Elmore Leonard had a bad Hollywood experience in the mid-‘80s of working on a film adaptation of LaBrava with Dustin Hoffman. Leonard did multiple unpaid rewrites at the actor’s request, but then Hoffman bailed on the project after six months of meetings leaving Leonard with nothing to show for his time. Leonard’s revenge was Get Shorty and what sweet revenge it is.Chili Palmer is a small time loan shark in Miami who once got into a beef with another gangster, Ray Barboni, who has held a grudge against him. Unfortunately, Chili ends up working for Ray who immediately demands that Chili shake down overdue payment from a dry cleaner. A twisted trail eventually leads Chili to LA where he gets mixed up with Harry Zimm, a small-time producer of horror movies who has a new script that flighty superstar actor Michael Weir has expressed an interest in. Harry thinks he can use Michael’s name to get a big studio deal to make something better than schlock for a change , but he’s got a problem with a drug dealer name Bo Catlett who usually finances his movies to launder drug money.Chili is a big movie buff who thinks he might give up loan sharking for producing, and he sets out to help Harry get a deal with the help of Karen Flores, a former actress known for screaming in Harry’s horror movies who just so happens to be Michael’s ex. Unfortunately, Bo Catlett has also been dreaming of breaking into the film industry and starts trying to drive Chili away from Harry with the idea of taking over the project.The surface level of this is funny enough with its core idea of a gangster trying to get into the movie business, but where it achieves greatness is the twist it takes once Chili meets Michael. When his pitch for Harry’s movie isn’t getting through, Chili starts talking about his recent adventures, and Michael is intrigued. Without realizing it, Chili essentially begins pitching his story as it’s happening to Michael, and the short actor pounces on the idea of playing a loan shark. The problem is that Chili doesn’t know how it’s going to end yet.Leonard always had a great knack of playing off the way that people perceive themselves and each other. This pays off even more since so many Hollywood characters are involved that the story is being discussed and thought about as a movie even while it happens. So when Chili confronts a thug of Catlett’s and throws him down a flight of stairs while Karen watches, she’s mentally breaking it down like a film scene instead of being shocked by what she saw. When someone asks Chili who the protagonist is, Chili is shocked that it’s not apparent that the loan shark is the good guy because to him it’s obvious that he’s the hero of this story.While some writers might have let this idea of a story unfolding and being pitched as a movie at the same time get too clever for its own good and been tempted to push the idea into complete nonsense, Leonard’s brevity and sharp plotting keep it grounded as a crime story with humor rather than letting it turn into some kind of meta-fiction writing exercise. As usual, you also get all the hallmarks of Leonard in his prime with great dialogue and memorable characters.Of course, the ultimate fitting end to Leonard’s satirizing of Hollywood is that this was eventually turned into a hit film. Dustin Hoffman was not involved.
Get Shorty is considered to be one of Elmore Leonard's great novels. Like all Leonard stories I have encountered it is a wonderful experience to read. The story is amusing. A man who runs a dry cleaning business owes money to a loan shark. He misses a plane, but his luggage doesn't. When the plane goes down the dry cleaner is believed dead. He and his wife keep quite to collect the insurance money and settle a lawsuit with the airline. Once they get the money the man leaves his wife with the cash and heads to Vegas.Once the loan shark, Chili Palmer, learns that his mark is still alive he goes after him. Palmer takes a side job to collect some money from a Hollywood producer, goes to LA and decides that he would like to break into the movie business. A great deal of hilarity ensues. The book has that distinctive Leonard prose. Short and too the point, with just the right amount of humor. It is a great look at the world of Hollywood through the eyes of a Miami loan shark.This was made into a film starring John Travolta, Danny DeVito, and Rene Russo. Many Leonard fans consider the film to be an excellent interpretation of the book. I intend to watch at and will let you know.
What do You think about Get Shorty (2002)?
It's been years since I saw the film version of Get Shorty, so I came to this one more or less clean. And, as with Elmore Leonard's other books, this one doesn't disappoint. In some ways, it's review-proof. You have all the usual Leonard stuff: wiseguys and smart ladies, whip-smart dialogue, lapses of morality and struggles for redemption, cons, shylocks, dupes, and broads. It's all here, only this time it's set against the backdrop of the Hollywood studio system, which is easily as amoral as the New Jersey and Miami mob scenes that birthed protagonist Chili Palmer. The fun is in watching how Leonard takes these tropes, winds them up, and sets them loose.
—Rob
Entertaining, funny, tongue-in-cheek collision of the twinned fraudulent worlds of the small time hood and the small time Hollywood hanger-on, with a menagerie of only partially self-aware characters in the best Leonard tradition. It's a romp in the grand old fashion, and it's easy to see why this was such a hit as a movie-- Hollywood loves nothing more than proving it's hip to its own faults, and Leonard's acerbic take on the grimy, desperate world that springs up in the shadows of the mega-studios is so pitch perfect that it made for prime movie material. As always with Leonard's work it's the characters who provide more enjoyment than the cast-iron plot, and Chili Palmer and his cohorts are some of the best he's created, particularly the divine comic creature Harry Zimm. The book would be worth it for the interplay between the characters alone, but Leonard's narrative of bored loan shark using his old tricks to find a home in the B-movie business rolls along at a cracking pace, with humorous delights on every page. It's rollicking fun, pitch perfect in tone and intent, and an utter joy to read.
—Lee Battersby
I approached Elmore Leonard with caution, because I'm British and I tend to read a lot of classic books. Leonard's language is American, modern, stylised and for me a bit difficult to get into. But I loved 'Get Shorty', it made me laugh out loud. My son borrowed it after me and when he asked me what it was about, I said 'It's about a leather jacket'. That puzzled him a bit, but afterwards he said 'It is, isn't it, because that's what starts it all off!'. Chilli Palmer is a great character - nothing puts him off, he is persistence personified. His sheer cheek carries him through and you have to love him for it. The story of shady characters wheeling and dealing in Hollywood is told with wit and style and a lot of dark humour. I've tried one or two other Leonard novels since and still find his language difficult to get into. My faourite remains this neat, enjoyable tale of a gangster loose in Hollywood.
—Sue Herbert
