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) reimagines the famous king (Hunnam) as a British street thug raised by prostitutes. The movie was set to be the first in a series of six, but Warner Brothers nixed the franchise after poor box office performance.
With the introduction of several new characters to the story came Goosefat Bill (Aidan Gillen), whose sneakiness drew comparisons to Gillen's iconic Littlefinger character from Game of Thrones. The sharp-shooting Goosefat is much more of a protagonist than Littlefinger and earned his moniker for his tendency to slip out of the bars he's imprisoned behind like he's covered in goose fat.
Bullet-Tooth Tony - Snatch
Played by Vinnie Jones, a real-life former member of the "Crazy Gang," Bullet-Tooth Tony is a bounty hunter hired by Cousin Avi to track down Franky Four Fingers after he goes missing with Avi's diamond.
As far as gangsters go, this guy is the complete package. He's tough, clever, funny, and best of all - he refuses to kill a dog when his boss orders him to. As Boris the Blade's goons learn the hard way, the last place you ever want to find yourself is the business end of Bullet-Tooth Tony and his best friend - Desert Eagle .50.