Question about a scene in the movie Snatch

Cafe Society
1

Ok, this question involves Guy Ritchie’s movie Snatch. If you haven’t seen the movie, this might be a minor spoiler. The scene in question plays out like this:

Turkish sends Tommy to a Pikey camp to pick up a Caravan, instructing him to take Gorgeous with him. Tommy and Gorgeous show up at the camp site and buy the caravan, which breaks as they’re pulling away. Mickey tells them “I’ll fight you for it”. So they fight, and Gorgeous is apparently beating the snot out of Mickey when Mickey pops him and knocks him out. The next scene is the one I’m talking about. Two groups of people caught in what surely looks to be a violent argument, with Tommy in the middle looking miserable and scared. Turkish is on the voice-over, something about how Tommy was caught in the middle and in danger, etc.

The question is: who were those people arguing and what were they arguing about? First thought was that Turkishs’ goons were arguing with the Pikeys about the caravan and/or Mickey knocking out Gorgeous, but Tommy and Gorgeous came to the Pikey camp site alone (you see them pull up in a car). So it couldn’t have been any goons of Turkish involved in the argument. Then I thought both groups may have been Pikeys, arguing about whether they should kill Tommy and Gorgeous. But that doesn’t really make sense either; they’d have no reason. They already had Tommy’s money, and he wasn’t a threat to them. If Tommy would have called the police to complain, the Pikeys would have just packed up and left before they got there. So, what was going on here?

Secondary puzzler: How could Gorgeous get that messed up from one punch? He’s shown a few scenes later in this elaborate neck stabilizing contraption and unable to talk. Ok, he got hit pretty hard, but that’s a LOT of damage from one punch, and it didn’t look like Gorgeous hit hit head or anything on the way down.

2

I think it’s two groups of pikeys, arguing about whether they should kill Tommy - not because there’s a particular reason they need Tommy dead, but to scare the piss out of him and keep him from coming back later. It’s part of the con, not a real argument.

3

This is explictly what they’re arguing about. They don’t want the cops after them for murder, so if Gorgeous George doesn’t wake up, they’re considering just having the two of them disappear.

Or - as Miller suggests - it could just be part of the con.

4

Turkish explains it in the voice over. If Gorgeous is dead, what do they do with Tommy? They let him go and hope he doesn’t talk, or kill him, bury the two bodies and move camp.

5

I don’t remember exactly what Turkish said in the voice over, although I remember being somewhat confused by it. I’ll have to watch it again.

6

You can watch it online. Free and LEGAL, mods.

7

He says it’s easier to bury two bodies and move than it is to explain one body.

8

I always got the impression that Mikey broke Gorgeous George’s jaw and possibly his neck, from the whole brace arrangement.

9

CMC fnord!