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Created Feb 22, 2015 11:16AM PST • Edited Jul 01, 2018 01:15AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Really Great 4.5

   Is there a more enjoyable Elmore Leonard movie or charismatic John Travolta movie than Get Shorty? So what if it’s a trifle, a light crime-comedy. It’s a movie about the love of movies, which it celebrates with sleek Hollywood panache, rich Elmore Leonard flair and charming details. In short, Get Shorty stands tall.

   Star power it’s got in spades, with Travolta supported by Gene Hackman, Dennis Farina, Danny DeVito, James Gandolfini and the coolly sexy Rene Russo. Travolta’s relaxed charm was at full wattage as the wonderfully-named Chili Palmer, a Miami Beach loanshark who takes to Hollywood like a duck to water.

   Barry Sonnenfeld’s direction gives the movie an unforced flow and copious amount of style. Along with Men In Black, it’s one of his two best. Is it the best Elmore Leonard movie? Jackie Brown and Out of Sight score just as high, but I give Get Shorty the nod because of the deep smile it leaves on you at the end.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   John Travolta clearly enjoys himself for the entire movie, which makes his Chili Palmer exceptionally enjoyable to watch. This perfect role came a year after Pulp Fiction renewed Travolta’s superstar status, with Get Shorty’s charming shylock from Miami Beach adding new tones of luster to his rejuvenated career. As “the guy who’s telling you the way it is”, he’s inimitable.

   Gene Hackman damn near chews the scenery as slimy movie producer Harry Zimm, yet that’s what the role required and the great Hackman stooped to the occasion.

   Dennis Farina did chew the scenery as Travolta’s rival loanshark Ray “Bones” Barboni, a bit too much for my taste, yet still turns in a terrific performance. Farina was clearly ideal for the role and Elmore Leonard characters in general, appearing three years later in Out of Sight.

   Rene Russo and Danny DeVito got star billing, yet aren’t on screen nearly as much as Travolta, Hackman and Farina. She’s coolly sexy as a scream-queen moviestar who shacks up with her producer. He’s convincingly self-absorbed as a privileged moviestar, apparently based on Dustin Hoffman, per Wikipedia.

   Supporters

   • Delroy Lindo as a Hollywood crime lord with a home in the Hills
   • James Gandolfini as his muscle in a curiously weak performance from the future Tony Soprano
   • Bette Midler as a horny Hollywood cougar
   • Miguel Sandoval as a Columbian drug lord
   • Bobby Slayton as a Vegas player
   • Barry Sonnenfeld as the Beefeater doorman
   • Alex Rocco appears as the gangster Jimmy Capp

   Cameos as Themselves

   • Harvey Keitel
   • Penny Marshall

5. Male Stars Perfect 5.0

6. Female Stars Very Good 3.5

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

10. Film

    Really Great 4.5

    Get Shorty is about the love of movies and about the crazy egos in Hollywood who make those movies. Elmore Leonard – great writer that he is – makes it as much about movie scripts as moviestars.

    The most charming detail is captured in the nearby video clip: John Travolta’s Chili Palmer in a darkened cinema, talking along to Orson Welles, Charlton Heston and Marlene Dietrich in Touch of Evil.

11. Direction Really Great 4.5

12. Play Really Great 4.5

    Lip smacking dialogue and a plot that cleverly mirrors back on itself distinguish the terrific screenplay.

13. Music Great 4.0

14. Visuals Great 4.0

    11 stuntmen

15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.0

17. Sex Titillating 1.7

18. Violence Fierce 1.7

19. Rudeness Profane 2.6

21. Reality

    Glib 1.4

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.1

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0