Guy Ritchie directed the 1998 British crime film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
The film was Ritchie's feature-directing debut and follows four friends who become trapped in debt after a rigged high-stakes card game. Their attempt to steal valuable antique shotguns from criminals creates the overlapping plots, betrayals and mistaken identities associated with the movie.
Ritchie also wrote the screenplay, and the film helped launch the careers of Jason Statham and Vinnie Jones. Producer Matthew Vaughn later became a major director in his own right, which sometimes causes confusion about their roles. Vaughn produced Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, but Ritchie directed it. The movie's fast dialogue, nonlinear storytelling and London setting influenced many later British crime comedies.