WHAT IT’S ABOUT: In Miami, loan shark Chili Palmer (John Travolta) is a smooth dude, working now for a mobster (Dennis Farina) he doesn’t all the much like but forced to head to Las Vegas to collect on a scammer who duped the mob. While there, he picks up a second job and goes to LA to visit B-movie producer Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman), who’s got himself in all the wrong kinds of debt. However, being a film fan, Chili pitches an idea for a movie, and soon finds himself entangled in a wild web of corruption and backstabbing the likes of which outdoes his own criminal life.
QUICKE REVIEW: Based on the novel of the same name by Elmore Leonard, this Barry Sonnenfeld-directed story is pretty funny, well cast with Travolta in full ‘comeback kid’ mode and another iconic turn from Hackman. It’s one part mob story and two parts action comedy, the mix hitting just at the right time when gangster films were in need of a little comedic tuning. There is this terrific flare for good humor and loads of in-joke shots at the industry with some often laugh-out-loud moments that in Sonnenfeld’s deft hands strike just right. Aging well, this is a must see.
THAT STUNTMAN ON THE STAIRS MOMENT: Get Shorty is, for it decidedly light touch, a rather complex story with a lot going on, but no matter the interlocking plot points and plethora of colorful characters, it’s always easy to follow with Travolta leading the charge. Chili Palmer is a tough, level-headed and highly charismatic guy who always seems to be ten steps ahead of anyone in the same room. We like that. It makes him easy to trust.
Avoiding too many spoilers, as there are plenty, let’s skip ahead knowing that Palmer is now embedded in Los Angeles, partnered in sorts with Zimm but now finding the filmmaker wound up in all kinds of seedy trouble, owing more money to all the wrong people, including high level drug dealer Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo), who is financing one of Zimm’s pictures. Catlett has his own set of problems as well, but let’s push that aside and concentrate on the fact that no one trusts anyone and everyone either owes or is collecting money. Sometimes both at the same time. These are not good people.
Meanwhile, Palmer meets B-movie star Karen Flores (Rene Russo), an associate and on again/off again girlfriend of Zimm’s and develops a kind of relationship with her, the two eventually heading to a nice restaurant where, all of things, they see Zimm sitting with Catlett. And Catlett has a friend with him, a bull of a man itching for a fight. His name is Bear (James Gandolfini), a Hollywood stuntman slash bodybuilder who looks like someone you wouldn’t want to cross. Too bad for him though, he’s about to meet Chili Palmer.
WHY IT’S GREAT: From the second floor of the restaurant, Catlett, Zimm and Bear see Chili, who in turn eyeballs them, realizing that whatever deal is developing here is developing behind his back. Catlett and Bear immediately stand up with intent to push Palmer out to the street, but Chili has his own plan. Asking Flores to stay where she is, he starts to climb the curving staircase and meets Bear and Catlett halfway, where Bear, all smiles, gets introduced. It would seem as though Chili is about to get tossed, but instead, it’s quite the opposite as Chili immediately grabs the stuntman by the (ahem) nether regions (ouch) and hurls him down the steps in a contorted lump to the waiting feet of a duly impressed Flores.
So, even going into this, we pretty much have no fear for Palmer, the guy constantly out matching whomever he comes up against. However, as in most movies, the ‘good guy’ must always reach a low point before he can find redemption, something Get Shorty out and out ditches. Sauntering up the steps like he’s Tony Manero again in that classic opening scene from Saturday Night Fever, Travolta straight up rules the moment. The soundtrack also hints that things are not what they seem, a modern jazzy upbeat rhythm setting the tone for what’s to come. Smart.
And it’s that right there, the build up to the take down that makes this matter. Sonnenfeld gets that we probably already suspect where this is leading, so chooses to dip the scene in a flourish of style to let that confrontation have far better payoff. It’s Palmer’s swagger as he steps up those stairs, absolutely giving the pause before the battle its zing. Sonnenfeld cues us with the music and the walk that what’s lying ahead will not be expected. And it’s not.
Clip courtesy Fandango
This, in any other movie, would have been a long-drawn out, carefully choreographed fight scene, with our hero taking punches and flipping over tables and whatever, the point being that this is the place where the big action bit goes. Not so with Get Shorty as Chili Palmer has no time for that and dispenses the BS with nothing but a casual well-placed squeeze. Done and done. Fantastic.
Get Shorty is a clever, fast-talking, funny film about movies that remains great fun to watch. If you’ve not seen it, don’t waste another night and get this one you list, and pay attention to a moment on the stairs when a stuntman take a tumble he’s not expecting. A great movie moment.