User Reviews

Barry Sonnenfeld was and maybe wasn't the right choice to make Get Shorty. He's a great visualist, and his films (Adams Family, Men in Black) are also very funny, but it's hard to say whether or not another director might've taken Elmore Leonard's sly comic novel more seriously or with less depth. As it is, however, Get Shorty is a cool little treat that doesn't over-stay its welcome, and provides its cast a plethora of witty dialog. John Travolta brings on some sharp attitude, knowing the angles and wanting, as his character Chili Palmer, to get into Hollywood and out of loan sharking. Gene Hackman's funny as a fledgling producer with his first, true big hit in his lap. And supporting parts from Delroy Lindo, Renne Russo, Danny De Vito (as 'Hollywood' as you'll ever see him), and James Gandolfini, are all very worthy. It's a worthwhile watch, with a dead-on score from John Lurie. But I would reccomend Out of Sight or Jackie Brown to Leonard fans looking for a great adaptation. It's a very good Hollywood picture (reflective of what it's about), though it's not a masterpiece. A-

This film is based on the Elmore Leonard book of the same name. This is a hilarious satire of Hollywood. Chili Palmer (John Travolta) is a loan shark from Miami tracking down a deadbeat who has run off. Palmer's travels take him to Hollywood, where he meets Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman). Zimm is a producer of major motion pictures (read B horror flicks). His lover is Karen (Rene Russo). His meetings give Palmer the "movie bug."

Already a huge movie fan, Palmer decides to produce "Mr. Lovejoy" a script that Zimm proclaims will be hs "Driving Miss Daisy." The plot centers around efforts to raise the necessary money and land Martin Weir (Danny DeVito) in the lead role. Fortunately Weir is Karen's es-husband. And Palmer has access to $300,000 generated from Las Vegas winnings of the missing deadbeat, Leo. As a further complication there is a drug dealer (Delroy Lindo) who has invested in one of Zimm's pictures. But he has gotten in trouble with his supplier for $500,000 and a missing nephew.

DeVito does a wonderful job playing the self-involved, pretentious Weir. There are wonderful comments about screen writers. Spelling is optional, not necessary. The role of a screenwriter is just to put the commas in where they belong. Travolta is delightful as a "nice guy" wiseguy. In fact, the entire cast is just great.

The plot lines never overwhelm the film, and they fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. (Note: Thanks to Pulp Fiction, studios are willing now to use non-linear plot lines on occasion.). The ending is terrific (watch for the cameo by Harvey Keitel). I saw this in the theatre and have seen it several times on video. This one is definitely a keeper.

I am not sure whether I liked the movie or just John Travolta and his character Chili Palmer. I had a lot of fun watching 'Get Shorty', based on the novel by Elmore Leonard, so it doesn't really matter. The movie is about a mobster from Miami, Chili Palmer, who ends up in Los Angeles. After meeting a movie producer named Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman) he gets interested in the movie business. This is the main story, but this movie is based on an Elmore Leonard story so there are a lot of sub-plots with lots of interesting characters, all with great dialogue.

Besides Chili Palmer and Harry Zimm we meet Karen Flores (Rene Russo), an actress known for her screaming, Martin Weir (Danny DeVito) who is the hot actor of the moment, Ray Bones (Dennis Farina) who wants to collect some money that Chili has, Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo) who wants money fro Harry Zimm, Bear (James Gandolfini) who was a stuntman but now is Bo's bodyguard, Leo Devoe (David Paymer) who stole the money that brought Chili to Los Angeles and Doris (Bette Midler). All characters are colorful, have great dialogue and an interesting part in the story, but all those great things are there together with Chili. For every nice moment Travolta is present.

The actors play their characters very well. Again, Travolta is great and owns the movie, but especially Farina and Hackman do a great job as well. The movie is well directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (from 'The Addams Family'), knowing how to avoid boring moments. The story with its dialogue would be enough to make a nice movie out of it. Fortunately we have the actors and direction to make it even better and definitely more entertaining.

"Get Shorty" is a celebration of that usual Barry Sonnenfeld style of film making. Great characters, done by a great cast including John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, Danny DeVito, Dennis Farina, Delroy Lindo and.. Well the list just goes on and on. A perfect mix-up of that so called "character-comedy", a movie progressing and dependant on the characters, making it hilarious comedy chaos.

The best thing about this film is obviously the whole cast, John Travolta as the smooth bad ass Chili Palmer, Gene Hackman as the hectic Harry Zimm. A bit unusual role from Hackman, which also makes the character so hilariously surreal. Rene Russo as "the girl" Karen Flores, Danny DeVito as the movie star Martin Weir with a huge ego, Dennis Farina as the loud mouth usual himself Ray 'Bones' Barboni. Delroy Lindo as the tough Bo Catlett and James Gandolfini as Bo's bodyguard, failed stuntman Bear. Everyone just simply click together, which makes the movie even better than it actually is. It's just all about the characters. Chili Palmer must be one of the coolest characters ever seen on the big screen.

Like mentioned before, Barry Sonnenfeld is the director of the movie and I honestly can't imagine anyone else directing a movie with a screenplay like this except Steven Soderbergh, the director of for example both "Ocean's Eleven" and "Ocean's Twelve". I think that Sonnenfeld's and Soderbergh's styles connect together, they are very similar. And if they'd do a British version of the movie, the director would be Guy Ritchie without a doubt. If you recognised both Soderbergh and Ritchie, then you know the style I'm talking about and if you like both of their movies you should see "Get Shorty". The other thing similar between these three directors besides the directing is the music used in their films. It's that usual horns and trumpets, giving that funky and exciting feeling for the film. It just fits for movies like these, creating that what is needed for the style. It also connects with the cinematography as well; Sudden movements of the angles, sudden stops, shots really close of the faces in these specific angles and when you add the music to that it's voilá.

"Get Shorty" is all in all a great comedy with a plot that doesn't go over the silliness level. Sometimes movies like these go over that level, which usually make them funnier but also makes the whole story so unbelievable that it just isn't enjoyable as a movie anymore. Well the movie itself isn't THAT serious, it's a comedy after all, but it's definitely some quality entertainment. It includes a nice storyline, great characters and directing that just doesn't let you down. I recommend this movie to everyone once again. It's not amazing or phenomenal, it's a nice piece of entertainment, keeping you glued to your sofa throughout. What more can you ask for a boring Friday evening?

With the benefit of hindsight, you might say 1995's Get Shorty plays a lot like one of those Coen brothers features that come along every few years or so and end up being a lot less than the film it wants to come across as. The idea usually reads well on paper, the film feels like a good idea at the time; sees some scenes work better than others and while it doesn't really know what it wants to be, it's almost as if that in itself is part of the charm - it's only afterwards when you think back that you shrug, adopt a ponderous tone and wonder whether it was really worth getting excited about. Get Shorty's like that, the film is an interesting mess and that's the best thing you can say about it; it doesn't know whether it's coming or going, it doesn't know what it's about, some characters are more interesting than others, some don't work at all but like something like 2008's Burn After Reading, it has a charm that works in the moment and only when it isn't bothering itself with either narrative or large amounts of substance.

For a film to so heavily involve the notion of filmmaking, it's only natural I suppose to note how even its title possesses a sense of deeply rooted sense of cinema; of which are infused in the form of 1971's Get Carter, itself a film about a hardened gangster travelling a large distance so as to get a job done with various parties and elements getting in the way. Get Carter had something about it, something solid and central and it maintained enthralling and gripping throughout. Here, it is the antithesis: several tangents as well as supporting characters, whom the film makes the golden mistake of making either ten times funnier or more interesting than the lead, are all going off at once thus creating a muddled and only marginally interesting piece. Was the film about a Florida based loan shark out of his element but falling in anyway with the crowd around him? Was it about a Miami mob boss who's owed money and wants it back? Is it about a heist? A con? Filmmaking? Gangsters? Is it a love story? A pair of hoods whom have a stake in a film company? The short and long of it is: too much of too many to be deeply involving, not enough of one or two to be deeply affecting.

The best thing about the film is quite easily Dennis Farina's initially Miami based mobster Ray Barboni, nicknamed 'Bones'. Most of the scenes in which Farina's angry, foul mouthed, border-line scociopathic gangster is around present to the audience the best material and the biggest laughs, with his lack of presence greatly diminishing the film. He gets agitated when Travolta's Chili Palmer flies out to Los Angeles so as to collect a debt following complications with a mob boss, eventually taking it upon himself to fly out there too so as to clear everything up. His exodus is because of Palmer's newfound sense of existence amidst the higher-ups of America's filmmaking industry, and his friendship with American B-movie filmmaker Harry Zimm (Hackman) whom it's established is a bit slimy and who makes, judging by the titles, some equally slimy films. Meanwhile, Delroy Lindo's L.A. based gangster Bo Catlett and beefy accomplice Bear (Gandolfini) have their own problems involving South American drug barons and stakes in the industry themselves, as actor and actress Martin Weir (DeVito) and Karen Flores (Russo), two character's we might have done without, hover around.

The film begins on a gloomy day in Miami, Palmer's fondness for film established by way of a rueful tone regarding a local disused cinema which he believes it would be fantastic if it were up and running. The kind of guy, in Palmer, that we're informed to be dealing with is put across in his attitudes and reactions to Bones' waltzing over with two cohorts. The threatening behaviour and petty jibes twinned with the taking of Palmer's coat on the way out of the diner they're all in means little to the man, the nervous reactions of the clerks in regards to Bones further adding to the strength and reputation the man carries. For Palmer, it means little and a later visiting to Bones' house along with the taking of everything in his stride aids in getting across what kind of person Palmer is for later skirmishes.

Therein the word skirmish lies the problem, Get Shorty effectively being a series of moderately entertaining, even more-so when Farina is on screen, bits and bobs sequences together that work on occasion but not enough to get truly excited about. The pithy self-aware jabs at the film industry and those within it in Palmer's dismissive talk of film producers and Catlett's equally dismissive talk of screenplays in their usually error ridden forms are amusing, but don't contribute to the greater extent of anything. The film is ultimately less interested in something that I had more of an interest in, in its noirish tendencies, and ended up more interested in something my attention waned in relation to in its filmmaking sub-plots; the systematic rejection of which is evident when a low level hood is disposed of at a character's luxurious home only for dialogue about movie making to immediately succeed the event and the fall out which it spawns. Its underlying idea that anybody, in this case quite literally, regardless of their past can waltz into the American film industry and lobby for some success is generally scathing in an understated sort of way, and there is, ultimately, enough to get caught up in for Get Shorty to work in the long run.

Chili Palmer (John Travolta) works for the mob. He's volatile, intense, and extremely street smart. When Ray Barboni (Dennis Farina) takes Chili's coat, he promptly punches Ray in the face to get his coat back. Too bad for Chili, his boss dies and he has to work for Ray's crew. He's collecting from producer Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman), and ends up getting into the world of movie making.

This is from an Elmore Leonard novel, and the sharply written characters are a testament to that. Whether it's Leonard's words, the top actors, or the flash of Hollywood. There's an artificial sense. It's light. It's breezy. It's jazzy. The movie is having lots of fun. It makes for a cute movie.

After hearing, I can see instantly why this is the author, Elmore Leonard's favorite movie adaptation from his writing. First of all John Travolta was a solid-standard, as Chili. If you're a Travolta fan, this is an instant classic performance for him!! He personifies East coast attitude and 'M.O'. His breeze onto the scene and in control persona are a part of this movie that would have collapsed it, had it not been an ingredient in this mix of action, sarcasm and loan-sharking gone amok. Chili is superior.

Gene Hackman, is an attempted to be cool, b-movie director, who hasn't had a hit in years, and you can feel it. Gene's man Harry is so played-right it's embarrassing. I know people that are like that. I was laughing till it hurt, from the familiar pain, of the ones who reminded me of the great Harry Zimm. Hackman is astounding.

Before there was the Sopranos there was {James Gandolfini as} 'Bear' Bo's handy-man, his fix-it guy all around. Bear reminds me (sort of) one of my cousins. Ha, take that home with ya in a doggy bag!

Danny Devito, is a great self-conscious (and to others feelings) selfish and unconscious, totally absorbed actor, who is about the way it is with many of the actor types, who let it go too far. Danny is the man!

Rene Russo is the lovely, Karen Flores of course and she is as pretty in pictures as in 'Real' life. I got to meet her in 1992, and got a really great hug from her, she's very thoughtful and talented, with much more talent to follow after this great film.

The way the story was set up and progressed with, makes me love this and puts it in a special place in my entertainment library.

This is a fun 'You gotta see it and experience the mood and all the other emotions that follow' type of movie madness that makes watching some movies, very worthwhile. This is a high rater!!! (*****) Caution: Language rating pretty bad!!

I remember that when "Get Shorty" debuted, many critics were in rapturous excitement over the film. As a result, I had very high expectations for the picture...probably too high. I liked the film but didn't love it by any stretch...and although I liked PARTS, the WHOLE left me a bit cold.

When the story begins, Chili (John Travolta) is a stereotyical Italian hood who earns his money collecting for the mob. However, when he heads to L. A. to collect a debt owed by a schock filmmaker (Gene Hackman), Chili unexpectedly seems little interested in collecting the money but in becoming the schlock filmmaker's new partner. Not surprisingly, various hoods don't like this and threaten to do terrible things to the pair.

The reason to see the film is not because of the script...which I found curiously uninvolving. Instead, it seems the appeal is in watching the characterizations and various vignettes. On this level, it's very watchable but nothing more.

Anything involving something by Elmore Leonard is generally very good, in and of itself. But when coupled with performances like those of John Travolta and Gene Hackman in this picture, the result is a superb piece of entertainment.

Danny De Vito, Dennis Farina and Rene Russo all deliver outstanding performances - but all pretty much convey the types of personas, on-screen, which you'd expect from seeing their other work.

However, of all actors today - young or older, new or veteran -- there are no two who are more convincing, in everything they do, than Travolta and Hackman. Serious or funny, crafty or clueless, hero or villain - - each has been completely convincing in every role, and seeing them together, one would like to see them teamed again.

In this movie, both are funny, and both have their roles "nailed:" Travolta as the confident tough guy, completely in control; and Hackman as the "B" flick producer, operating on the fringe of the Hollywood scene and life in general.

As much as I liked this movie, I first saw it in a St. Louis hotel suite, where we selected it from the PPV menu. I was "fried" from a day-long business meeting, and fell asleep early into it. The next day, my wife insisted that I catch it (she's one of those people who has perhaps only wanted to watch one or two other movies a second time, ever), and I was glad she did.

It's an outstanding film, and one which entertains thoroughly from the outset to conclusion, with not a single lapse between.

A Miami loan shark ends up in Hollywood, hobnobbing with B movie personalities. Leonard, who has had a prolific and varied career, provides a script that is generally entertaining, but there are too many plot threads and it doesn't all come together as well as it does in the best comedies. The cast is terrific: Travolta is believable as a tough goon, Hackman is smooth as a producer of schlocky movies, Russo is sexy as an actress past her bimbo prime, and DeVito is a shallow movie star (and title supplier). However, it is Farina who steals the film in a hilarious performance as an insecure mobster who's always left holding the wrong end of the stick.

John Travolta followed up his "Pulp Fiction" comeback with "Get Shorty", in which he plays Miami hit-man Chili Palmer. Moving to Hollywood to collect a debt, he finds that show biz isn't much different from the mafia, and he decides to get involved. But of course, once there's anything mafia-related involved, things start to get ugly. Not that they weren't already seedy.

This movie has its strengths mainly in the script, but also in the strong performances from Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo and Danny DeVito. I guess that any time that someone gets a chance to show Hollywood's unseemly side, they take it. Of course, there's plenty of reasons to do so. The sequel, "Be Cool", wasn't quite as good, but still worth seeing.

A Miami mobster (John Travolta) discovers that the Hollywood movie business isn't that far from what he's doing Florida in "Get Shorty," a 1995 film based on the novel by Elmore Leonard.

Travolta is Chili Palmer, who is sent by a thug named Ray Bones (Dennis Farina) to Las Vegas to collect on a bad debt. While in Vegas, a casino boss sends Chili to Hollywood to collect on a bigger debt from a low-budget horror film producer, Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman). Chili actually has an idea for a film, based on a true story. He soon finds himself involved with drug dealers, the producer's scream queen star (Rene Russo), a short but big star with a tall ego (Danny Devito), who is the scream queen's ex, murder, money in an airport locker, the Feds - in short, it's business as usual. Chili decides that his skills are a great match for Hollywood and decides to become a producer.

A very funny send-up of the movie-making business, with a terrific cast and several cameos by people such as Penny Marshall, Harvey Keitel, and Alex Rocco. Bette Midler has a small but showy role as well.

What makes the film is John Travolta's performance as Chili. Easy-going, smart, and personable, with solid rock underneath, Travolta is fabulous and the anchor of the film. The dialogue is crisp, and the cast helps to create some strong characters, and there is great pacing by director Barry Sonnenfeld.

Recommended.

Not a bad film, but very disappointing. It plays too much like a Hollywood inside joke that not enough of the audience is in on. Travolta is his usual charming personna, but Rene Russo is badly miscast. Gene Hack seems to be having the most fun by doing a great take on schlock director Ted V Mikels, down to Ted's trademark horn necklace. I did enjoy the poster of Danny DeVito as Napoleon.

Smart, funny mobster comedy/satire based on the novel by Elmore Leonard. Travolta is well-cast in one of his very best roles as a slick, full-time Miami loan shark/enforcer (and part-time movie buff) who travels to Los Angeles to cash in a loan, but instead ends up teaming with B-movie writer/producer Hackman to fulfill his dream of being connected to the movie business. Before he can however, he must deal with bumbling mobsters, white-collar criminals, and the anxiety of trying to find the right leading man. Crackling, hilarious dialogue, well-drawn characters, and clever insight into Hollywood moviemaking run rampant in this snappy little comedy. Maybe not for all tastes, but well-made and a definite must for Travolta fans. ***

The mobster flick mixes with show business in "Get Shorty," the mob comedy from "The Addams Family" director Barry Sonnenfeld. The two (mob movies and Hollywood) have always gotten along well together from "The Godfather" to "Goodfellas," so "Get Shorty" taking the humorous business angle is only a natural evolution. Starring John Travolta hot off of "Pulp Fiction," it's an enjoyable film for those who love movies and those who love the mob.

"Get Shorty" is mostly about the former. Chili Palmer (Travolta) is a loan shark/shylock who flies out to Hollywood to collect a debt and partly to avoid his new boss, Ray Bones, the perfect jerk with a foul mouth played by Dennis Farina. In LA, Palmer meets producer Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman) and becomes fond of the movie business, offering to help Zimm get some lenders who've invested in one of his films off his back.

There's some strong irony between the movie business and mob movies, e.g. Chili pitches the story of why he's out in LA as a movie idea to Zimm who thinks he's got something, but its the rock solid performances of Travolta, Hackman, Farina and Delroy Lindo that sell you on "Get Shorty."

Film-lovers will appreciate many references from "Touch of Evil" to "Three Men and a Baby" as the movie takes plenty of shots at the industry. Those more into the mob angle will enjoy how everyone's out to get everyone -- some for legitimate reasons, others because they want in on the movie business. It displaces the gangster movie from its cozy home in New York, Boston or Miami and drops it into the glitz of Hollywood where it fits well seeing as the industry is not exactly the cleanest.

"Get Shorty" is not overly impressive, maintaining interest through its performances and our wondering just when one of these guys is going to up the stakes and off someone -- such are the thrills of a mob movie. Its lack of a definitive objective and therefore constant evolution into a story about something other than what it started as definitely holds it back, but not beyond of the point getting to enjoy it. ~Steven C

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Elmore Leonard's books must be loved by film screen adapters. His characters translate very well from the written page to the moving picture. "Get Shorty" is one of Mr. Leonard's best stories and it gets a very good treatment in the hands of Barry Sonnenfeld, its director, with the help of Scott Frank, who adapted it for the screen.

The casting of the movie was it's greatest asset. John Travolta is so cool as Chilli, the mafioso who loves movies! In his scenes with Gene Hackman, he demonstrates what a good actor he is. On the surface, he appears to do nothing; he works with an economy that is very hard to imitate. Granted, after Mr. Travolta's amazing appearance in Pulp Fiction, this was a confirmation and validation of his talent.

It was surprising, since I didn't remember his appearance on the movie, to watch actor James Gandolfini, prior to his recent fame. He plays a stuntman turned wise guy. Mr. Gandolfini must have gone through a great dental cosmetic transformation, unless he was made up to look very ugly, as Bear, in the film. I have greatly admired his work before his TV series, as a fine character actor, which he demonstrates here the potential he had and was not discovered until much later.

Delroy Lindo is also excellent as one of the bad guys in the film. This actor, who is as great in films as in the theater, deserves much better. He is a man that always gives an honest performance. Not being a Danny DeVito fan, I must confess that he was very restrained here. He can do very good work with the right director behind him, as he shows playing the egotistical actor, Martin Weir.

Also excellent, Dennis Farina. It's unfortunate he doesn't get better choices because he is always very effective in whatever he plays. In this film, he is hysterical as Ray "Bones" Barboni. Rene Russo, as the bit player with a heart of gold, is good.

What can be said of Gene Hackman that hasn't already been said? His Harry Zimm is so accurate that we believe he is this sleazy Hollywood producer. Mr. Hackman is a consummate performer who keeps getting better all the time.

If I had enjoyed the film the first time, looking at it a second time was a revelation.

Chili Palmer (John Travolta) is highly into movies. He's a super-cool guy and he always knows what to say. So through his connections he tracks down a Hollywood producer by the name of Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman), wakes him up in the middle of the night and tells him that he has an idea for a movie. That is the first time Chili sees Karen Flores (Rene Russo) and is attracted to her right away.

So Chili and Harry agree on what actor they want in their movie. It is none other than the famous Martin Weir (Danny DeVito). Martin agrees with them to make this picture. Harry is still wondering if he should make this movie with his new friend, Chili, or the selfish Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo), who wants nothing more than to get rid off Chili.

However, Chili's issues aren't over, because a tough guy, Ray 'Bones' Barboni, (Dennis Farina) that's never been out of Miami is looking for him to collect his money which Leo Devoe (David Paymer) has stolen.

Other supporting roles are Harvey Keitel as himself and Bear (James Gandolfini) as Bo's bodyguard.

If you liked Out Of Sight and Jackie Brown, which are also novels by Elmore Leonard, you'll enjoy Get Shorty.

There's lots of humor in here and some funny scenes for example: when Gene Hackman calls Dennis Farina and tries (tries a bit too hard, which is the fun part) to act tough over the phone like Chili does in real life.

Overall, good cast, enjoyable movie.

Rating: 7.5/10

I saw this movie in 1995 when first released, but never got around to thinking about a review until I saw it again a few weeks back on late night TV. I'd forgotten just how good it is...

From a novel by Elmore Leonard, this story is arguably the best satire about the Hollywood dream factory yet done, for two reasons: it savagely exposes and lampoons the behaviors of actors, writers, producers and directors and it implicitly compares that business with the business of small time hoodlums and loan sharks. So many times during this story does Chili Palmer (John Travolta) announce, in a bemused fashion: "I can't believe how youse guys do business out here..." Chili, as we learn very early, is a loan shark from Miami who is ordered by Bones (Dennis Farina), his new boss, to recover a $15,000 debt from Leo (David Paymer), a loser with a garrulous wife, Fay (Linda Hart) who's helped Leo fake his own death on a plane crash and collect $300,000 as a settlement from the airline. Fay, of course, can't keep her mouth shut and tells Chili that Leo scammed the money and was now living it up in Vegas. Chili, in Vegas, finds out that Leo has gone to LA. But Chili also makes a score: a Vegas casino owner asks him to lean on an LA movie producer, Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman) for $150,000 still owing.

So, off to La-La Land goes Chili, and that's where the fun really starts...

The plot then changes direction, almost completely: Chili, after recovering most of the $300,000 from Leo (and letting him off lightly), gets involved with Harry in two ways – first, convinces him to take on Chili's own idea for a movie production and second, fend off two "investors" (who just happened to be drug pushers also) who want their money back from Harry who – you guessed it – is late in getting some other movie off the ground, and has spent all their money.

However, those two pushy investors, Bo Catlett and Ronnie Wingate (Delroy Lindo and John Gries), have another problem: the $500,000 drug money that they can't retrieve from a locker box at LAX and which Chili sees as an opportunity to make more profit. That idea, however, is blown away when Bones – who would like nothing better than to see Chili dead -- arrives from Miami looking to muscle in on Chili's business in LA.

How all that threads together into a gloriously comedic and ironic slice of Hollywood life and death is a testament to Leonard's brilliant story, a great screenplay and cinematography and tight editing – not to mention the almost flawless acting by actors who are continually taking the mickey out of the whole business, right up to the final scene.

There's no doubt that this is Travolta's comeback movie. The guy just oozes dangerous cool and --- ooops – chilling competence as he maneuvers between the high and low life of a strange town, with some very strange people and even stranger business practices. But, kudos also go to Dennis Farina, Gene Hackman and Danny DeVito as the klutzes they portray; and Renee Russo is suitably decorous as Chili's love interest. Watch out for cameos from Bette Midler, Harvey Keitel and other Hollywood luminaries.

And, here's the supreme self-referential irony: there really is a real Chili Palmer in the movie; he's one of the actors who has a bit part as one of Bones' buddies! What a gag...

Finally, note the title: Get Shorty. That's Elmore Leonard's delicious swipe at the whole gangster genre. Remember Get Carter (1971)...? Ho-ho-HO-ho-ho!

Highly recommended.

One of the great mysteries of all time, right up there with Area 51 and the Da Vinci Code, is why the film industry, now into its second century and -- as you read this -- consuming on a relative basis more bandwidth than any other form of media, cannot produce consistently decent product? Now don't misunderstand. This is not to say that most movies are inherently bad, for that is not true either. However one of the dirty little secrets of the industry is that the "breakout" ratio is around 20:1. That is, for every 19 forgettable products that are churned out -- products that keep the cable and streaming media pipelines full, and keep food on the table for all the electricians, caterers, and Best Boys -- about one actually is memorable enough to attract a permanent audience or become near-iconic. Not a very efficient ratio! The late Marshall McLuhan tried in his lifetime to develop the notion of "media ecology," essentially the premise that the cultural output of a society was no less important than any other industry output, and therefore an effort should be made NOT TO WASTE THE RESOURCES or (simply put) produce junk. Like the infamous joke about about the "Nietzsche graffiti" (first line: "God is dead - Nietzsche." Second line: "Nietzsche is dead. God") that attempt did not turn out so well. McLuhan is gone, and the ratio has arguably gotten worse, because there are now many more pipelines to fill. Which brings us, belatedly, to GET SHORTY, not only a great film (one of Travolta's best performances, so effortless you wonder if he phoned it in, and Pixar just added a body) but one of Hollywood's most "inside" scripts ever. (Comedians have "inside jokes." Hollywood has "inside scripts.") The premise here is that the making of a movie has little to do with the movie, and everything to do with egos and business capabilities of the people making it. The idea that a professional mobster could stumble into Hollywood and suddenly realize that making a film is no different than planning a hit, or a robbery, is sheer brilliance. And very close to home. In the history of the medium, it is one of the only movies to deal with the delicate (and unpopular) issue of ... why so many bad films have to be made, simply to produce one good one...?

It's a fairly funny flick. Travolta is steadfast and mature...though his 'comeback' flick was definitely "Pulp Fiction", he manages to carry the movie with help from a pretty solid cast... and he's believable. It's quite a twist to see Gene Hackman playing a wimpish producer, but he shows he has a flair for comedy...and that's what this film is...comedy, and a lot of fun. Travolta is a real control freak in this one, but gets caught off the mark at one or two critical points. But with "Wise-Guy" bravado, he navigates his way through the likes of Dennis Farina, Delroy Lindo, and Mike Gandolfini among others. The switch from juicing and loan sharking to movies comes about as quite natural for him, though he does have issues to settle before he can nestle in to his newly found occupation. I only recently saw the movie (2010), and I always thought that it was called "Get Shorty" on account of the presence of the diminutive DeVito...but that is not the case. The title must be an "inside joke" to some in the industry, but it threw me for a loop, and I determined I did not care to watch it. I am glad I finally did run across it on an old VHS...it is a worthwhile watch even if the title is somewhat mis-leading.

It's sometimes funny, specially some dialogues. But overall it didn't really grab me. We get John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo and even James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano with beard!) but it's just not that. OK, the plot is nicely done. With the actual movie going together with the making of the movie by Travolta and Hackman. And there are some good scenes like the one were Travolta gives Danny DeVito acting lessons in how to look mean. But mainly that's it. I think they could have done more with such a top cast. 5 out of 10.