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‘get shorty’: thr’s 1995 review.

On Oct. 20, 1995, MGM unveiled Barry Sonnenfeld's R-rated crime comedy in theaters.

By David Hunter

David Hunter

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On Oct. 20, 1995, MGM unveiled Barry Sonnenfeld’s R-rated crime comedy Get Shorty in theaters, where it would go on to gross $115 million globally. The Hollywood Reporter’s original review is below.

How cool can a mere movie be? A perfect cast and great script, based on a hilariously witty best seller, are key elements. When you add a talented director and let the magic of Hollywood take over, the result is Get Shorty .

Distributor MGM and production company Jersey Films have a major winner in Get Shorty , director Barry Sonnenfeld’s outstanding adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s 1990, Raymond Chandler-meets-Nathaniel West novel. With hot stars and strong marketing, the film will get a boost from enthusiastic reviews, potent word-of-mouth and possible awards action.

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In a smashing follow-up to his Oscar-nominated comeback in Pulp Fiction , John Travolta plays the super-confident Chili Palmer, a mob-affiliated Shylock with an itch to get into the film business. He’s well-dressed; he knows human nature; he’s got a gift for storytelling; and he knows how to get his hands on significant amounts of cash.

When his Hollywood adventures and the circumstances that brought him to showbiz start shaping up into hit movie material, Chili sees his chance to become a player. He’s a natural for handling desperate producers, high-flying stars, ambitious actresses and, most importantly, the sometimes deadly competition. And, reluctantly, he’s not afraid to use a bullet or fist to get the job done.

Screenwriter Scott Frank ( Dead Again ) has made some minor adjustments to the story line but has kept most of Leonard’s snappy dialogue, with a quartet of actors backing up Travolta as brilliant characters that propel the plot in surprising, not altogether sarcastic directions.

Playing against type, Gene Hackman as schlocky movie producer Harry Zimm is hilarious. Producer Danny DeVito is in top form as boxoffice star Martin Weir, whose charming facade is the ultimate form of acting. Chilli’s ultimate rival in creative film financing, Bo Catlett, is played with deadpan menace and ambition by Delroy Lindo.

As the female lead, a wised-up B-movie actress with great looks and a legendary scream, Rene Russo is wonderfully sly in her expressions and mannerisms.

This being a black comedy about the picture business, there are a number of choice cameos and an ongoing commentary about power and creativity in Hollywood that reaches a cynical, but entertaining, conclusion.

Production credits are aces, including Don Peterman’s skillful lensing, Betsy Heimann’s ambitious costuming, Peter Larkin’s production design and John Lurie’s jazzy score. — David Hunter, originally published on Oct. 6, 1995

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It is a jungle out there in Hollywood, and " Get Shorty " presents the various kinds of animals residing at the lower strata of that jungle through a pungent but cheerful satire about one nutty pre-production process. Almost everyone in the movie wants at least one sweet slice of success while aspiring to move on to higher places in Hollywood, and, driven by greed and ambition, some of them are willing to do anything for that. The movie humorously juggles these people around a cool, clever, and charming hero, and we are amused to find that he is well-qualified to be a Hollywood producer because, as a smart criminal, he exactly knows what he has to say or do for getting what he wants.

He is Chili Palmer ( John Travolta ), a small-time loan shark operating in Miami, Florida. He has recently become a subordinate to a local mob guy named Ray 'Bones' Barboni ( Dennis Farina ) after the untimely death of Chili's New York boss, so now he has to take care of Barboni's loansharking business, although he dislikes Barboni a lot for many reasons. During the prologue scene at a local restaurant, he is angry to know that Barboni has taken his precious jacket without telling him, and that is led to the first terrific comic moment of the film.

Chili is ordered to collect a $18,000 debt from a dry-cleaner named Leo Devoe ( David Paymer ), who was allegedly dead due to an unfortunate plane crash. Through a cordial talk with Leo's wife, Chili quickly finds that Leo has a $300,000 life insurance on himself and he is very much alive and hiding somewhere with the insurance money. He tracks down Leo to Las Vegas without much difficulty, and he also learns that Leo went to LA after getting himself into a minor trouble at one of the casinos.

And then, as a big movie fan, Chili finds a very tempting opportunity for him in LA. As a small favor to his casino manager friend, he makes a surprise night call on a B-horror movie producer Harry Zimm ( Gene Hackman ) for collecting his casino debt when Harry is at the home of Karen Flores ( Rene Russo ), a struggling actress who previously appeared in some of Zimm's trashy horror films including "Slime Creature" and its two sequels. It turns out that Zimm is in a very difficult circumstance; besides owing lots of money due to his reckless gambling, he also threw away $200,000 given by his shady investors for producing another cheap horror film, and it is only a matter of time before they will ask him about the money – and they are not very nice guys.

The movie is based on the novel by Elmore Leonard , who is regarded by many as one of the great American crime novelists. He has been writing numerous enjoyable crime novels decorated with twisty fun plots and colorful criminal figures, and "Get Shorty" is no exception. As the story gleefully moves around several turns and surprises, the conversations between his talky characters are accompanied with wits and humor to draw us into their world and their story. It is no surprise that Quentin Tarantino cited Elmore Leonard as one of the major influences on him as a writer; " Pulp Fiction " (1994) was as good as Leonard's best works can be in many aspects, and his next film " Jackie Brown " (1997) was loosely based on Leonard's novel "Rum Punch."

The adapted screenplay by Scott Frank , who would later work on another of Leonard's novels in " Out of Sight " (1998), is mostly faithful to the novel while retaining much of its lively spirit. The story gets more complicated as more characters coming into its busy picture, but the movie seldom loses its sense of fun while generating good laughs from the selfish and cynical denizens of Hollywood who follow their Darwinian instinct with very little concern on morality or ethics whenever they smell a potential of next big success. In case of Karen, who is tired of being cast as a scream queen "walking around in f*ck-me pumps and a tank-top", she is in bed with Zimm for getting better acting role when Chili slips into her house at night. She is skeptical about Chili like any jaded Hollywood people would be, but, when she discerns a good opportunity from Chili and Zimm's ongoing project, she actively joins them as a production partner who can introduce and connect them to Martin Weir ( Danny DeVito ), a major star and two-time Academy winner who is also her ex-husband ("….and I'm wondering: how did it all slip away?" "Well, it didn't slip away, Martin. You did, when you went off to sleep with Nicky at my birthday party.").

It is rather unbelievable that the witty dialogue derived from Leonard's novel could have been downgraded to the bland ones during the pre-production process, for the comic moments in the film largely depend on how quick and smart the dialogue is. They are enjoyable enough to make a good audio book, and I was especially tickled by a funny conversation on the difference between e.g. and i.e. The movie is also sprinkled with several movie references, and some of you may appreciate the poster of " The Thin Man " (1934) at Chili's Miami office or a small scene in which Chili and Karen watch the finale scene of " Touch of Evil " (1958) together at a local theater.

Considering their delightful performances, it is apparent that the actors had lots of fun with their characters and juicy dialogues. Right after his comeback performance in "Pulp Fiction", John Travolta solidified his career rejuvenation with this film. He injects lots of likability to Chili through his own star presence, and Chili comes to us as a nice, pleasant guy who can amiably talk with you a lot about movies even if he comes to you for his rough business matters. As the smartest and coolest person in the story, this courteous tough guy can grip your attention by merely saying 'look at me', and the laid-back confidence in Travolta's magnetic performance makes us believe that Chili will get whatever he wants from others even if he faces meddling complications in his scheme.

As a hapless and hopeless movie producer Harry Zimm, Gene Hackman is an effective counterpoint to Travolta's cool performance. Hackman plays his silly character completely straight, and that is why his performance works. Zimm thinks he can handle his circumstances even though they are way over his head, and, unfortunately for him and his body, this buffoonish guy is not aware of that at all.

As the supporting character crucial to their plan, Danny DeVito may look a little too short as a major Hollywood star, but he brings an ample amount of personality and ego to his role. His presence hovers over the story as a little running visual gag throughout the film, and he has the funniest scene in the movie where Weir attempts to look like an authentic loan shark in front of Chili and Karen during their private meeting at his mansion. We cannot help but laugh at this sight, for, as being coached by Chili, he is absolutely concentrated on giving a short but credible performance as a dedicated professional (A small bit of trivia: it was said that this character was inspired by Leonard's private experience with Dustin Hoffman ).

The director Barry Sonnenfeld once gave me one of the most embarrassing movie theater experiences during my adolescent years through that disastrous mess " Wild Wild West " (1999), but he has consistently made good comedy products including "Men in Black" (1997) and " The Addams Family " (1991), and "Get Shorty" remains as his best work. Under his slick direction, the movie smoothly rolls out its increasingly intricate plot as aided by the spunky jazzy score by John Lurie , and I particularly enjoyed the way the camera flexibly moves around to present several things going on in different directions during one brief but busy shot.

As we come to see the overall picture of what is going on in the story while having fun with it, it gradually revolves around a questionable luggage locker at the LA airport as its center, and the movie is never slows down as the screenplay brilliantly pushes its set pieces toward the finale without a hiccup. Lots of things happen around the characters during the last 20 minutes, but everything is organically progressed according to the characters' natures, and we come to appreciate the finale as an ironic punch line for its comic story and its subject.

I watched "Get Shorty" for the first time in 1996, and I was just an adolescent kid who had become a little more serious about watching movies around that time. I was mildly entertained by it during the first viewing, but, after watching lots of movies for many years and learning some little things about Hollywood, I found myself far more amused while I revisited this funny black comedy. To be frank with you, while chuckling during the scene in which Chili kindly explains to the other character how he confused " El Dorado " (1966) with " Rio Bravo " (1959), I felt an urge to write the additional line for that scene: "And you made a wrong movie reference like Alan Rickman in " Die Hard " (1988), you doofus. Do you remember what happened to that guy, by the way?"

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In colorful, stylized fashion, opening scenes establish the behavioral parameters of Chili's sleazy milieu: Jumping quickly from Miami to Brooklyn to Vegas to L.A., Scott Frank's nimble screenplay adaptation introduces a set of almost farcically decked-out gangsters of assorted middle rank and exaggerated phraseology who have a sense of humor but can definitely turn the screws when needed.

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In colorful, stylized fashion, opening scenes establish the behavioral parameters of Chili’s sleazy milieu: Jumping quickly from Miami to Brooklyn to Vegas to L.A., Scott Frank’s nimble screenplay adaptation introduces a set of almost farcically decked-out gangsters of assorted middle rank and exaggerated phraseology who have a sense of humor but can definitely turn the screws when needed.

Chili arrives on the coast to collect a $ 150,000 gambling debt from Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman), a Z-movie producer of such classics as “Grotesque” and the “Slime People” series whose sensibility and wardrobe remain stuck in the ’70s. Outfitted with bellbottoms, gold chains and a protruding bridge of upper teeth, Zimm is a perpetual showbiz wannabe, with a grubby office on Hollywood Boulevard and success that’s always one picture away.

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Lucky for him, then, that the man sent to rough him up and collect is a movie fan whose dream is to leave “the life” and run a revival house that would show James Cagney films. Seeing Zimm as his possible doorman to Hollywood, Chili pitches him an idea, and a new producing team is born. As one character observes , “I don’t think the producer needs to know much.”

But Chili has competition in the thug-turned-mogul field, notably in the person of Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo), to whom Zimm also owes big money. Then there’s the matter of Leo Devoe (David Paymer), a small-timer who has absconded with a $ 300,000 insurance payoff intended for big boss Ray “Bones” Barboni (Dennis Farina). Loot’s presence in a heavily watched LAX luggage locker, and various characters’ attempts to spring it, reps the film’s wonderfully escalating running gag.

But plot mechanics play second fiddle to the smart goofy humor generated by the collision of these oddball characters. Chili and Catlett, two lowlifes with suddenly sprouted showbiz ambitions, share a fine scene in which they disdain the effort it will take to rewrite Zimm’s script, and Catlett astutely asks at one point, “What’s the point of living in L.A. unless you’re in the movie business?”

Best of all is a visit by Chili and scream queen Karen Flores (Rene Russo) to latter’s ex-husband, screen superstar Martin Weir (Danny DeVito). Ostensibly there to convince him to appear in his picture, nonpro Chili ends up giving the thesp a funny lesson in acting and how to project attitude. DeVito is sharp in the scene, but Travolta lays down a royal flush with the type of turn that only a very self-confident, charismatic star can pull off.

Hackman also scores as the fast-talking schlockmeister who bids to turn financial misfortune to his advantage, and Farina and Lindo are just the first among many character actors who get to shine here. Russo is mostly along for the ride in this otherwise male-dominated world. Bette Midler juices things up nicely in something more than a cameo, while the similarly unbilled Harvey Keitel and Penny Marshall pop up briefly.

Despite the fairly intricate plotting, pic stays afloat thanks mainly to its scene-by-scene amusement quotient rather than because of any sustaining suspense or sense that anything’s at stake. Director Barry Sonnenfeld establishes a distinctive tone and connects with the author’s eccentric sense of humor, but doesn’t manage to build to any dramatic highs. Action is all on the same plane, leaving the viewer with the feeling that it’s been a nice ride but didn’t go that far.

Slick behind-the-scenes contributions add up to an attractive package, with Peter Larkin’s production design evincing a keen appreciation of the different strata of Hollywood life, and Betsy Heimann’s costumes shrewdly differentiating the characters’ positions on the ladder of success. Chili’s film buff credentials are established via key clips from “Touch of Evil” and “Rio Bravo.”

(Crime comedy -- Color)

• Production: An MGM/UA release of a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer presentation of a Jersey Films production. Produced by Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher. Executive producer, Barry Sonnenfeld. Co-producer, Graham Place. #Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. Screenplay, Scott Frank, based on the novel by Elmore Leonard. Camera (Deluxe color), Don Peterman; editor, Jim Miller; music, John Lurie; production design, Peter Larkin; art direction, Steve Arnold; set decoration, Leslie E. Rollins; costume design, Betsy Heimann; sound (DTS Stereo), Jeff Wexler, Don Coufal, Gary Holland; associate producer, Susan Ringo; assistant director, Alan B. Curtiss; casting, David Rubin, Debra Zane. Reviewed at the Beverly Connection, L.A., Sept. 22, 1995. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 105 min. Chili Palmer ... John Travolta Harry Zimm ... Gene Hackman Karen Flores ... Rene Russo Martin Weir ... Danny DeVito Ray "Bones" Barboni ... Dennis Farina Bo Catlett ... Delroy Lindo Bear ... James Gandolfini Leo Devoe ... David Paymer Tommy Carlo ... Martin Ferrero Mr. Escobar ... Miguel Sandoval Ronnie Wingate ... Jon Gries Fay Devoe ... Linda Hart Doris ... Bette Midler With: Harvey Keitel, Penny Marshall. Adrolly offbeat look at Hollywood mores dedicated to the proposition that the best preparation for becoming a film producer is a stint in the criminal underworld, "Get Shorty" is good sly fun. With John Travolta putting on a dazzling demonstration of what being a movie star is all about, this crafty adaptation of Elmore Leonard's filmland-set bestseller retains an appealingly quirky literary quality, even if it lacks the dramatic dynamics and tension that would have made it an over-the-top success. Engaging comic elements and strong cast should overcome the heavy industry insider slant to push this rib-tickler to very respectable grosses through the fall. Beating "White Man's Burden" into release, "Get Shorty" reps Travolta's follow-up to his smashing comeback in "Pulp Fiction" and, to answer the big question first, he's never been better. Playing Chili Palmer, a loan shark who finds that his persuasive talents are particularly well-suited to the film biz, Travolta looks great, gets to be cooler than everyone else at all times and delivers a performance of enormous subtlety and charm that also manages to be broadly appealing.

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Barry Sonnenfeld’s deft little gem might be the best Hollywood satire ever

by Michael Gaughn January 10, 2021

UHD has put anybody who reviews home releases in a really odd position. Most catalog titles are still in HD, with many having Blu-ray-quality transfers. But it’s become impossible to watch any of these films without speculating on what they’d look like in 4K HDR—which is something of a gamble because some older titles haven’t survived the process well, looking decidedly uneven. But then there are unquestionably stunning gems like Vertigo , The Shining , and the other titles gathered in “ 4K HDR Essentials ” that have you salivating for more.

Barry Sonnenfeld’s note-perfect Hollywood satire Get Shorty is one of those films that has me shamelessly drooling. You can definitely appreciate its deft, droll visual style in its current HD incarnation, but you can also sense how much more delicious it would be with a 4K HDR buff and shine.

As I’ve said before, Sonnenfeld is the master of the puckish fairy tale, and here he gets to graft his bone-dry style of humor onto Elmore Leonard’s Damon Runyon-meets- Goodfellas mobster yarn, resulting in a film that plays as well 25 years on as it did on the day of its release.

Shorty is worth watching for its flawless casting alone. I’m not a Travolta fan but he doesn’t miss a beat here, giving his small-time hood a boyish innocence and enthusiasm that never feels forced. Hackman is miles from Lex Luthor, turning in a nuanced comic performance that gets big laughs while presenting a fully realized character. This has to be DeVito’s best star turn. And Delroy Lindo is both menacing and charming and Dennis Farina is flat-out funny as the mobsters who just can’t get a break.

This continues all the way down the cast line to the smallest roles. Nobody is here just to be the butt of a joke. Every bit part is fleshed out and compelling. Special kudos go to David Paymer for his story-within-the-story turn as the dry cleaner who fakes his death in a plane crash and flees to L.A. with 300 grand in mob money, sweating all the way.  

Sonnenfeld doesn’t get enough credit as an actor’s director, but the scene where Travolta shows DeVito how to play a shylock is so perfectly modulated it deserves to be ranked with the best. It’s almost impossible to convincingly portray an actor acting, let alone actor/director interaction, but all involved are so perfectly in sync here that you’re laughing not just at the jokes and the situation but the sheer virtuosity of the execution.  

What Shorty gets right, above everything else, though, is LA and the many ways the movie business overlaps with LA life. It unerringly and evocatively captures the feel of Beverly Hills, the Sunset Strip, the Hollywood Hills, and all the trendy little West Hollywood restaurants that sit practically in the middle of traffic. Maybe the film’s second-best scene—although this might just come from having suffered through this too many times myself—is DeVito going way off-menu to order an elaborate omelet for the table then leaving before it arrives, forcing the other guests to figure out what to do with it.

Shorty works as a satire because it doesn’t come from the often hypocritical vitriol that drives most similar efforts, instead using the quiet accumulation of spot-on touches to make its point, making it far more akin to Raymond Chandler’s The Little Sister than to more overwrought works like The Day of the Locust and SOB . (And don’t even bring up Tarantino, who’s way too much of a raging Neanderthal to even begin to grasp anything as subtle as irony.)

This approach is seamlessly translated into the movie’s visual plan, where the camera moves are restrained (for a Sonnenfeld film) and the lighting is for the most part true to the locales—which I suspect was in part a deliberate strategy to heighten the impact of the film’s stylized, proscenium-warping finale. And it’s exactly because Shorty dances right up to the edge of caricature and exaggeration without crossing over that I think it would benefit immensely from a tasteful application of 4K HDR. Some judicious enhancement would make it that much more engaging without turning it into gratuitous eye candy. (The operative word here, of course, is “judicious.”)

No problems with the sound. This is a dialogue-driven film only occasionally punctuated by bursts of action, and the lines (“E.g., i.e., f— you,” “You think we go to see your movies, Harry? I’ve seen better film on teeth.” “My favorite color—putty”) are all crisp and clear, as are the gunshots. It’s usually a little too obvious when temp tracks make their way into the final film but Sonnenfeld does such a great job of deploying Booker T. & the M.Gs that it’s hard to make much of a stink. The cues are nicely placed in the foreground without ever being in your face.

It’s one thing to call Get Shorty the best film in the very circumscribed mobsters-come-to-Hollywood genre, it’s another to say nobody’s ever done a better job of skewering Hollywood—a windmill many have tried to tilt only to wind up on their asses. Shorty never tries to be bigger than it needs to be, which is why it continues to shine as a compact, quietly dazzling gem.  

Michael Gaughn —The Absolute Sound, The Perfect Vision, Wideband, Stereo Review, Sound & Vision,  The Rayva Roundtable ,  marketing, product design, some theater designs, a  couple TV shows, some commercials, and now this.

PICTURE | While you can appreciate the movie’s deft, droll visual style in its current Blu-ray-quality incarnation, you can also sense how much more delicious it would be with a 4K HDR buff and shine

SOUND | This is a dialogue-driven film only occasionally punctuated by bursts of action, and the lines are all crisp and clear, as are the gunshots 

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Parents need to know that this film contains scenes of violence, including gunplay, brief torture, and beatings where blood is spilled. One character's sadism may be upsetting for sensitive children. There are strong suggestions of sex, but nothing explicit onscreen, and we see two female characters in their…

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Parents need to know that this film contains scenes of violence, including gunplay, brief torture, and beatings where blood is spilled. One character's sadism may be upsetting for sensitive children. There are strong suggestions of sex, but nothing explicit onscreen, and we see two female characters in their underwear. Characters swear and drink in moderate amounts. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Violent, rude but AMAZING action packed comedy

A rating of five for violence is a bit too much, what's the story.

Miami loan shark Chili Palmer ( John Travolta ) tries to avoid violence and just get the job done. But when his patron Mafioso has a heart attack, he ends up working for a brute ( Dennis Farina ). As it turns out, his patron didn't die after all, and has skipped Miami with three hundred thousand dollars' worth of settlement money. Chili tracks him to L.A., where he takes a side job squeezing a small-time movie director ( Gene Hackman ). Soon, Chili sees an opportunity to go clean and leave it all behind. He becomes a producer, using his special talents to create guaranteed blockbusters. He's still got to settle things with his old boss though, a new mobster ( Delroy Lindo ), and convince Danny DeVito (playing himself) to work on the film.

Is It Any Good?

Get Shorty is a tight, funny crime story that mature teenagers and their families may enjoy, provided they can stand some blood. The film never gets bogged down in the complicated plot. Instead, it takes a number of talented actors and lets them run with some juicy characters.

Pretty much everyone in the movie has got a funny bit, and Travolta has good chemistry with Rene Russo , who plays a scream queen also yearning for something better. Parents should know that the level of violence in the film is pretty high, and not recommended for younger or more squeamish viewers.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the characters' approaches to problem solving. Is Chili's use of violence any different from that of the other gangsters in the film? What other, more realistic strategies does he use to get things done? What is his idea of "respect", how does it differ from that of the gangsters (and producers) around him, and how does that put him at an advantage?

Movie Details

• In theaters : October 20, 1995
• On DVD or streaming : March 26, 1997
• Cast : Gene Hackman , John Travolta , Rene Russo
• Director : Barry Sonnenfeld
• Studio : MGM/UA
• Genre : Comedy
• Run time : 105 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : language and some violence
• Last updated : June 19, 2023

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Get Shorty Review

15 Mar 1996

105 minutes

The Quentin Tarantino backlash stops here. How come? Well, although Hollywood's hip young gunslinger isn't actually named or indeed involved in Get Shorty, it is surely the first major motion picture to truly surf the waves of his phenomenon. In the first instance, Reservoir Dogs totally re-activated the old-fashioned crime caper movie in an age of sex-mad "psychological" thrillers, and Get Shorty, from the novel by hard-boiled crime supremo Elmore Leonard, reverberates with a Dogsian level of wise-guy humour. Second, Pulp Fiction totally reactivated John Travolta, whose presence in this film is ten feet tall. His character, the one-and-a-half-bit Miami loan shark Chili Palmer, may as well be Vincent Vega's down-at-heel brother for all of his essentially good-natured menace, sharp suits and nerdish attention to detail.

Chili eventually romantically links himself with B-movie pumpstress Karen Flores (Russo), and subsequently schmoozes self-obsessed, cod-method superstar Martin Weir (Danny DeVito) to appear in his movie based on a "fictional" pitch about a missing-presumed rich insurance scamster etc.. Palmer is a big-time film buff - in one scene, having beaten up stuntman-turned-bruiser Bear (James Gandolfini), he eagerly asks him to name what movies he's been in.

The fabulously location-rich Get Shorty, as likeable a slice of mob hokum as True Romance (but without the gruesome violence), looks wonderful, the garish pinks and yellows of Miami poignantly contrasted by Addams Family-man Sonnenfeld with the sun-bleached, roller-blind cool of Los Angeles. Against this sumptuous background, a complex, back-stabbing Tinseltown farce that recognises both The Player and Ed Wood is delightfully played out, not least by a cap-toothed, medallion-swingin' Hackman. Travolta, unsurprisingly, is unputdownable, nabbing all the best dialogue - he suggests a trip to see A Touch Of Evil, to "go and watch Charlton Heston be a Mexican", and describes his hired vehicle as "the Cadillac of mini-vans" so infectiously, the impressionable DeVito gets himself one.

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Where to Watch

Gene Hackman (Harry Zimm) Rene Russo (Karen Flores) Danny DeVito (Martin Weir) John Travolta (Chili Palmer) Dennis Farina (Ray 'Bones' Barboni) Delroy Lindo (Bo Catlett) James Gandolfini (Bear) Jon Gries (Ronnie Wingate) Renee Props (Nicki) David Paymer (Leo Devoe)

Barry Sonnenfeld

A mobster travels to Hollywood to collect a debt, and discovers that the movie business is much the same as his current job.

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More about Get Shorty

Chris o’dowd and ray romano to star in epix’s get shorty series.

As reported by Deadline , Epix’s wholly necessary TV adaptation of the film Get Shorty is now finalizing deals for …

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'Get Shorty' Review: Epix's Dark-ish Hollywood Melodrama Takes the 'Fargo' Route

Fans of Elmore Leonard's novel will likely miss the zip, the charm, and the abundant laughs, given little in return than an abundance of bland backstory and plot.

In Barry Sonnenfeld 's adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Get Shorty , John Travolta plays Chili Palmer, a practiced loan shark in the Miami mafia and the noir-comedy's main protagonist. He talks a lot to people he likes - friendly colleagues, fellow film buffs, etc. - but most of the time, he is direct, curt, and tries to speak mostly in silences. When he's owed money by someone, he visits them and stares at them as if he "owns" them. This tends to get the job done no matter the zip code. The exception, of course, is Hollywood.

Sonnenfeld uses Travolta's natural charisma and svelte look - circa 1996 - as the centerpiece of his giddily stylized world of criminals and filmmakers, actresses and loan sharks, and much like the book, the character remains largely in the present. There's little in the way of backstory, and the plot remains clear even when characters like Danny DeVito 's Martin Weir, a self-obsessed movie star, start stacking up. There's never a feeling like you're waiting around for something to happen or a character to be given...well, character, making the film efficient without being rigid or rushed.

There's no statute that says that Epix's very loose adaptation of the same material had to be similar in any way to what Sonnenfeld did and either way, it would've been wise to do something a bit different. Putting Chris O'Dowd in the lead role of Miles Daly, a loan shark and hitman working for a corrupt criminal organization in Albuquerque, is a good first step in this. Casting Ray Romano as Rick Moreweather, a B-movie producer and Miles' eventual business partner, is another. In fact, most of the casting, including that of Rectify alum  Sean Bridgers as Miles' right-hand man and Flaked 's Ruth Kearney as a now-successful producer who once worked with Rick, is an indisputable coup. It's the other stuff - writing, direction, editing, etc. - that present a problem for Epix and creator Davey Holmes , he of Showtime's Shameless .

If I had to venture a guess as to how Holmes and his colleagues pitched the adaptation, it probably went something like this: "It's Breaking Bad meets Fargo ." You won't find Blue Sky in any of the first six episodes of Get Shorty , but the setting is the same and the view of New Mexico's criminal underground is notably similar. Miles and Bridgers' Louis work under Amara ( Lidia Porto ), who runs a mid-range racket in gambling and drugs alongside her power-hungry nephew, Yago ( Goya Robles ). These roles, and many others in the series, are written primarily as types rather than fully rounded-out characters, which has often been the strategy that Noah Hawley prefers in his storytelling. Holmes, unfortunately, does not have the ribald humor and command of pulp language that Mr. Hawley has injected into his series.

There's also a uniformity of aesthetic that is similar to Hawley's vision. The color and light throughout seems to focus on yellows, oranges, browns, and beiges, making the entire series feel like its lost in an eternal desert. That goes as much for New Mexico as it does for Los Angeles, where Miles and Louis are dispatched to collect money from a screenwriter ( Paul Sparks ), who is inevitably executed by Louis. What he leaves behind is a script, one that Miles thinks could be great and would also help Amara with a money laundering problem that's come up. That's the set-up, more or less, and little of what happens in the first few episodes of the series diverts from the actions taken to get Miles in the same room as Rick and to hammer out a production deal.

The real story of Get Shorty is that of art vs. commerce. Miles wants to make a great movie, but great movies don't really make any serious money. Amara wants her money back, which means the movie must perform up to a certain level to get her clean returns. The struggle is real but Holmes and his writers only show a passing interest in the complex mechanics of getting a movie funded, made, and distributed, which means they are more interested in the money side from the get-go. And even under these circumstances, there's an overall blandness and droning familiarity to how Get Shorty portrays money and power as corruptive to Amara, Yago, and Louis, driving them to become mass murderers to ensure a steady cashflow. Did they want to be anything else? Do they have interest in anything else? As the show is written, Amara's only other passions outside of her business are chicken wings and no-frills sex, whereas Yago enjoys talking shit and clubbing. It's hard to believe that this is all that's really worth knowing about these characters.

This isn't to say that Miles and Louis are depicted any better. O'Dowd's well-meaning tough, who is never seen shooting anyone to keep him an ostensible innocent, is hampered with an ex-wife and a daughter, who are utilized exclusively to give him a reason to get out from under Amara. At one point, Louis says all he needs is a roof over his head, a pool that he can sit by, and a cold drink and for what its worth, it really does seem like that's the extent to which the character cares to feel or think about the world around him. As for Rick, he comes across as little more than a pickled guide into the not-so-convincing world of Hollywood filmmaking, despite the subtle touches of personality that Romano is able to conjure.

For all its cynicism about the movie business, Get Shorty shows exactly no interest in exploring how things got as bad as they are or how the forge to make movies like the New Hollywood wave that Miles adores in the modern era has only helped to suppress genuine visionaries. On the flip side, there's also no sense of the wonder and thrill that many movies released every year still produce for audiences, those who are dedicated cinephiles as much as those who just enjoy a good night out at the movies. By refusing to either challenge their own perspective or get into the weeds of why the big studios are in such dire straits and mostly release market-tested dreck, Get Shorty pigeonholes itself into mediocrity, something that neither Chili Palmer nor Miles Daly can abide by.

Get Shorty airs on Sundays at 10 p.m. on Epix

Get Shorty (United States, 1995)

The better you know movies, the more appreciation you'll have for the wit and energy of Barry Sonnenfeld's Get Shorty . While it's quite possible for the cinematically unaware to enjoy this film -- it's got a fair amount of readily-accessible comedy and action -- this is a real treat for movie buffs. The story is as much about the love of motion pictures as it is about gangsters.

Scott Frank's script for Get Shorty , which lifts huge chunks of dialogue directly from the book, captures the spirit of Elmore Leonard's work the way no previous adaptation has been able to ( The Moonshine War, Stick, Cat Chaser ). This film is wry and sardonic all the way through, with the actors and director knowing exactly how to play each scene for maximum effect. Get Shorty is much more a comedy than anything else, and a very funny one at that.

John Travolta, playing his second gangster in a row, is Chili Palmer, a loanshark on a mission to Los Angeles to recover $300,000 gained through an insurance fraud. Once near Hollywood, however, Chili, an avowed movie-lover (he has the lines from Touch of Evil memorized and can recognize Rio Bravo from a sound byte), becomes seduced by the thought of producing a film. So he hooks up with schlock director Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman) and scream queen Karen Flores (Rene Russo). And when Chili starts to pitch an idea, none other than big time actor Martin Weir (Danny DeVito) shows interest. Nevertheless, even as things start looking up for Chili's movie, a host of gangsters try to muscle in on his action -- one way or another.

Not since Saturday Night Fever has John Travolta been this cool. His comeback work in Pulp Fiction may have been effective, but he's better here. Travolta has got Chili down cold, from the mannerisms to the look. With a fine supporting cast that includes Danny DeVito, Rene Russo, and the always-reliable Gene Hackman, Travolta is surrounded by talent. It would have taken a poor director to botch up this production.

One of the great pleasures of watching Get Shorty is that you don't have to turn off your brain while the film is on screen. The script is smart, and makes few concessions to mentally challenged audience members. There's a lot going on beyond the obvious. Take role reversals, for example. As Chili is seduced from a criminal lifestyle by movies, his motion-picture colleagues are drawn away from film by the lure of the gangster experience. Ultimately, it turns out that the common denominator for success in either career is attitude -- a quality which Chili possesses in abundance.

Those familiar with Pulp Fiction may detect hints of that film here, and not just because of Travolta's presence. Much of the dialogue has the same kind of quirky, snappy quality as that which Tarantino writes. (Quentin is an admitted Leonard fan; in fact, his next directorial effort may be an adaptation of the author's Rum Punch .) There's one instance where tough gangsters discuss the meanings of "e.g." and "i.e." On another occasion, Chili lectures Martin on the importance of a stare.

The ending is a little reminiscent of that of The Player , with a couple of big name cameos. It's a clever way to conclude a wonderfully entertaining romp. Get Shorty may indeed be 1995's Pulp Fiction , but this less profane film is likely to find wider acceptance. It's certainly more mainstream, but, at least in this case, that's not a bad thing. With Get Shorty , Sonnenfeld has shown that broad appeal doesn't necessarily equate with stupidity. That's a lesson Hollywood should learn.

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By Peter Travers

Peter Travers

Do me a favor. If some jerk tells you that Get Shorty , adapted from Elmore Leonard’s 1990 best seller about a Miami loan shark who links up with the sharks of the movie business and fits right in, is another ripoff of Pulp Fiction , clobber him with a stack of Leonard’s 32 crime novels, preferably hardcovers. Leonard, now 70, was writing primo pulp before Quentin Tarantino gurgled his first “fuck you.” What really hurts is that most films cut from Leonard’s gorgeously terse prose — The Big Bounce , with Ryan O’Neal; Mr. Majestyk , with Charles Bronson; and Stick , with Burt Reynolds — were bloated Hollywood hogwash.

Until now. Get Shorty serves up Leonard in grand style. There are a few broad strokes, and the stew could have used a dash more menace and sexual simmer. But why quibble when the sound, feel and sizzle of Leonard is otherwise pitch perfect? Screenwriter Scott Frank ( Little Man Tate ) lifts gobs of Leonard’s deliciously profane dialogue, which gives a knockout cast, led by John Travolta as the loan shark Chili Palmer, a feast to dine upon. Director Barry Sonnenfeld, of the two Addams Family films, uses a light touch to smashing comic effect. And Leonard gets to stick it to the Hollywood that stuck it to him. The result is one of the best movies of the year and by far the most entertaining.

In typical Leonard style the film begins in the middle of a seemingly irrelevant conversation. Chili and his hood buddy Tommy (Martin Ferrero) are sitting in a Miami restaurant, discussing the unseasonably cold weather and old Jimmy Cagney movies. Chili is a big movie fan, with a leather jacket “like the one Pacino wore in Serpico. ” The problem is that mob hothead Ray “Bones” Barboni (the superb Dennis Farina) has borrowed Chili’s jacket from the coat room. On the drive to Ray’s, Chili and Tommy hash out the etiquette for getting back the jacket. Chili acts quickly. When Ray opens the door, Chili nails him with one swift punch in the face, grabs his jacket and exits as Ray’s large nose gushes blood.

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The scene is pure Leonard, and Tarantino, who had Pulp Fiction ‘s two hit men (Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson) talking foot massage, admits his debt to the master: “Leonard was the first writer I’d read who let mundane conversations inform the characters. Then all of a sudden, woof, you’re into whatever story you’re telling.”

Not exactly. Leonard loves to zig and zag, and Sonnenfeld follows him with faithful exuberance, stopping to listen to Chili discuss the fine distinctions between John Wayne in Rio Bravo and in El Dorado , to show how Chili winds up working for Ray even after Chili creases the bum’s head with a bullet and to introduce a new gallery of rogues, including Leo Devoe (the incomparably hilarious David Paymer), a dry cleaner who fakes his death in a plane crash to dodge his debts. On orders from Ray, Chili tracks Leo first to Vegas, then to Los Angeles, where Chili also tries to collect on money owed to him by Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman), a producer of cheap and sleazy horror flicks with only one badge of honor: “No TV.”

“Look at me, Harry,” says Chili, who uses the laser intensity of his baby blues to make people anxious. Harry is plenty anxious; this Florida shylock has roused Harry from the bed he’s sharing with Karen Flores (Rene Russo), the star of all three of Harry’s Slime Creatures films. He offers Chili a chance to get in on his latest project, a quality film called Mr. Lovejoy, in exchange for getting a badass investor, Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo), off Harry’s back. It’s Bo’s money that Harry lost in Vegas trying to raise the $500,000 it’ll take to buy the Mr. Lovejoy script from the writer’s rapacious widow, played by Bette Midler in a hoot of a cameo. This is Hollywood, where everyone has a pitch, including Chili. He has an idea for a movie about a shylock chasing a dry cleaner. It’s real life, but Harry isn’t buying. There’s no female lead, no one to sympathize with and no good guy. Says Chili: “The shylock is the good guy.”

He is this time. Travolta, on a roll after Pulp Fiction, gives a dynamite performance — seductive, funny and beautifully nuanced. With Hackman, in a classic sendup of scum with ambition, he is all control. With Russo, sexy, scrappy and touching as an intelligent woman tired of wearing tank tops and fuck-me pumps to scream at movie monsters — he is all romantic longing. Chili nabs Karen’s heart and body with his sincere praise of her work in Bride of the Mutant: “Joan fuckin’ Crawford wishes on her best day she had that much presence and charisma — not even in Mildred Pierce, which, by the way, was a better book than a movie.”

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The awful and sometimes artful things movies do to books is Get Shorty ‘s bristling subtext. In one memorable scene, Chili and Bo break into Harry’s office to read Mr. Lovejoy and decide they could improve the script better than the pros. “You write down what you wanna say, then you get somebody to add in the commas and shit,” says Bo, a studio chief in the making. Lindo, an Oscar favorite for Clockers, is terrific. Ditto James Gandolfini as Bear, the stunt man turned stooge for Bo. After Chili creams Bear for trying to set him up in an airport drug scam, he stops to give him a lesson in pride: “You were in the movies, right? What’s Bo ever done he can talk about?”

Ironically, it’s a movie biggie who proves to be Chili’s toughest nut. Martin Weir is Karen’s former husband, the star of Napoleon and the bankable name Chili and Harry need to launch Mr. Lovejoy. Danny DeVito plays this peewee egomaniac, the “Shorty” of the title, with priceless wit and cunning. Karen warns Chili: “Martin flips over a script, and when the time comes to make a deal, he flips out.” It’s Chili’s job to hold a gun to this shorty’s swelled head.

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In 1984, diminutive Dustin Hoffman took meetings with Leonard about starring in the author’s LaBrava , then decided not to make a deal. The payback in Get Shorty is executed with rare good humor. Martin talks actor gibberish to Chili about “finding the stem of the character” and demonstrates how he would play a tough guy with a laughable collection of squints and snarls. “Look at me,” says Chili, showing Martin the real thing. “Put it in your eyes: ‘You’re mine, asshole.'” It’s a remarkable scene, a hood teaching an actor to play danger as spare, focused and vividly real, the way Leonard sees it.

Happily, Chili gets the last laugh, and Leonard gets a movie packed with oddball characters who retain their rough edges, just the way Hollywood hates it. Even that’s changing, now that Tarantino has optioned four Leonard novels and plans to begin by directing Killshot. You leave Get Shorty with a sensation akin to Chili’s when he leaves Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil at a revival house. “Wow, huh?” says Chili to the strangers in the theater as the lights go up. It’s the kick that comes when a movie gets it right despite the odds. Get Shorty gets it wonderfully right. Wow, huh?

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‘Get Shorty’: You Know the Name, but Not This Story

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By Jeremy Egner

• Aug. 11, 2017

WEST HOLLYWOOD — Sitting on a sunny patio here in shorts and a T-shirt, friendly but frazzled after his days-old baby kept him up for much of the night, Chris O’Dowd is not an intimidating man. And he knows it.

“I don’t have the enjoyment of a gym that you need to play those kinds of roles,” he said.

But beginning Aug. 13, Mr. O’Dowd will star as a professional killer with an artistic streak in a new version of “Get Shorty” , on the premium cable channel Epix. Based on the 1990 novel by Elmore Leonard , “Get Shorty” is a 10-episode dark comedy about a cinephile gangster landing in Los Angeles who realizes that his skill set is particularly suited for his new environment.

[ Review: For ‘Get Shorty,’ an Amusing Epix Makeover ]

This synopsis will be familiar to fans of the novel or the 1995 movie adaptation , which starred John Travolta in a memorable performance as the slick Miami enforcer Chili Palmer. But as with Chili’s trip to Tinseltown, the meta-story of “Get Shorty,” prestige cable drama, is one of redefinition.

For one thing, Chili Palmer isn’t part of it. The series abandons the original’s characters and narrative, replacing Palmer with an Irish hood named Miles Daly, played by Mr. O’Dowd.

As comic actors playing against type, the primary stars are also upending expectations. Mr. O’Dowd, best known for funny and sweetly charming roles on TV (“The IT Crowd”) and in the Apatowverse ( “This Is 40,” “Bridesmaids” ), brings a heavy-lidded formidableness to Miles. His character’s partner, a washed-up B-movie producer named Rick Moreweather, is played by Ray Romano , here sporting a Brian Grazer spike and the stink of desperation.

And for Epix, a channel even the show’s stars have a hard time finding, the hope is that “Get Shorty” will help transform it from an afterthought to a player in the crowded premium TV landscape.

“This show has the opportunity to tell the rest of the world, ‘This is what an Epix show looks like,’” said Mark Greenberg, its president and chief executive.

What “Get Shorty” looks like might surprise fans of the book or, especially, the Barry Sonnenfeld film. A stylish crime flick in the 1990s mold, it combined violence and wisecracks into a confection that was glibly fun and self-consciously cool. (Its sequel, which introduced Chili to the music business, was even called “Be Cool.”)

By contrast the series is a slower, grimmer tale that originates not in glitzy Miami but in the bleak sandscape of Pahrump, Nev.

Miles is cool, certainly, but he cares less about that than about repairing his broken family by finding legitimate — or legal, at least — work in Hollywood. His way in is a potent visual symbol: A bloodstained script, taken from a murdered screenwriter, that Miles convinces Rick to help him turn into a film.

“Get Shorty” is to Elmore Leonard what FX’s “Fargo” is to the Coen Brothers oeuvre. Leonard’s taut stories, with their flashes of violence, shady morality and thugs oozing insecurity as well as intimidation, have tantalized television and film producers for decades — “Justified” on FX , featuring characters the writer created as well as his lyrical flair for dialogue, was a notable recent example. But like the FX adaptation of the Coen brothers movie “Fargo,” “Get Shorty” puts a well-known title onto a new story, using it to signal an idiosyncratic aesthetic sensibility and, from a marketing standpoint, draw in Leonard fans.

But unlike “Fargo,” which introduces a new story and cast each year, any future seasons of “Get Shorty” will continue the narrative and feature the same characters (those that survive the first season, anyway).

The unconventional choice of Mr. O’Dowd to play the heavy began with Allen Coulter, a former “Sopranos” director who helmed the “Get Shorty” pilot, and who early in the series’s development reviewed a casting list that included photos of potential actors. “He goes, ‘I want someone menacing, like that guy.’ And he pointed to Chris,” Davey Holmes, the creator of the series, recalled. “We said, ‘You’re not familiar with Chris’s work, are you?’”

But with his normally tousled hair shorn close to the scalp and some tattoos added in makeup, the six-foot-three actor transformed into a believable tough guy.

Mr. O’Dowd hadn’t read “Get Shorty” or seen the movie. But he was intrigued by the opportunity to play a “hard man,” especially one that was the focal point of the show. “To be the person in the room who can hurt people is kind of fun,” he said.

The actor, married with two young sons, was on a dad break, having walked the few blocks from his house to a cafe on Melrose Avenue. Born and raised in western Ireland, Mr. O’Dowd has lived in Los Angeles for several years and remains a fan of the city, even as he agreed that the central joke of “Get Shorty” — that criminal talents translate nicely to Hollywood — is well founded.

“The brutality that people can treat each other with in this business is undoubted,” he said. “People get rid of actors, get rid of jobs, lose people’s money, and then they go for granola somewhere.”

“They don’t necessarily do consequences in the way the rest of humanity does,” he added.

As a non-player who has been ground up by show business, Mr. Romano’s character is a symbol of the industry’s soul-killing tendencies. Though his hair was patterned after that of the producer Brian Grazer (“A Beautiful Mind,” “Apollo 13”), Rick is barely hanging on at the opposite end of the success spectrum. The role continues Mr. Romano’s move from an Everyman comic persona toward more psychically tormented characters, as seen in shows like “Men of a Certain Age” and “Vinyl.”

“I think it’s genuine,” Mr. O’Dowd said, laughing. “Ray finding his place in the world is a constant battle that he fights with himself, which is kind of gorgeous to watch.”

Mr. Romano’s latest challenge: Finding his show. “I’ve still got to figure out a way to get Epix,” he said.

Created in 2009 in a joint deal between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Viacom and Lionsgate, Epix is now owned solely by MGM, which is also producing “Get Shorty.” The channel’s first two original series , the spy drama “Berlin Station” and political satire “Graves,” have brought solid reviews, but Epix remains relatively unknown in the pay-cable space dominated by HBO, Starz and Showtime. With roughly 14 million subscribers, according to SNL Kagan , Epix trails the other services by a wide margin.

The channel plans to advertise “Get Shorty” heavily and has posted the first two episodes on YouTube in an attempt to hook viewers. But there are no plans to put the show on a third-party streaming service like Netflix or Amazon. With the channel hoping “Get Shorty” can put it on the original programming map, the way breakout shows like “The Shield” on FX and “Mad Men” on AMC did for their respective channels, it’s crucial that the show remain closely associated with Epix, Mr. Greenberg said.

Mr. O’Dowd admitted that he wasn’t familiar with Epix before signing on to “Get Shorty,” but he wasn’t worried about its current obscurity, he said, because experience has shown him how quickly that status can change. When he was working on “Family Tree,” a Christopher Guest mockumentary series, there were two bidders: HBO, where the show eventually ran for one season in 2013, and Netflix.

“At the time we were kind of like, ‘Does Netflix even do TV?’” he said. “Everything ends up wherever it ends up.”

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Davey Holmes

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