Get Shorty (1995)

Exactly one year after his historic comeback in the seminal Pulp Fiction (which he received an Oscar nomination for), John Travolta followed it up with this slick and crime caper/satire adapted from the Elmore Leonard novel of the same name.  Here he plays Chili Palmer, a mob enforcer from Miami who LOVES movies, is visiting Los Angeles for the first time, and finds himself very eager to get into the movie business.  Once there, he meets a schlock producer (Gene Hackman - RIP), a scream queen (Rene Russo), a pretentious movie star (Danny DeVito), and a menacing wanna-be producer (Delroy Lindo)....among several others.  And wouldn't you know it....Chili finds himself getting involved in the movie business. :) Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (The Addams Family, Men In Black), this would go on to be on of the more quotable and fondly remembered crime comedies of the '90's featuring a cast including several other legends including Bette Midler, the late great Dennis Farina, and the late, great James Gandolfini.  

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon

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Transcript

GET SHORTY – 1995

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld

Starring John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, Danny DeVito, Dennise Farina, Delroy Lindo, James Gandolfini, Jon Gries, Renee Props, David Paymer, Martin Ferrero, Miguel Sandoval, Jacob Vargas, Linda Hart, and Bette Midler

Genre:  Crime Comedy (Audio clip)

There's cool and then there's Mid '90's Travolta COOL. Post-Pulp Fiction, he was seemingly everywhere for several years and not ALL of them were winners...Phenomenon, White Man's Burden, Mad City....Michael. 😮 But when he hooked up with the right project, it was fantastic! Face/Off, Primary Colors.....and of course this breezy Elmore Leonard adaptation with the right director and the right cast at the RIGHT time. 😉 

Travolta stars as Chili Palmer, a Miami mob enforcer who ends up in LA on a collection assignment and ends up finding his TRUE passion....making movies, sort of. Honestly there's really not a straightforward plot here...more just like a series of meetings and misunderstandings involving mobsters and movie moguls. It's a shaggy dog plot involving a wacky cast of characters with names like Harry Zimm and Yayo and Ray Bones and Bear and Momo ALL played by top-flight actors, several of whom are at least attempting to compete with Travolta to see who can be the coolest on screen!
 Among the ones who come the closest is Rene Russo who is bitingly funny as Karen, a former scream queen - Russo not only screams like a champ but rolls her eyes in some key moments to punctuate her coolness. 😉 Danny Devito plays against type in a sharp acid turn as Martin Weir, a super-pretentious movie star who takes his sense of entitlement to cosmic levels with exchanges like this: 

"I'm wondering with us....how did it all slip away??"
 "Well it didn't slip away Martin...you did when you slipped away to f$%k Nikki at my birthday party."
 "Yeah...that was a good party." 

And then there's Delroy Lindo stealing his scenes as Bo, a very sharply dressed gangster/wanna-be movie producer who's waxes about how screenwriting comes down to punctuation...early James Gandolfini who's surprisingly endearing as Bear the former stunt-man who really wants to spend time with his cute little daughter when he's not paying the bills as an enforcer for Bo.... Dennis Farina steals HIS scenes as the clueless mob boss who says things like "F#%k you, f$%kball!" when he's trying to intimidate some one. And that's not even including all of the memorable walk-on bits from several others including Bette Midler, David Paymer, Miguel Sandoval, Alex Rocco...you name it, the film is just an embarrassment of riches with every one bringing the heat. 

Part Hollywood satire and part crime drama, this movie just works WAY better than it has any right to. Much of the credit has to go to director Barry Sonnenfeld who gels all of this together with the help of wunderkind writer Scott Frank into a tight 100 minute stew of just highly quotable coolness. 

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film): 

In line with the overall COOOL vibe of the movie, the soundtrack happens to feature some very cool music as well….VERY mid-‘90’s, as it mainly features what was a pretty short-lived trend at the time….ACID JAZZ….a hybrid musical genre which combined elements of funk, soul, hip-hop, and of course jazz.  One of the few breakout acts within this genre at the time was London’s own Us3 and they happened to record a fun, past-paced ditty which we hear early on…..immediately preceded by a spirited cold opening sequence featuring our hero Chili Palmer raising trouble around Miami. (Audio clip)   

This song kicks in just as the spare opening credits roll, all instrumental and it’s the perfect tone-setter – saxophones, organs, trumpets and some guitar – VERY ‘90’s but very fun, it’s fittingly titled ‘Chilli Hot.” (Audio clip)

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):

Part of my impetus to move up this review to earlier in the year was to pay some tribute to one of our GREATEST actors, one of my personal All-Time favorites…..the LEGENDARY two-time Oscar winner Eugene Allen Hackman, originally born in San Bernardino, CA on January 30, 1930.  Of course, he was professionally known as Gene Hackman - he sadly left us under some VERY unfortunate circumstances at the age of 95 this past February at his home in New Mexico.  I’m not going to delve into the details….but I don’t feel like it’s understatement to say that even though he hadn’t actually acted in more than twenty years, the impact he had on the lives of sorta-cinephiles like myself and his passing was SEISMIC.  It’s hard to choose a particular favorite performance of his but if I just had to choose a favorite MOVIE which he was excellent in….it would have to be watching Hackman go toe-to-toe against Denzel in previous episode Crimson Tide which was crazily released just about five months before Get Shorty in ’95….and released just three months AFTER recent previous episode The Quick & the Dead, playing against Sharon Stone.  I mean WOW…..’95 was just ONE hell of a year for Hackman! (Audio clip) 

Now in both ‘Dead and ‘Tide, he was playing very much into his usually intimidating persona, both pretty sinister villains though each with their share of relatable moments.  Now in Get Shorty however….Hackman was actually playing VERY much against type as the goofy, impressionable movie producer Harry Zimm whose lack of toughness is often betrayed by his outfits and jarringly capped teeth!  This remains of his few, full-on comedic performances and as you would expect, he truly shines. (Audio clip) 

Now rewinding back even further, Hackman’s likely BIG break was back in 1967 playing Buck Barrow against Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in Bonnie & Clyde.  This was after years of toiling in New York theater alongside previous roommate Dustin Hoffman….wow are we seeing a pattern here?  Hackman eventually became a movie star but was still adept at holding his own among most of the best actors of his AND future generations.  His first Oscar was just a few years later in ’71 playing Popeye Doyle in the seminal The French Connection…..and for good reason, it was from THAT performance on, he became a household name. (Audio clip) 

Now looking back on his career, I actually think it’s even difficult to choose his best DECADE because for more than thirty years, he either starred and/or co-starred in SO many GOOD ones.  I mean take your pick…..the ‘70’s: French Connection, previous episode The Conversation (which I personally consider his BEST overall performance), Night Moves, Young Frankenstein, Superman….the ‘80’s: Reds, Uncommon Valor, Hoosiers, No Way Out, Mississippi Burning, and the aforementioned ‘90s with all of those bangers previously listed PLUS Unforgiven (which he won his second Oscar for), Enemy of the State,  Class Action, previous episodes The Firm AND The Birdcage.  And even going into the early 2000’s, I feel most (myself included) would consider his turn as Royal Tannenbaum IN Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums to be his LAST truly great performance (Audio clip) 

Now if there was possibly ANY kind of throughline amongst all of these films and performances, one could easily point to not only a murderer’s row of supporting casts but a true BEVY of top-flight directors who were always eager to work with him: Friedkin, Coppola, Mel Brooks, Richard Donner, Tony Scott, Sydney Pollack, Sam Raimi, Mike Nichols…..it’s a CRAZY impressive filmography.  But beyond that, he was just always BRINGING it no matter the material…you would NEVER see Hackman phoning it in and more often than not, you would see actors alongside him raising THEIR games to keep up with him on-screen.  He not only had impressive stature but just always this booming, dominant voice. (Audio clip) 

I could go on and on but bottom line, he was a one-for-one…holding a genuinely unique position in the medium of cinema….to the point where I think you will rarely if EVER hear the phrase “a Gene Hackman type” uttered by any one within the industry.  There will never be another….one final salute to the Captain, you were wrong about the Lippazoners but may you Rest In Peace amidst the wreckage of that destroyed sinking battleship. (that was referencing two of his movies by the way) (Audio clip)  

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

Ok you want a standout sequence where we get to see several GREAT actors share the screen, each given at least ONE memorable moment even if it’s just a throwaway?  Have I GOT the Trailer Moment for you!  We’re about an hour in and word is STARTING to spread that there might be a new player in town and his name is Chili?  Delroy Lindo’s Bo and Hackman’s Harry are having a meeting up on the second level of a fancy restaurant….with Gandolfini’s Bear in tow.  When suddenly…Chili and Karen enter this restaurant….they notice each other.  Uh-oh!  So Chili struts up the stairs while Bo and Bear come down to meet him…. (Audio clip) 

What’s cool about SUCH a brief exchange?  Well the camera closing in Travolta’s face as he struts upward…..the strong cold expression on Gandolfini’s face as he makes his threat, his fall right after is even more impressive….the confident, clipped response from Lindo….and one of THE more memorable eye rolls from Russo as she passes them up on the stairs…..JUST priceless!  Oh you want a bit more?  How about Hackman’s pointed response when they sit down to meet with him? Stuff like this is why we go to the movies…. (Audio clip)  

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

Overall pretty much everyone is pretty much on fire here but at the end of the day, just watching Travolta strut his stuff truly takes this film to the next level.  I mean seriously, he just truly commands the screen in a seemingly effortless manner which most other actors would labor HARD to approach (just watch Brad Pitt constantly eating in Ocean's 11 for a more labored example).  For delivering what I believe would definitely be one of his five best performances, John Travolta is the MVP. 

Final Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5 

Nothing particularly earth-shattering occurs, there's not really any overriding themes as far as I can tell, and at worse you could accuse this film of being not much more than a smug '90's time capsule that may be instantly forgettable for many who watch it.  There just SO much talent on display here ALL delivering that I just find it personally difficult to dismiss

Streaming on Prime Video

And that ends another CHILLY review!