Get Shorty

"Attitude plays a part."

1995 1h 45m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

🍅

89%

FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

6.9

IMDB

★6.5TMDB · 1,264🍅89%Rotten Tomatoes●81Metacritic★6.9IMDB · 95,310

ComedyThrillerCrime

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Chili Palmer is a Miami mobster who gets sent to L.A. to collect a bad debt from Harry Zimm, a Hollywood producer who specializes in cheesy horror films. When Chili meets Harry's leading lady, the romantic sparks fly. After pitching his own life story as a movie idea, Chili learns that being a mobster and being a Hollywood producer really aren't all that different.

“Attitude plays a part.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

John Travolta
Chili Palmer
Gene Hackman
Harry Zimm
Rene Russo
Karen Flores
Danny DeVito
Martin Weir
Dennis Farina
Ray 'Bones' Barboni
Delroy Lindo
Bo Catlett
James Gandolfini
Bear
Jon Gries
Ronnie Wingate

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Writers: Scott Frank
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.8× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

31 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Chili Palmer Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, shot by Donald Peterman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by John Lurie. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jim Miller shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

John Travolta and Gene Hackman and Rene Russo carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Attitude plays a part.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Barry Sonnenfeld directs. Donald Peterman behind the camera. John Lurie scores. Jim Miller cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 3.8× over at the box office.
231 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Part of the "Chili Palmer Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, shot by Donald Peterman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by John Lurie. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Jim Miller shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7John Travolta and Gene Hackman and Rene Russo carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Attitude plays a part.".
9IMDB entry: tt0113161 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10The top-rated still from this film on TMDB has multiple community votes — a signal the frame composition stuck with viewers.
11Classified under 15 themes, including "based on novel or book", "miami, florida", "gambling", "gangster".
12Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Donald Peterman
Original score: John Lurie
Editing: Jim Miller
Production design: Peter S. Larkin
Costume design: Betsy Heimann
Makeup / hair: Audrey Futterman-Stern
Sound: Lee Dichter
Stunt coordinator: Brian Smrz
Runtime: 105 min · 1h 45m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $30,250,000
Box office: $115,101,622
Return: 381% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Get Shorty (1995)
Rotten Tomatoes: 89% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 81/100
IMDB rating: 6.9/10 · 95,310 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

6 wins & 16 nominations total

Part of

Chili Palmer Collection

Follows the adventure of Chili Palmer, a shylock from Miami as he enters the Movie and Music industries, based on the Elmore Leonard novels.

Also by

Barry Sonnenfeld

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Peter McGinn2022-10-23
★ 10/10
I know that no movie is perfect but for my money Get Shorty is on my short list of films that come close. As good as the book is, I believe the movie improved upon it. I have watched it a few times, it being one of those movies we might invite a friend over to watch who hasn’t seen it. Plus it has surfaced a few times when I surf streaming channels and I usually stop to watch for a while, no matter where in the film I am. The ensemble cast (which includes a few lower echelon stars) is excellent and mostly look like they are having fun with it. There is violence, but not with buckets of blood. It almost seems like cartoonish violence. And of course wit and humor run through it, with a bit of satire on Hollywood thrown in. I just found out today that a sequel was made called Be Cool and a British tv series based on the book, but I like this one so much I won't even risk disappointment by watching those other entries.
GenerationofSwine2023-01-14
★ 1/10
You know what, I really love Elmore Leonard, and a part of me feels that nearly any movie made from his works is going to come out as fresh, original, and worth watching. This is the rare exception. Here they took a classic Elmore Leonard plot and made it too Hollywood for its own good. And then they tried a bit hard to make it too much like a Pulp Fiction film, but with less bleak comedy and more slapstick comedy. You still have Leonard's unique originality...but the story has been raped and what's left is trash.
CinemaSerf2024-04-15
★ 7/10
Mobster "Chilli Palmer" (John Travolta) finds himself a bit exposed when his benefactor boss has an heart attack on his sixty-fifth birthday. Luckily for him, his new nemesis "Bones" still has an use for him - go to Hollywood and collect some gambling debts from "Harry" (Gene Hackman). This fellow produces the kind of horror films that would have made Roger Corman blush, but he's a bit smarter than the average bear so is soon trying to manoeuvre his new friend into a career in the movies. Not acting in them, but producing them - and suddenly "Chilli" realises that he already has quite a few of the skills necessary to coax, cajole and plain old extort from just about everyone to fund a vehicle for "Karen" (Rene Russo). They use established star "Weir" (Danny DeVito) as a consultant and try to con the dapper drug-peddling "Catlett" (Delroy Lindo) out of half a million dollars to pay the bills - well someone's bills. Travolta is on good form here with a tongue in cheek, less-is-more, style of delivery but it's really Hackman who steals the show. His sharp and opportunistic character pokes fun at the film industry from funding to casting to filming in quite an entertaining fashion, and Russo complements well as the high maintenance woman who used to date "Weir". Who hasn't dated who in this town? The joke does wear a bit thin after a while, but for the most part it's a charismatic affair with a cast gelling well to deliver this amiable adaptation of the Elmore Leonard send up of the mob and the movies. It's dated a bit, but still worth a watch.