WHERE'S THE MONEY, RONNIE?

(June 1996) - Written by Shane Meadows

Synopsis

A robbery, a street brawl and two shootings are the focus of police interviews held with four suspects.
The four characters each tell their version of events, but the final conclusion as to what actually happened and to who has the money, is left to the viewer.

As each suspect tells their side of the story, we see flashbacks of each version of events.. From the original robbery of the newsagent, through to the shootings around the back of the market (and all the rolling around on the pavement in between) we are given brief glimpses of what may (or may not) have happened.

Benny Bould and Jock of the Spoono

Ronnie and Zico Marzetti

Benny says he was made to do this robbery by Ronnie, but wanted to keep the money because he needed it for some decorating.......
"I've got some bad coving, and I needed to get it done!!".

Jock claims he was payed the money by Benny for some cleaning and decorating work......
"I don't know what to tell you man. I've been done an injustice to"

Zico claims he was just trying help out when he saw a fight in the street.......
"You may hear some of them say I had a gun, but what it was... it was just a starting gun from when I wanted to be in the athletics team"

Ronnie claims he was simply trying to get the money back to give it back to the shop owners......
"There was Rico, Zico and Chico in this car, and they were tooled up. One had a meat cleaver, one had a pool cue with the end drilled out, and one had a Magnum 45".

Ronnie is a money collector, and at least two of the suspects claim that they owed him money, but was it really Ronnie that got the money in the end?
So with these clues (and many more in the film), it's up to you to decide: Where is the money?

Stills

Background

After making about fifteen shorts just for the fun of it, and only screening them for small audiences and friends, Shane decided to remake his first short and enter it into a few competitions.. The film cost approximately £250 to make (which was hugely expensive for Shane at the time!) and became his calling card for both Smalltime and Twentyfour Seven.

Trivia

Mat Hand's frenzied performance in the film was due to him being up all the previous night in hospital with his newly born, ill son.. When Mat turned up to film his section, he was going berserk in front of the camera to try and get it out of his system.. Shane decided that Mat should do the same with his lines and left the camera running.. Leaving the camera running is a technique that Shane still uses today.

Shane Meadows wrote, produced and directed the film (as well as being the camera operator, the editor and sound person).. Jimmy Hynd is credited as assistant editor.

CAST

Shane Meadows:
Ronnie

Mat Hand:
Benny Bould

Jimmy Hynd:
Jock of the Spoono

Paul Anderson:
Zico Marzetti

Mick Pritchard:
Rico Marzetti

John Powell:
Chico Maezetti

Mark Roper:
Kev Marzetti

DVD INFO

Where's the Money, Ronnie? is not currently available on DVD, but is included on the VHS release of Smalltime.

LINKS

Shane's World
You can watch 'Where's the Money, Ronnie?' at Channel4's, Shane's World site.. Click the link, and you will find it at the bottom, left of the page.. Unfortunatley the website seems to be offline quite often.

IMDB Entry

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