Updated: 23 October 1997

GET SHORTY

Chili Palmer is a gangster. He has, we assume, "rubbed people out," and broken more than a few limbs in his time. This would generally be a sign that he is not a very nice guy. However, as the protagonist of this Hollywood adventure, he is just downright cool.

John Travolta, in yet another well-chosen role, has one of his very best characters in Chili Palmer (and, indeed, received a Golden Globe for the performance). Not that the sympathetic hood is a new idea. Long before THE GODFATHER, people have had mixed feelings about gangsters, and the mafia in particular. At least people whose loved ones hadn't been rubbed out. Maybe something to do with the rigid adherence to the warped "honor" system within the Organization. I honestly don't know. But in films from THE DEADEND GANG, to BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, to THE STING, to--yes--THE GODFATHER, the character of the sympathetic criminal has held not only our attention, but has been written to garner our admiration as well.

And in cases like the comedy GET SHORTY, it is not a grudging admiration. Maybe it's just the inescapable contrast between Hollywood sleaze and the forthright felons of the mob. This is definitely a film that begins with an east-coast mentality and seems to ease comfortably over into west-coast thinking. Arch attitudes replaced by the casual.

GET SHORTY is, I tell my friends, the movie that PULP FICTION should have been. This is a movie with a linear narrative, eschewing the gimmickry of PULP FICTION's screwed-up chronology. It doesn't need it. Tarantino's film needed "dressing" to make it look clever: the glowing contents of the "mysterious" briefcase, the back-and-forth time-line, the shock schlock of gore and brutality that kept popping up throughout the film, the philosophical chit-chat between the two thugs, etc.

GET SHORTY is both brighter, and darker, than the other. And both attributes center around the character of Chili Palmer. He is a gangster. Sort of the Navy Seal version of a mob hit-man. His mob world is a very real one. One in which, for instance, a dry-cleaner's wife can get punched in the face by a man with no conscience. His trip west, however, leads him into a very different world. One he is not above wanting a part of. In fact, Chili has a script to sell, only the ending hasn't crystallized yet--it is a work in progress.

This film is smartly written. The cast is excellent, and must have enjoyed making this film more than they enjoyed most of their other recent projects. Rene Russo has a role that starts out very strong, but diminishes somewhat before the film is over. Nevertheless, even she appears to be having a good time. Gene Hackman's Harry Zimm, a director of semi-lucrative B-movies, is excellent. Both Pathetic and Sympathetic.

And it doesn't end with them. Danny DeVito (one of the producers of the film) has a smaller but still very fun role as Martin Weir, a Mega-Movie-Star, fresh from his latest Oscar-winning performance. Dennis Farina shows up as the Dry-Cleaner's Wife-Punching Ray "Bones" Barboni. He is convincing in a role that requires exactly that.

In some of the films very good (and numerous) subplots, we also meet an L.A. crime lord--Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo)--and Bear (James Gandolfini), his henchman; Mexico drug-lord "Mr. Escobar" (Miguel Sandoval I), and his unfortunate nephew Yayo (Jacob Vargas). These and many other characters and elements are worked very deftly into a plot that moves you right along into Chili's unfolding screenplay. One that likes Hollywood, while realizing how ridiculous it is. In fact, the whole film looks down its nose at many aspects of Tinseltown, while freely acknowledging that it is a part of the monster.

As usual in very well-done movies, the soundtrack plays an integral role in establishing scenes, characters, and attitudes. This is a movie with an attitude, and it owes no little portion of that to the perfect selection of songs that accompany the action, overseen by John Lurie.

The screenplay is written by Scott Frank, who received a Golden Globe nomination for his adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel. He deserved it. This was one of my favorite films the year it came out. My friends and I left the theater with that rare and very nice feeling that we had watched more than our money's worth.