Get Shorty (1995)
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A Miami mobster and loan shark finds himself navigating the high-stakes world of Hollywood film production.
The story
Chili Palmer is a Miami-based loan shark and movie buff who becomes entangled with a Hollywood feature film production after a series of interactions with rival mobsters. When a debt collection job leads him to a B-movie director in Los Angeles, Chili pitches his real-life experiences as a movie idea. The director persuades Chili to help him secure funding from investors who use their limo service as a front for illegal activities. Chili decides to invest in a specific script, aiming to become a Hollywood producer while navigating the dangerous demands of the criminal underworld.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Chili Palmer, a Miami loan shark, retrieves a leather jacket from a rival mobster, Ray 'Bones' Barboni, leading to a violent confrontation. After Bones' boss, Momo, dies, Bones takes over and tasks Chili with collecting a debt from a man who supposedly died in a plane crash. Chili discovers the man is alive and tracks him to Las Vegas, where he also takes on a job for B-movie director Harry Zimm. Chili pitches his debt-collecting exploits to Harry as a movie idea. Harry asks Chili to help him secure $500,000 from investors Bo Catlett and Ronnie Wingate, who run a drug front. Chili eventually takes the money from the debtor to invest in a script called Mr. Lovejoy. Meanwhile, Bo's Colombian contacts demand repayment for a failed money drop. Chili meets Harry's 'scream queen' co-star, Karen Flores, who also wants to produce. Bo offers Harry the locker money to fetch, but Chili fakes out DEA agents to confirm its presence. After a series of betrayals, including Bones beating Harry and Bo kidnapping Karen, Bear (Bo's enforcer) helps Bo 'accidentally' fall into a railing to death. Chili eventually tricks Bones into walking into a DEA trap, and the film ends with the production of 'Get Leo' underway.
- First release year
- 1995
- Runtime (minutes)
- 105
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Barry Sonnenfeld
- Writers
- Scott Frank · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- John Travolta · Chili Palmer; Gene Hackman; Rene Russo; Delroy Lindo; James Gandolfini; Dennis Farina; Danny DeVito
- Genres
- gangster comedy; crime comedy; satire; comedy-thriller
- Themes
- Hollywood satire; crime and organized crime; ambition
- Tone and mood
- satirical; comedy-thriller
- Premise and plot tags
- gangster; comedy; Hollywood; crime
- Source material / true-story basis
- Elmore Leonard's 1990 novel
- Franchise connections
- Get Shorty franchise (including Be Cool and a television series)
- Reception
- The film received critical acclaim, holding an 89% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a weighted average of 81 on Metacritic. It was a box office success, grossing $115.1 million on a $30 million budget.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 89% · review count: 57; Metacritic · score: 81 · scale: 100 · review count: 22; CinemaScore · score: B+ · scale: A+ to F
- Awards and nominations
- Golden Globe Award · Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy · 53rd · win; Golden Globe Award · Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy · nomination; Screen Actors Guild Award · Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture · 2nd · nomination; Grammy Award · Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture or for Television · 39th · nomination
- Production trivia
- Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman and Michael Keaton were offered the role of Chili Palmer but they all declined.; Barry Sonnenfeld considered Samuel L. Jackson for the role of Bo Catlett.; Steve Buscemi and Matthew McConaughey were considered for the role of Ronnie Wingate.; The film features an appearance from the real Ernest 'Chili' Palmer, a Miami loan shark and mob-connected man who inspired the original character.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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