Starring: John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, Danny Devito
Studio: MGM
Video: 1.85:1 Widecreen Enhanced
Audio: DTS 5.1, DD 5.1, French 5.1, Spanish 2.0
Extras: Theatrical Trailer, Trailers (Be Cool; The Good, The Bad,
and the Ugly; Fargo), Audio Commentary by director Barry Sonnenfeld,
Photo Gallery, Page to Screen (29 min), Look At Me (26 min), Wiseguys
and Dolls (19 min), Graveyard Scene Intro (4 min), Graveyard Deleted
Scene, Going Again (5 min), Party Reel (5 min), Sneak Peak at Be Cool
(8 min)
Length: 105 minutes
Rating: ***1/2
Chili Palmer is a shylock from Florida after some insurance money which
takes him to the west coast. There, he meets up with a B-Movie
director, Harry Zim, who has a “killer” script just waiting to be
made. With the recovered money he might be able to finance films
and do what he has always dreamed of—make movies. Unfortunately,
Harry owes some money to a drug kingpin who is trying to hone in on the
action. Palmer’s boss comes to town after the money and meets up
with the drug dealers while searching for the missing money causing
quite a situation. An actress who is involved with Zim catches
Palmer’s eye, because she was involved with a big name actor, Martin
Weir, who will bring an audience to the film. He’s a short
fellow, and thus the title to this funny stab at Hollywood and the
characters that make up the film industry.
Get Shorty is based on a novel by Elmore Leonard, a well-known writer
of thrillers. When he met up with the real Ernest “Chili” Palmer,
he saw how money collection was really done. It impressed him so
much that he wrote Palmer into his book. After more research and
work, the book came out in 1990 and was a big success. The author
wasn’t interested in adapting the film to the screen, so they found a
screenwriter who was fed up with Hollywood—a perfect choice for Get
Shorty. The actor selection came together and there are many
smaller roles filled by terrific actors who add to the impact of the
film like Bette Midler, James Gandolfini, Dennis Farina, Delroy
Lindo. The Bonus disc has extensive interviews with the actors,
the director, producers, and the writers. The Graveyard scene
includes Ben Stiller, the Party Reel has some funny outtakes, and
there’s a section on the sequel to the film, Be Cool. For a fun,
hip, and entertaining two hours you won’t want to miss this one. [Rent
or buy this one instead of the sequel which recently hit the
theaters…Ed.]
-Brian Bloom
