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Get Shorty
Winning adaptation of the Elmore Leonard novel, boasting fine direction, a cast on top form and a hilarious story. What more could you want from a bit of cinema entertainment?
Few films have dug beneath the lustre of LA and its attendant industry with the energy of this sophisticated movie, adapted (by Scot Frank) with grace and consummate luck from the novel by crime writer extraordinaire Elmore Leonard. For one scene alone, in which diminutive Hollywood superstarstar Martin Weir (DeVito) hijacks the menu and orders (off the menu, of course) a white-egg omelette for the hungry minions and then leaves them to it, the film deserves every accolade pinned on it for accuracy and humour. The story concerns Miami loan shark Chili Palmer (Travolta) discovering that his training, dubious background and chutzpah are tailor-made for Hollywood. Following a bad debt he travels from Miami to LA, where, rather than carrying through his mission, he pitches his own ideas to dodgy low-budget movie-maker Harry Zimm (Hackman). No point in selecting more than the actors named, since the ensemble playing is brilliant, and the whole piece glides. Verdict A freewheeling comedy-thriller with the gift of the gab, Get Shorty proves to be one of the finest adaptations of Elmore Leonard's hardboiled underworld. |
