Get Shorty (film)

Get Shorty is a 1995 American gangster comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and written by Scott Frank. Get Shorty is based on Elmore Leonard's novel of the same name and stars John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, Delroy Lindo, Dennis Farina, and Danny DeVito. Get Shorty follows Chili Palmer (Travolta), a Miami mobster and loan shark, who inadvertently gets involved in Hollywood feature film production. Chili takes a road trip to Las Vegas, where he has tracked a missing loan shark client named Leo Devoe who runs a dry cleaner in Miami. Devoe was supposed to have been killed in a commercial plane crash, but his wife Faye secretly told Chili that Leo had left the plane prior to the take off, surviving the crash. While Chili is in Las Vegas, a casino manager at the Mesas Casino who knows Leo tells Chili that Leo is probably at a Santa Anita racetrack. He then asks Chili for a business favor: to try to collect a $200,000 casino debt owed by B movie director Harry Zimm (Hackman) in L.A.

Get Shorty
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBarry Sonnenfeld
Screenplay byScott Frank
Based onGet Shorty
by Elmore Leonard
Produced byDanny DeVito
Michael Shamberg
Stacey Sher
Starring
CinematographyDonald Peterman[1]
Edited byJim Miller
Music byJohn Lurie
Production
company
Jersey Films
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • October 20, 1995 (1995-10-20)
Running time
105 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$30 million[2]
Box office$115.1 million[3]

Get Shorty was followed ten years later by a sequel, Be Cool, also based on an Elmore Leonard novel, in 2005. In 2017, Get Shorty inspired a television series of the same name.

Plot

Ernesto "Chili" Palmer, a loan shark, mobster, and a huge movie fan, based in Miami, gets his leather jacket and car keys 'stolen', on a very cold Miami day, from a restaurant coat room, by rival mobster Ray "Bones" Barboni. 'Bones' is a mobster from another crew. Chili then goes to Bones' home, slugs Bones, and takes his jacket and car keys back. Bones has a broken nose from Chili's punch. Several days later, Bones tries to attack and shoot Chili in revenge, but Chili is ready, and shoots Bones in the top of his forehead, intentionally grazing his forehead non-fatally, but leaving Bones with an ugly forehead wound. Asking his mob boss, 'Jimmy Cap', Bones then tries to have Chili killed, but is unsuccessful, because the bosses of their crews don’t want to start a mob war. The Jimmy Cap also realizes that Bones provoked Chili by stealing his leather jacket and car keys.

A month later, the top New York boss of Chili’s Miami associates, 'Momo', dies of a heart attack, and his enemy Bones then becomes Chili's direct boss, and 'inherits' Chili, and Chili’s Miami list of outstanding loans, which has to be handed over to Bones with up to date payments. Chili has written one of the loan shark debts off, since the client, a dry cleaner named Leo Devoe, has died in a commercial plane crash. Bones demands that Chili find out from his widow Faye if Leo has left any life insurance. After checking with Leo's 'widow', Chili is very surprised to learn that Leo left the plane after boarding, and didn’t re board the plane after checking in. Leo and his wife Faye had scammed the airline out of $300,000 in life insurance, money which Leo alone is enjoying, and winning with, in Las Vegas.

While Chili is tracking down Leo, at a Las Vegas casino, 'The Mesas', the casino's director of gaming asks for Chili's help to collect a bad debt from Harry Zimm, a well known B horror movie director in Los Angeles. Chili quickly locates Zimm, and sneaks into the house of actress Karen Flores in the middle of the night, where Harry is sleeping over. Chili wakes Harry up, and calmly explains he has to pay his debt to the Mesas casino. Chili then tells Harry all about the dry cleaner’s mob debt, and the plane crash story as if it’s a unique idea for a movie, and is secretly seeing an opportunity to get into a better line of business.-the movie business

Harry himself sees in Chili an opportunity in getting a tough guy to help him out, and asks for Chili's help in delaying movie work with the $200,000 investment he had received from Bo Catlett. Catlett is the owner of a limo service that serves as a front for drug dealing. Catlett also wants to get into a better line of business – the movie business. Harry is in a real fix-he cannot make the B horror movie he has planned, because he had gambled the 200K of production money away at The Mesas in Las Vegas. Chili is pulling this idea off, when Harry reveals the film he really wants to make, one with a great script, 'Mr. Lovejoy'. Both Chili and later Bo Catlett then decide it’s their chance to enter the movie business, producing 'Mr. Lovejoy'. 'Mr. Lovejoy's scriptwriter is Murray Saffron, who has recently died of a heart attack. His widow, Doris, now controls Murray's literary estate.

Limo owner and drug dealer Bo has left the payment for a large drug deal in a locker at Los Angeles International Airport, but Yayo, the Mexican sent to pick the cash up, doesn’t feel safe unlocking the locker. Bo has also told Yayo there are DEA agents at LAX. That night, Yayo tells Bo that if he is arrested with the cash, he will simply say that he's on an errand for Bo. This statement leads to Bo shooting and killing him. With Yayo missing, soon after, Bo is visited by the head Mexican drug lord, Mr. Escobar, who demands his money as well as the return of Yayo -- who was Mr. Escobar's nephew -- that Bo has killed.

With Karen Flores' help, Chili gets a meeting with Martin Weir, an A-list Hollywood actor and Karen’s ex-husband. Martin loves the character and plot is describing, and now Chili has gotten the story interest of an A-list actor. Harry becomes jealous of Chili and Karen's partnership, and suspicious that they're going to steal his project.

Feeding Harry's suspicions, Bo offers the locker money to Harry as an investment in the great script and tells him to send Chili with the key to get the money to remove his rival from the scene. Chili senses something is wrong, rents and opens a nearby locker as a test, and is taken in for questioning by DEA agents. Bo's henchman Bear accosts Chili in a parking garage and demands the key. Chili knocks the wind out of him and then, fascinated by Bear's former work as a Hollywood stunt man, strikes up a conversation about movies with him.

After being intimate with writer Murray Saffron's widow, Doris, Harry drunkenly telephones Bones, and gives Bones a hard time about the Leo Devoe's scammed money. Bones then immediately flies to Los Angeles, looking for the money Chili collected from Leo. Bones surprises Harry at his movie office and, after it becomes clear that Harry doesn't know where the money is, he beats him brutally. Bo's partner drug dealing Ronnie Wingate then shows up and after confronting Bones, Bones shoots Ronnie.

Feeling desperate, Bo kidnaps Karen, and he tells Chili to bring the dry-cleaner's money to his house to ransom her. Chili arrives with the money. Chili then appears to get into a fight with Bear, during which Bo falls through the railing of his deck to his death, having been set up by Chili and Bear.

Chili returns to his hotel room where he is surprised by Ray Bones, who demands the money Leo has scammed. Searching Chili's pockets, he finds the airport locker key, and Chili tells him where teh locker is. Bones then goes to open the LAX locker, which is still being watched by DEA agents. Suddenly, the entire scene switches to the movie version of the 'Chili' story, called, 'Get Shorty', starring Martin Weir and Harvey Keitel, produced by Chili and Karen, and directed by Harry Zimm. When the scene's prop gun fails, Harry calls a filming halt for the day.

As they leave, Chili complains to Martin's agent that Martin is too short to play him, and then he and Karen Flores and the rest of the stars of 'Get Shorty' leave the studio parking lot for the day.

Cast

Get Shorty also features an appearance from the real Ernest "Chili" Palmer, a Miami loan shark and mob-connected man who inspired the original character.[4]

Soundtrack

The movie features an acid- and soul-jazz themed soundtrack with songs by Us3, Morphine, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, Greyboy and Medeski Martin & Wood alongside original compositions by John Lurie.[5] The soundtrack was nominated for a Grammy Award (1997 - Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television).[6]

Production

Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman and Michael Keaton were offered the role of Chili Palmer but they all declined.[7][8] Sonnenfeld considered Samuel L. Jackson for the role of Bo Catlett.[9] Steve Buscemi and Matthew McConaughey were considered for the role of Ronnie Wingate.[10]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 88% based on 56 reviews, with an average rating of 7.74/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "With a perfect cast and a sly twist on the usual Hollywood gangster dynamic, Get Shorty delivers a sharp satire that doubles as an entertaining comedy-thriller in its own right."[11] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 82 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[12] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade "B+" on scale of A+ to F.[13] The film was entered into the 46th Berlin International Film Festival.[14]

The film opened at #1 upon its release (10/20-22) with $12.7 million.[15] Get Shorty remained #1 for three consecutive weeks before being overtaken by Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.[16]

Accolades

For his role as Chili Palmer, John Travolta received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The film also received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

References
  1. "Perry Moore, 'Narnia' series executive producer, dies at 39; Don Peterman, Oscar-nominated cinematographer, dies at 79; Nancy Carr, network TV publicist, dies at 50". Los Angeles Times. 2011-02-22. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
  2. "Why 'Get Shorty' Is One of the Best Crime Comedies Ever". Collider. October 21, 2020. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
  3. "Get Shorty". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 15 November 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  4. Anne E. Kornblut (November 5, 1995). "The Real Chili Palmer". New York Daily News. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  5. Okamoto, David (October 30, 1995). "'Get Shorty' Scores A Hit With Funky Soundtrack". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved January 16, 2022 – via Chicago Tribune.
  6. "Artist: John Lurie". Grammy Award. Archived from the original on November 15, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  7. "15 Fast-Talking Facts About Get Shorty". www.mentalfloss.com. October 21, 2015.
  8. May 29, PATRICK GOLDSTEIN; Pt, 1995 12 Am (May 29, 1995). "Hangin' With 'Shorty' : A Comic Hollywood Crime Novel Has Brought Out the Tough-Guy Stars--Including John Travolta". Los Angeles Times.
  9. "Netflix's Da 5 Bloods star Delroy Lindo on his most famous roles". The A.V. Club.
  10. "Jon Gries". The A.V. Club.
  11. Get Shorty at Rotten Tomatoes
  12. Get Shorty at Metacritic
  13. "GET SHORTY (1995) B+". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on 2018-12-20.
  14. "Berlinale: 1996 Programme". berlinale.de. Archived from the original on 2012-01-20. Retrieved 2012-01-01.
  15. Robert W. Welkos (24 October 1995). "Weekend Box Office : 'Shorty' Stands Tall in Ticket Sales". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
  16. "Weekend Box Office November 10–12, 1995". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 15 November 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2011.
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