Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard
"Get Shorty" is a novel by Elmore Leonard that offers a satirical look at the Hollywood film industry through the lens of the criminal underworld. The story follows Chili Palmer, a loan shark from Miami who is tasked with collecting a debt but finds himself drawn into the world of filmmaking. The character of Chili is inspired by various real-life figures, with his journey reflecting Leonard's own experiences in the film industry. The narrative is marked by its distinctive humor, juxtaposing the moral ambiguities of criminals with those of actors and producers.
As the plot unfolds, it highlights the absurdities of Hollywood while presenting vibrant characters engaged in witty dialogues about screenwriting and adaptation. Leonard’s style often leaves unresolved plot lines and character fates, which is evident in "Get Shorty," where the conclusion is intentionally left open-ended. This approach not only reflects the complexities of storytelling but also sets the stage for a sequel, "Be Cool," which continues the satirical exploration of another facet of the entertainment industry. Overall, "Get Shorty" serves as both a compelling crime story and a humorous critique of Hollywood's inner workings.
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Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1990
Type of work: Novel
The Work
Leonard drew upon his personal experiences with the film industry for Get Shorty, including modeling Michael Weir, the actor whose short height and large talent and ego provide the title, on Dustin Hoffman, who had been in line to play the lead in a film version of Leonard’s LaBrava (1983). The novel transplants one of his typical self-reliant tough guys, loan shark Chili Palmer, from the Miami criminal underworld to Hollywood. The plot begins, after a series of deftly handled flashbacks, with Palmer’s assignment to collect a debt from Leo Devoe, a dry cleaner who supposedly died in a plane crash but turns out to have not only avoided the crash but also collected insurance money for his own death. As usual in Leonard’s novels, the plot is simply a mechanism for putting colorful characters into dramatic confrontations with each other, and the dry cleaner and his money belong to a subplot that fades away, without being fully resolved, well before the end of the novel.
While all of his novels incorporate humor, albeit often bleak and ironic, Get Shorty emphasizes comic elements to an unusual degree as Leonard highlights the contrasts, and similarities, between the dishonesty and callousness of criminals and those of actors and producers. By the end of the book, Palmer has successfully made the transition from mob enforcer to film producer, with the implication that the differences are not profound. Among the running jokes are the characters’ discussions of writing and film adaptations as they try to develop a screenplay based upon the ongoing events of the novel itself. Their comments range from insights of which the author himself would approve—as when loan shark-turned-screenwriter Palmer explains, “I don’t think of a plot and then put characters in it. I start with different characters and see where they take me”—to satire of Hollywood’s dismissive attitudes toward writers, exemplified by Bo Catlett, another criminal who is convinced that anyone can do it. “You asking me,” Catlett said, “do I know how to write down words on a piece of paper? That’s what you do, man, you put down one word after the other as it comes in your head. It isn’t like having to learn how to play the piano, like you have to learn notes.”
Leonard’s novels seldom fuss over neat closure and the tidying up of loose ends, often leaving plot lines and the fates of significant characters unresolved, another of his practices slyly mocked by the closing sentence of Get Shorty: “endings, man, they weren’t as easy as they looked.” In this instance, the open-ended structure clears the way for a sequel, this time satirizing the music industry, with many of the same characters, including protagonist Palmer, in Be Cool.
Sources for Further Study
Chicago Tribune. July 29, 1990, XIV, p.6.
Cosmopolitan. CCIX, August, 1990, p.24.
Kirkus Reviews. LVIII, June 1, 1990, p.754.
Los Angeles Times Rook Review. July 29, 1990, p.9.
The New York Times Book Review. XCV, July 29, 1990, p.1.
The New Yorker. LXVI, September 3, 1990, p.106.
Publishers Weekly. CCXXXVII, June 15, 1990, p.55.
Time. CXXXVI, August 13, 1990, p.71
The Wall Street Journal. August 9, 1990, p. A6 (W), p. A8 (E).
The Washington Post Book World. XX, July 15, 1990, p.1.